THE DIPLOMAT · STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS ADVISOR
The person you call when the conventional solutions haven't worked.
I help mission-driven leaders find what's actually broken — the kind of thing that's already costing you your team, your donors, and your organization's ability to tell one consistent story, inside the building and out.
A free, confidential conversation. I'll know quickly whether I'm the right fit — and I'll tell you either way.
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
The problems I solve
Organizations don't call me for better messaging. They call me because people are leaving, donors are going quiet, or the CEO is carrying the whole thing alone—and none of the usual fixes have worked.
01
“We paid a lot and have nothing to show for it.”
The board approved the budget. The agency pitch was polished. Six months later, the deliverable is a strategy doc in a folder no one opens. I make space for the reality of it, then build a plan that creates impact and calm.
02
“The CEO is carrying everything on their own.”
CEOs are smart, effective, and singularly holding the strategy, the funder relationships, the internal tensions. I become an embedded thought partner who knows the full story, can hold the hard parts without flinching, and helps you think out loud in a room where nothing has to be softened first.
03
“Our programs and people are deeply siloed.”
Your organization’s work is good, but the teams have become islands and the story is fractured. What's broken is upstream — in how the work is understood internally before it's ever communicated out. I find the connective tissue and build the shared language so you can tell one story.
04
“Our comms team is out of its depth strategically.”
Comms teams are built for output: the newsletter, the campaign, the press response. They're not built to sit between leaders who are saying different things in different rooms. That gap gets expensive. I work as the connective tissue between leadership and comms to rebuild the shared narrative and stabilize it through the moment.
05
“We've been told this isn't possible.”
Some version of "that can't be done" has been accepted as true. My answer is always the same: nothing in communications is impossible. If you can trust me, I'll make magic for you.
How I work
Diplomat Reset
Stop the bleeding in 90 days: repair the fractures behind the turnover and donor doubt, and leave with one clear story.
Fractional Diplomat
Six months so the leader is no longer carrying everything alone and gets a team that can run without them.
Diplomat Circle
A six-month cohort for comms leaders and chiefs of staff who need peers who already get the terrain.
Who I am
A Ph.D. in brain science and music taught me two things: how people are wired to process information, and how a story holds together under tension. For 20 years I've put both to work in entrepreneurship and business — helping leaders understand the stories they tell about themselves and their organizations. Doing that in the hardest rooms, under the most pressure, is why colleagues call me The Diplomat.
I don't sit with the problem. I find the cause fast, name what's needed, and tell you exactly how to stop the bleeding — the turnover, the cooling donors, the weight you're carrying alone — and get you to what you want: one clear story, an aligned leadership team, and a message you can trust under pressure.
One senior leader put it this way: I was the most effective communications professional they had encountered in decades in the field.
TESTIMONIALS
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Let's Talk
If something here is resonating — if you've been living with a communication problem the usual fixes haven't solved, I'd be glad to talk. Just an honest conversation about what's not working.
Or email me: christine@christinekoh.com
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