Willie Traven Prothro Jr.
Saint Louis,Missouri
Summary
Detail-oriented Communications Specialist and multimedia journalist with 15 years of experience in planning, researching, writing, editing, and publishing across organizational, municipal government, non-profit, and PK-12 education sectors. Proven track record in stakeholder engagement, partnership development, and efficient campaign management. Expertise in strategic planning, curriculum development, and staff management enhances the ability to foster positive educational environments. Committed to delivering exceptional communication solutions that drive successful outcomes for students and staff alike.
Overview
14
14
years of professional experience
Work History
Principal
Mae-Jean Media, LLC.
St. Louis, Missouri
01.2020 - Current
- Edited freelance projects, including resumes, student essays, doctoral project plans and dissertations
- Created content for small upstart businesses for its social media platforms, websites, marketing literature and collateral
- Consulted with clients to assess and plan their potential service deliverables and tasks
Intake Coordinator and Bussiness Associate
Urban League St. Louis Center for Entrepreneurship
Saint Louis, Missouri
09.2024 - 01.2025
- Supported the development and implementation of policies and procedures to enhance service delivery and client care.
- Assisted in determining appropriate referrals for clients to other community agencies or programs.
- Conducted follow-up communication with clients to evaluate satisfaction and outcomes of services provided.
- Maintained accurate records of client intakes in electronic database system.
- Scheduled appointments and coordinated logistics for initial assessments and follow-up meetings.
- Coordinated the intake process for new clients, including scheduling initial assessments and providing necessary paperwork.
- Assessed client needs through initial interviews and consultations to determine appropriate services.
Community Communications and Engagement Assistant to the Mayor
Office of the Mayor, City of St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
11.2022 - 03.2024
- Appointed by Mayor Tishaura O
- Jones to serve as a member of her communications team
- Staffed Mayor Jones at private and public events, meetings and recordings
- Managed, wrote and edited the Mayor’s talking points and official letters of support; collaborated on the Mayor’s official keynote addresses and statements
- Served as chief liaison between the Office of the Mayor and City of St
- Louis neighborhood associations, community development corporations, and miscellaneous City community partners and agencies
- Edited the Mayor’s weekly Community Spotlight newsletter, public schedule, media advisories, and press releases
- Published the redesign of the Good Neighbor Guide (a citywide guide for city services and departments)
- Coordinated the Chief of Police Finalists Town Hall (Dec
- 2022), 'Mayor’s Cabinet in Community' Town Hall series
- Advanced, stood-up and oversaw various official City community engagement and press events
Campaign Manager
Deb Lavender for Missouri
Manchester, Missouri
06.2022 - 07.2022
- Wrote campaign plan overview, including campaign math
- Coordinated voter registration program to reach unregistered voters, who are likely Democrats in the district
- Managed a team of four college interns, four paid canvassers and dozens of volunteers (canvass and data entry)
- Created weekly schedule for campaign team’s office hours, canvassing, social media, volunteer recruitment and payroll
- Prepared weekly campaign reports (door and phone: attempts, canvassed, IDs, endorsements and yard signs)
- Consulted with Social Media volunteer consultant and Candidate weekly on campaign’s digital presence and voter outreach
- Assisted Candidate on Call Time and campaign fundraising events
- Designed campaign advertisements for print newspapers published in the District
- Edited campaign website and monitored campaign’s ActBlue platform
- Oversaw canvassing team that knocked on more than 5,000 doors in six weeks
Special Education (K-12) Educator
Teach for America Corps.
Indianapolis, Indiana
05.2019 - 12.2019
- Served as a 3rd grade co-teacher and building special education teacher
- Created social science and earth science lessons and activities
- Led reading mastery and reading comprehension workshops three hours each day
Special Projects and Data Coordinator
Saint Louis Public Schools (SLPS)
, Missouri
09.2018 - 05.2019
- Aggregated and analyzed SIT students (25% of SLPS enrollment) data: academic, attendance and operational
- Collaborated with social workers, agencies and shelters to secure access to resources for SIT families
- Provided direct services: SIT intake enrollments, student needs assessments and transportation requests
- Managed SIT student information systems (data), including mandatory Missouri Dept
- Of Education reporting
- Represented SLPS at community events, homeless youth task force meetings and state education workshops
- Served as a McKinney-Vento Act advocate and resources liaison for hundreds of SLPS families
- Oversaw SIT pilot programs, SLPS Unaccompanied Youth committee and various special events and projects
Media Relations Coordinator
Saint Louis Public Schools (SLPS)
, Missouri
09.2015 - 09.2018
- Wrote, edited and published print and digital publications for both internal and external stakeholders
- Administered SLPS District website and 13 H.S
- Schools sites: updating content and providing tech
- Support
- Served as a marketing committee member: coordinating District marketing campaigns and collateral
- Pitched timely, newsworthy SLPS stories to local print, broadcast and digital media organizations
- Drafted and circulated press releases, media advisories and social media content to external stakeholders
- Cultivated positive working-relationships with members of the local media and St
- Louis city community
- Organized district-wide media events, and provided Central Office support to school events and awards
