Autumn Blanchard

Director of Marketing & Communications, Southern Education Foundation

Atlanta

Autumn Blanchard, Director of Marketing & Communications at the Southern Education Foundation (SEF), serves as the architect of the SEF marketing strategy and takes the lead in sharing the 150-year-old organization’s story. She is responsible for crafting the organizational communication strategy as well as managing SEF’s media relations and digital media.

Autumn possesses a host of critical experience from the disciplines of communication, politics and education. She most recently hails from the marketing industry where she was responsible for brand development, strategy, and client acquisition supporting Fortune 500 clients such as Walmart, McDonald’s, and Pepsi. Autumn’s political acumen was sharpened during her work in the Detroit Headquarters of the 2008 presidential campaign and while managing a city council campaign in 2009 in which case both newcomer candidates were victorious.

Autumn is currently a doctoral candidate in communication studies with a concentration in education policy, and her research centers on the media’s

role in shaping the public’s perception of the value of education and its implications on equity. She also actively volunteers as the sponsorship chairperson for ColorComm, where she builds strategic partnerships for an organization dedicated to growing access and mentorship for women of

color in the communication industry