For more than a decade, I have been lucky to work with some of the country’s most incredible organizations and projects—from the Smithsonian Institution to The Heart Truth® campaign. My expertise lies in crafting, implementing, and measuring digital initiatives that help organizations engage their constituents, demonstrate their value, and stay relevant in an ever-evolving communications environment. I know how to tell a great story across platforms, harness the power of technology for good, and sustain online conversations that motivate people to take action.
Museums and Technology
I recently began work at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. I’m in a newly-created position focused on digital technologies for education and I’m so enthused about the possibilities for bringing the nation’s cultural treasures to the people through the power of new media. Stay tuned to my blog for my thoughts on the latest and most promising digital opportunities for museums.
For 8 seriously amazing years (2003-2011), I brought digital projects to life at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. I worked with curators, educators, partners, board members, and a host of other experts and stakeholders to shape an online presence that brought the organization into the 21st century. While there, I initiated projects and led the strategic direction for many new media technologies including email newsletters, online fundraising platforms, websites, blogs, social media, and mobile platforms.
Working in museums means there is always something inspiring, challenging, or just plain weird to learn about.
After graduating with a masters degree in museum studies from The George Washington University in 2007, I was thrilled to return a few years later to teach the only technology-centered course in the program, Museums and Technology (2010-2012). I currently teach graduate classes for Johns Hopkins University’s museum studies program, where I am able to share my expertise with the next generation of online communicators as well as learn and be inspired by students.
For many years (2008-2011), I was honored to serve on the board of directors for my regional museum association (the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums). I dedicated my time to creating a more useful and successful organization for members, with a particular focus on improving online communications as well as getting graduate students and emerging professionals active in the community.
I never thought I’d know so much about coins, voting machinery, segregation, polio, salsa music, or the flag that inspired the national anthem. Or that I’d get to work in the same building as a 920-pound Calder mobile and the only Leonardo da Vinci portrait in the Americas. It’s all in a day’s work when you’re employed by world-class museums and I feel very blessed to be a part of it.
Online Public Health Communications
While I’ve worked with museums for the majority of my career, I also have spent significant time working with web technologies to improve public health. From 2000-2003, I was part of a team of innovators responsible for kaisernetwork.org (now Kaiser Health News), the Kaiser Family Foundation’s foray into cutting-edge health policy news. It was an exciting time to be leading the way on the web, balancing exploration of new technologies—like syndication (before the heyday of RSS) and live webcasting the International AIDS Conferences—with the need to tell a compelling and accurate story. My role at the foundation was to manage content and technical tasks for kaisernetwork.org and kff.org (the organization’s core website) as well as related products such as the popular Kaiser Daily Reports emails.
In all of my work, I endeavor to harness the power of digital technologies for social good.I joined the social marketing practice at Ogilvy Public Relations for a short time (2011-2012), where I had the opportunity to learn from some of the most creative minds in the communications field. I developed social media strategies for major national education campaigns, including The Heart Truth®, which continues to break new ground in the fight against heart disease in women, as well as new initiatives such as the CDC’s Million Hearts™ initiative to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes. I was proud to work for the “Social Squared” team, renowned as the best at applying social media for social good.
Since 2010, I have volunteered my time for a small nonprofit, Education Fights AIDS International, whose work empowers youth affected by HIV and AIDS in Cameroon. I currently serve EFA as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors. As someone living with Type 1 diabetes, I’m also deeply interested in the quantified self movement and the ways self-tracking and other technology advances can empower patients to take their health into their own hands.
Play
Life isn’t all about work, though, right? (Right?!?) When it’s time to play, I like to hang out with my best friend and my dog, cook up something new, curl up with a book, do silly things with my pals, or scheme up ways to go scuba diving somewhere warm.
Right now I work in D.C. and live in The People’s Republic of Takoma Park (also referred to as “Berkeley East”). But one day I want to live in San Diego, the land of 74 degrees and sunny.
