Laura L'Esperance Email & Phone Number

Detroit, Mi, Us

Detroit, Michigan, United States

Leads the public relations function for a boutique, values-driven integrated communications and creative agency based in Detroit. I work with corporate and nonprofit clients to advance their strategic goals and support their communications objectives and planning.• Communications Planning: Advise corporate and non-profit clients in building their annual and strategic communications plans including media relations, website content, crisis & reputational issues, social media and executive positioning to support clients in reaching their organizational objectives.• Business Development: Identify opportunities for new and existing clients to leverage the latest storytelling platforms and strategies; craft compelling proposals to recruit new clients to our agency in support of growing their reach and impact. • Content Creation: Draft, edit and refine content for thought leadership pieces, editorial articles, newsletters and websites so that client messaging and brand goals are clear, consistent and meet their public relations goals.• Team Development: Lead a PR team of communications professionals to develop and deliver on client expectations. Provides coaching, mentoring and guidance as needed to optimize capacity and career development.

Greater Detroit Area

Cultivated, developed, and oversaw diversified, high-performance teams comprised of 12-20 personnel across Corporate Communications, Digital Strategy, Marketing Communications, Events, and Alumni Engagement for a nationwide nonprofit connecting skills of military veterans with needs of under-resourced and marginalized communities.• Strategic Planning: Instrumental member of the Executive Team as an essential communication strategist and storyteller for ‘The Mission Continues’; actively facilitated organization's three-year strategic plan/vision and provided ongoing advisory for cross-functional initiatives and President/Board decision making.• Brand Recognition: Continually drove brand recognition centralized on maintaining veteran-led service as a trending topic in philanthropy and The Mission Continues as the undeniable field leader in the space, while continually applying an equity lens to how the organization presents itself. • Crisis Management: Navigated organizational crisis communication response for The Mission Continues via founder’s run for political office and subsequent inauspicious resignation; managed over 40 media inquiries, contributed to 10+ statements, and ensured favorable reputation among supporters and donors.• Crisis Adaptation: Established a five-month editorial calendar following the start of the COVID pandemic, to include writing 12+ executive emails delivered to staff, donors, and volunteers.• Content Production: Produced content for both traditional and digital media channels, including strategic communications plans, press releases, blog posts, and video scripts.• Fundraising & Team Leadership: Spearheaded a fundraising team of six personnel that successfully generated donations totaling $22M over a two-year timeframe.

Greater New York City Area

• Staff Development: Oversee career development of 18-member External Affairs team; assess performance and provide individualized coaching/counseling to boost performance and zero-in on development needs.• Program Development: Developed and implemented a broad range of new programs, that have effectively generated $3M+ in donor support over past 8 years.• Team Building: Conceptualized, assembled, and deployed organization's first digital strategy-focused team, in turn accelerating social platform engagement by 300%+.

Greater New York City Area

• Program Building: Wrote and distributed 30+ press releases centralized on promoting program launches and highlighting individual service of volunteer base.• Website Innovation: Twice navigated team through full-scope website relaunch, including procurement of development consultants, technical specs and user testing, content development, and brand management.• Rebranding: Pioneered full organizational rebrand in 2013 to mirror evolved strategic priorities, including new logo, tagline, core value refresh, creative concepts for website/advertising, and brand proposition.

New York, Ny

Leveraged finely tuned expertise as an analytical strategist, executive-level communications specialist, and driver of global thought leadership in progressively maximizing brand awareness and fortifying market position. • Communications Oversight: Spearheaded executive-level communications in collaboration across business lines to regulate consistency throughout messaging and departmental processes; drafted speeches, talking points, and web content for executives’ public speaking engagements.• Market Position & Brand Awareness: Developed global thought leadership initiatives in specialty product areas, effectively establishing market position and maximizing brand awareness.• Team Building & Staff Development: Recruited and cultivated a 10-member global communications team assembled to manage projects valued in excess of $20M.• Career Development: Bolstered career development of marketing, communications, and events staff of 10; targeted development needs, provided ongoing coaching/counseling, and evaluated/drove performance.

New York, Ny

Vice President, Global Brand Management (2009 to 2011)• Global Rebranding: Assumed leadership of AIG’s global rebranding of international commercial insurance companies following the 2008/2009 financial crisis; mapped-out creative direction while directing both international team of consultants and internal global teams to govern guide advertising and PR strategies.• Creative Oversight: Held full accountability over developing/fostering creative oversight of global print, digital, and place-based media campaigns encompassing over 175 print and nearly 600 online placements.• Cross-Functional Leadership: Pioneered a cross-functional marketing team in the execution of a full-scale global rebranding project; oversaw 900+ deliverables in initiating conversion of approximately 90 countries over the span of a 14-month timeframe.• Brand Awareness & Project Management: Measured brand awareness, familiarity, and favorability across 11 countries via driving a global consumer and client research project.

New York, New York, United States

Responsible for strategic marketing and communications initiatives in 10 North American subsidiaries with total revenue of $23B. Directed annual strategic marketing plans and budgets of $10M for all division and product lines.

Master Of Business Administration (Mba)

Bs, Communications