About Us
We specialize in supporting nonprofits, education organizations, and schools.
We are a minority-women-owned communications and public relations firm that is uniquely qualified to serve clients in schools, nonprofits, and organizations that improve education and communities. Our goal is to be affordable, accessible, and effective. With more than 50 years of experience in these fields, we provide a personalized experience to understand your needs and make your communication goals possible. From multimedia campaigns and community engagement to employee relations and crisis management, our team can deliver creative and strategic solutions that elevate your mission, strengthen your brand, solve your problems, and connect the audiences you want to reach.
Our Values
Authenticity • Service • Creativity • Flexibility • Equity
Our Team
Natalia Powers
President & Founder
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She brings 18 years of experience managing communications at multiple levels and working directly with boards of directors, executive leadership teams, community influencers, and the print and tv media. She has been a communications leader in multiple major city/county school districts, directing internal and external efforts to reach 210,000+ stakeholders through media relations, social media, and strategic communications. Her strengths include multi-media content creation, plan development, branding, and community relations. As a native Spanish speaker and first-generation immigrant, she is passionate about supporting non-English-speaking families. This has allowed her to launch various bilingual communications strategic plans for organizations in Tennessee and Florida.
Vice President
Creative Services & Client Relations
Jaclyn Suffel
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Jaclyn brings 18 years in the education and nonprofit sector in Memphis to PS. She started her career as a TFA teacher, and then moved into community organizing for education advocacy with Stand for Children. After stepping in as the interim Communications Director, she switched career paths, eventually landing at the Alliance for Nonprofit Excellence, where she trained hundreds of nonprofits on communication best practices and founded the inaugural Memphis Giving Tuesday campaign. Returning to her education roots, she created and managed large-scale identity and perception improvement campaigns for Shelby County Schools (SCS Arts Matter & SCS is 901) and led the strategy for their social media channels. In this role, she also launched an innovative training program (The PROs) to empower teachers to be communications leaders within their schools and trained hundreds of educators. She has significant expertise in community engagement, creative campaigns, and training programs, and has deep knowledge of the Memphis educational, nonprofit, and political landscape.
Vice President
Strategic Communications & Marketing
Shawn Pachucki
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From crisis management to large-scale branding campaigns, he has been a trusted advisor for organizational leaders at all levels. Before joining Powers Solutions, he directed day-to-day operations as the Director of Communications at Shelby County Schools in Memphis, TN, the state's largest school system. He directed a large communications team, overseeing multimedia content creation, web development, digital solutions, graphic design, advertising, media relations, publications, and internal communications. He earned his degree in journalism and spent seven years working in print, broadcast, and digital news media. He has provided strategic counsel and communications training for senior executives, elected officials, and school leaders and partnered with many local and national organizations to develop and execute successful communication plans for widely diverse audiences. He was a lead member of the communications advisory team through the historic merger of Memphis City and Shelby County Schools in 2012-13. During the peak of the 2020-21 COVID-19 pandemic, he led the online content strategy for the school system, resulting in unprecedented website growth, and managed internal communication efforts to connect 14,000+ people working remotely.
Andy Mueller
Content Strategist
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With six years of experience in marketing and communications in the nonprofit and education sector, he specializes in tailoring the details of day-to-day messaging to bolster strategic organizational goals. With experience as a one-member marketing team at a small nonprofit to one of many team members at Shelby County Schools, the largest school district in Tennessee, he is well-versed in communicating to audiences of 150 to over 150,000. Before earning his MBA and entering the marketing field, Andy received his TEFL/TESL certification and taught English at the University of Memphis and the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Czechia, which helped spark his passion for helping others to communicate effectively.
Strategic Partners
Our partners' expertise allows our firm to tap into specialized knowledge and broader networks, providing clients with comprehensive solutions and enhancing the effectiveness of their communication strategies.
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Graphic, Animation, & Web Design
Jess Vandenberg is a talented graphic designer, web designer, and illustrator. She has a particular expertise in working with nonprofits, community organizations, and social justice campaigns. Her client list is impressive, spanning local education organizations like Communities in Schools and Knowledge Quest, to large-scale national clients like Lyft and Otterbox. She is creative, collaborative, detail-oriented, flexible, and incredibly thoughtful in her design choices. She has excellent context for the Memphis community.
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Videography, Photography & Animation
Forever Ready’s primary client base, by design, is nonprofits, foundations, schools, businesses, and local government, and we operate from the core values of service, collaboration, creativity, and efficiency. Forever Ready Productions is an Emmy award-winning video production company based in Memphis and Chicago that tells video stories for nonprofits and businesses around the United States. The team creates mission-driven stories that help realize and harness our collective purpose and impact.
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Photography & Video
Five Star Multimedia provides a comprehensive suite of video and photography for clients across our fields. Their mission is to bring creative projects to life through innovative techniques and creative measures. The state-of-the-art technology and flexibility ensure we tell compelling stories.
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Community Organizing & Engagement
Henry Jones is a 20 year organizing veteran who has experience in labor, education, and political organizing. His firm, Organizing Expert LLC, focuses on utilizing a community organizing approach to advance organizational goals, better connect them to their constituents, and empower community members to advocate for the change they want to see. He has a Masters in Labor Organizing and a Phd in Community Leadership.
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Kristin Tallent PR
Kristin Tallent is an Emmy-award winning journalist focused on helping nonprofits, educational institutions, and individuals successfully share their stories with local and national media partners. She specializes in public relations and crisis response, and holds a Masters in Strategic Communications. Kristin has more than 20 years of experience in the field of Communications. She is based in the Midwest with strong ties to Memphis after spending over ten years as a news and sports anchor in the Bluff City.