Albe Zakes is the 24 year old Vice President of Media Relations at TerraCycle, Inc., the world’s leading ‘upcycling’ company, which turns waste materials into eco-friendly, affordable products available at big box retailers nationwide. Albe came to TerraCycle shortly after graduating from the University of Colorado, Boulder. There he completed a double major in English Literature and Psychology. In addition to his studies, Albe ran several grassroots groups and worked as a student volunteer supervisor for CoPIRG (Colorado Public Interest Research Group.) With PIRG he helped to run the Environment Alert initiative for two years, hosting on-campus awareness events and running letter writing, petitioning and fundraising campaigns. Other student groups Albe ran included the Colorado chapter of Hip Hop Congress a grassroots movement that spreads political and social awareness and activism through music and poetry.

Albe started at TerraCycle as an intern in the PR department, after being told he did not have enough experience for a full time position! After spending two months as an intern he was offered a full time position and never looked back. In the last three years, Albe has worked his way to the top of the PR department. With little PR experience he help TerraCycle battle Scotts Miracle-Gro, running the “Sued by Scotts” Campaign in 2007.  Under Albe’s management the PR department has secured almost 2000 media placements in the last 3 years, including almost 800 placements in 2009 which have generated over 700 million impressions. His crowning moment came this year when he got coverage for TerraCycle on Oprah and Good Morning America on the same day, Earth Day! In addition to managing the company’s public relations activities, Albe organizes TerraCycle’s yearly Graffiti Jam and helps run the summer Internship program which hosts over 20 college students every summer and several during the school year as well.

Website:

Blog Posts by Albe Zakes