- 5 min read
Updated: Jun 7, 2025
It's no accident. Communications has been a passion of Rachelle Todea's since she was 11 years old. She created a neighborhood newsletter with a community brief, a cartoon, and puzzles. Think Word Search. Her brother remembered her four-page, double-sided newsletter when they discussed her new pursuit, a communications credential to complement her communications career.
Fast-forward to a master's degree in communications from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, she excelled. SU is America's top university for communications. She treated her master's degree as a springboard for more meaningful, engaging, in-depth work in strategic communications. It complemented her pursuit for authentic storytelling.
"I'm a people person," Todea said. "This innate trait helps me capture authentic stories."
Todea says she chose public relations to elevate impact in a meaningful way with storytelling, strategy, and planning. Her expertise is in integrated communications strategy. Her skill is achieving communication and business goals.
Before earning her master's degree, as a parent volunteer for an Indigenous language immersion school, she developed a website and a newsletter in an area impacted by the digital divide. The school aimed to revitalize an Indigenous language. Historical efforts to destroy the Indigenous language were now in reverse. English Only politicos set their sights on her children's unique language school. She had to do something. Informing parents and building awareness became necessary, and so she did it.
Public relations in adulthood began to take shape with these efforts. Todea had a knack for communications and applied to a government role as a Public Information Officer and won them over. Social media was an emerging tech. She counseled internal stakeholders about it. Todea also increased media placement by 60%.
She returned to school for in-depth knowledge about strategy and ethics. Her commitment to her education has been invaluable to her professional growth.
She recently accepted a role as the Digital Communications Manager for an Indigenous-led nonprofit in Colorado. She increased the organization's social media reach and impressions in the hundredth percentage range. Additionally, she led the donor relations team's first-ever A/B test, meeting campaign goals early, which left the team scrabbling for new campaign messaging. She safeguarded accuracy to maintain long-lasting relationships.
She is also a published journalist.
Todea also works for Save the Children Action Network in Colorado pro bono. She led its communications efforts for two successful election campaigns with a coalition of other organizations for free, fully funded full-day kindergarten and universal pre-K. Each occurred a year apart for consecutive wins.
Before the campaigns, she co-founded a public charter school for American Indian students in the Denver metro area. She developed its foundational communications interface, built rewarding partnerships, and developed a successful student recruitment outreach strategy.
"I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to return to school and learn comm strategy to be effective in my community to build a thriving one," she said.
Forever Orange
Students in the Syracuse program progressed together in a cohort. In addition to their coursework, they completed two immersion weekend experiences. Her colleagues went to Facebook, Starbucks, and Amazon. She asked one of the speakers, now a mentor, to recommend a book. He recommended a book by Scott Galloway titled The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google.
"The book carried forward the experience I had observed during my immersion visits," she says.
She frequently listens to Galloway and Kara Swisher on Pivot, a podcast about tech.
She also remarked about the nature of a cohort--the benefit of sharing the same information and experiences.
"I will forever cherish the friendships and mentors I gained," she says. "We are lifelong friends who continue to lean on one another to this day."
She worked on strategic marketing and communications plans for Sony, Patagonia, and REI. After analyzing brands, she created a PR innovation for brands delving into social issues. She also stepped into the space of managing Bill Clinton's image to make recommendations. She considered the #MeToo movement.
An unpredictable work experience led her to learn more about ethics in public relations while at Syracuse University. Her research, "Ethics in Public Relations: Navigating Conflicting Leadership Vision for Corporate Social Responsibility," sparked from an incident where a staff executive clashed with a chairman's directive, with her caught between their conflicting demands. Her research led to several recommendations.
One of her favorite assignments caught her by surprise. The assignment was an immediate deliverable to tell a compelling personal story for a multimedia storytelling course. It was a sink-or-swim moment. She swam.
Next, she created her first-ever sequence: Up to Speed.
Her favorite assignment followed. A multimedia story centered on a ticket broker titled: The Actor Factor. She told his story of facing his fear and supporting himself, not an account from the outside looking in, full of judgment.
"Capturing an authentic voice for storytelling empowers everyone involved," Todea said. "Stereotypes fall apart."
Increasing Business Acumen
Todea's curiosity as a life-long learner propels her. For example, she earned a business certificate from the Wharton School of Business to increase her business acumen. She chose a marketing proposal for Shazam for her capstone project. She created a slide deck to present her marketing proposal, which would increase Shazam's revenue by 10%. Surprisingly she enjoyed the accounting and corporate finance requirements for the program. Accounting was the most challenging course. But once she figured it out, it became easier. She was well on her way to earning another credential.
She began watching Shark Tank, and it piqued her interest in the accounting aspect. She learned another way to value a business. She is now learning about investment strategy.
Agency Hopeful, Yes! Finally.
To play on the words of an Olympic hopeful, she has been a PR agency hopeful since grad school. She set her sights on a career at a global PR agency. To her delight, Todea accepted an offer for a fellowship in corporate reputation from a couple of V.P.s at a global PR agency in San Francisco. The agency values diversity, inclusion, and equity within its ranks.
Agency work appealed to her because each agency engages a vast range of clients to address other communications needs from a strategic angle. She believes in working smarter. Agency life also means continuing life-long learning, day in and day out, which she enjoys greatly.
To reach her goals, Todea completed the PR Council's agency-ready certificate program to increase her opportunity for agency life. The track complemented her academic career well. Further, the program exposed nuances at a PR agency.
Todea plans to work towards relevant and provocative insights for a strategic campaign to help build a foundation for the creative and strategic team at an agency or organization. Her interests lie in reputation, crisis and issues management, media relations, tech and sustainability.
"Simply put, I believe in helping others, making an impact, thriving, and doing good," she shared. "I'm happy I have the knowledge, experience, and backbone to do it."
