Why This Exists (And Why It's Different)

Here’s what most communications consultants won’t tell you: a press release isn’t a strategy. A media list isn’t a campaign. And landing coverage in The Wall Street Journal doesn't matter if your buyers read the trade association newsletter. It’s just not honest.

Real strategic communications requires something more complete and more tailored.

It’s knowing when to chase prestige media and when the regional business journal or industry publication is what actually moves your audience. It’s understanding how to position a company to attract the right investors while keeping it out of political crosshairs (or strategically navigating into them when that serves the goal). It’s building fundraising campaigns for nonprofits that connect emotionally with donors and deliver measurable results. It’s coordinating policy strategy, media relations, grassroots organizing, and stakeholder engagement into one coherent campaign.

I didn’t learn this from a playbook. I learned it by doing the work at every level.

As a White House appointee at the U.S. Department of Transportation, I led public affairs for a 55,000-person agency where words mattered and had the potential for immediate national impact. In Congress, I managed high-stakes communications during legislative battles and election campaigns where winning required coordinating inside advocacy with outside pressure. At Autodesk, I built and led global PR for a burgeoning billion-dollar business unit, creating international media summits and positioning complex technology for markets that we never really played in.

With startups, I've helped founders craft narratives that land, position products in competitive markets, secure millions in federal funding, and figure out which media actually matters (spoiler: it's rarely the outlets they think). With nonprofits, I’ve built fundraising campaigns that raised tens of thousands in weeks and created sustained donor engagement. And across municipal initiatives and causes, I've coordinated community organizing, coalition building, and campaigns that shifted policy.

The through line? Strategic thinking that matches tactics to goals. It's knowing that your member of Congress matters more than your national news hit. That the right industry analyst carries more weight than a general business reporter. That donor storytelling is different from investor storytelling is different from policy storytelling, and you need someone who’s fluent in all of it.

Monument Square Strategies exists because too many organizations hire “strategists” who offer one myopic solution regardless of the problem. Press release for everything. Social media calendar as default. Chasing logo placements instead of influence. Forget there’s a human at the center of every story.

You deserve campaigns built for your specific outcomes. Not someone else’s template.