Evangeline Semark (she/her)
I am a designer, writer, and communications professional with over 20 years of experience crafting meaningful narratives and visuals at the intersection of culture, justice, and identity. My work spans strategic marketing, communications, and creative roles, where I use my skills and equity-driven approach to support people, organizations, and movements working toward change.
I love what I do—harnessing the power of words and pictures to spark action. I help clients expand their reach and amplify their messages, using design and storytelling to inspire connection, bridge differences, and create change. From brand identities to web design to event marketing and everything in between, I create impactful solutions that resonate across industries.
My professional education includes an associate’s degree in Graphic Design from Kalamazoo Valley Community College, a bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design and Applied Liberal Studies from Western Michigan University, and a master’s degree in Organizational and Multicultural Communication from DePaul University, which focused on an interdisciplinary approach to the study of culture and society that critically analyzes embodied identities, social relations, cultural objects in relation to community formations and systems of power. My concentration in Latino Media and Communication was strengthened through an interdisciplinary study abroad experience and community organizing on the Island of Puerto Rico and in the Humboldt Park community of Chicago. My thesis project examined the way in which the U.S. nation-state works through cultural institutions such as schools and the media to create ideological cultures of control and presents subculture as a site where young people of color, particularly Black and Brown youth, can resist the regulation of their bodies and imposed conceptions of self.
I am most proud that my son Yakez watched me walk across the stage to receive each of those college diplomas. He remains my biggest motivation: www.staygoldyakez.org
My understanding of public policy, marketing, and teaming was developed through my various corporate communications roles at Health Care Service Corporation (dba Blue Cross and Blue Shield of IL/NM/OK/TX). Here I worked closely with subject matter experts, sales teams, C-Suite executives, consultants, and other creatives across four state enterprise divisions to address the most challenging health insurance problems facing employers, the underinsured and the uninsured. I received the HCSC President’s Award for consistently delivering innovative, human-centered solutions to better serve customers and help improve two-way communication within the organization.
For eight years, I led the district communications at Evanston Township High School District 202, where I championed numerous award-winning design innovations, including the school’s rebranding, website redesign, and multi-phase signage and wayfinding project. I was a leader in the district’s racial equity work, driving notable changes in family engagement efforts, transgender policy and procedures, the extracurricular code, and school dress code which received media attention from Today, Self, Insider, Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Shape Magazine under my direction. I was a leader of the District Equity Leadership Team, authoring and implementing the district’s first strategic equity framework that transformed the school culture. I helped establish affinity groups, co-led equity training with educators, and integrated Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) principles into all communications and family engagement efforts. In this role, I wrote and co-authored reports, articles, community messages, policies, procedure, and a thesis, and led Liberatory Design changes to the physical school itself. I have received several honors and awards for my work over the years. My efforts were featured on an alumni spotlight page on the DePaul University College of Communication website.
Before moving into my current position, I led the marketing communications functions for the Office of Corporate Engagement at Northwestern University where I gained a deep understanding of how industry experts, researchers, students, and communities work together to design local solutions and organize for change. I currently serve as an executive-level marketing communications leader at McGaw YMCA, a nonprofit membership organization focused on providing transformational experiences where everyone can be, become, and belong. In this role I author key messages, shape brand experiences, advise leadership, and drive revenue and engagement. I lead a blended team of internal staff and outside talent, managing all marketing communication functions, including digital, web, print, design, brand, and advertising.
Drawing on my personal experience as a gun violence survivor, I organize with other survivors, coalitions, and legislative leaders to advocate for gender and racial justice, LGBTQIA+ rights, workers’ rights, and shared safety. I led the expansion of the Illinois Victims’ Economic Security and Safety Act (VESSA), to broaden critical workplace and job protections for survivors of violent crime. I supported the work of the Gang Alternatives Program in Los Angeles by creating a new brand and marketing strategy to help tell the organization’s story. I served over a decade on the Howard & Evanston Community Center board, including six years as president, where I worked to ensure that issues of equity and social justice were centered in the center’s programs and culture and helped bring tens of millions of dollars of funding to the communities it serves. My board service was commended through Illinois House Resolution 0407.
I served as an active member of the Chicago chapter of Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, Moms Demand Action (Illinois Chapter – Evanston Group) and participate in a number of survivor groups. I am one of the founding members of the Illinois Coalition for Shared Safety, a network of service providers and crime survivors working to establish shared safety and related policies at the local and state level. I was appointed to serve on two City of Evanston committees: the Alternative Emergency Response Subcommittee and the Reimagining Public Safety Committee where I played a key role in launching the City of Evanston’s C.A.R.E non-policing community response model. Additionally, I was a founding member of the Coalition for Racial Justice at DePaul University, comprised of students and alumni who are committed to pushing the institution to acknowledge and address its legacy of white supremacy and systemic racism. A Leadership Evanston graduate, I have been commended by DePaul University and the Illinois House of Representatives and others for my service and activism.
I believe communications professionals are uniquely positioned as advocates to help shape how someone or something is viewed in the public realm. We have the opportunity to care deeply about the causes we help advance through our work, and the responsibility to center the people we serve professionally by using empowering and equitable modes of communication and centering social justice in our practice. My work focuses on strengthening communities through shared safety and healing, advancing racial and gender equity, dismantling white supremacy, racism, and other systems of oppression, ending violence, and empowering young people through education, technology, culture and the arts. The impact of my work has led to transformational change with lasting, positive results, moving us toward a more curious, compassionate, and just world.
