Our Team

The Aurora Publicity team is dedicated to helping you achieve and succeed. If there’s ever a time that you need more than we provide, then we’re happy to recommend others that we love to work with.

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Samantha Lobocki: Founder, Marketing & Publicity Director

Samantha is a passionate marketer with 10+ years of professional marketing and public relations experience focused in the areas of content creation, social media, managing internal and external communications, branding, sales, advertising, graphic design, website development, and the creation and execution of marketing campaigns. Phew!

She has a B.A. in PR and advertising, and a master’s degree in management and marketing. She has turned her corporate experience into an opportunity to help authors sell more books and grow their platform and has been working with authors and in publishing over the last decade. She’s the Founder and Marketing & Publicity Director for Aurora Publicity and loves that she co-owns LitRing with her favorite sister-in-law!

She is often found hanging with her family, her dogs (and cats!), and trying to keep up with her twin toddlers. She fuels her insatiable dream-chasing with what some would consider an unhealthy amount of coffee, and she wouldn’t have her crazy busy life any other way.

Ashley Lobocki: Administrative Manager, Publishing Director

Ashley has always had a love for books! When she was a little girl, she enjoyed reading inspirational stories, biographies, and mysteries laced with adventure. This love for adventure and passion led her into a career as a nurse, where she worked in ER, ICU, and administration.

Over time, her respect for authors grew and she wanted to find a way to become involved. By combining her love of books with her knowledge of business management, she became the perfect fit, managing at Aurora Publicity. In the last few years, she’s been an integral piece of the company’s growth and has used her analytical know-how to research, learn and become Aurora’s publishing guru. She sees herself as an author advocate, which is probably why she ventured out to purchase LitRing with her partner in crime and sister-in-law, Samantha. The more opportunities she can bring to authors and clients, the better!

When she’s not tucked away under the covers with a steamy romance or wrangling two businesses, you’re likely to find her at the hockey rink or watching her daughter create another artistic masterpiece-Van Gogh in the making! Yes, before you ask… she’s that mom. She’s married to a Navy Veteran she’s still desperately in love with, has two crazy teenage boys, a sassy, beautiful daughter, and three dogs that could easily classify as horses. Coffee keeps her sane, and an episode of The Goldbergs reminds her that she’s not all that bad…. mostly.

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Rachel Perez: Project & Strategy Manager

Rachel has been writing novels for over a decade and has cultivated a love of reading since she was a kid. Books are her life, and she loves the opportunity to escape through a wonderfully crafted story. Though young adult fantasy is her favorite genre, she will essentially read anything – and always prefers if there is romance involved! Her favorite authors are Maria V. Snyder and Margaret Rogerson. Rachel has participated in NaNoWriMo almost every year since high school and spent several years querying literary agents and attending writing conferences to pitch to agents in person. She’s enjoyed ARC reading, beta reading, and critiquing for other authors for several years. In 2020, she self-published her first YA dark fantasy trilogy and is currently working on writing more books! She has experience managing newsletters, setting up book promotions, advertising, engaging on social media, running contests and giveaways, and almost every other aspect of marketing for an author. When she’s not reading or writing, she’s usually playing with her two kids, spending time with her husband, watching an abundance of Netflix, or eating a mountain of chocolate.

Tiffany Moorman: Author Assistant

Single mother of five Tiffany has mastered the art of multitasking. It’s probably the only thing that keeps her on the outside of the insane asylum. That, and escaping inside of a good book whenever possible; either writing, helping to plot, or reading one. With a past that could fill at least two novels in more than one genre, Tiffany tends to choose books that are as far from reality as possible. She now specializes in all things dark. From dark romance, to paranormal, urban fantasy, supernatural, thrillers, dark fantasy, dark erotica, pretty much anything that’ll put a few chills up your spine and a good shock to your heart. Have a question about any creature of the lore, ask her, she’ll more than likely have the answer you’re looking for. Tiffany also no longer knows what the term sleep means so is available most times, day or night, except for the few times she passes out.

