Member Spotlight: Rose King, Hearts & Minds Communications
Rose King has been a valued CENTRL member for the past three years, where she’s been based out of our Eastside Portland location. As Principal and Founder of Hearts & Minds Communications, she leads a collective of communicators, designers, creatives, and strategists dedicated to working on pressing racial and social justice issues.
The collective works exclusively with nonprofits, foundations, advocacy groups, and government agencies focused on social change, creating campaigns and communications that center the communities most impacted by the causes they take on.
Rose, Hearts & Minds sounds like an amazing organization. Can you tell us more about it?
Hearts & Minds Communications is a strategic communications collective that helps nonprofits, advocacy groups, funders, and government agencies give shape and voice to complex, high-stakes work. We specialize in culturally responsive communications that center the communities most impacted, turning policy and programs into outreach that builds trust, expands access, and moves change forward.
What would you say is Hearts & Minds’ mission?
We believe communication is a powerful tool for change. Our work always begins with the people most impacted, listening closely and building approaches that reflect their realities and experiences. We imagine a future where all our institutions speak with clarity and care, and where the systems meant to support us are shaped with and within the communities they are meant to serve.
How did you get into your line of work?
I came into this work through community organizing, grounded in the belief that my liberation is tied to the liberation of others. Working alongside communities navigating systems like healthcare, housing, education, and employment showed me how communication shapes who gets access, who holds power, and who is treated with dignity, and that understanding still guides how I show up in this work every day.
Speaking of work, what about CENTRL works for you?
CENTRL gives me space to do this work with intention. It’s a place where people care about what they’re building and how they show up, and that sense of thoughtfulness and community really matters to me.
What’s the one thing in your office you can’t live without?
CENTRL gives me space to do this work with intention. It’s a place where people care about what they’re building and how they show up, and that sense of thoughtfulness and community really matters to me.
Where can we find or follow your work online?
heartsmindscomm.com