Hope Gibbs, M.A., brings over 25 years of extensive public relations and writing experience to the OPEN MINDS team. Ms. Gibbs currently serves as a Senior Associate, a position in which she utilizes her expertise to successfully lead campaign initiatives for various clients and OPEN MINDS. Her areas of expertise include creative media production, program development and management, team leadership and management, and public relations initiatives.rnrnBefore joining OPEN MINDS, Ms. Gibbs lead Inkandescent Public Relations, an organization she founded a decade ago in Washington, DC. With this organization, Ms. Gibbs was responsible for the design and programming of more than 100 client websites, production of over 250 informational videos, and monthly publications featured in high profile media outlets such as NPR, USAToday, Washington Post, and Fox News. She has also written and published her own book ‘PR Rules: The Playbook,” a 200-page guidebook designed to help organizations understand how to initiate effective campaigns.rnrnPrior to Founding her organization, and still currently, Ms. Gibbs works as a Freelance Journalist and Writer. Ms. Gibbs has experience writing multiple genres of publication including feature stories, hard news articles, personality profiles and award-winning columns. She has worked within the medias of magazines, podcasts, video production and interviewing. Her works have even won multiple accolades and awards from such entities as the Florida Magazine Association, and the National Schools Public Relations Association.rnrnDuring her time as President of her organization, Ms. Gibbs also served as the Executive Producer for Grateful American Foundation and later Grateful American Kids in Washington, DC. Her main responsibilities in this role were essentially creating the foundations. Ms. Gibbs built and maintained the websites, as well as the visual and written media in order to build a reputation among historians, viewers, parents and students. Media content for these foundations included videos, sidebars, newsletters and interviews about the Founding Fathers. She also created and organized the team of editors, designers, illustrators, videographers and interns for the foundations.rnrnBefore founding her organization, Ms. Gibbs served as the Director of Communications for the City of Fairfax Schools in Fairfax, Virginia. Her primary role was to work with the Superintendent and School Board to coordinate and develop their public relations effort. In pursuing this, Ms. Gibbs created and managed the award-winning newsletter “Close-Up” to help constituents better understand intricacies of education issues. She also developed their website and managed the newsletter shift to a digital form.rnrnMs. Gibbs earned her Master of Art in educational leadership from The George Washington University in Washington, DC. She earned her Bachelor of Art in communications from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.