Nicole Noble : Author Assistant

Nicole grew up on the East Coast but later moved to Colorado for college at the University of Colorado in Boulder, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in French. Once graduated, she set off on her next adventure. Bonjour! That’s right, Nicole went to France where she spent the next eight years of her life teaching English and taking in everything the country had to offer. But sadly, that adventure ended when her mother became ill, and she returned to the US. However, she didn’t let that stop her carefree spirit. Upon her return, Nicole jumped right into the fray as an Executive Assistant for a small cosmetic company where she earned the title of the “Office Ninja”. A self-diagnosed addict of organization and order, with over 18+ years in the administrative field, she has mastered her craft and then some. Nicole isn’t afraid to color outside the lines and is always ready for a new challenge. She loves helping others and has a true knack for making sure that everyone has what they need to be productive and to succeed. More than that, she not only has a real passion for dreaming up amazing ideas, but she also has the expertise to turn those dreams into a reality. In her free time, she loves to decorate her home and work on her favorite crafts, especially her wood flowers and vinyl sign and shirt collection. But above all else, Nicole is a neurotic book lover with over a thousand books currently loaded on her e-reader. Why, oh why, are there only 24-hours in a day?!

Iris Pross: Author Assistant

Affectionately known as the “Master Book Pimp” to her author friends, Iris cannot remember a time when she couldn’t be found with a book in hand. After many years in the demanding industry of event management, where she gained a love of lists, she tried her hand at blogging about the many books she read as a  hobby and was hooked. She’s never met a genre she did not enjoy reading. In 2010, she met a fledgling author who offered to put her organizational skills (and frankly OCD tendencies) to use and hired her as an assistant. It started with one author and through the years she has added many more to her list of authors she assists. She has experience in social media management, all areas of book promotions, newsletter creation and many other areas of publicity and marketing for her authors. When she’s not reading, Iris can usually be found spending time with her two boys, her husband and her ever growing number of dogs.

Joy Baxendell: Author Assistant

Since Joy can’t adopt a pet dragon, she settles for living vicariously through characters who can. She has a great love for lots of genres, but when she read her first fantasy novel, she was hooked. Her love of magic, adventure, and romance hasn’t waned with age, and she’ll never grow out of young adult fantasy. While she loved theatre and bringing her designers’ visions to life, there just weren’t enough dragons and all the magic was just a trick, so she returned to her first love, books. Now she loves helping authors bring their visions to life by taking the less than fantastical tasks off their plates so they can bring her more stories of princesses, dragons, and wizards to read. In her spare time, if she isn’t reading or writing, she’s drawing or sewing something she swears will one day be a ballgown.

Julia Goldhirsh: Author Assistant

Julia is an innovative marketer with 3+ years of publishing, marketing, and public speaking experience focused in the areas of content creation, social media, email marketing, influencer and bookstore outreach, panel and event setup, and website development and editing. Julia has a B.A. in Creative Writing and is working on their PMP certification for Project management. She has turned her experience as an educator, author, and editor into an opportunity to help other authors grow their audiences. Julia’s also a travel blogger and avid reader that enjoys connecting with book lovers and giving them book recommendations they’ll love. In her free time, she writes LGBTQIA+ fantasy, PNR, and YA fairytales on Amazon KDP and Kindle Vella. Julia loves coming up with creative new ways to market and reach new readers from her home in Southeastern Florida.  She’s a night owl and loves to spend a night in reading and drinking tea.

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Melody Barber: Creative Director

Melody has been in love with art since she was old enough to hold a pencil. It was only natural that she carry this passion into her career as a graphic designer. A twist of fate took her down the path that lead to designing covers. She now gets to live her dream mixing two of her favorite passions, design and books. With all her time spent with writers and books, she couldn’t help getting bitten by the writing bug herself. Melody wears many hats including wife, friend, caretaker, animal lover, obsessive coffee drinker, and DIY enthusiast. With all her interests there is never a dull moment, and she loves it that way.

Sarah Moss: Illustrator, Creative Assistant

Sarah has been drawing her whole life – her mother still has a Christmas illustration she did at 4 years old. She continued to draw growing up, but decided to pursue a career in graphic design after high school. Illustration is still her one true love though and she uses it every chance she gets. Growing up, she was an avid reader as well (being able to memorize whole pages out of books), which led to dabbling in creative writing as a hobby. Her favorite genres are horror, thriller/suspense, macabre, and dark romance. She’s content with her life as a full-fledged anime + Disney nerd. In addition to being an artist, Sarah is also a sister, aunt, friend, animal lover, and obsessed with coffee. She also fits gym time into her schedule. As long as she gets to keep being creative, life is good!

