About / Contact – Courtney Celley

Courtney Celley: About me

Hi, I’m Courtney Celley – a professional communicator with more than a decade of experience executing digital communication strategies across the digital ecosystem. From web development and digital strategy to social media and multimedia, I have a proven record of communicating complex information in a clear, accurate and engaging manner to diverse audiences. I’m open to roles that focus on strategic communication, digital strategy, storytelling and making our world a better place.

Contact

You can reach me through LinkedIn or email.

Experience

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)

June 2009 – present

Across multiple roles, I’ve had the opportunity to help create the foundation that became an award winning Digital Strategy Team and community of practice, supporting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s essential work across the country through all things digital. I helped build the agency’s social media presence from zero to more than 2.7 million followers across Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn and YouTube. I helped move the agency from decentralized and redundant static websites to a content management system. I’ve supported the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the fight against invasive carp, the effort to save the monarch butterfly and the delisting of Endangered Species Act successes. I’ve connected people with the natural world around them through phenology, photography, videography and by identifying the species our audience photographed in their own backyards. My work has been viewed by millions of people and covered by countless news outlets.

Public Affairs Specialist: Digital Strategist
Aug 2021 – Present
Remote
Serving as the Midwest Region Web Manager and Digital Strategist covering Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Responsible for daily social media content creation and community management, website creation and management, monitoring trends and briefing staff as well as supporting leadership and priorities. Passionate about accessibility including implementing Section 508 WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA success criteria across websites, multimedia and social media. I’ve pioneered the agency’s approach to creating proactive evergreen website and social media content, writing resources that are search engine optimized with long shelf lives to fill needs demonstrated by our audiences and observed through social listening, frequently asked questions, audience interactions and feedback.

Public Affairs Specialist: Digital Strategist (Temporary Promotion)
Jun 2021 – Aug 2021
Remote
Temporary promotion focused on ensuring the agency-wide Drupal content management system migration is successful in addition to my typical focus on digital strategy and web management. Highly engaged in several national groups including the Drupal Enterprise Content Management Team, National Digital Strategy Team, Regional Digital Strategy Team and the National Web Council.

Public Affairs Specialist: Social Media Coordinator
Jan 2011 – Jun 2021
Hybrid
Serving as the Regional Web Manager and Social Media Coordinator. Responsible for daily social media content creation and community management, website creation and management, monitoring trends and briefing staff and supporting leadership and priorities.

Public Affairs Student Trainee
Jun 2009 – Jan 2011
On-site
Focused on websites and digital communications in support of the public affairs team.

Mail Marketplace

2007 – 2011

Freelance Graphic Web Designer
2007 – 2011
Hybrid
Freelance graphic designer focused on creating printed promotional materials and conducting website updates, improvements and maintenance. Printed materials included direct mail products for existing and potential customers. Website work included listing new stock items, providing details on current specials and improving website usability and search engine optimization.

Skills and proficiencies

Digital strategy, social media management & accessibility

More than a decade of experience in professional social media management with social media content creation and community management across Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr and Pinterest. Additional experience with Bluesky, Giphy, Reddit, TikTok and Threads. Proficient with social media management tools including Hootsuite and Sprout Social. Experience writing social media management plans to govern agency use of each platform. Uses analytics to help others understand the impacts of social media content in human terms. Passionate about accessibility including implementing Section 508 WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA success criteria across websites, multimedia and social media.

Multimedia and marketing

More than a decade of experience working with multimedia and digital marketing. My photography focuses on wildlife and documenting nature and decay. Much of my nature and wildlife photography is available as public domain work. Digital photography and photo editing, plus film photography including darkroom film development. Videography, editing and production including closed captioning and audio describing video products to ensure they’re Section 508 compliant and accessible to all audiences. Audio production including podcast direction, audio recording and editing. Graphic design including logos, promotional materials, brochures and booklets. Email marketing through Constant Contact, Mailchimp and Granicus govDelivery.

