Our team

Alexandra Petrova
photographer

Erin Gibbons
managing editor
Erin’s day job is as a production editor for children’s and adult books at 1517 Media. She has been a freelance editor and project manager since 2010 and an editor for Rochester Women Magazine since 2013. She and her husband, son (soon to be two sons!), and dog live in the Twin Cities, but she loves staying connected to her hometown through her work on this local magazine.

Barbara Jordan
Community editor
Barbara Jordan is thrilled to join the fantastic Rochester Women Magazine team. She will seek to make her contributions as community editor inclusive and diverse with a broad and deep reach to women in Rochester.
For this work, Barbara will draw on her almost thirty-year history of active engagement in Rochester, ranging from roles leading nonprofit boards, to building coalitions across the community, to her professional work at Mayo Clinic. She is excited to share her community connections with the members of the editorial team. Barbara identifies as Black woman, wife, mother, woman of faith
and fast friend.

Kate Brue
Graphic Designer
Kate is our layout designer. She grew up in Prior Lake, MN and moved to Rochester in 2002. Kate has been in layout design for over 20 years and really loves what she does.

Tessa Slisz
Graphic Designer
Tessa is a professional designer who pushes herself to create memorable work that exceeds her clients’ expectations while capturing their imaginations. She has experience designing an array of digital and print media, and she loves working on new projects for her clients.

Melissa Hindermann
Outreach, events & Social media Director
Melissa increases our reach to readers through our magazine, website, events, social media, distribution, and sales. She is also a romance writer, wife, and dog mom. Her mission is to cultivate fun and positive energy everywhere she goes.

Jennie Dieterman
Virtual Assistant
Jennie provides virtual administrative and creative assistance for small businesses and entrepreneurs, giving them the freedom to focus their efforts on doing what they do best. Jennie was born and raised in Michigan and became a Minnesota transplant in 2013. She has found her home here in SE Minnesota and enjoys exploring the outdoors of this beautiful area with her husband and son!

Acacia Ward
Account Manager
As Account Manager, Acacia connects with local business owners and operators to find the marketing solutions that help them grow their audience. Behind the scenes, Acacia helps with managing our CRM and distribution. Acacia is a Rochester native, mother of 3, and advocate for the community in many different forms, including being the Longfellow Elementary PTA, and the president and founder of Reach The Top MN.