coMMunications & Branding Strategy
There is often a gap between how people and organizations see themselves, how the public sees them, and how they want to be seen. That is the gap organizations need to fill in order to achieve their missions. I help nonprofits and education-focused organizations achieve their missions through thoughtful communications strategy that is rooted in the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
I often say I'm a good writer, but an even better thinker. My approach to communications strategy is rooted in my career in journalism, and the idea of taking a listening-first approach to identify what the target audience wants to hear, and what channels its members want to use. After learning how the audience already communicates, we can more effectively marry your message with their communications preferences to achieve the desired results. What excites me most in communications is telling multidimensional stories that weave data and compelling narratives together to engage and inform the audience
My work has always been through an equity lens. In the current socio-political climate, it is even more essential that all communications projects — whether for a school district, a college or university, or local or national nonprofit — are rooted in principles of antiracism and challenge staff and audiences to unpack the implicit and explicit biases that hinder progress. From advocacy communications to public relations, book editing to marketing content creation, I have nearly two decades worth of copywriting, branding and content management experience.
I often say I'm a good writer, but an even better thinker. My approach to communications strategy is rooted in my career in journalism, and the idea of taking a listening-first approach to identify what the target audience wants to hear, and what channels its members want to use. After learning how the audience already communicates, we can more effectively marry your message with their communications preferences to achieve the desired results. What excites me most in communications is telling multidimensional stories that weave data and compelling narratives together to engage and inform the audience
My work has always been through an equity lens. In the current socio-political climate, it is even more essential that all communications projects — whether for a school district, a college or university, or local or national nonprofit — are rooted in principles of antiracism and challenge staff and audiences to unpack the implicit and explicit biases that hinder progress. From advocacy communications to public relations, book editing to marketing content creation, I have nearly two decades worth of copywriting, branding and content management experience.
Big picture questions that guide my work:
What I'm really good at:
What I'm really passionate about:
- How can communications be leveraged as a tool to dismantle systemic injustice and pervasive inequities?
- How can I help to elevate the voices and work of those whose voices are traditionally silenced?
- How do communications and organizational structure play together, and in what ways does the existing organizational structure support or contradict the message we're looking to project?
What I'm really good at:
- Strategy and structure
- Communications, particularly comms strategy
- Advocacy (once upon a time, long ago, I trained lobbyists. Now I mostly just focus on messaging + support through research)
- Writing and research
- Branding and organizational strategy
- Public speaking and workshop facilitation
- Editing things (particularly editorial strategy + direction)
What I'm really passionate about:
- Education equity, and helping school leaders to identify better ways to serve Black, Brown, and Indigenous students
- Good, accurate, disaggregated data that allows for analysis of independent variables as causes of and factors in inequity
Professional services
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For Organizations
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For Individuals
My work with individuals primarily focuses on two groups: faculty members and leaders at colleges and universities across the country looking to do more to publicize their research, and executives looking to strengthen their leadership through better communications. Sample projects include:
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Workshops
Media Planning
- How to write an op-ed
- Understanding earned vs. paid media and the impact of both
- Making the data work for you: How to craft a compelling narrative around the numbers — even when they don't seem to be in your favor
- Notable quotables: Boiling your message down into media-friendly soundbites
- Crisis communications training
- How to build relationships with the media
- Understanding the difference between personal and organizational brand
- Leveraging social media as an effective storytelling tool
- Writing for a public audience: How to translate your expertise into language people can understand
- Branding yourself as an expert
- Crafting and owning your narrative
