About

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, digital 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. I use my expertise and skills to support local and regional change agents proactively and effectively engage with audiences who can help them advance their missions. I use data analysis to uncover insights about how people interact with organizations’ online presence, facilitate strategy processes to guide organizations’ decision-making on how to engage, and identify key messages and stories that move audiences to act in ways that create lasting change in communities.

Prior to founding Nectar, I was the Director of Digital and Innovation with AJ Fletcher Foundation. I created a strong online presence, digital content strategy, created and produced a podcast series, and advised and led digital projects for many of the foundations’ partners and grantees. I also founded SpeakUp NC, a project to elevate public discourse using the expertise from nonprofit leaders.

Previously, I 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. Currently, I serve on the Steering Committee for the Durham Living Wage Project. When I take a break from my laptop, you’ll find me savoring the outdoors across the state, pretending I know how to grow food in my back yard, drinking copious amounts of coffee at local shops in Durham, and enjoying kitchen dance parties with my partner and two young children.
“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