Hello,
I'm Rachael.
Marketing Leader, Brand Storyteller, & Communications Strategist
Throughout my career, I’ve created a portfolio of success stories – crafting strategies and owning campaigns that resonate with diverse audiences, build relationships, and drive action.
From data storytelling to strategic communications, I play a lead role in helping brands discover their digital community, engage their audience authentically, and champion campaigns for customer growth and retention.
Hobbies include travel, petting every dog I see, running half-marathons, and planning my life around episodes of Top Chef.
Rejected novelist since 2017.
Strengths
Brand Storytelling
Too many brands talk about themselves, their benefits, and their features. To differentiate the brand and grow the business, I develop a brand story that is relevant, compelling, and creates an emotional response - providing value to the customers while humanizing the brand. This human-centered approach to brand storytelling gives my company a competitive edge in a crowded market, creating a common bond through branding that places the customers' concerns front and center.
Creative Campaigns
Creative campaigns are critical when it comes to driving awareness, building brand love, and generating qualified leads. I design relevant, remarkable, and repeatable campaigns by focusing on my intended audience and their pain points. My secret: anchoring the campaign message in something the audience actively wants. Relevance keeps attention.
Content Strategy
Customers are won and retained through authentic messaging. My strategy for creating content that customers love? Craft communications that resonate with the demographics we're trying to reach. Using customer insights, I create content marketing that speaks to what my specific customer cares about most and test my way to success.
Public Relations
Public relations is about building relationships between the organization, its community, and its people. I help businesses gain publicity by forging relationships with media outlets, local businesses, and community leaders in order to generate public relations campaigns, messaging, sponsorships, and exposure opportunities. Whether it's event coordination, media relations, or crisis communication, I develop public relations strategies tailored to the organization's needs.
Testimonials
Alisa Santiesteban,
VP of Marketing
“I rarely come across magnetic storytellers who stand out like Rachael. I had the pleasure of working with Rachael for three years at Can Do Multiple Sclerosis. She elevated social engagement, cultivated relationships and brought their stories to life, and directed development activities that increased individual giving by over 100%. She owns the ability to communicate with clarity and emotion and brings with her a compelling mix of creative and analytical skills. She is a remarkable observer, her marketing intuition is dialed, and her attention to detail (and grammar!) is stellar. When she takes a campaign from idea to reality, she will own that project fully and deliver excellence every time. Most importantly, she's a valuable colleague and a truly great person.”
John Polikandriotis,
CEO
"Rachael and I first began working together over 2 years ago, and she continues to grow in responsibility. I interacted frequently with her and can attest to her commitment to achieving goals, team work ethic, and organizational skills while also being approachable. It is a genuine pleasure for me to recommend Rachael Protas. I am very grateful for her contributions to our organization and very confident that she has the drive, passion, and skills to add immense value wherever she works."
Megan Buhler,
VP of Operations
"Rachael is an asset to any team! I have had the pleasure of working with her for the past two years and was continually impressed with her ability to manage multiple projects, external partnerships and quick deadlines with ease. She has a magnetic personality and is a joy to work with even in stressful times. She always has a smile on her face and some quick wit and humor to go with it! I hope to work with her again in the future, but in the meantime I would highly recommend her for any creative marketing position."
Kent Ebersole,
Strategic Brand Specialist
"Rachael and I worked together on SKI for MS, and she was pure joy to work along-side. Smart, witty, and a wonderful communicator, but what really makes her great is her ability to simply "get it" and take quick and appropriate action."
Tyra Rudrud,
Client
"Rachael was an amazing asset to my team at Engel & Völkers. She was bright, knowledgeable, and committed to excellence. Freelancing with Rachael as my Marketing Manager meant that assets were always delivered on time, on budget, aligned with corporate brand standards. She was my "go-to" person when I need marketing advice or a 2nd opinion. It has been nothing but a pleasure getting to work with her and know her."
Resumé
The work you'll find in this resume reflects an ambitious, performance-driven marketing and communications professional with a track record of crafting strategies and implementing initiatives that increase audience engagement, shape brand reputation, and drive action.
From intelligence gathering to strategic communications plans, positioning, and messaging, I play a lead role in helping organizations clarify their purpose, engage their audiences authentically, and champion campaigns for customer growth and retention.