In Progress

I work with individuals, nonprofits, public agencies, and private companies to help craft communications strategies based on a smart and sincere social marketing approach. As a communications professional, I’ve covered many sectors including education, violence prevention, public health, new media, internet consumer companies, luxury goods, and local arts and culture. I deliver creative content that packs a punch.

Services:

Strategy and Message Development
Communications Plans and Campaigns
Copywriting
Audio Production
Video production
Website production

I would love to hear about your organization or project and share ideas and strategies. A few projects are linked to below. For more project details and my resume, please get in touch.

AudioLuxe

72 hours to create a graphic identity, business cards, and workshop brochure from scratch. It sounds intimidating, but we met it with striking results. Sumudu Welaratna, a print artist (and my sister) who understands how to make two-dimensional space have maximum impact, took a very specific design concept and realized it in full. See the logo and brochure cover and interior.

Brilliant Earth

Starting in 2005, I originated and grew Briliant Earth’s online marketing strategy as the company developed from an upstart online retailer with a big idea to an global market leader with an established lifestyle brand. A mix of public education, brand identity, and a refined aesthetic on every page of their site reflects their unique message of luxury with a conscience. The extensive public education section on conflict diamonds and related issues in particular required in-depth research and framing. Until 2008, I wrote all the copy for their website and collateral materials. I also designed and launched their blog. Learn how to find a truly conflict free diamond, read the sapphire education section, or visit the blog.

Getting the Grade

At i.e. communications, I helped develop a set of FAQs on standardized testing in Bay Area elementary schools to initiate and shape a positive dialogue among Bay Area families and schools. We also developed a scorecard that placed testing in context with a number of other indicators to show how Bay Area schools were doing overall. We launched the resources at a lunch-time forum at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. Read the FAQs [PDF] and the scorecard [PDF].

Hope To Action

In May of 2008, Hope To Action was in the early stages of growing their constituency of women for climate protection. A house party program called EcoSalon had been conceived of but not yet developed to support Hope To Action’s recruiting efforts and spur grassroots action in local communities, and the Hope To Action website was undergoing a migration from HTML to Drupal to incorporate new functionalities. I was brought in to provide strategic communications consulting to the main website and to create a program plan, brand identity and collateral materials for the EcoSalon program. Working with the Hope To Action team and a third party vendor, I organized the EcoSalon program into a simple, fun themed event with customized party plans and follow up activities all downloadable from the newly streamlined website.  With a cheerful and ecoconscious graphic identity that ties strongly back into Hope To Action’s logo, EcoSalon has become Hope To Action’s signature initiative. See a party plan [PDF], and visit EcoSalon on the Hope To Action website.

Keeping Youth Safe

This award-winning public policy campaign funded by The California Wellness Foundation involved a live statewide videoconference on violence prevention that took place in nine different locations across California. Collateral materials included a graphic identity, invitations, save-the-date postcards, policy fact sheets, a voter polling fact sheet, promising program write-ups, and follow up postcards to point attendees to a summary report available online. My responsibilities included format strategizing, interviews, writing and some design work, as well as handling all printing and mailings to an extensive database of over 10,000 invitees. After the event, I conducted interviews, reviewed the extensive archive of media coverage, and compiled photos from each location to write a summary report distributed to a database of over 8,000 attendees that presented a snapshot of the discussion and themes from each specific location. Read about a promising program [PDF]. Read the final report [PDF].

Media-Screen (now Netpop Research)

Media-Screen, a market research firm focusing on the Internet consumer, was at the beginning of a total site redesign to incorporate Netpop, a new syndicated report series focusing on the worldwide broadband consumer, when I joined as a researcher. I wrote new copy for their site, placing their cutting-edge research focus on the personal consumer experience in context for potential subscribers and showcasing the company’s responsive personality as a boutique firm. I also helped them develop a press strategy which garnered a steady stream of articles within the online market research community. Read a press release [PDF].

Meeting the After-School Workforce Challenge through Older Adults

This one-day conference was organized by i.e. communications for a collaborative of afterschool advocacy organizations: Experience Corps, Civic Ventures, the California AfterSchool Partnership, and Moss Beach Homes. I found a venue, organized a catered lunch, designed and managed an online invitation and registration process, and helped compile and produce toolkits for over 100 attendees. See the toolkit.

Violence Prevention Scorecard Panel

We produced this report on youth violence prevention for United Way of the Bay Area, with the aim of helping counties and residents assess the relative safety of their communities. To help introduce the report and bring the dialogue into a public forum, we organized a lunchtime panel discussion at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco that featured San Francisco County officials along with youth and youth advocates who discussed the report results with the public. I worked with the Commonwealth Club, our in-house database of violence prevention stakeholders, and United Way of the Bay Area to invite speakers, draft a press release, and attract a full capacity crowd. Read the report [PDF] and a press release [PDF].