Q+A Series - Troy Blackwell
To celebrate the honorees from the DAA’s 2022 Gala, the DAA team has launched a Q + A series to highlight the meaningful work of communicators who are driving forward diversity, equity and inclusion in the industry. The interview below was conducted by Jenny Ho.
“I believe in living your authenticity, and owning what makes you authentic, what makes you different and what makes you standout. What makes you different is your selling point. In PR, it has historically lacked marginalized identities, and there aren’t a lot of marginalized communities in this space, so the individual stories make us stand out and create opportunities for us.”
-Troy Blackwell Jr., Director of Public Relations and Chief Spokesperson for the Peace Corps
Please tell us about your current role in the communications industry.
I’m currently the Director of Press Relations and Chief Spokesperson for the Peace Corps, and they are an agency that sends volunteers overseas and provides development assistance. Fields vary in economic development and agriculture etc., and my job is being the spokesperson both domestically and internationally, and overseeing 64 countries.
I also oversee the country’s embassy communications team and he coordinates with all the embassies, accumulates talking points, and meets with various ambassadors from different countries, and has a hand in working the marketing campaigns. I’m always balancing the different time zones, and the importance of putting management structures in place on how to receive information.
What is one piece of advice you would give other diverse professionals within the industry as they progress in their careers?
I believe in living your authenticity, and owning what makes you authentic, what makes you different and what makes you standout. What makes you different is your selling point. In PR, it has historically lacked marginalized identities, and there aren’t a lot of marginalized communities in this space, so the individual stories make us stand out and create opportunities for us. Similarly, the work that the DAA is doing is bringing people together with different lived experiences- and these differences are needed, especially because I think standing out is a good thing. A lot of times diverse professionals are taught to assimilate, and folks think assimilating is the way to succeed, but I don’t think that's true. Whether you know a different language, culture, etc., how we present our stories that are attached to us, are our selling point. We are our own unique lived experience that has value.
What has been your biggest career accomplishment in 2022?
My first accomplishment is when the Peace Corp announced a new global climate initiative at the Global Citizen Festival in New York City. Thousands of working staff came together for climate change work. This festival was very rewarding because this initiative took months to work on, so making the announcement on that stage was a good feeling. We had the Jonas Brothers, Prikanya Chopra, Mariah Carey and the United Nations there - so many notable announcements on climate change.
My second accomplishment with the Peace Corps is when we opened a new post in Vietnam, and it’s the first time they would be presenting Vietnam. We had volunteers go to Asia and Vietnam, and this has been in the works for many years. It was really exciting. While we were in Vietnam, we did press conferences and discussed all the work that volunteers would be doing. To see how much work went into that project was really fulfilling, and I’m happy to be a part of this announcement. We also did a press council in Vietnam with our counterparts, and it was such a great experience, and it was a milestone in bilateral relationships between the U.S. and Vietnam.