“Growing up, I spent most summers in suburban homes, going to work with my mom. She was a housecleaner. My family was undocumented. Often, we had to take three buses to get to work across town. But my mom was a fantastic storyteller. Her words — in Polish, our mother tongue — were my first insight into the power of language. For me, they breathed meaning into community, into culture, and into the everyday forms of resistance. Even today when I write, or create, or craft a communications strategy, her words help me remain rooted.”

Marzena Zukowska is a communications strategist, visual storyteller, writer, and queer feminist activist based in London, UK. For a decade, Marzena has developed narrative strategies and managed collaborations for leading political and social movements, from immigrants rights to the women’s resistance. In her various roles, she has overseen media departments; managed multi-stakeholder partnerships, from philanthropy to the entertainment industry; built functional and decentralized networks; conducted trainings with impacted community members; and designed and implemented innovative press plans.

Prior to her work with RoadMap, Marzena was the Director of Media Relations for the National Domestic Workers Alliance, using media to transform the narrative around care work in the United States. She worked on several legislative labor fights; the social impact campaign for the Oscar-winning film Roma; the TIMES UP protest at the 2018 Golden Globes; and the launch of Families Belong Together. Marzena built the press operation for Care in Action, the largest independent electoral field program in the state of Georgia during the 2018 midterm elections. And she worked with Ashoka Changemakers and LEGO Foundation on a multimillion dollar project to reframe the global conversation around creativity and learning.

In addition to consulting, Marzena helps lead the Radical Communicators Network, the go-to-hub for social change communicators. Passionate about bringing unconventional voices to the forefront of pop culture and the news media, she is currently conducting research on dominant narratives in the gaming industry and the potential of video games to become a lever for social justice.

Marzena’s words and writing can be found in Red Pepper, Forbes, Fast Company, Truthout, The American Prospect, and In These Times.