Communications & Marketing Executive
Gelasia
“Gigi” Croom, MSPR
Twenty years of turning critical missions into sold-out rooms, funded campaigns, and stories that do more than get attention — they build emotional connection for children's welfare, conservation, and community organizations across Chicago and beyond.
A reporter first
Gigi got her start as a reporter — general assignment, then national editor — learning early what makes a story true, and what makes it land. That same instinct carried her into civic communications at the Chicago Housing Authority, then into association and healthcare public relations, and eventually into leadership roles at some of Chicago's most respected nonprofits: The Nature Conservancy, Children's Home & Aid, and Prevent Child Abuse America. In 2024, she founded Hustler's Collective Marketing Agency (HCMA), a Black-owned, women-owned strategy and storytelling shop built on the same habit that made her a good journalist: listen first, then say the true thing well.
- 20+
- years in communications & marketing leadership
- $30M+
- secured for nonprofit clients & employers
- MSPR
- Syracuse University, Public Relations
The work in action
Rooted in journalism, care, and culture, Gigi's experience is built on a Sankofa mentality — reaching back to move every mission forward — through a lens of measurable, mission-driven strategy. Here's that path, in the order she led it.
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2024Present
Hustler's Collective Marketing Agency Founder & CEO
A Chicago, South Side-rooted brand strategy and communications agency. Collectively, the HCMA team has supported rebrands and campaigns across their careers — a mission they've continued alongside clients like the National Parks Conservation Association, Imani Village of Trinity United Church of Christ, and A Ray of Hope on Earth. It's work that stays grounded and community-driven, while serving as connective tissue to real opportunity.
Gigi interviews NFL legend Daunte Culpepper — A Ray of Hope on Earth Charity Golf Invitational
Gigi and Sara of HCMA at the Hustler's Lounge — official marketing partners of the Emancipation Ball
Gigi with the Imani Village team at Trinity UCC
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2024Aug–Dec
Rebuild Foundation Communications Director (Temporary)
Led messaging for Theaster Gates' When Clouds Roll Away exhibition at the Stony Island Arts Bank — pairing the Johnson Publishing archive's history with a new chapter for the Foundation. Social engagement rose more than 25,000 interactions, 40% of them new followers.
Stony Island Arts Bank — When Clouds Roll Away
Cultural celebration of the Johnson Publishing exhibition with global artist Corinne Bailey Rae -
2022–2024
Prevent Child Abuse America Chief Communications Officer
Rebuilt the website and brand in under four months, then sold out PCAA's first national conference since the pandemic — 1,200+ attendees — while landing two donor matches and $300,000 in in-kind media. Daily video wrap-ups kept both the room and everyone who couldn't be there in the loop.
See the full turnaround ↓
Gigi in front of freshly rebranded PCAA and Healthy Families America signage
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2020–2022
Children's Home & Aid (Brightpoint) Director, Strategic Communications
Led statewide communications through a complex vision and branding transition, and steered messaging through COVID's most uncertain months. Booked keynote speakers and drove the annual meeting past its $400,000 goal with nearly 500 registered.
Gigi connects PCAA and CHASI for Child Abuse Prevention Month in Chicago
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2012–2020
The Nature Conservancy Associate Director of Communications, IL & Central Division
Produced and organized a multi-state, in-depth magazine article examining the work of numerous stakeholders in protecting freshwater, which played a significant role in securing an initial $1.8M gift and $12.5M more in subsequent funding. Built a paid internship pipeline into conservation for marginalized communities, and placed TNC's science in the New York Times, CNN, and WBEZ.
Setting up a flyover interview, TNC field media
Gigi was invited as a lead marketing speaker at the Wild Things conference in Rosemont, IL
Chief Communications Officer, Prevent Child Abuse America
Marketing leadership, creativity, and data — building interest and a sense of safety ahead of PCAA's first post-pandemic annual meeting.
In under four months, Gigi's team rebuilt PCAA's brand, its website, and its story — then sold out the organization's first national conference since the pandemic, with more than 1,200 people in the room for the reveal of PCAA's new Theory of Change.
Video, scripted and directed
From national awareness spots with public figures to event round-ups for the people who couldn't be in the room — concept, script, and direction for PCAA's video work.
Candace Parker on mentors & family
A national awareness spot Gigi helped orchestrate with WNBA champion Candace Parker on the role mentors and family play in preventing child abuse.
Actor Stephen Bishop joins PCA America
An influencer collaboration on parenthood, built on Gigi's own media contacts to extend the prevention message beyond PCAA's usual audience.
The promo that sold out the room
Scripted, designed, recorded, and deployed by Gigi to promote PCAA's 2023 national conference — the campaign behind the 1,200+ sold-out crowd.
Brand & Campaign Work
A few of the pieces behind that work — some built through HCMA for our clients, some from my years leading brand and communications for PCAA and Children's Home & Aid.
Stories that raised the money
Donor and stakeholder communications across conservation, child welfare, and family services.
Living Our Values
Children's Home & Aid (now Brightpoint) brand storytelling from Gigi's vision-and-branding transition — the narrative that helped carry the agency's annual meeting past its $400,000 goal.
American bison make a comeback in the Midwest
CBS Evening News coverage of the Nachusa Grasslands bison return — a media relations placement Gigi secured for The Nature Conservancy.
Setting Fires and Restoring an American Landscape
A New York Times feature on prescribed burns at Nachusa Grasslands — another national media placement Gigi secured for The Nature Conservancy.
Read the full article ↗Her agency's donor communications work extends to national conservation funders — including recrafting the National Parks Conservation Association's Park Protection Fund messaging to speak directly to current-administration threats to park history and funding — alongside stakeholder work referenced by development and marketing leaders at The Nature Conservancy.
Earlier, foundational roles
- American Society for Clinical Pathology
- Media & External Relations Manager
- 2007–2012
- Chicago Housing Authority
- Senior Media Specialist
- 2006–2007
- American Bar Association
- Public Relations Specialist
- 2004–2006
- Golin Harris Public Relations
- Public Relations Intern
- 2003–2004
- Wilson Daily Times
- General Assignment Reporter / National Editor
- 2001–2003
Recognition
- 2026 — Hello Alice & BOTOX® Cosmetic Confidence Collective Cohort, 1 of 250 small businesses selected
- 2016 — Chicago Association of Direct Marketers Tempo Award, 3rd Place (team)
- 2014 — PR Daily Award, Green Campaign: "Working with Nature to Manage Floods"
- 2010 — Publicity Club of Chicago, Silver Trumpet Winner
Media placements
The New York Times · The Wall Street Journal · CNN · Chicago Tribune · Chicago Sun-Times · WTTW · WBEZ · CBS Evening News · TMZ · Ebony · The Imprint
Let's talk.
Executive-level experience rooted in journalism, branding, executive communications, and consulting — open to conversations with mission-driven organizations, boards, and teams.