Communication happens in the mind of the listener.
Strategic communication, creative design, media instincts you can’t teach, and I still value those old-fashioned things called “relationships.”
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What if what you’re saying isn’t what they’re hearing?
Most people think communication is about what you say. It’s not. It’s about what sticks — what lands in the right place, at the right time, on the right channel, and actually moves someone to think or act differently.
I’ve spent nearly 30 years figuring out the gap between those two things. And closing it.
Experience across the board, and then some.
Journalism, nonprofit advocacy, regional and national health care, restaurants, international sports, and higher education — and that’s not the whole list.
In working with me, you find a partner who’s (almost) seen it all and is, therefore, very, very, very good at problem-solving with whatever budget, whatever timeline or whatever’s on fire.
Decades in this volatile landscape we call “media and communications” hasn’t given me a single lane of expertise, but several.
Whatever your project needs, it’s probably in there — and so is a lot of coffee.
We start with a goal.
Some clients need a full strategic partner. Others need someone to step in for one thing and do it well — a product launch, a large-scale event, a content audit, or a crisis plan nobody wanted to need.
When we talk, I listen. You tell me where you are and where you want to be. We figure out the rest together.
Strategic Communication
Most people ask “what messages can we get out?” I ask “what does success look like?” and work backwards.
See how it works.
Media and Public Relations
Your reputation is what people say about you when you’re not in the room. I was a reporter. I know which conversations matter and which are just noise.
Learn what lands.
Crisis Communication
The goal isn’t to make a bad situation good. It’s to keep it from getting worse.
Take a closer look.
Digital Media Strategy
Social, email, paid, organic — these only work when they work together. I build systems, not silos.
Get the details.
Editorial and Copywriting
Words are the work. Written for the audience reading them, not the client who commissioned them.
Read on.
Creative Design
Designed to support the message, not compete with it.
View the portfolio.
A little context
The path wasn’t conventional. Neither is the skill set.
After nearly a decade in broadcast newsrooms across Virginia, I moved to the other side of the camera — leading communications for a behavioral health nonprofit, running a consultancy, directing media for an international tennis tournament, and working as a national health media strategist. Most recently, I’ve found my way into a university classroom.
I teach at Wake Forest University while continuing to practice — not because I have to, but because the work keeps the teaching honest, and vice versa.
I hold a bachelor’s from the University of Virginia and a master’s in strategic communication from Johns Hopkins University.
In their words
“Blue Wagon’s clients benefit from Robin’s media experience, her love of metrics, and her solid strategic thinking. Her ‘wheelhouse’ is big and robust.”
“Robin has been essential in helping me translate complex research into messages that actually land with real audiences — and in getting those messages in front of them.”
“I’ve watched Robin handle everything from design details to full-scale crisis communications often in the same day. There’s no situation she can’t manage, and no ball she’ll let drop.”
