Emergency Response Leadership
Multi-Crisis Campaign Strategy • Global Emergency Operations
Leading comprehensive 360° campaign strategy that reshaped global perception of refugees from beneficiaries to changemakers, driving unprecedented engagement and policy conversations across 40+ countries through strategic storytelling and multi-platform activation.
$25M+ Total Emergency Funds
15+ Crisis Responses Led
-72 Hour Average Response Time
8 Time Zones Coordinated
Overview
Crisis Leadership Excellence
As Assoc. Creative Director, I've led emergency response creative strategy across multiple humanitarian crises, from the Ukraine invasion and Gaza humanitarian emergency to devastating earthquakes in Turkey-Syria and Morocco, plus urgent responses to US government funding cuts threatening IRC's global operations. Each crisis demanded unique strategic approaches while maintaining the rapid-response framework I developed.
Multi-Crisis Leadership Expertise: The challenge extends beyond any single emergency—it's about building scalable crisis response systems that work across diverse contexts: geopolitical conflicts (Ukraine, Gaza), natural disasters (earthquakes, floods), and policy crises (US funding cuts). How do you maintain creative excellence while operating under life-or-death deadlines across vastly different crisis types?
This comprehensive experience required mastering every aspect of emergency leadership: crisis management across cultural contexts, global team coordination during active conflicts, rapid creative development for sensitive situations, stakeholder management during funding crises, and strategic decision-making when every hour impacts humanitarian outcomes.
Crisis Leadership Excellence
As Assoc. Creative Director, I've led emergency response creative strategy across multiple humanitarian crises, from the Ukraine invasion and Gaza humanitarian emergency to devastating earthquakes in Turkey-Syria and Morocco, plus urgent responses to US government funding cuts threatening IRC's global operations. Each crisis demanded unique strategic approaches while maintaining the rapid-response framework I developed.
Multi-Crisis Leadership Expertise: The challenge extends beyond any single emergency—it's about building scalable crisis response systems that work across diverse contexts: geopolitical conflicts (Ukraine, Gaza), natural disasters (earthquakes, floods), and policy crises (US funding cuts). How do you maintain creative excellence while operating under life-or-death deadlines across vastly different crisis types?
This comprehensive experience required mastering every aspect of emergency leadership: crisis management across cultural contexts, global team coordination during active conflicts, rapid creative development for sensitive situations, stakeholder management during funding crises, and strategic decision-making when every hour impacts humanitarian outcomes.
Process
Ukraine Crisis: 72-Hour Campaign Excellence
The Ukraine response became the template for all subsequent crisis communications. When Russia's invasion escalated, I had 72 hours to mobilize teams across 8 time zones and deploy a comprehensive emergency campaign that ultimately raised $12M+ with 98% attribution to creative strategy.
Ukraine Results: $12M+ raised, 5.2M global reach, 98% creative attribution, became institutional template for future emergency responses.
Gaza Crisis Response
The Gaza humanitarian crisis required different strategic considerations while maintaining the rapid-response framework. Cultural sensitivity, political complexity, and donor audience considerations demanded nuanced messaging approaches while preserving the urgency essential to emergency fundraising.
Natural Disaster Response Excellence
Earthquake responses in Turkey-Syria and Morocco tested different aspects of crisis leadership - coordinating with teams in active disaster zones, managing traumatized local staff, and creating compelling campaigns while infrastructure collapsed around our regional operations.
US Funding Crisis Strategic Communications
When US government funding cuts threatened IRC's global operations, I led a multi-stakeholder crisis communications strategy targeting government officials, major donors, media outlets, and internal staff simultaneously - each requiring distinct messaging approaches within a unified strategic
Policy Crisis Results: Successfully contributed to partial funding restoration through strategic communications pressure, maintained donor confidence during uncertainty, preserved staff morale through transparent internal communications.
Outcome
Global Crisis Coordination Mastery
Managing creative teams across multiple time zones during various humanitarian emergencies has required developing sophisticated coordination systems that adapt to different crisis types while maintaining consistent excellence. From coordinating with teams in active war zones (Ukraine, Gaza) to managing communications during natural disasters when local infrastructure fails (Turkey-Syria earthquake).
Advanced Crisis Operations Model:
Conflict Zone Coordination (Ukraine, Gaza): Real-time creative collaboration while teams operate under air raid sirens, managing traumatized staff creating life-saving content, secure communication protocols for teams in dangerous areas.
Disaster Zone Management (Earthquakes): Coordinating creative production when local offices are damaged, managing remote teams whose families are affected by disasters, developing mobile-first creative systems when internet infrastructure fails.
Policy Crisis Coordination (US Funding Cuts): Simultaneous creative development for multiple stakeholder groups - government, donors, media, staff - each requiring distinct messaging approaches within unified strategic framework.
Crisis Coordination Excellence:
24/7 Global Coverage: Developed time-zone rotation systems ensuring continuous creative leadership during extended crisis periods
Cultural Adaptation Under Pressure: Rapid localization processes that maintain cultural sensitivity while meeting emergency deadlines
Trauma-Informed Leadership: Managing creative teams experiencing secondary trauma from crisis content creation
Multi-Stakeholder Juggling: Simultaneous creative development for donors, media, government, and internal audiences
