Vanessa Álvarez — Is a marketing and communications strategist from and living in Chicago. Her love for her city and its people led her to share and build power as a catalyst for our communities. Rooted in listening and grounded in storytelling, she uses industry, educational, professional and lived experiences to assist businesses, entrepreneurs and nonprofits to understand, develop, and grow their brand, and messaging through desired platforms and ecosystems. Together with brand creation, she uses her expertise in the matrix of strategic and organized communications plans. This includes internal and external messaging, editorial content and calendaring, traditional and new media, writing and developing digital content, and managing multi-channel marketing campaigns. Vanessa brings out the best in leaders and teams while using data, trends and people to make informed decisions, build plans and reach SMARTIE goals.Every entity has a story to tell, a vision to share, and goals to reach, Vanessa can help get you there.She is fluent in Spanish and an alum of Columbia College and DePaul University. Vanessa is a fan of coffee, tequila, summertime in the CHI and salsa – the kind you eat.