Ivy Tech

Simply put — Shakkira is Ivy Tech Indy’s storyteller.

As Director of Content Marketing at the lead campus of the nation’s largest singly accredited community college, she leads the editorial vision and cross-channel execution that shapes how the institution is seen, understood, and experienced — both internally and externally.

At a college where story ideas are abundant, the differentiator isn’t access — it’s strategy. Shakkira identifies the narratives that matter most, connects them to institutional priorities, and deploys them across print, digital, email, media relations, and community distribution to strengthen brand, enrollment, and stakeholder trust.

Strategic Impact

  • Secured consistent regional media coverage by crafting timely, newsworthy narratives that elevated Ivy Tech’s visibility and institutional reputation.

  • Expanded Ivy Indy Magazine into the Indianapolis Public Library circulation, increasing community access and brand reach.

  • Reconfigured the magazine beginning with its second edition, refining editorial structure, voice, and visual storytelling.

  • Revitalized two internal newsletters — The Voice of the Bear (30,000+ students) and Ivy Indy in the Know (1,000+ faculty and staff) — strengthening engagement and alignment across campus.

  • Launched the campus’ first external newsletter, The Ivy Indy Community Chronicle, expanding visibility beyond institutional walls.

  • Leveraged storytelling campaigns that directly supported enrollment growth and workforce positioning.

  • Developed and executed communications strategy supporting a $35M capital project, ensuring cohesive messaging across milestones, donor engagement, and facility announcements.

  • Spearheaded communications and promotional storytelling for the new Design-A-Bus Student Art Contest, amplifying student creativity while strengthening community partnership visibility.

Stories That Shaped the Narrative

Shakkira’s work goes beyond feature writing — it surfaces stories that reflect the evolving identity of higher education:

  • The Rise of the Toolbelt Generation — reframing skilled trades as aspirational and forward-thinking.

  • A year-over-year increase in homeschool student enrollment, spotlighting shifting educational pathways.

  • Entrepreneurship student profiles, including Danielle Lewis, highlighting innovation in action.

  • An adult learner’s pivot from baking to HVAC, illustrating workforce mobility.

  • A mother walking in commencement on behalf of her late son — a story of grief, perseverance, and legacy.

  • An urban gardening course blending English curriculum and sustainability education.

  • Ivy Indy’s first-ever 500 Festival Princess.

  • A student who saved a man’s life after a traumatic roadside fall — later honored by the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever.

  • An alum partnering with the Hospitality program to help launch an innovative culinary initiative at the Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

  • Senior Scholars Pat and Carol-Ann, continuing their academic journeys in their 70s.

WRTV

Shakkira has reported on thousands of stories across several beats at WRTV. While working her way up in the Indianapolis newsroom — starting her 4-year tenure as a digital content producer, quickly becoming a real-time digital editor, then becoming a digital enterprise reporter cultivating a new kind of role for the outlet — you can see her byline on articles involving everything from crime and entertainment, to many topics in-between.

Shakkira is most proud of her time jump-starting three projects at WRTV: Inside Indy, We’re Open Indy, and Indy Black Businesses. Here are just a mere few links and videos to some of her enterprise, data, investigative, and feature work:

The Arizona Republic

Although most of Shakkira’s time at The Arizona Republic (azcentral) was spent learning how to curate chatter and make social graphics and videos, it was through her time on the social media desk she quickly learned how to spot trending news and turn it into an article, garnishing pageviews. Her favorite, and perhaps most valuable, assignments while working in this Phoenix newsroom were live reporting on Twitter and Instagram from rallies, speeches, long lines to get into a highly-anticipated restaurant, and even following her colleagues on a story, showing our followers how they do their reporting work.

NUVO

NUVO was the underground, the niche, and the alternative voice of Indianapolis. For more than 30 years it served those who valued community-driven journalism, the quirky and giving the voiceless a voice.

Medium

Shakkira is a literature lover at heart and a passionate creative writing aficiando. Medium was an early way for her to put some of her writing out (after a couple of blog attempts, of course!)