Mikala

Whitaker

HELLO I'M MIKALA

I LOVE PUBLIC RELATIONS

ABOUT

ABOUT ME

I am a public relations professional passionate about social change and global cultures. Since graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill almost four years ago, I've worked for Ketchum's Public Sector and Government practice in Washington, D.C. Outside of work, I'm a marathon runner currently training for my fourth race at the distance.

WHAT I'VE DONE

At Ketchum, I've served as a key lead on accounts for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), managing work among a 25-person team and acting as a main client contact. I've led numerous complex federal healthcare new business responses; managed social media content, earning a client 4,000+ new followers in 1.5 years; and I've planned and executed dozens of webinars with up to 2,000+ attendees.

WHAT I DO

I regularly manage large projects for CMS, developing strategic plans as well as coordinating with internal teams, numerous CMS staff, and other contractors to deliver high quality work and meet deadlines. I also have managed and mentored a number of junior staff members to help them grow in their careers.

PORTFOLIO

Here is a portfolio of some of the work I've done at Ketchum and elsewhere. Hover over an image for more information, and clink on it to view the associated work sample.

QPP Materials

I lead development and design of 100+ fact sheets, guides, and infographics for the CMS Quality Payment Program. Click to see an example.

QPP Listservs

I managed regular email listserv messages for the CMS Quality Payment Program. Click to see an example.

NIH ORWH Infographic

For an NIH Office of Research on Women's Health takeover of NIH social media channels, I oversaw the development of 100+ social media posts and numerous graphics and videos. Click to see an infographic that I wrote and coordinated with our creative team to design.

NIH ORWH Social Media

I increased total NIH Office of Research on Women's Health social media followers by over 4,000 in 1.5 years. Click to see my biggest project: an NIH social media takeover that resulted in almost 2,000 link clicks and hundreds of new followers in 5 days.

Admin Simp Website

I worked with CMS, web developers, and UX experts to redesign the Admin Simp website, updating 40 webpages with design and usability improvements while verifying content accuracy. Click to see the redesigned site.

Golden Corral Pitch

At MMI, I wrote and pitched a Golden Corral press release to outlets all over the U.S. Click to see the release. Here are a few stories: http://bit.ly/1pB2Is5 http://bit.ly/1kDBFxR

PRSSA Bateman

For the 2017 PRSSA Bateman Competition, I worked with three others to use PR to fight mental health stigmas on my campus. I conducted research, created all of the graphics, drafted social media content, planned many events, and coordinated writing of the final report. Click to see our report.

NCSMA Twitter

I managed the North Carolina Scholastic Media Association Twitter account while in college, increasing followers and working to better serve journalism advisers and students across North Carolina. Click to see the posts I developed.

QuickTrip Campaign

I worked on a Pay It Forward Campaign to recognize those doing good in the community. click to see a letter I wrote as part of the campaign.