Writing, editing and reading

I’m a strong writer focused on providing information in easy to understand terms. I’ve pioneered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s approach to creating proactive evergreen website and social media content, writing resources that are search engine optimized with long shelf lives to fill needs demonstrated by our audiences through frequently asked questions, interactions and feedback. Proficient with AP Stylebook, I’ve worked with senior Public Affairs Officers to create easy-to-use style guides to help staff agency-wide become more consistent writers. I assist Public Affairs Officers with writing and editing as requested and write stories as time allows. I review all content before publishing to ensure nothing is overlooked. Exceptional attention to detail. I enjoy reading for knowledge and entertainment.

Evergreen resource samples

What to do if you find a baby bird, injured or orphaned wildlife: Worked with a senior public affairs officer to take a one-off story and turn it into an evergreen resource that could be helpful to people no matter where they’re located. Designed to be easy to find and understand in a pinch to help prioritize wildlife health as well as human safety.
How to purchase a fishing license: This resource helps answer a question we used to receive all the time through phone calls, emails and social media messages. Even though this is a state-level issue, providing this resource helped connect our audiences to the information they needed, reducing staff time answering repeat questions while providing a convenient user experience.
How to report wildlife crime: Worked with a senior public affairs officer to take a one-off story and turn it into an evergreen resource that could be helpful to anyone who may have information about a wildlife crime. Worked with our law enforcement team to streamline their tip collection and help audiences understand how to best submit information.
What to do when your house catches the attention of woodpeckers: Worked with a senior public affairs officer to take a one-off story and turn it into an evergreen resource that could be helpful to anyone having issues with woodpecker damage. Designed to be easy to find and understand.

Writing samples

Providing training and creating training materials

Over my career, I have continuously created job aids, training materials and documentation to help non-technical staff through a wide range of processes including working with multimedia, social media, web content and making content accessible.

I have assisted with planning and providing instruction to diverse audiences for the following agency-wide workshops for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

Digital Storytelling Webinar Series 2021
Digital Communications Workshop 2018
Public Affairs Workshop 2016
Digital Communications Workshop 2016
Digital Communications Workshop 2014
Internet Developers Workshop 2010

The planning process included collecting input from a variety of practitioners, creating resources around identified topics and identifying staff who would get the most value out of each training. Session instruction included putting together agendas, collecting and organizing content, presenting content and making materials accessible to audiences who wished to watch recorded sessions after the fact, as well as providing additional resources that could be utilized after the session as staff worked through various topics on their own time. I also assisted with identifying external keynote speakers who would help inspire and add value to the team’s overall experience.

Notable projects

Monarch butterfly outreach campaign (2024 – 2025)

Lead a team of subject matter experts collaborating on creating resources to provide essential information to key stakeholders in support of monarch butterfly conservation. We brainstormed target audiences including federal, tribal, state and local governments, agriculture and ranchers, rights-of-way, business owners, home gardeners, educators and international collaborators. We created targeted resources for each audience, building from years of audience interactions across social media, to empower them to help support monarchs and other pollinators by planting native habitat. One new resource developed through this effort recommends native plants for each region of the country to help folks get inspiration to jumpstart their efforts. We used social media to provide individualized native milkweed recommendations to followers based on their plant hardiness zone and location so they can head to their local native plant nursery ready to hit the ground running!

Drupal content management system (2020 – 2022)

Created and implemented an adoption strategy to bring the Midwest Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service into the agency-wide Drupal content management system. Served as part of the sprint planning team focused on coordinating nation-wide efforts to migrate information to specific content types within two to three week timelines. These sprints allowed us to provide short, highly focused training sessions that allow for questions, sharing of experiences, solution demonstrations and documentation of any issues. At the end of each sprint, we had fully documented any issues or bugs related to the content type so they could be resolved before the system launched. This process also helped create a solid understanding of each content type with staff across the agency and resulted in moving large chunks of content into the Drupal system ahead of launch.

Facility sites
Created user-friendly content collection forms to gather initial content from 95 facilities, then edited the content for style and consistency, built initial sites and handed sites off to local field staff along with training materials to assist them in adding additional content and learning the system as their schedules allow, reducing the overall pressure and time commitment for local staff. I assisted my peers across the country by sharing the materials and processes I created along with lessons learned throughout this phase of the project.