- Appointed Proposition 1 campaign staffer & Interim District Student Recruitment Coordinator
Strategic Leadership & Support Fellow
Education Pioneers
Kansas City, Missouri
06.2018 - 08.2018
- Worked with the Mayor, his chief of staff and education advisor, Dr
- Julie Holland, whom I reported to
- Served as project manager, chief writer and editor for the KC pre-K Implementation Plan (2018)
- Facilitated, along with Dr
- Holland, the weekly ‘KC pre-k planners’ meeting at the Chamber of Commerce
- Engaged educational leaders, elected officials, consultants, parents and other stakeholders during the design stage
- Organized and summarized engagement feedback, ensuring all voices were reflected in the final pre-k plan
- Completed transformational leadership-development training with EP programming and KCMO Gov
- Staff
- Served as mentor for three Urban Leader Fellows (a policy-focused fellowship) assigned to pre-k plan
Substitute English Language Arts (ELA) Teacher
Saint Louis Public Schools (SLPS)
Saint Louis, Missouri
08.2014 - 09.2015
- Recruited on staff as a long-term substitute teacher for a vacated ELA faculty position
- Served as one of five ELA faculty members on the Soldan International Studies H.S staff
- Taught sections of freshmen literature, African-American literature, ACT Prep and junior A.P
- English
- Developed Missouri and District curriculum-aligned lesson plans: activities, assessments, lessons and papers
- Published school newsletters; coached boys’ tennis team; and served as student council advisor (‘14-’15)
Graduate Assistant
Pace University-New York City
New York City
09.2012 - 12.2013
- Received a full-tuition scholarship to attend the Masters of Publishing program at Pace University NYC
- Edited editorial texts and completed layout of scholarly journals and books in Adobe InDesign
- Produced pre-press digital files and submitted final proofs to the printing company
- Coordinated, organized and supervised Press’ administrative duties as assigned by editor, Dr
- Mark Hussey
- Updated Pace University Press website, catalogs and archives
College Advisor
Missouri College Advising Corps. (MCAC)
Kansas City, Missouri
06.2011 - 06.2012
- Educated 9-12th graders on college readiness and access tools, as well as various enrichment opportunities
- Advised students one-on-one and in groups to find their best fit post-secondary option: college, trade or military
- Assisted seniors with ACT, admissions, scholarships and FAFSA applications
- Taught after-school ACT English and Reading sections groups: ‘ACT 101’ and boot camp sessions
- Coordinated college nights, campus tours, college admissions rep visits, student forums and Decision Day
- Selected and guided 10 junior leaders who served as MCAC College Ambassadors, mentoring underclassmen
Education
Master of Science (M.S.) - Publishing
05.2014
Bachelor of Journalism (B.J.) - Editing
05.2011
Skills
- Strong Interpersonal Communication
- Collaborative Partnership Building
- Stakeholder Relationship Management
- Professional Writing
- Content Editing
- Effective Public Speaking
- Brand Promotion
- Data evaluation
- Strategic Event and Project Planning, and Management
- Problem Solving and Crisis Management
Affiliations
- Delmar Main Street, Co-Chair, Promotions and Communications Committee
- Alumni, Lead MO, Spring ‘22 Cohort
- Alumni, Education Pioneers (EP), Summer ‘18 KCMO Cohort
- Member, Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ)
- Member, National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ)
- Alumni, AmeriCorps ‘11-’12
Digitalsoftwarecompetencies
- Proficient in Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Suite, Student Information, Project and Email Management Systems
- Working Knowledge of Complete Adobe Design Suite
Professionalreferences
Contact Information Available Upon Request
Relevanttransferableskills
- COMMUNICATIONS + PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT + STAKEHOLDER OUTREACH, Excellent writer, editor, public speaker and messenger: digital and print mediums, Tactical marketer, planner and content creator: in-person, print, radio, television and online, Effective networker, moderator and brand ambassador: (i.e. University of Missouri, Tour Guide ‘09-’11)
- DATA ANALYSIS + STRATEGIC PLANNING + PROJECT MANAGEMENT + PROBLEM SOLVING, Focused researcher, project planner, team leader and crisis manager, Successful event coordinator and committee chairman: research, planning, design, implementation and debrief
Candidatesummary
An effective, detail-oriented communications specialist and formally trained multimedia journalist with 15 years of experience in planning, researching, writing, editing, and publishing; organizational, municipal government, non-profit, and PK-12 education communications; constituency services, stakeholder engagement and partnership development; as well as campaign, event and project management.
Timeline
Intake Coordinator and Bussiness Associate - Urban League St. Louis Center for Entrepreneurship
09.2024 - 01.2025
Community Communications and Engagement Assistant to the Mayor - Office of the Mayor, City of St. Louis
11.2022 - 03.2024
Campaign Manager - Deb Lavender for Missouri
06.2022 - 07.2022
Principal - Mae-Jean Media, LLC.
01.2020 - Current
Special Education (K-12) Educator - Teach for America Corps.
05.2019 - 12.2019
Special Projects and Data Coordinator - Saint Louis Public Schools (SLPS)
09.2018 - 05.2019
Strategic Leadership & Support Fellow - Education Pioneers
06.2018 - 08.2018
Media Relations Coordinator - Saint Louis Public Schools (SLPS)
09.2015 - 09.2018
Substitute English Language Arts (ELA) Teacher - Saint Louis Public Schools (SLPS)
08.2014 - 09.2015
Graduate Assistant - Pace University-New York City
09.2012 - 12.2013
College Advisor - Missouri College Advising Corps. (MCAC)
06.2011 - 06.2012
Pace University - Master of Science (M.S.), Publishing
University of Missouri - Bachelor of Journalism (B.J.), Editing
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