Nicole Macias

Nicole Macias leads the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Communications Initiative for the Cronkite Agency as its director and professor of practice. She is a committed advocate for the advancement of diversity, equity and inclusion who has a keen understanding of the nuances and sensitivities needed to connect with various audiences. Macias graduated from Arizona State University in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies. After two decades in strategic marketing and communications, she returned to ASU.

Since spring 2023, she has served as the director and professor of practice for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Communications Initiative for the Cronkite Agency, a communications agency where students serve real clients with public relations, digital marketing, brand content and bilingual campaigns.

The initiative’s purpose is to teach students how to build campaigns that address health disparities in underserved communities in the Southwest. The RWJF team partnered with the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the Edson School of Nursing (and Health Innovation), St. Vincent de Paul’s Ivy Center for Family Wellness and the Valley of the Sun YMCA to rebrand and build both a digital and PR campaign to promote their Type 2 diabetes prevention program, Every Little Step Counts. On this project, students wrote scripts, shot, produced and edited commercials in English and Spanish, managed earned and paid media campaigns, built social content and calendars — all skills that are transferable to their future careers.