I'm a marketing and communications strategist.
A lot of people reach out to me to help them with their brand's marketing and community outreach. Most of them become my friends because of my awesome food + travel recommendations.
I am a cause-driven professional with ten years of experience in Marketing, program development and community engagement over a wide range of social impact areas including LGBTQ equality, gender equity, arts and culture, and environmental advocacy at the local and national levels.
When I'm not working, I'm roaming local bookstores in Houston, walking my dog Riley, and enjoying Houston's culinary scene with my husband Brandon and daughter Zora in search of the perfect taco.
Skills
I am actively partnering with brands who need senior-level support in the following areas:
Campaign Management Branding Social Media Event Planning Community Engagement and Partnerships Creative Initiatives Marketing and Content Strategy
Work Experience
Director, Marketing and Communications- Teaching Lab
since 2022
Director of Development- Buffalo Soldiers National Museum
I conceive and implement interactive marketing and fundraising campaigns that raise the visibility of the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum and engage new audiences in preservation, arts and culture. I also work with the museum's CEO and Board of Directors on partnerships with corporate prospects, local campaigns and activations, including supporting the revision of the museum's 10 million dollar capital campaign and supporting the museum's first strategic plan development and implementation in its 21 year history.
Digital-first Marketing and Engagement Strategist and Consultant
since 2011
I am a consultant charged with executing traditional and digital brand strategy and strategic marketing for socially conscious brands and nonprofits. I support social good and cultural clients by developing and leading the implementation of effective strategy and ensure that messaging and activations draw Gen X, Millennial and Gen Z audiences toward their events or programs and push audiences to action. My passion is working with organizations that center arts and culture or focus on advocacy and equity in the BIPOC communities.
Clients include: Pantsuit Nation-National, Harris County Youth Civic Engagement Initiative, One Breath Partnership, 1,000 Days Mid America Arts Alliance, Houston’s Freedmen’s Town Conservancy, The Jack Hadley Black History Museum
Communications Director - Hurston/Wright Foundation for Black Writers
In June of 2020, I was tasked with managing the creation and publishing of engaging, high-quality content for the Hurston/Wright Foundation's social networks (Facebook, Twitter & Instagram). I played a pivotal role in the brand storytelling and creative vision through engaging social copy and creative copywriting through various online channels.
I was officially promoted to Director of Communications for the Hurston/Wright Foundation in October of 2020. I spent my time tapping into what's happening in the literary and publishing world, for Black writers at all level of expertise, and in Black culture. I converted that into relevant content for the foundation’s various audiences, which exceeds 10,000 people. I wrote daily standalone content for email and development communications and executed cohesive campaigns tied to foundation-wide initiatives. I also tracked and measured KPIs, using engagement metrics to spot trends and developed new ideas for reaching new members and donors to the foundation.
During this time, I successfully developed:
A cohesive brand for the organization, including building brand guidelines and designing sponsorship brochures in support of fundraising efforts
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A membership strategy for the organization
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A comprehensive and multichannel End of Year campaign that resulted in over $35,000 in donations, including engagement from Amazon Literary Partnership and Bumble.
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A social media strategy that resulted in over 125% growth across social media channels in less than a year.
During my tenure, I supported:
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General operations, leading/facilitating a team retreat in January 2021
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The foundation's general programs including a weekend and week long writers workshop
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The submission recruitment for the foundation's annual College and Crossover Awards
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The annual Legacy Awards, honoring the best in Black literature.
Communications and Development Director- Women's Resource of Houston
In my role as the Director Of Communications and Development, I led the department in promoting the activities, events, classes, and program offerings of The Women's Resource, Houston's leading free financial educational organization for women and girls, made up of 35 partner locations across 38 zip codes. The job required aggressive, creative, and proactive story development, messaging, and pitching to secure as much brand awareness as possible.
Director of Communications- National March for Science
In this role, I was responsible for the direction of the digital engagement program of the largest science advocacy platform in the world, reaching a peak audience of 2.1 million members online.
My responsibilities included:
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Managing the March for Science brand on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram,(an audience of over 2 million globally) and managing a team of FB group moderators, including providing staff trainings, arranging moderator volunteer shifts, and developing processes for hiring new moderators.
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Defining, planning, and executing innovative initiatives and experiments to drive engagement, grow key audiences and build awareness of the March for Science Global Brand.
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Representing March for Science at the Facebook Community Partnership Leadership program, a 6-month program hosted by Facebook HQ for large advocacy groups.
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Building relationships with over 200 satellite/affiliate chapters across the world; amplifying their efforts on social media and providing leadership/training on social media best practices.
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Engaging and growing our online community of activists, donor-activists, and online action-takers.
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Using digital organizing tools to support March for Science’s network of activists and to strengthen the connection between our online and face-to-face organizing.
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Regularly synthesizing learnings and recommendations for how best to amplify March for Science content with the leadership team, partner organizations and community organizers.
Marketing and Programming Director - Houston Museum of African American Culture
As the Houston Museum of African American Culture’s Marketing and Programming Director, I had the privilege of ideating, facilitating, and hosting over 40 socially relevant museum public programming and events. In addition, I developed the organization's first digital strategy, bolstering the museum’s attendance and visibility garnering new patronage in the thousands. Under my leadership, the museum actively re-imagined the social landscape for Black Americans and mobilized communities of color through event activation, social media, and education.
During my time at the museum, I:
• Developed the organization’s first multi-year strategic marketing and communication plan for website, social media, email marketing, and consumer products since its founding in 2012.
• Created and implement an effective coupon redemption strategy for digital channels for the museum's paid programming.
• Increased email open rates by 9% through advanced targeting and subject line testing
•Liaised with internal stakeholders to ensure flawless execution of strategy and special projects.
•Launched new social/entertainment programming that has brought in over 4,000 in sales.
•Authors copy for hmaac.org website and email campaigns.
•Managed website functionality to optimize the customer browsing experience.
•Achieved 33% increase in Instagram audience, 12% Facebook audience growth and 5% Twitter growth in 3 months.
•Managed Exhibition manager and design of marketing materials (both print and digital)
Education
Stephen F Austin State University
B.A. Mass Communications-Radio/TV Production
M.A. Mass Communications
Digital Project Management Certificate
Interests
Like most millennials, a large part of my identity is rooted in my Hogwarts house (it's Hufflepuff for anyone asking), my monthly wine box subscription, and my love for tacos. I also enjoy listening to true crime podcasts, learning how to cook new dishes, hosting large parties and kickbacks with my husband (we're both only children), and developing a newfound love for gardening and taking care of plants. And of course, I love traveling and museums.
As a kid, I went to school exactly seven blocks from our Museum District, back when Houston was a completely different city and 3rd ward was balancing between affluence and dilapidation, depending on the street. Our almost bi-weekly field trips to various museums in the area cemented my love for museums and the arts, so much so that at 16, I started working at the Children's Museum of Houston.
Since then, much like museums, I've married community and storytelling to activate the audiences I market to, mainly in the advocacy and social impact spaces. However, both as a professional and a patron, museums will always hold a special space in my heart.
My favorite museum in Houston: The Science Museum
My favorite art piece in Houston: The Yellow Scale by František Kupka (MFAH permanent collection)
My favorite arts organization: Does Miller Outdoor count? What's better than free art in the Spring?