WORK WITH ME
When something critical is stuck, I help you move it forward.
I work with mission-driven leaders and organizations at the intersection of strategy, communications, narrative, and organizational alignment.
You don't need to arrive with a perfectly defined scope. I can help identify what's actually getting in the way, determine what needs to happen, and build a practical path forward — then lead the work or help your team carry it out.
SELECT CLIENTS
AARP
CDC
Harvard University
American Cancer Society
Planned Parenthood
Obama for America
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
WBUR
AMAZE
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Heart Association
#GivingTuesday
Harvard University
Heifer International
Muscular Dystrophy Association
National Conference on Citizenship
Phillips Foundation
ZOE
AARP CDC Harvard University American Cancer Society Planned Parenthood Obama for America Children's Hospital of Philadelphia WBUR AMAZE American Academy of Pediatrics American Heart Association #GivingTuesday Harvard University Heifer International Muscular Dystrophy Association National Conference on Citizenship Phillips Foundation ZOE
When to call me
You may need someone who can see the whole picture.
Whether something isn't working or something important is taking shape and you want to get it right, you may need someone who can see the full arc. Clients typically bring me in when:
Something important needs to launch, but the strategy isn't there yet.
You have a strong idea or opportunity and need someone who can see its full potential — then build the strategy to get it there.
The organization has evolved, but the story hasn't caught up.
Different people or programs are telling different versions of who you are and why your work matters.
A communications strategy exists, but it isn't translating into action.
A leader is carrying too much of the organization's strategic communications thinking alone.
There's a strong execution team, but they need senior strategic direction for a particularly complex campaign, launch, or transition.
Something simply feels off — and you're too close to it to see exactly what.
What I do
I figure out what the situation calls for.
Every engagement is different, because I don't walk in with a predetermined framework or solution.
I start by listening, asking questions, looking across the organization, and identifying what the situation really calls for. From there, I build the strategy around what your organization is actually trying to accomplish — and what your people, capacity, and resources can realistically support.
Depending on the situation, I might:
Find the story
Develop or rebuild organizational narrative and messaging so your work makes sense internally and externally.
Build the strategy
Turn a big goal, messy challenge, research initiative, launch, or organizational transition into a clear communications strategy and plan.
Create alignment
Help leaders and teams get to shared language, priorities, and decisions when too much is fragmented across people or programs.
Architect the campaign
Build the strategic backbone for a major launch or burst campaign — audience, narrative, channels, cadence, partnerships, creative direction, and execution plan.
Lead the work
Take a complex initiative from discovery through strategy, narrative, planning, and execution when you need someone senior to own the whole thing.
Equip your team to execute
Provide the strategy, structure, messaging, and senior-level guidance an existing communications team needs to run with the work.
What this can look like
My work takes many forms but here are some examples from previous client engagements:
An organization needed a story big enough for its next decade.
I led discovery and research, developed foundational messaging and a 10-year narrative arc, then built the communications strategy, cadence, and creative direction to put that story into practice.
A complex issue needed to reach people outside the experts.
I helped translate complex scientific theory and technical information into public-facing narrative and engagement strategies — spanning digital communications, conferences, practitioners, community organizations — that could move people from awareness to advocacy.
A flagship research project needed to become thought leadership.
I developed the narrative architecture and led editorial development, creative production, and campaign design, distilling extensive research and field insights into a compelling public-facing story.
A communications function had gone dormant.
I partnered with the CEO to rebuild comms around the organization's actual capacity while creating narrative coherence across previously siloed programs — and stayed on as a strategic advisor across major organizational priorities.
A complicated national campaign needed one strategic spine.
I designed an integrated strategy connecting messaging, storytelling, partners, influencers, web, video, email, social, advertising, and podcast integrations so an execution-heavy campaign didn't become a collection of disconnected tactics.
Why clients bring me into the complicated stuff
I've done the work, not just advised on it.
Twenty years of hands-on experience across campaigns, content, design, editorial, and communications means I know the difference between a smart strategy and one your team can actually execute. I build for the people and capacity you have — and when the gap is skill rather than bandwidth, I can help your team build it.
I say the thing no one's saying.
Ignoring the elephant in the room rarely gets anyone unstuck. I'm comfortable surfacing the tension, frustration, or hard truth everyone can feel but no one is naming — and doing it directly, compassionately, and without unnecessary drama.
My instincts are backed by science — and experience.
My Ph.D. trained me to think deeply about how people process information. Twenty years of communications work taught me what actually moves them. Together, they give me strong instincts about audience, narrative, and strategy — and the analytical rigor to interrogate those instincts rather than simply trust them.
I pay attention to who’s in the room — and who isn’t.
I know from experience that perspective, power, and belonging shape how people hear a story and participate in an organization. I pay attention to whose voices are shaping the conversation, whose aren't, and what that means for the strategy we're building.
How we might work together
Focused strategic engagements
Typically around 3 months
For a significant challenge with a clear window: a launch, narrative reset, major report, campaign, organizational transition, or communications strategy that needs senior attention now.
I can move from discovery and diagnosis through strategy and planning. When useful, I can also lead execution or equip your internal team to take the strategy to fruition. I admittedly love impossible-seeming challenges.
Fractional strategic advisory
Typically 6–12 months
For leaders navigating growth, change, or ongoing complexity who need senior strategic capacity without adding another full-time executive.
I work alongside CEOs, executive directors, communications leaders, and other senior staff as a confidential thought partner — helping make decisions, connect priorities, strengthen narrative coherence, and move important work forward.
“Our entire staff agreed: working with Christine was the best thing to come out of the initiative.” —Former client
You don’t have to know exactly what you need
If something isn't working, something important is coming, or you're carrying a strategic question you can't quite resolve, that's enough to start a conversation.
Or email me: christine@christinekoh.com