NEW YORK – Blue State, a leading creative agency and strategic advisor for purpose-driven organizations, announced that Caitlin Mitchell has joined as Senior Vice President of Creative Strategy. Additionally, the agency has expanded their strategic communications offerings: Noelle Howey has joined as the company’s Managing Director of Strategic Communications and Creative Director, and Frances Gonzalez as Vice President of Strategic Communications.
Caitlin Mitchell, Blue State’s new Senior Vice President of Creative Strategy, has worked in the political and advocacy space for over 15 years, providing expertise in the growth and mobilization of grassroots communities to national organizations and campaigns. During the 2020 presidential election cycle, Caitlin served as Senior Advisor for Digital on the Biden-Harris campaign, where she reimagined the campaign’s grassroots organizing and fundraising programs, leading to record-breaking voter contact and more than $800 million in grassroots dollars raised. Prior to that, Caitlin served as CMO on Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign, overseeing the campaign’s industry-leading creative, fundraising, and volunteer programs. Caitlin has also served as CMO at the Democratic Party, VP of Digital at EMILYs List, and President of Mobilize and its 5-million person volunteer network.
Noelle Howey comes to her role as Managing Director of Strategic Communications and Creative Director with deep experience in cultural impact, campaign leadership, content creation, communications, and influencer strategy. She was most recently a Principal at Raben where she engaged clients such as the Sundance Institute, the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice, Paramount Global, Nuclear Threat Initiative, and United We Dream. Previously, Noelle headed up the Cultural Engagement & Advocacy team at Everytown for Gun Safety where she led the Wear Orange campaign, oversaw the organization’s Creative Council, and secured numerous high-level media and cultural partnerships. The former editor in chief of Time Out New York Kids and deputy editor at Real Simple, she has written for media outlets including the New York Times, Glamour, Dame, Salon, and Oprah and has work featured in the recent book, 50 Years of Ms.: The Best of the Pathfinding Magazine That Ignited a Revolution.
Vice President of Strategic Communications, Frances Gonzalez, has over a dozen years of experience in strategic communications, digital strategy, and social media. Most recently, Frances was the Vice President, Communications, at Run for Something, where she was responsible for external communications, marketing, branding, and media relations. Before that, she served as the Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at Vibrant Emotional Health, where she led marketing and communications initiatives for all programs, including the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline and the national Disaster Distress Helpline. While there, she led groundbreaking research in suicide prevention storytelling and an award-winning partnership with rap artist Logic. In 2021, Frances received City and State’s 40 Under 40 Rising Star Award for contributions in the nonprofit sector during the COVID-19 pandemic.
With these staff additions, Blue State deepens their existing bench of senior expertise, and strengthens its support for campaigns and organizations during the upcoming election and future election cycles. Blue State looks forward to continuing its efforts to help organizations and leaders increase their impact by offering robust strategic communications support in alignment with fundraising, advocacy, and creative services, so that clients will not only have their voices heard in crucial change-making spaces, but will be positioned to lead them.