Aly Coleman
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ly Coleman is the Vice President of accounts for On 3 Public Relations where she handles statewide media relations for clients, including recently helping to plan and execute the annual Child Protection Summit hosting more than 3,000 child welfare professionals from across the state. While Coleman has quickly made a name for herself in the political communications world, it wasn’t the career she imagined for herself when she took her first job in The Process. “It was kind of a happy accident,” she said. “I started my career at Volunteer Florida, but at the time, I didn’t realize it was a quasi-state agency that interacted with the Governor’s office fairly regularly. Eventually, the relationships I made there allowed me to move on to DCF, where I gained invaluable experience supporting the legislative affairs team and engaging with the state House and Senate.” Coleman describes her work at the Florida Department of Children and Families, where she spent 18 months as deputy director of communications, as the most challenging — and most rewarding — of her career to date. On paper, her responsibilities included developing the agency’s external communications strategy and identifying opportunities to engage with DCF’s 12,000 staff members. But the job also required impeccable emotional endurance. She faced a daily barrage of disturbing stories and unimaginable retellings of abuse and neglect. Even though that meant “good days were still extremely hard,” she
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said it infused her work with a strong sense of purpose. “I recognized that I accepted this challenge in an effort to make a difference, to use my writing and media relations skills to contribute to the important work being done across the department and throughout the state, which was incredibly rewarding in and of itself,” she said. In early 2021, Coleman got a call from On 3 Public Relations President Christina Johnson and left DCF for the private sector. DCF was a grind, yes, but she said she doesn’t see her decision to move on as “throwing in the towel.” “I felt content, even confident, with my decision knowing that I persevered through the often-personal toll the position took on me, and I harnessed my unique strengths to support my colleagues as they worked tirelessly to ensure that all children had loving homes and families were given the opportunity to succeed,” she said. Her professional passions are, without a doubt, writing and politics. That passion helped her earn dual degrees in political science and public relations at FSU — with honors, no less. But it also led her to jump at the opportunity to work at On 3. She said the opportunity was “best of both worlds.” Coleman’s strategic writing and media relations skills — developed at Volunteer Florida and battle-tested at DCF — have continued blooming as has her interest in understanding the public sector and political process in Florida. And with Johnson (whom Coleman describes as a “public relations genius”) serving as her mentor, expect her to become a fixture in Florida’s political PR world for years to come.