Meet Latraniecesa (LJ) Wilson
STAFF SPOTLIGHT: LATRANIECESA (LJ) WILSON, CONSULTANT I
Latraniecesa (LJ) Wilson has a mission to encourage diversity of thought, create a culture of trust, and foster leadership in others. She has worked with Corner Alliance for a year as a Consultant I where she leads the outreach efforts of her team for a DHS S&T Alerts, Warnings, and Notifications project.
Tell us about yourself - how did you get into government consulting? What made you choose Corner over other consulting firms?
Latraniecesa (LJ) Wilson: As a mission-driven communications professional, I was drawn to Corner Alliance because of the opportunity to save lives through communication. At Corner Alliance, I have a chance to help engage emergency managers across the country to participate in communication initiatives that help create effective alerting programs.
What client do you currently work for? What is their mission?
LJ: I currently support the Department of Homeland (DHS) Security and Technology Directorate (S&T), whose mission is to “enable effective, efficient, and secure operations across all homeland security missions by applying scientific, engineering, analytic, and innovative approaches to deliver timely solutions and support departmental acquisitions.” I also work closely with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) program as part of my support to S&T and their mission is to “provide integrated services and capabilities to federal, state, local, tribal and territorial (FSLTT) authorities that enable them to alert and warn their respective communities via multiple communications pathways.”
My interpretation of the Department of Homeland (DHS) Security and Technology Directorate (S&T) mission is to “show up every day committed to delivering innovative approaches, tools, and support that will help strengthen operations across all homeland security missions.” My interpretation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) program mission is to “eliminate emergency alerting communication gaps. FEMA IPAWS wants to ensure federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial (FSLTT) authorities are not left behind and have access to equitable emergency alerting tools for all communities.”
What do you do for your client, and how does that work support your client’s mission?
LJ: I’m an outreach lead for a project that supports FEMA IPAWS with the creation of communication strategies to help guide alerting authorities in using the FEMA IPAWS Program Planning Toolkit. I also help alerting authorities promote the Toolkit to the general public by creating media kits and campaigns which explain how the Toolkit helps communities minimize alerting delays and save lives. My work supports the DHS S&T and FEMA IPAWS missions by providing public safety agencies and emergency managers with communication tools and materials to alert the public of events or disasters.
Tell me about a success your client had, and how you participated.
LJ: My client’s biggest success to date has been the three-part quarterly webinar series, A New Phase of Emergency Alerting. As an outreach lead, it’s my job to work with FEMA.gov and DHS S&T to ensure promotion is collaborative. To date, over 800 participants have registered and over 600 have attended parts one and two of the series. Part three, scheduled for May 5th, 2022, currently has 426 registrants. Pilot participants have been guest speakers on each webinar with demonstrations of the Toolkit being the main focus.
I participated by successfully developing and implementing the webinar series with a focus on working with FEMA.gov and DHS S&T engagement and outreach staff to ensure we reach as many alert originators, alerting authorities, and emergency managers as possible.
What is your personal mission, and how does it support the government?
LJ: My personal mission is to support the government in ensuring all communications involving FEMA.gov and DHS S&T’s alerts, warnings, and notifications program tools are not only distributed but also understood by alerting authorities from across the country. Understanding our client’s communication mission and goals has helped the government reach more stakeholders. I’m here to serve as a catalyst for collaborative and results-oriented communication with our government clients.
What are you excited to see the Federal government do in the future?
LJ: I'm excited about the Federal government's focus on working with alerting authorities who serve underserved communities to continue addressing emergency alert service gaps. I look forward to working with the government to make sure those in underserved communities are aware of the tools available to them in an emergency crisis.