Project Title:
Narrative Strategy & Civic Communications | City & County of San Francisco
The Context
Spanning a tenure across multiple departments within the City and County of San Francisco, I grew into a senior communications leadership role supporting executive alignment, strategic messaging, and public engagement across 172 agencies. This included work during a pivotal period of civic transformation, facilitating cross-department communication as San Francisco navigated infrastructure upgrades, expanded digital access, and transitioned between mayoral administrations. My work focused on helping government leaders communicate policy messages with clarity, empathy, and continuity while grounding outreach efforts in equity and accessibility for diverse city residents.
The Challenge
Within the City and County of San Francisco’s 172-agency structure, communication efforts often aimed to be fully transparent and comprehensive, ensuring public access to information. However, this commitment to detail sometimes overwhelmed audiences and diluted core messages. Strategic initiatives faced additional hurdles within a risk-conscious culture and diverse departmental priorities, leading to gaps between internal alignment and public-facing narratives.
The opportunity lay in establishing cohesive narrative ownership and strengthening cross-agency coordination. Senior leaders benefited from targeted support to communicate with clarity, take informed strategic risks, and build public trust in an environment where every message carried weight and impact.
The Approach
At the City and County of San Francisco, I served as a strategic partner to executive leadership, translating complex civic priorities into public narratives that built trust, aligned departments, and informed policy development. I equipped department heads and public officials with the tools to communicate effectively, creating messaging systems that balanced transparency with clarity, so that information served both the mission and the audience.
By integrating frameworks like Maxine Harris and Roger Fallot’s Trauma-Informed Systems of Care and Dr. Joy DeGruy’s Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome, I guided leaders in adopting communication methods rooted in psychological safety, cultural responsiveness, and equity. Through cross-agency collaboration and leadership coaching, I introduced narrative structures that empowered executives to make confident, values-based decisions under pressure. Whether advising on mayoral transitions, citywide health equity initiatives such as the Black Infant Health Program, or critical infrastructure projects, I focused on transforming public service messaging into public understanding that emphasizes strategy, empathy, and measurable civic impact.
The Impact
By positioning executive communication as a driver of public trust and operational clarity, my work helped shift how San Francisco’s leadership engaged with communities, coalitions, and crises. I played a key role in amplifying initiatives such as the Black Infant Health Program, reshaping outreach to center culturally responsive messaging for historically underserved Black mothers. This included integrating Dr. Joy DeGruy’s Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome framework, highlighting intergenerational trauma and resilience to design communications that honored lived experience while advancing maternal health equity.
Additionally, I contributed to the Trauma-Informed Systems of Care initiative, rooted in the foundational work of Maxine Harris and Roger Fallot, which guided the internal reframing of citywide narratives to center on psychological safety, self-regulation, and organizational responsiveness. The reframing directly resulted in a 130% increase in interdepartmental process efficiency across public health and workforce teams, demonstrating the operational power of trauma-informed communications.
I also led communications strategy bridging San Francisco’s technology divide, partnering with internal IT leaders and external coalitions to launch scalable digital inclusion efforts during critical service transitions. From managing citywide moments of change, such as mayoral leadership transitions following the passing of Ed Lee, to advising on statements that upheld civic values in high-stakes environments, my work consistently reinforced San Francisco’s ability to lead with transparency, cultural humility, and precision. These efforts laid a foundation for more coordinated, human-centered public service communications at a time when public understanding was as critical as policy itself.