Spitfire Sparks

Kamara Jones loves to tell a good story. The new Spitfire Director started reporting professionally when she was 16 years old. While attending journalism camp in high school, one of her instructors saw promise in Kamara and convinced the editor of the local newspaper to give her...

In the first installment of this two-part series, I shared some insights from my years working in TV news and media relations, focusing on the best methods to get your pitches seen by reporters. In this part, I review some strategies for increasing the odds those reporters will...

April is National Poetry Month, which means there is no better time to dust off a volume or two from your bookshelf or tune into U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith’s five-minute podcast The Slowdown (there are new episodes every weekday and it’s incredible). Through my work at...

Anyone who’s ever made a pitch to the media — in any medium — knows it’s a big, competitive world out there. Every day, reporters field hundreds of requests for their attention. Like any other human being, they only have so much capacity. Before I joined Spitfire, I spent 15...

It’s Women’s History Month, and I am excited to celebrate the women whose shoulders we stand on. But more importantly, I want to address every leader, across all genders, who is in a position to set policies, practices, and precedents. Because every day offers a chance to make...

What exactly is space? Does it constitute a physical area or is it a state of mind? How is space used, who is it used by and for what purpose? We all interpret the different shapes and meanings of shape in our own ways. That made it an apt theme for this year’s frank – which has...

In Spitfire’s San Francisco office, there are two new team members bringing bold, creative ideas to the intersection of public health and environmental justice, with the shared goal of creating a more equitable future. Claire de Leon is a Director who recently joined Spitfire...

I’ve been working with a number of new executive directors this past year. After years of hard work, or in some instances, after waking up from a dream about a new organization that MUST exist, these people found themselves with all eyes on them. From the moment they updated...

Edith Asibey is an expert in global advocacy and digital communications. From working with UNICEF during the Zika crisis in Brazil to the teaching at New York University, she has gathered important lessons for motivating people to take action. Edith generously shared some of...

People often ask me: What is one thing we can do better to use communications more strategically? Easy answer: Never miss opportunities to use the communications you’re already doing to your greatest advantage. As you go into 2019, put this on your to-do list. You won’t regret it...

There are some new faces at Spitfire, adding valuable talents and perspectives to the Spitfire team. We sat down with four of them to learn more about some of their favorite things—at work and at play. Where were you before Spitfire? Mike Carter-Conneen, Director, Washington, D.C...

“One of the key messages that comes out very strongly from the [IPCC] report is that we are already seeing the consequences of 1°C of global warming through more extreme weather, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic sea ice, among other changes,” said Panmao Zhai, Co-Chair of...