Anastasiya Bolton

Anastasiya Bolton is a seven-time Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist, media coach, strategist, and crisis communications professional. She spent 22 years telling complex, emotional, impactful stories, working with victims, survivors, first responders, jurisdictions, courts, and nonprofits all over the United States and internationally. She covered mass casualty events, school shootings, line of duty deaths, natural and man-made disasters, and most recently, is taking an indepth look at the migration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. Being one of the first responders to life-changing events, she focuses on telling victim-first stories and partnering with victim services to make that an empowering but not harmful experience. She helped law enforcement, public information professionals, state agencies, nonprofits, and victim advocates develop effective communication strategies and best practices to work with the media, prepare and respond to critical incidents, and frame and visualize positive stories. She presents at conferences and provides in-person, custom, organization-focused training and individual coaching on engaging public speaking. Ms. Bolton’s work has been recognized by 22 national, regional, and local awards. In 2018, the Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center recognized her with the Victims’ Rights Champion award for her work on a story that helped change Colorado law, guaranteeing victims access to information on their incarcerated offenders. 

Krista Flannigan

Krista R. Flannigan, J.D., is an attorney, educator, and advocate experienced in emergency response and crisis management, media relations, community collaboration, and program development. Ms. Flannigan is the director of the Institute for Crime Victim Research and Policy at Florida State University (FSU) College of Criminology. She has responded to mass violence incidents across the country. She helped to establish long-term services for the mass shooting victims across the Nation. Ms. Flannigan trains lawyers, law enforcement, victim advocates, mental health professionals, and educators on topics including trauma-informed care, media interaction, high profile trials, and intervention and coordinated community response for victims of mass violence, terrorism, and other crimes, as well as on the impact of mass tragedy on communities. She co-wrote two guidebooks and developed a training video about community response to victims of mass tragedy trials. She also co-authored a book, Hope Gets the Last Word, depicting lessons learned while supporting people recovering from tragedy. Ms. Flannigan worked with several prosecutors’ offices as a prosecutor, director of the Victim Services 2000 program, director of public information and community partnerships, and victim advocate. She served on the boards of nonprofit organizations that promote the fair and just treatment of crime victims. Additionally, Ms. Flannigan teaches at the FSU College of Criminology and developed a career track and special studies in victim services for FSU.