Twenty years in newsrooms, advocacy, public health, and large public-sector agencies. I turn technical, policy-heavy, sometimes resisted material into clear guidance that frontline employees and executives can actually act on.
I started in journalism at the Afro-American Newspapers, where deadlines, accuracy, and a healthy skepticism about official narratives shaped how I work. That foundation has carried through every role since: communications director at a national criminal justice think tank, press secretary for an HIV/AIDS advocacy organization, communications manager inside regulated industry, and senior communications writer at one of the country's largest transit agencies.
What I do, in plain terms, is build the bridge between people who hold technical or institutional knowledge and the audiences whose decisions depend on understanding it. Sometimes that audience is a 13,000-person workforce learning new technology. Sometimes it is a federal judge preparing for a hostile press conference. Sometimes it is the public, hearing about a stigmatized issue for the first time.
I write clean copy, build campaigns that ship, and stay calm in the rooms where things are difficult.
Built the Digital Modernization communications program from the ground up. Led change campaigns across major technology rollouts touching bus, rail, and corporate operations. Designed quarterly IT All-Hands events for 550-plus attendees, ran the agency's annual Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and developed a Viva Engage strategy that nearly doubled platform engagement and was adopted as a model by other departments.
Produced media landscape analyses across seven states so that judges, police chiefs, and reform leaders walked into interviews and hearings knowing the bias and risk in their local press environment. Trained executives on message development and built multi-channel campaigns that helped shift hostile narratives around criminal and juvenile justice reform.
Translated dense regulatory and scientific content into accessible language for industry, regulators, and the press. Developed thought leadership, conference programming, and brand-consistent messaging across a stakeholder base used to navigating heavy federal oversight.
Directed communications for a national policy organization working on mass incarceration and juvenile justice. Pitched, placed, and shaped coverage that moved the conversation on stigmatized issues. Secured significant donated media and a national segment on Oprah.
Spokesperson and lead writer for one of the country's longest-standing HIV/AIDS advocacy organizations. Built press materials, prepared leadership for interviews, and reduced stigma in coverage through deliberate, sustained relationships with national health reporters.
Reported and edited under hard deadlines, including coverage of 9/11 and the DC sniper attacks. Earned recognition for crisis reporting and mentored junior writers. This is where I learned the discipline that shows up in everything I do now.
Originated the campaign concept, strategy, and creative direction for the customer-facing rollout of Metro Connect: natural language IVR, chatbot, and SMS service for a 600,000-rider system. Twelve-week phased plan across digital, station, on-vehicle, and earned media, plus a follow-on customer advocacy campaign.
Short, visual, mobile-first content model that grew agency-wide engagement from 27% to 40-50% and was adopted as a template by other departments.
Negotiated a multi-year enterprise contract that saved more than $300,000 while standardizing brand typography across an agency of 13,000.
Designed and facilitated quarterly meetings of 550-plus, building the run of show, presenter prep, and AV coordination to align IT leadership and frontline teams.
Seven-state research deliverable built to give criminal and juvenile justice leaders a clear read on bias and risk before facing local press.
Reporting, features, and opinion pieces spanning journalism, advocacy, and corporate communications.
Most communications problems are actually translation problems. I begin by understanding who needs to act, what they already know, and what is in the way. The deliverable shapes itself around that.
Resistance is rarely irrational. Change management training, plus years of working on stigmatized issues, taught me to read pushback as a signal about what the strategy is missing, not as a problem to flatten.
A press secretary writes for the reporter, not for the boss. I keep that habit. Active voice, plain words, no filler, and never a sentence the reader has to read twice.
Engagement rates, adoption curves, sentiment shifts, dollar savings. I report outcomes, not activity. If a campaign cannot connect to a number that someone above me cares about, it needs more thinking.
Open to senior communications and change roles, and to consulting work through Control the Story, LLC. Quickest reply is by email.