Regional program content
Coordinated with regional program leadership to identify points of contact to assist with inventorying each program’s website content. I provided guidance, analytics data and training to each of these points of contact to assist with the evaluation and inventorying process. In order to be successful, we communicated regularly, and I assisted programs that had a lot of content to work through. I created a structure so my colleagues across the country could easily track the most important content from all regions in a single place. This process allowed national programs to easily match similar content from various regions and combine those similar resources into one final product in order to provide the best possible user experience to the public.

Story content
Extensively tested the story content type to ensure it met all of our needs as an agency ahead of beginning content migration. Flagged several issues and provided suggested solutions to the development team, including how to handle evergreen stories, associate related content in meaningful ways and the best way to handle photos ranging from public domain to Creative Commons and photos provided through Copyright releases with partners, volunteers and the public. Provided suggestions for ways to improve the user experience for our public audiences as well as our employees who enter content into the system. Created documentation to assist employees and provided walkthroughs to teach others how to complete the story migration process. Shared best practices for inventorying stories, using a data-driven approach to prioritize content.

Leading the National Digital Strategy Team (2019 – 2020)

While the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had a vacancy in the national digital strategist position, I took the initiative to lead the team, including holding bi-weekly national digital strategy calls, creating agendas, tracking down answers, coordinating with leadership and keeping the team moving forward on large efforts including campaign planning, workshop planning, developing communication themes and managing communications during the uncertainty of COVID-19.

As part of this role, I took the lead on implementing the Hootsuite social media management tool implementation across the country, including coordinating training sessions, creating training materials, coordinating with regional and programmatic digital strategists, onboarding users and troubleshooting issues on an ongoing basis.

I represented the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on weekly Department of the Interior social media calls and monthly Digital Media and Communication Council calls. I took the lead on creating, implementing and pioneering a strategy to merge regional Facebook pages into the national Facebook page on an opt-in basis in order to better leverage social network algorithms and provide a more centralized place for the public to interact with the agency. I created a management strategy and workflow for collaborating on one page as a team. After pioneering the merging of pages, I provided follow up progress reports to my leadership and peers to maintain transparency and provide details to others considering this option. Several other regions joined the effort and we later began following suit with Twitter. This approach has allowed our agency to better connect with the public at large, providing a wide variety of content and interacting with more people while still maintaining meaningful ways to connect with specific audiences and local communities and putting social network algorithms to work for us rather than against us.

Defining audiences: Internal vs. external (2019)

Created and implemented a strategy to help Public Affairs Officers and other writers define whether their audience is internal to the agency or external and intended for the public. Created a style guide and guidance to help writers appropriately address their desired audience. Built an internal SharePoint site to house and distribute internal content and foster employee connections across the region. Established a regional news digest to help distribute content to employees each month. Created training materials and held training sessions to teach Public Affairs Officers of varying technical backgrounds how to input stories, add multimedia features and create connections to other relevant content while meeting all policies, best practices and legal obligations. My work allowed us to reach our goal of keeping our public website free of internally-focused information and creating an internal hub where employees can connect with each other and celebrate successes. This approach provided the best possible user experience for both our internal and external audiences.

Translocation of wolves to Isle Royale National Park (2018)

Represented the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of a multi-agency initiative to reestablish gray wolves on Isle Royale. Documented the planning, trapping, processing and successful transportation of wolves through digital photography in a fast-paced and often chaotic environment with limited communication infrastructure within the Grand Portage Reservation. Partners included the National Park Service, Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey.

Nature’s Good Neighbors campaign (2018)

Created and implemented a content strategy for all digital media outreach used in this nationally coordinated communication campaign. I provided leadership with background information on the current social media climate, explained the importance of reaching the right people and how we could leverage local communities and partnerships. I clarified how to measure success and how to provide ongoing value by creating the resources people were actively seeking. As a result, we met our goals by reaching our intended audience on social media and translating that reach into increased time on page with users taking the time to read stories and utilize resources.

Redesigned regional website (2017)

Developed and implemented a new mobile-friendly website for the Midwest Region of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Worked with leadership to help them understand the importance of stepping away from agency-focused architecture and internal politics, instead focusing on user needs and providing the best possible experience to our public visitors. The information architecture of the new design is based on usage analytics, search terms and frequently asked questions.