Nicole Conway: Illustrator, Creative Assistant

Nicole is an experienced graphic artist and designer with a passion for digital painting and illustration. Her own journey as a hybrid author of multiple bestselling series gives her an edge to creating competitive, on-market, beautiful covers and interior book designs. She loves being able to bring other authors’ characters to life, while also guiding them through the creative process and how they can make informed, wise decisions about their design choices in the future. In her spare time, Nicole loves spending time with her family gardening, rock climbing, camping, and playing lots of tabletop games!

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Jennifer Mallette: Publishing Manager

Jen was born with a book in one hand and a pen in the other. Unfortunately, this resulted in a long and painful labor. Don’t judge, she wasn’t finished writing her review yet. It had to be perfect. Reviews do matter! This incident, may or may not have led to Jen pursuing a career as a Doula. Sometimes babies just need more time to gather their thoughts, so she helps birthing individuals be more patient with their child’s “creative process.” For most babies, deadlines are just not a thing. When Jen isn’t supporting parents or cuddling their newborns, she is usually lost in a good book or hanging out with her crazy, but loveable, fur crew! Let’s be honest, she isn’t really left much choice in this, as they will sprawl across her page, but, hey, that is all part of their charm. This awesome fur mom and Doula thrives when she is helping others. She is driven by her passion for creativity, a good story and of course books. Jen’s love of the creative process, patience, and attention to detail have made her the perfect addition to the Aurora publishing team!

Amy Kessler: Formatting Specialist, Creative Assistant

Amy is a graphic design enthusiast who loves to help create memorable books for authors and readers to cherish. She has been formatting both eBooks and paperbacks for over seven years and holds a Bachelors in Business with a focus in Marketing that allows her to create custom formatting to meet individual and series branding expectations. She loves working with authors to make their book look just right – and she does so with a coffee in hand and a cat at her side.

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Adriane Schuler: Facebook Ads Manager and BookBub Ads Specialist

Adriane is excited about getting your books in front of the perfect readers! She has been in the marketing industry for 5+ years and loves that there is constant growth and change – nothing stays stagnant in marketing! Joining Aurora’s team has been such a joy! When she’s not working she enjoys spending time with her family, kayaking, boating and camping! Always with a book in hand of course!

Brian Lobocki: Amazon Ads Specialist

Brian began his career diagnosing and fixing cars. There was something about problem-solving and data-collecting that appealed to his analytical brain. After becoming a first-time Dad to twins, and recovering from surgery from a shoulder injury, his wife–the boss–put him to work. More than a year later, he’s still problem-solving and data-collecting as he manages dozens of author’s Amazon ads. With five computer monitors, he pretends he’s controlling NASA instead of analyzing thousands of keywords and book targets. He’s now a full-time part of the team and looks forward to working with his next author.

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Cameron Yeager: Editor, Author Assistant

Cameron has so much to offer Aurora as a freelance editor and publicist. She has a degree in Language Arts, with an emphasis in teaching, as well as being a former theater major. She’s living life in Southern California, and is pretty much your average geek. She spends her time reading, playing video games, attending local Comic-Con events, and watching various movies and TV shows. While she reads a variety of genres, she craves a good Fantasy novel! Her favorite authors include George RR Martin, Anne McCaffrey, and Mercedes Lackey. Cameron brings over seven years of experience in the publishing industry, and enjoys working closely with her authors to build their brands and get their books in the hands of readers! Recently, Cameron has teamed up with Aurora to provide her editing services.

Laura Dickey: Proofreading Specialist

Laura has been an avid reader since the age of four. She has a MA in Art History and currently handles gifts processing for a local theatre company. During her studies she worked as an author assistant for Aurora, and she is excited to be back as part of the editing team. She has meticulous attention to detail, and duties in her current and previous jobs outside of Aurora include proofreading playbills and exhibition catalogues. When she isn’t working or reading, she can usually be found hanging out with her dog and husband or attending plays.

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If you’re interested in working in a dynamic, fun and encouraging team environment, click here for details!

We also work with publishers and other craft contractors to help their authors reach new heights. Contact us for more details!