Therese Etoka

Welcome! Therese Etoka is the current Management Analyst and Social Media Manager with a District government agency. Etoka speaks her native language of Swahili and also French. She is an immigrant from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) & resides here on the East Coast in the U.S.

Etoka was the former Digital Communications Organizer for Namati. In this role at Namati, she is spearheading dynamic social media strategies for the US Environmental Justice program, managing various platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter (X), etc.), developing & executing content calendars using Asana and HubSpot; resulting in building an audience, enhanced engagement, and broadening of outreach efforts. Etoka is also demonstrating expertise in creating compelling digital and print materials for organizing/advocacy initiatives and capturing and curating impactful content (i.e. photos, videos, etc.) aligned with program objectives. She has been collaborating effectively with grassroots partners to implement digital storytelling campaigns, empowering communities to take meaningful actions, and supporting broader communications efforts and media relationships, contributing to program visibility and impact with grassroots partners.

Employment

Etoka was the previously the Communications Coordinator with Freedom, Inc. and Communications Associate with The Loveland Group LLC. She

managed, researched & developed copy and content for a variety of communications platforms, spearheaded collaboration between different teams at large through internal communications tools, assisted in monitoring SEO analytics and metrics —ultimately aiding in contributing to the creation and development of the company's overall communications at large through vision and voice development.

She was the former Communications Officer & Social Media Manager with the Kupona Foundation: a nonprofit organization bringing the most optimal, accessible healthcare to vulnerable communities, specifically women, mothers, and children with disabilities living in poverty in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Etoka's role consisted of but was not limited to: developing marketing material, supporting teams with delivering reports, and analyzing communication tools to revamp their communication strategies for the purpose of identifying gaps to strengthen Kupona and their sister organization's, Comprehensive Community-Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT), overall presence. She also aided in designing graphics, digital media, & promotional material for social media posts, email communication, proposals, and their website while managing their social media channels to support greater access to healthcare.

Previously, she has worked as a: Communications Web Intern in the Office of Communications, as an Intern at the Boston Ujima Project, an intern in the Global Islamic Studies/Walter Commons for Global Study and Engagement Program, and as a Research Assistant for the Department of Government. While a fellow at Divest Ed (Power Shift Network) and as an intern with the Boston Ujima Project, she was able to focus on the areas of divestment & reinvestment— showing what is possible when we collectively work together to “move money” into community-led solutions— into Black & Brown communities like her own.

Etoka is a communications aficionado, an organizer, and a mobilizer. Her work is centered in disability & health justice, women and gender justice, immigrant rights, climate & environmental justice, the Black Lives Matter movement, & more. She strives to highlight the intersectionality of all these issues. Additionally, she is a MALIKAH organizer, and has been a Coach with the Sierra Student Coalition (Sierra Club), the President of the Student Refugee Alliance, and more!

Through her experience in internal and external communications, international development work, environmental justice organizing, etc., Etoka’s personal background as a Congolese immigrant, has stemmed her passion for developing engaging content to aid in advocating for a better future for marginalized and underrepresented communities, specifically BIPOC women and children from the African diaspora and the Middle East.

In these roles as well as others, she has been able to show up and serve her communities both globally and across the country from Boise to Boston, all the way to Tanzania. Etoka has coordinated community efforts to amplify divestment and reinvestment work, utilizing the tool of social media to engage communities digitally. She has collectively collaborated with other organizations to aid in rewriting the story of Boston; to push in generating an ecosystem for change for Black and Brown communities.

Etoka served as the President of the Student Refugee Alliance and pushed to increase community involvement with surrounding organizations and resettlement agencies about the global refugee crisis. Through working with partner organizations, Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services, Start Fresh, Paper Airplanes, and others (including internationally and in the New London and New Haven communities), she was successful in generating a web presence and led the SRA to devote time to better serve the needs of the local refugee, immigrant, and migrant populations.

Etoka strives to build a just and equitable world for Black and Brown communities, focusing specifically on QTBIPOC women and children.

Outside of work, she is a co-host of Vaguely Relevant Podcast and she loves filming and editing videos. Etoka is a multidisciplinary creator, meme connoisseur, pennyboarder, autodidactic, and pun-enthusiast.

Education

Etoka studied International Relations, Political Science, and Communications at the University of Maryland Global Campus. Her focus was on highlighting experiences of marginalized communities, specifically women and children from the African diaspora and the Middle East. She also studied Communications growing further into her work through researching and developing content, identifying objectives, creating & editing designs, refining social media channels, assisting in the development of communication frameworks, content management, etc., all while implementing an international lens in her various roles to create content with a purpose.