Community Engagement Director, Brink Communications

UW Majors: Comparative History of Ideas and Communication

Tell us a bit about your job (e.g. what kinds of things you’re working on, what types of problems you solve day to day, etc.)?

I work at Brink Communications, a women-owned, majority Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communications, marketing, and design firm based in Portland, OR. We organize and work across three pillars: urban innovation, healthy communities, and racial justice. In my role as the firm's Community Engagement Director, I lead a team of engagement and communications strategists to help our clients—mostly nonprofits, government agencies, and elected officials—work with and within communities to create long-lasting systemic change. Most recently, I supported my team with developing a trauma-informed and culturally-responsive COVID-19 risk mitigation communications campaign to help communities most impacted by the pandemic in Oregon get access to life-saving information and public health guidance. By working with community-based organizations, we supported the state's broader efforts to reduce COVID-19 exposure and infections across Oregon.

 

How do you think your humanities education has influenced/advanced your career path?

I chose an education focused on the humanities because of its ability to provide an intersectional lens for examining history and culture. My humanities-based education has significantly influenced my career path by providing me with a strong foundation for understanding historical patterns of behavior and identifying strategies to tackle the world's most pressing issues. By having an education based in humanities, I was able to secure internships while attending UW, land my first job in Chicago, and advance in a deeply satisfying career that merges two disciplines that I am passionate about—strategic communications and community engagement.  

Want to read more? Check out the profiles on the Alumni Spotlights page for more information on what our humanities majors are up to.