Brenda Duran

I'm the Director of External Affairs for one of the Los Angeles County departments, and I've been working in public sector communications for nearly 12 years. I'm a strategic communications, marketing and communications executive - that's really what my main role is. I basically lead public sector communications and develop from the ground up communications infrastructure with strategic messaging. My typical day changes every single day, so there isn't really a standard routine. It's a blend of strategic leadership, rapid response communications, and relationship management. I do a lot of strategy and execution, external engagement and visibility, planning, working with community stakeholders, and storytelling building. Before entering government leadership, I worked as a traditional journalist, a magazine and magazine editor. I worked at several newspapers as a reporter and staff writer, including the Denver Post, the El Paso Times, People Magazine, Us Weekly, and the North County Times. I also ran a city magazine in Long Beach and was the editor-in-chief of Long Beach Magazine before going into government communications. Since I pivoted to government communications, I have built three communication departments from scratch, which I think has been one of my most notable achievements. I'm a storyteller at heart, so everything that I do is to tell the story of the world that we're living in and help people understand the world that they're living in.