Built for Clarity. Designed for Impact.

Decibel Media is a certified women-owned, media-first strategy and creative agency. We help brands grow by aligning strategy, media, and creative around clear business decisions. 

How We Work

Decibel is senior-led and fully integrated. Clients work directly with experienced leaders across strategy, media, creative, and analytics—driving focus, speed, and accountability. Our flexible model combines in-house creative capabilities with trusted partner agencies, ensuring every solution is cohesive, aligned, and performance-driven. 

Certified Women-Owned

Decibel Media is a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE). This perspective shapes how we approach partnership, problem-solving, and accountability. 

Who We Work With

We partner with brands of all sizes and stages, bringing thoughtful strategy, smart media, and measurable results. We have deep experience in Healthcare, Higher Education, and Financial Services—industries that demand trust, precision, and performance. 

SEE OUR WORK

MEET OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM

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Alison Illustration

Alison Costello

Managing Partner

“Bring me to the edge of the tipping point where creativity, technology, and humanity converge.” This is Alison's rallying cry to motivate our employees to push the envelope and try the unexpected for maximum impact. Alison’s 25 years of experience in brand and marketing integrated design for both B2B and B2C clients led our team to complete the whole communication experience, well beyond the paid media expertise. Doing great work drives Alison forward, inspired by one of the most successful marketing mavens, Steve Jobs, who noted, “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

Alison started her career at Bain & Company, where she applied her experience to jump into the digital media world at HookMedia. She then parlayed that experience into a 23-year career with Wallwork Curry McKenna as she progressed to become CEO. Alison was instrumental in building Decibel Media as an independent company of WCM and now, as a visionary leader, propels the company forward. When Alison isn’t running two companies, life is at the beach with her two teenage children.

Alison Costello

Managing Partner
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Melissa

Melissa Chase

Managing Director

Trust is both an emotional and logical act. But trusting Melissa to lead our client accounts as the Managing Director, is both emotionally and logically a no-brainer. Melissa has experience on both the agency and client-side where she managed businesses such as Carbonite, TJX, Boston Children’s Hospital, Peter Pan/Greyhound, RI Tourism and National Grid. Melissa’s drive to push her own boundaries of experience presents clients with new perspectives, strategic approaches, and greater knowledge-creating enduring relationships built on trust. And because that wouldn’t be enough, Melissa manages and mentors the team with that same level of deep knowledge and caring, knowing that their success will be her own success.

When Melissa isn’t taking responsibility for our client’s needs she is quite the foodie. Next stop for Melissa, food critic. Feared and loved by every restauranteur. Let’s just hope, not too soon.

Melissa Chase

Managing Director
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Sadie Cartoon Portrait Design

Sadie Barlow

Director of Media & Strategy

As Sadie told us as she took our Director's reign, “I’m a lifer! How could you get more enjoyment than a media planning and buying career.” That life decision has proven to be a great career choice for Sadie. Years ago, she cut her teeth as a media buyer and quickly moved up to leading teams within small to large agencies. The thrill of learning new industries and brands such as Keebler, University of Phoenix, Eastern Bank, Qdoba, and UMass Memorial Health, to name a few, has established a substantial understanding of media channels and how best to apply that knowledge for successful client campaigns.

But it’s not just the clients that make Sadie unique; it’s her dedication to cultivating smart, supportive, and collaborative team members. Sadie’s inspiration and personal achievement come from her grandfather's sage advice, “Stay curious, be good to others, and strive to be better each day.” When Sadie isn’t inspiring our clients or team, she spends time with family and friends, usually near the beach and buried in her Kindle, planning her next great life adventure.

Sadie Barlow

Director of Media & Strategy
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Emily

Emily Donahue

Director of Analytics and Performance

Curiosity. A word that has created the most significant technology invention in digital marketing – search engine marketing. And Emily continues to thrive off the excitement of that curiosity as she manages our client’s SEM campaigns. Her willingness to learn and grow with the team and our clients is the driving force behind her success. Emily’s past experience has included a strong background in real estate for Greybeard Realty and J. Barrett and Company as well as marketing for Bob’s Furniture. Words that Emily lives by spoken so well by Roald Dahl, “If you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be.”

Emily Donahue

Director of Analytics and Performance
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Sky

Sky DePaola (Drazek)

Associate Media Director

Some have said that The Sky is the limit. But not those who know Sky DePaola! Her boundless energy and endless desire to learn more as an Associate Media Director – new questions, new platforms, new data sources, new publishers – only fuels her drive to discover more and develop her skills in her craft. Before joining the Decibel Media team, Sky worked with Merck Pharmaceutical on multi-million dollar spending campaigns and excelled in target audience research and deployment. Competitive is an understatement, as most teammates realized at her college when she competed as a Division 1 athlete – ON THE MEN’S TEAM! Inspiration comes to Sky from her father, who once said, “No matter where you go, there you are.” Well, we are lucky to have Sky right here.

Sky DePaola (Drazek)

Associate Media Director