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Shavonne Reed
Self-
CEO & Founder
OPUA Agency
Founder
Future Health NOW Foundation
Interview conducted by:
Bud Wayne, Editorial Executive
CEOCFO Magazine
Published – September 5, 2024
CEOCFO: Ms. Reed, before we get into what you are doing today, would you tell us what led you into a career path of helping people live healthy lifestyles? Was it based on your own personal life experience, a need you saw or both?
Ms. Reed: It was a combination of both. I am an Atlanta, Georgia native; I grew up in Southwest Atlanta. I had an aunt that worked at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and she would always bring me in to work with her. Then I started being a summer student for the CDC, and while I was there I ended up learning a lot about chronic disease prevention and health promotion. From there I ended up pursuing a degree in Broadcast Journalism, and after graduation I spent more than 20 years in the corporate sphere doing media marketing and communications in the health field.
Another part of my personal experience was some health issues that I went through with my mom, as she needed to have quadruple bi-
After that, the Pandemic hit, and I noticed things were shifting so I had to figure out what was going on. As a mom of two Zoomers, I noticed they were retreating as the social isolation was negatively affecting us all. Therefore, I decided I really needed to pivot and really focus on health. In 2021, my mom passed away from several diseases that were preventable, and as a result I questioned whether I was modeling the correct behavior for my daughters, and that was not the case. I wanted to make sure I was doing a better job of that and stewarding the future health of others. That is how that journey got started.
CEOCFO: Why focus on Gen Z?
Ms. Reed: Because I have two Zoomers at home and it is hard to get through to this generation. They are going to be the largest consumer population soon. We have to think about how we meet them where they are so we can make an impact. They are at the point where they are not thinking about the marginal decade of life, they are living their best lives right now. I want to get them to think more about how they can ensure overall quality of life satisfaction into the future.
CEOCFO: Tell us about your efforts at your OPUA Agency; what kind of clients are you providing your health marketing and communication services for? Are they government agencies, HMO’s, doctors?
Ms. Reed: It is a combination of nonprofits and government agencies on the national, regional and local levels. Optimistic People Unified for Awareness is what the acronym OPUA stands for. We help them to develop culturally relevant behavioral change marketing and communications that will reach prioritized audiences so that they can make an impact on positive behavioral change for optimal future health.
We are focused on women’s health, mental health and well-
CEOCFO: What are some of the services you provide at OPUA Agency?
Ms. Reed: We provide PR, full service digital marketing and branding, as well as videographer and ad placement services. If an agency wants to start up a podcast or they need to do some videography work, we are able to support them.
Setting up campaigns is our sweet spot. If you think about setting it up from beginning to end with the prioritized audience in mind, we then want to approach them by coming up with a creative concept and putting together a technical strategy on how to implement an effective campaign in a meaningful and culturally relevant way. We want a campaign to meet the audiences where they are and get them to engage and mobilize to the call of action which ultimately will lead to better health outcomes.
CEOCFO: How do you get Gen Z to pay attention?
Ms. Reed: A huge part of it is understanding how they consume information and what their perspectives are, especially their world views, the way technology has changed, they now have access to so much more information. Along with this also comes misinformation. We study evidenced-
We try to build a trusted messenger model because Zoomers don’t just take information from anyone. They require an existing relationship or some form of trust to connect with them. That is the area of expertise that we bring to our clients, it is being able to understand exactly how to carve out and understand the cultural nuances that are important in order to get the audience to listen.
CEOCFO: You also have your Georgia state registered charity, Future Health NOW Foundation. What are some of the things you are doing there to advance health equity and social justice for youth, such as your literacy and workforce development programs?
Ms. Reed: At the heart and center of it is that we want to build up more minorities in the space to support health communications. Recently I attended the Society of Health Communications conference in D.C., and there was a very small representation of African American males and Hispanic males in the group. That is a huge concern because that is one of the populations that is prioritized in health communication and promotion, especially the ones that are at higher risk.
With the organization our goal is to diversify the future workforce in the health communications space especially in marginalized communities. If you hope to affect change and behavioral health change that is positive within a particular demographic group, you have to have some messengers that are a part of the building process so that you can trans-
CEOCFO: Would you tell us about your team and support for your efforts?
Ms. Reed: We have a collaborative of health communicators and creatives that support every project that we work on. We have talented graphic designers that help us to do any printed or digital marketing collateral. We have a bench of medical writers and content creators that have some background, usually an MPH that has experience in health equity, and delivering health communications in a culturally relevant way. When we are coming to the table, we bring that expertise and insight that is going to be the difference in making sure that the communications that clients execute will make all the difference.
CEOCFO: Is there any crossover between OPUA and the Future Health Now Foundation?
Ms. Reed: They are two separate entities however the way we like to look at it is to say that the Future Health NOW Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the agency. Everything that we do aligns with the values and the mission that go along with that. OPUA is a small disadvantaged minority woman-
CEOCFO: Are you enjoying doing your bi-
Ms. Reed: I absolutely am. It has been amazing to interview thought leaders in the health communications space that I admire and respect and to be able to shine a light on their leadership. As you know, with the advent of AI and the way information technology has converged, back in 2001 when I graduated from college, the media conversion was just beginning. Now it has gone to a new level with AI. Being able to have this podcast has given me the opportunity to listen and learn from thought leaders that have embraced AI, and with all the new technology and how we can apply those to health communications to make a greater impact.
I am always excited to share the conversations that we are having because it is more than just marketing and it is all about affecting behavioral change in a huge way. A big part of it is advocacy because we know change is not easy nor immediate, even though we have a short attention span when it comes to digesting information or media consumption. When we are talking about true social impact and behavioral change, this is something that happens over time.
We have seen the evolution of theories and education versus how we execute on the ground. Having that platform has been eye-
CEOCFO: Can you tell us about some of the guests you have featured so far and the type of topics you have covered?
Ms. Reed: I just released an episode today and it is with Dr. Chandria Jones, with NORC at the University of Chicago. We talk about navigating challenges in health equity and having a culturally responsive approach. Both she and I are African American women and many times we are the only African American women and we are expected to speak for our entire population and that is a hard burden that many people do not even realize. There is a concept of colorism within the African American community that is so deep. There are so many things that people do not understand from the outside looking in that have an impact on health communication.
I also recently interviewed Solveiga Jaskunas, who is from Lithuania and she is an advocate for immigrants, especially in the education system. We talk about mental health and wellness and how those things impact the mental health and well-
I have the opportunity coming up to interview a young lady who is designing an AI platform and tool that is going to revolutionize the way we approach health communications as a collective. Her name is Adrienne Ammerman and she has this new tool called Arclet. It is great and the spectrum is huge for what we are doing with this platform and byway of the Future Health Now podcast.
CEOCFO: In closing, you have done so much already; where do you go from here?
Ms. Reed: From here my goal is to scale the impact that OPUA has from the local community to the global community, and standing up global campaigns are going to make all the difference in the behavioral change of consumers that are not thinking about and prioritizing their health. For the next generation after Gen Z, which is Gen Alpha, it will not be too early to start planting those positive seeds that future health starts now.
Our organizations are all about future health starting now and making sure we get that message out and that we grow the movement. We want people to think about it and let that be one of the first things they think about.
Shavonne Reed | Health Communications | Self-