A marketing communications specialist in Charlotte, North Carolina, Ayotomiwa Akintode, applies her Nigerian upbringing to ensure public information reaches every member of her diverse community.

Working in public service, Akintode focuses on making government communications accessible to all residents, particularly those who might otherwise feel excluded from such messaging.

“When I have a project, I think about the person who sees a flyer and immediately feels like it wasn’t made for them. “That feeling of being overlooked in messages that’s supposed to serve you has real consequences.

People don’t look for help if they don’t believe that it is meant for them,” Akintode said.

Her approach to communication involves asking critical questions about who is not being reached and what assumptions organisations make about their audiences.

This perspective proved valuable in her work on Mecklenburg County’s Foster Parent Awareness campaign, which received national recognition from the City-County Communications and Marketing Association.

Akintode said the campaign’s success lay in its intentional outreach to families who had not previously considered foster parenthood.