Carisa Cunningham is a long-time non-profit communications professional specializing in legal and legislative advocacy, LGBTQ rights, criminal justice reform, and public health.
As director of public affairs for GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) from 2004-2016, I used research-backed, story-based communications to fuel the drive to nationwide marriage equality. Managing media on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court for high-profile cases showed me I can tell a compelling story at peak levels of chaos and make it work!
I have been director of public relations for AIDS Action Council (Washington), Wheelock College, and AIDS Action Committee (Boston). My work in public relations for Gay Men's Health Crisis at the height of the American AIDS epidemic in the 1980s was personally, politically, and professionally transformative.
Internationally, I worked for the Harvard AIDS Institute in Botswana, communicating with local media about the first HIV vaccine trial to take place in Southern Africa.
In my consulting work, I’ve expanded my social justice portfolio to include voting rights, criminal justice reform, and the environment. I’ve helped local and national non-profits tell their stories to pass legislation, influence public opinion, win court cases, and raise money.
I have taught non-profit public relations at Boston University, sit on the board of the New England Innocence Project, and am a proud graduate of Oberlin College.