Resume

Highlights

  • Science background, with 20 years in communications & public engagement

  • Tapped by executive leadership for high-stakes messaging strategy work

  • Emmy Award winner – Part of the team that won NASA’s first Emmy in 2018

  • Expertise in video production, event & experience design, writing & editing, project management

  • Experience supporting proposals, pitches, and brand storytelling

  • Skilled in Adobe Creative Suite apps including Photoshop, Lightroom, Audition, Acrobat and Premiere

  • My growing AI toolkit: Claude AI, ChatGPT, Notebook LM, Perplexity, Napkin AI, Topaz Photo AI, Midjourney

  • Certified Trainer – LEGO Serious Play Methodology

  • FAA Certificated Remote Pilot (Part107)

  • Member AIAA, AAS, SCU

Strategic Communications & Science Engagement

A dedicated science & technology communicator with a passion for compelling, accessible stories. Educational background in astronomy, and experience that touches corporate, non-profit, academic, and government communications, including interagency coordination.

Expertise

  • Messaging strategy

  • Writing & editing

  • Project management

  • Media relations

  • Video production

  • Event & experience design

Experience

Senior Public Engagement Specialist & Story Strategist
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
2017 - Present

Collaborate on diverse projects to find new and engaging ways to tell our story of exploration. Coordinate with teams across JPL and other NASA centers on high-visibility public engagement campaigns with lasting impact that help communicate the value and relevance of NASA science.

Co-founded JPL's StoryLab, where we use narrative thinking to help teams communicate with greater impact. Develop targeted communication strategies and messaging to address business-to-business and stakeholder priorities, including mission proposal support. Write, voice, and produce NASA's monthly skywatching series, "What's Up" - NASA's longest running web video series, with millions of views each month.

Public Engagement Specialist & Media Relations Lead
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
2008 - 2017

Coordinated a wide variety of communications activities for NASA missions and programs, distilling complex topics into written stories and other products that were compelling, accurate, and accessible, aiding the media and public in their understanding of NASA science and engineering. Developed communication strategies for reaching the public and stakeholders via web, social media, and in-person events. Wrote internal planning documents, and served as producer in development of videos, printed materials, exhibits, live events, and scale models. Liaised with DOE on radioisotope power comms.

Public Engagement & Media Relations Coordinator
Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO
2004 - 2008

Supported public engagement related to NASA and NSF research, including web development, exhibits and printed handouts. Conducted and edited scientist interviews for online publication. Wrote and distributed news releases and captions for the imaging team of the Cassini mission to Saturn. Created SSI's first comms plan and standards.

Education

  • BA, Astronomy (2005)
    University of Colorado at Boulder

  • BFA, Theatre (1998)
    University of Evansville

Awards

  • JPL People Leadership Award (2021)

  • Emmy Award (2018) "Outstanding Original Interactive Program"

Memberships

  • American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (Member)

  • American Astronomical Society (Educational Associate Member)

  • Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (Contributing member)

More about my work:

I'm a dedicated science communications lead with a passion for sharing stories of discovery that help people remember they are explorers, in a world much more vast than their everyday experience. I believe it's important for everyone to know there are some things we do as a species that are uplifting, hopeful, and good. And over my 20-plus-year career as a communications specialist, it's been a privilege to play a key role in some wonderful examples of science storytelling.

Some career highlights include announcing an ocean at Saturn's moon Enceladus, leading communications for the finale of the Cassini mission at Saturn, releasing a reprocessed version of Voyager's "Pale Blue Dot" image, and developing inspiring messages to engrave on the Europa Clipper spacecraft, which is on its way to Jupiter. I also write, produce, and host NASA's monthly skywatching video series, "What's Up."

Increasingly, my work focuses on strategic communications and shaping messaging strategy at an organizational level (i.e., projects, programs, & institutions). I co-founded a team at JPL called StoryLab, whose focus is helping our technical professionals communicate with greater impact. Our mission is to raise the level of narrative intelligence across our institution, using the tools and language of storytelling. Using our client-focused methodology, which we call story architecting, we help teams share their work with greater clarity and credibility. Recent highlights include developing a comprehensive, audience-focused messaging strategy for the Mars Sample Return campaign, and writing a fresh take on JPL’s value proposition for external stakeholders and collaborators.

I'm an accomplished developer of brand strategies that resonate with audiences. I have experience in corporate, non-profit, academic, and government environments, including interagency coordination. You'll find me skilled in Strategic Communications and Story Strategy, as well as Science and Technical Writing & Editing, Video Production, and Public Engagement.

I’m a high-value communications leader, and I bring my core values — curiosity, candor, steadfastness, service, and fairness — to any project I work on.