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Emily Balawejder has been a part of the Pittsburgh non-profit ecosystem for the greater part of her career, and she is honored to be joining the mighty team at Riverlife as Director of Communications.

Since 2007, she has served the community through work for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust in a variety of communications capacities. She developed messaging to draw community into the 16-block Cultural District campus, designed community-building events and experiences centered on art, and helped to build a team of creatives who work in the service of connecting people with the work being presented. Prior to this role, she was a member of the production staff for Pittsburgh City Paper, which instilled in her the importance of teamwork, trusted partnerships, discipline and process. She graduated from Point Park University with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communications. All of this experience has made her a deeply curious human, dedicated to deep listening and compassionate communication.

Emily grew up in Springdale, PA, blocks away from Rachel Carson’s Homestead, where she attended environmental summer camps for as far back as she can remember. She believes this instilled in her a deep respect and understanding of our connection to nature and our environment, in spite of the fact that her strongest memory is of the walk to Glen’s Custard on the final day of each camp session.