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We are a strategic communications firm that wants to make a difference,
with you.

Shannon Ritchie

Founder & Strategy Consultant

(she/her/hers)

I’m a policy wonk, strategist, and progressive advocate. I strive to make a difference in people’s lives by amplifying directly impacted people’s voices as experts in public discourse and deconolonizing nonprofit communications. I use data analysis to uncover insights about how people interact with organizations, facilitate strategy processes to guide organizations’ decision-making on how to engage with audiences, and identify key messages and stories that move people to act in ways that create lasting change in communities.

Prior to founding Nectar, I worked at AJ Fletcher Foundation and founded SpeakUp NC. I also co-founded and directed strategy for The Vote Against Project and received a master’s from the Sanford School of Public Policy. I’ve also worked at City Year and Harvard Law School and served as student body president at Wake Forest University. When I take a break from my laptop, you’ll find me savoring the outdoors across NC, growing food and flowers, and enjoying living room dance parties with my partner and two kids.

Susanna Hegner

Susanna Hegner

Communications Consultant

Susanna (she/her) is an award-winning communications professional with extensive experience in journalism and nonprofit communications. From 2015-2024, she served as Director of Communications at the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, where she effectively translated complex topics into accessible narratives. A UNC-Chapel Hill alumna, Susanna is passionate about advancing social, economic, and environmental justice, particularly in the American South. LinkedIn bio. 

“Shannon is a brilliant thinker and capable navigator of expectations. We worked together on a cutting-edge and innovative project at the intersection of digital media, traditional media, and the nonprofit world–none of which integrate easily with the other two. Despite the complexity of the project, she brought people together and built something great, shepherding it from inception to success through a variety of improving iterations.”
If you don’t have a strategy that links communications to your mission, I’d love to help.

I’ll bring the dry erase markers.

Let’s Talk