Communications Director · Lifelong Creative
Vanessa
Poulson
Communications Meets Creative Direction
Over 12+ years, I’ve built and led executive communications, brand positioning, and integrated go-to-market programs across high-growth startups, enterprise organizations, healthcare, government, and mission-driven nonprofits.
I’ve generated $7M+ in qualified pipeline, lifted brand awareness 30%, and stewarded communications budgets exceeding $455K. A traditionally published author and filmmaker by craft, I approach every campaign, keynote, and brand narrative the way I’d approach a story that has to earn its ending: structured, human, and built to move people to act. That instinct for arc, tension, and resolution is what separates messaging that gets read from messaging that gets remembered.
The Work
Where strategy meets craft
Across communications, business development, creative, and events, I bring the thinking, the doing, and the results to prove it.
01
Communications & community
Words that work as hard as the strategy behind them.
- 100+ published pieces, 13 clients, $5m+ in rev ops generated across editorial work spanning Forbes, Televeda, Pearl Certification, and ActivTrak
- Topics I own: veteran mental health access, workforce analytics, energy equity, and tech policy
- Full-spectrum: thought leadership, ghostwriting, press strategy, and brand voice, C-suite thought leadership to position founders as industry leaders.
- Community building: across multiple platforms and products for B2B and B2C, strong work with Fortune 50 executives and creating advocates for the brand internally and externally.
02
Business Development & Product Sales Enablement
Relationships first, revenue second. They tend to arrive together.
- 150+ nonprofit and corporate partners built and managed across sectors
- SaaS, B2B, B2C, and public sector cross-industry deal positioning and partnership strategy
- End-to-end: from outreach and pitch decks to CRM systems and cross-departmental alignment, while also supporting the development of assets like battlecards and other sales collateral across the product marketing lifecycle.
- Relationship building and executive networks: cultivating trust and access across Fortune 50 organizations through long-game relationship strategy
03
Creative & Social Media
Content that earns attention rather than begging for it.
- 7M+ followers reached across directed digital marketing campaigns
- 10M+ interactions generated across social and influencer work in youth engagement, activism, and climate
- 700% engagement increase delivered across 10 B2B and B2C clients
- Platform and channel strategy: knowing which content belongs where and why, then building the system to sustain it
04
Events
Every event has a feeling. Mine also have intention behind them.
- End-to-end production: from concept and vendor management to day-of execution
- Brand activations to large-scale gatherings: intimate salons, organizational convenings, and everything between
- Creative direction plus operations: I run both so nothing falls through the cracks
- $437K avg. qualified pipeline per virtual event at a major tech brand, through executive webinar and speaking programs built to convert.
In their words
“I was fortunate to work with Vanessa for most of a year in a startup environment. We were creating all customer-facing content and sales materials ahead of hiring a CMO. I loved partnering with her. She is so smart, efficient, and an exceptional partner. I highly recommend her and hope to work with her again someday.”
Katherine Zubow-Farshler
Former Chief of Staff, Dell · Services Program Manager, Lenovo
“Vanessa is, first, a real pleasure to work with and manage. She’s very bright and very willing to jump off the deep end and figure things out on her own, or to take instructions and improve what she’s been asked to do. Her ability to think strategically and also execute serves her well. She has great writing, social media, and project management skills. From her personality to her marketing talents, she is the kind of person anyone would want on their team!”
Deon Lewis
Director of Strategy and Planning, Cisco
Let’s make something
Start a conversation
vanessa.poulson13 [at] gmail.com
Work samples are available privately upon request to protect the confidentiality of past clients.
Vanessa Poulson 