Adobe Premiere Pro training (2016)

Created and facilitated a multi-phased training to bring 12 non-technical Public Affairs Officers up to speed in using Adobe Premiere Pro for video editing. The training included instruction, examples, hands-on work with b-roll, audio and other media files. Users walked away with a video that they created and a solid understanding of how to create effective video products for a variety of audiences.

Share Your Monarchs campaign (2015)

Created and implemented a campaign to further monarch butterfly conservation efforts by gathering photos from volunteer photographers across the monarch’s range. Throughout the course of the campaign, I gathered more than 1,250 monarch photos from photographers in 45 states and four countries while leveraging existing social media audiences and influencers in monarch conservation. These visuals were later incorporated into outreach efforts ranging from print to digital.

Social media content strategy (2014)

Developed and implemented a data-driven content strategy that resulted in building a following of more than 250,000 people in less than three years with no paid promotion or advertising. As part of implementation, I trained a team of 10 to assist in contributing on-brand content that I oversaw, edited as needed, scheduled for optimum impact and monitored to foster two-way communication. Continued to build upon and adjust this strategy by monitoring trends, reviewing analytics, experimenting with new approaches and adapting with social media networks and audiences.

Service-wide social media hub (2014)

Overhauled the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service social media hub website in order to provide employees with all of the necessary details around existing social media accounts, policies, legal obligations, best practices and points of contact. I gathered input from digital strategists across the agency during the Digital Communication Workshop at the National Conservation Training Center and brought our collective vision to life. We made the conscious decision to keep this website public in order to provide transparency to the public and establish the agency as a leader in thoughtful and strategic social media implementation among government agencies. Continued to maintain this site over the years, collaborating with the digital strategy team to ensure it continues to meet the needs of the agency.

Ektron content management system (2012 – 2013)

Created and implemented an adoption strategy that resulted in the creation of 68 state of the art websites representing facilities for national wildlife refuges and wetland management districts filled with high-quality, on-brand content and multimedia. As part of the implementation, I created a content submission and review process to ensure all information met style guide requirements and provided a consistent user experience across locations. I created and facilitated a multi-phased training approach that included intensive in-person training for 12 super users and creating on demand training resources for hundreds of users across the country who did not have a technical background. Once complete, I assisted my peers in other parts of the country by sharing resources and lessons learned. Continued to provide administrative and technical support for end users as needed and assist new users with onboarding and training.

Awards

During my time with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, I’ve earned several awards, including for performance and priority projects. I have been recognized with three Regional Director Employee Excellence Awards including teamwork excellence, external customer service and outreach excellence. I have consistently earned exceptional performance reviews.

references

Available upon request.

List of skills

Communication, Digital Communication, Digital Communication Strategy, Strategy, Strategic Thinking, Digital Strategy, Strategic Communications, Digital Project Management, Attention to Detail, Team Leadership, Teamwork, Public Affairs, Briefing, Writing, Editing, AP Stylebook, Content Creation, Content Management, Content Planning, Customer Service, Documentation, Digital Media, Multimedia, Digital Photography, Photography, Video Editing, Video Production, Planning, Training, Community Outreach, New Media, Social Listening, Social Media, Social Media Communications, Social Trends, Social Media Analytics, Social Media Strategy, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Measurement, Social Media Outreach, Performance Metrics, Marketing, Digital Marketing, Email Marketing, Online Marketing, Front-End Development, Information Architecture, SEO, Sprint Planning, Usability, Web Content Management, Web Design, Web Development, Web Project Management, CMS, Ektron, Drupal, WordPress, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), HTML, Analytics, Google Analytics, Web Analytics, Graphics, Graphic Design, Information Graphics, Online Graphics, Print Design, Visual Communication, Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Creative Suite, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Photoshop, Sprout Social, Hootsuite, SharePoint, Microsoft Office

Hobbies and interests

In my personal time, I enjoy spending time outside taking nature and wildlife photos, hiking, biking, kayaking, snowshoeing, downhill skiing, gardening, restoring native habitat and traveling places off the beaten path.