Meet the Team
Emily Barrosse is the founder and CEO of Bold Story Press, a boutique publishing company dedicated to amplifying women’s voices.
Before founding Bold Story Press in 2020, Emily spent more than three decades in the publishing industry. As Vice President and Editor in Chief at McGraw Hill Education, she led major editorial programs and oversaw a $500 million higher education publishing portfolio. During her tenure, she helped transform the division into a more competitive and innovative publishing business.
Earlier in her career, Emily published Greg Mankiw’s Principles of Economics, which became the most successful first-edition college textbook ever published. The editorial and marketing strategy she designed for the book resulted in record-breaking adoption, sales, and profits.
Today, through Bold Story Press and Xander Press, Emily works with entrepreneurs, professionals, and storytellers to transform their ideas and experiences into books that shape conversations in business, leadership, and culture.
Emily Barrosse
Founder & CEO
Selected Speaking Engagements
Independent Book Publishers Association Conference
A Publisher’s Guide to Effective Negotiation
The Writer’s Center (Bethesda)
What Authors Need to Know Before Publishing
Bold Story Press Webinar Series
How Books Build Authority
Production Group
Jocelyn Kwiakowski
Production Manager
Jocelyn Kwiatkowski has extensive experience working in publishing, including roles as a managing editor, senior operations specialist, and production editor handling nonfiction titles as well as journals and serial publications.
She has a degree in English from Hope College.
Karen Polaski
Book Designer
Karen, a college dropout and award-winning art director, has deep experience designing almost everything from business cards to stage sets. She has been a one-woman creative shop offering graphic design and copywriting, and a leader of publishing creative teams. Karen now concentrates on editorial design, crafting books that delight authors and readers alike.
Laurie Entringer
Book Designer
Laurie is a skilled book cover and book interior designer and before partnering with us at Bold Story Press, Laurie gained her experience working in traditional publishing on hundreds of published books.
Beth Martin
Book Formatter
Beth writes sci-fi stories and puzzle books and has worked in publishing for over six years. She offers book formatting services focusing on beautifully balanced designs that support the text without distracting from the story.
Beth has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Georgia Tech. When not thinking about books, she plays the piano, solves logic puzzles, pets her fluffy cats, and chases her two kids.
Editorial Group
Karen Gulliver
Editorial Director
Karen has worked in the publishing industry for her entire career, including developmental editing, copyediting, and production for many best-selling non-fiction books. She has worked as a freelancer for different publishers, among them Pearson, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster.
Karen’s background includes an undergraduate degree in Creative Writing, a graduate degree in English Literature, and a certificate of studies in film from the University of Montpellier in France. In her free time, Karen keeps up with two book groups, and enjoys cooking and gardening.
Nedah Rose
Senior Editor
Nedah has worked in the publishing industry for her entire career, as both a product manager and a developmental editor in a variety of disciplines. She has signed, edited, and marketed a number of best-selling nonfiction books.
She has a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of Texas at Austin. In her free time, she enjoys reading, hiking, and having dinner with friends. She is involved in a number of volunteer activities.
Salimah has been a professional education editor and writer for more than 25 years. With a Bachelor of Arts in English from St. Mary’s College of Maryland, a Master of Arts in Writing from the Johns Hopkins University, and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Publishing Design from the University of Baltimore, she has continued to develop and refine her editorial skills and understands how to shepherd an author’s work.
Salimah Perkins
Editor
Marketing Group
An avid reader since her Brooklyn childhood, Elisa has been a development editor for most of her publishing career, beginning at McGraw Hill where she won two corporate awards and rose to a senior position. After broadening experiences in acquisitions and editorial management, she has worked as a freelancer with a range of publishers in many fields, most recently editing a biography of a female entrepreneur in Belize and a memoir of Haiti by a disaster aid volunteer.
Elisa has a BA in Fine Arts from New York University.
Elisa Adams
Editor
McKinlee Armstrong
Marketing & Editorial Coordinator
McKinlee started her publishing career in college, while receiving her Bachelor of Arts in English from Utah State University. Her roles have included acquisitions intern, poetry editor, and marketing communications specialist. A lifelong reader, McKinlee is passionate about using her experience creating digital content and marketing niche products to help Bold Story Press authors find and capture their target audience.
Emily Egna is a fourth year studying English, journalism, and Latin at Penn State within the Schreyer Honors College. She has self-published two fantasy novels and five collections of poetry and short stories. At school, she serves as the editor-in-chief of Penn State's undergraduate literary magazine Kalliope, sings in a choir, competes in archery tournaments, and works as a writing tutor. In her free time, she makes jewelry, reads and writes fiction, and feeds the ducks at the campus pond.
Emily Egna
Intern