I assist with media outreach, website content, and other communications needs for this new gun violence prevention organization.

The Center for Common Ground (www.centerforcommonground.org) is a national nonpartisan organization that empowers underserved communities of color to exercise and protect their right to vote. As one of the Center's regional organizers for its postcard campaigns, I am part of a team that covers Washington, D.C., and all of Maryland and Virginia. I introduce activists in the region to our postcarding system and train them in its use; respond to inquiries and speak to community groups about the Center’s work and campaigns; write, lay out, and distribute our periodic e-newsletter to activists; participate in planning meetings; and distribute postcards as needed.

• Responsible for increasing media coverage of Humane Society International in the United States; worked with the director of international media to promote HSI's global campaigns.• Edited and routed for approval press releases, advisories, and other material for the media; assisted staff in HSI's overseas offices with their media outreach needs.• Cultivated and maintained media contacts in the United States; developed media lists and disseminated press releases and other material to the media; managed news release content for HSI's website; monitored press coverage.• Fielded media inquiries, coordinating interviews for HSI spokespeople; trained staff on media outreach and interview skills.Resigned my position to work on helping people vote in the 2020 elections.

• Served as primary liaison to the media and as a spokesperson for the organization; pitched Center activities and positions to reporters; handled requests for information from the media; coordinated press interviews for staff and activists; monitored and analyzed the Center’s news coverage.• Developed proactive and reactive media strategies and messages for the Center; trained staff, allies, and activists in talking to the media and staying on message.• Organized press conferences; managed reporters at events; drafted press releases, fact sheets, speeches, talking points, and other public documents; created and maintained press lists; wrote and organized content for the Center's web site.• Created brochures and other material to promote the Center; edited and proofread external communication vehicles (Congressional testimony, regulatory comments, reports, fundraising documents).Notable achievements include:• Supervised the production of a short video to promote the Center’s legal assistance work. I determined the scope of the project; wrote and disseminated an RFP for a production company; evaluated candidates; worked with a producer on the script and shot list; coordinated interviews in multiple locations; coached interview subjects; and guided the final edit of the video.• Created fact sheets that dramatically increased the Center’s media coverage. • Supervised a redesign of the Pension Rights Center logo and the creation of two brochures.• Worked with a consultant to create a communications toolkit for a network of legal assistance providers.• Instituted a system for tracking the Center’s media coverage. The position was grant-funded through December 2015.

• Developed proactive and reactive media strategies and messages for Greenpeace’s high-profile protests and campaigns, for organizational news and for external developments on environmental issues; trained staff and activists in talking to the media, responding to challenging questions, and staying on message.• Served as a primary liaison to the media and as a spokesperson for the organization; pitched stories and Greenpeace activities to reporters; handled requests for information from the media; coordinated press interviews for staff.• Organized press conferences; managed reporters at press conferences, protests and special events; drafted press releases, correspondence and other public documents; wrote speeches and provided talking points for staff and activists.• Edited and proofread other departments’ external communication vehicles (reports, newsletters, fact sheets, web pages).• Created media lists and distributed press releases using Cision.Notable experience:• Served as the primary media officer for multiple Greenpeace campaigns, including forests, toxics and fisheries.• Served as the primary media officer for a report on the country’s most endangered forests, including organizing a press conference with nationwide call-in.• Garnered national media coverage for a research project on hair sampling to determine mercury exposure. • Served as the on-site media officer for several of Greenpeace’s high-profile protests, including a banner-hang from a working smokestack, a blockade of a corporate office building, and the nonviolent disruption of an industrial fishing operation.• Worked as the media officer on board one of Greenpeace’s ships for five weeks, as it held public events and conducted research in Southeast Alaska.I left Greenpeace to take the position at the Pension Rights Center.

• Served as a primary spokesperson for two related national gun safety organizations; pitched stories to reporters; participated in radio and television interviews, talk shows, public speaking engagements; handled requests for information from the media; coordinated interviews for other staff with the media.• Developed pro-active and reactive media strategies and messages for the Brady Campaign's and the Brady Center's initiatives, for organizational news, and for external developments on gun safety; trained staff and activists on handling the media, countering opposing arguments, and staying on message. • Organized press conferences; managed reporters at press conferences, fundraisers and special events; drafted press releases, op-eds, correspondence and other public documents; wrote speeches and provided talking points for staff and other speakers; • Organized and provided content for the organizations’ web sites. • Assisted other departments with their external communication vehicles (newsletters, publications, web pages, direct mail pieces), including checking content for message, editing, proofreading and providing assistance with vendors. • Recruited and supervised interns; conducted literature and statistical research; maintained photo files.Notable experience:• Served as a lead press officer for the Million Mom March, managing the credentialing and check-in process for more than 200 journalists who covered the event.• Pitched the Brady Campaign’s annual report card, which graded each state on its gun safety laws, to the media.• Appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in a pre-recorded segment with Stephen Colbert. (“Piece Be With You,” April 24, 2001)• Worked in the Brady Campaign’s Communications Department when the Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of the Brady Law and when several high-profile school shootings (Columbine, Jonesboro, Springfield) occurred. I left the Brady Campaign to take the position at Greenpeace.

Promoted to Senior Associate Director of Communications in May 2002.

Promoted to Associate Director of Communications in March 2001.

Promoted to Assistant Director of Communications in December 1998.

Assisted the Vice President of Public Affairs with overall management of the department, including budget tracking, scheduling and travel. Drafted press releases, correspondence, newsletters and other documents; edited and proofread documents written by others within the department; handled calls and correspondence from the public and the media on a wide range of issues regarding NWF; managed the annual National Conservation Achievement Awards process, including writing the Awards Banquet program and coordinating staff liaisons with award recipients.When NWF's Vice President of Public Affairs took a job as Vice President of Communications for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, she invited me to join her at the Brady Campaign, which I did in June 1997.

Managed NWF's Resources Conservation Internship Program: recruited and screened applicants; monitored staff supervision of interns; organized group activities; handled all administrative aspects of this program. Acted as liaison between field offices and human resources, administrative, and finance departments. Acted as a liaison to NWF's state affiliate organizations and assisted the Director of Planning and Administration with budget, personnel, and grant issues.In October 1996, I moved to the Public Affairs Department at NWF.

Provided administrative support for the Director of Planning and Administration and for the Administrative Coordinator: created and maintained computer spreadsheets for tracking budget data, lobbying activity, and litigation expenses; coordinated travel and schedules for staff; answered the telephone. Promoted to Administrative Coordinator in June 1988.