YWCA Evanston/North Shore has tapped Erin Venable to be its new vice president of marketing and communications. Venable brings more than 20 years of experience in marketing and strategic communications focused on brand identity, building awareness and enacting change.
Prior to joining YWCA Evanston/North Shore, she served as assistant director of communications for the University of Chicago’s Arts + Public Life (APL) initiative, which is a neighborhood platform for arts and culture on the South Side in the Washington Park community that provides residencies for Black and Brown artists and creative entrepreneurs, arts education for youth, and artist-led programming and exhibitions. Her experience prior to APL includes marketing roles at Black Enterprise, Blackbaud, HBO and CompTIA.
As a member of the YWCA’s senior leadership team, Venable will work to advance the organization’s mission through the planning, development and implementation of marketing strategies, branding, communications, public relations activities and the YWCA’s retail shops, using an intersectional equity lens to increase the visibility of the organization.
“I have a strong fervor for social justice and protecting women that has only intensified over the years, stemming from my cultural experiences as a Black woman,” said Venable. “My new role at YWCA Evanston/North Shore is an ideal opportunity to channel that energy, along with my diverse skill set, into an established social justice organization that I admire, where everyone is working together every day toward the same mission of eliminating racism and empowering women.”
Venable, a graduate of Chicago’s Morgan Park High School, received both her bachelor’s degree and MBA from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, and has lived and worked in many Chicagoland neighborhoods. She also spent much of her childhood in Evanston.
“I’m excited to return to the Evanston community that I’ve loved both as a resident and also because it’s a model for how a community can work together to be a driver for anti-racist and gender equity efforts,” she said.