Patricia-Marie Harley, a master’s candidate in Creative Brand Management at the VCU Brandcenter, is serving as a Marketing and Communications Specialist for the Alliance for Building Better Medicine (ABBM/CCAM). With a background that combines project management and art management, she brings both creative insight and organizational strategy to her work. In this role, Patricia-Marie is helping strengthen ABBM’s communications approach while gaining hands-on experience in stakeholder engagement, brand strategy, and marketing planning.
During her time at CCAM, Patricia-Marie has focused on reevaluating ABBM’s marketing objectives and ensuring they align with broader business goals. Working closely with her mentor, Joy Polefrone, she has supported outreach efforts designed to increase ABBM awareness and deepen stakeholder engagement. Her experience has given her the opportunity to think more strategically about how communications efforts can support long-term organizational priorities while also helping her build confidence in creative and business decision-making.
Patricia-Marie has contributed to several important communications initiatives during her internship. She has helped continue development of the ABBM newsletter, supported updates to the ABBM website, and assisted with strategic planning for fall events. Through this work, she has explored how to translate top marketing priorities into clear, actionable tactics that are understandable across different levels of an organization. These responsibilities have strengthened her understanding of communications planning, content creation, event marketing, and the connection between brand strategy and measurable business objectives.
Through these experiences, Patricia-Marie has continued developing skills in decision-making, time management, website design, creative direction, communications planning, and creative project management. She is also focused on strengthening her ability to provide thoughtful business feedback and create marketing tactics that move an organization forward. She values the opportunity to grow in an environment where strategy and creativity work hand in hand, and her internship has helped her build a stronger foundation for future work in branding, communications, and creative leadership.
Outside of her professional work, Patricia-Marie enjoys hosting events for Black students in her graduate program and helping build community for incoming students. She also enjoys cooking and attending festivals. Her combination of creativity, collaboration, and community-minded leadership makes her a strong contributor to ABBM’s outreach efforts and a valuable representative of the CCAM internship program.
