Spitfire Spotlight: Two Areas of Expertise, One Common Goal

In Spitfire’s San Francisco office, there are two new team members bringing bold, creative ideas to the intersection of public health and environmental justice, with the shared goal of creating a more equitable future.

Claire de Leon is a Director who recently joined Spitfire, bringing with her a deep background in public health, including a Master of Public Health degree with a focus in Community Health Education.

Her experience as a communications strategist, health educator and public health researcher includes many years working for youth development and reproductive justice. She served as statewide Communications Director for a large research initiative focused on racial justice and health equity and launched the UCSF Preterm Birth Initiative’s website, brand, mission, vision and messaging platform, among other accomplishments.

Claire’s primary goal with all of her clients is to leverage communications to influence policy, spark consciousness-raising and build community power. She is kicking off her work at Spitfire by working with Essential Access Health, Meyer Memorial Trust, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, The Aspen Institute and The Stuart Foundation.

AnaChristina Arana is an Account Coordinator who is also a relatively new face at Spitfire — in fact, she’s a recent graduate of the University of San Francisco, where she studied communication and public relations.

During college, she worked as a communications intern at Earthjustice, the country’s leading nonprofit environmental law organization, and previously interned at Conveners.org, a nonprofit social impact network. In those internships, she created editorial and social media content, designed visual content for brand promotion and conducted media research. Through a combination of meaningful messaging and imagery, AnaChristina is driving positive action on behalf of her clients.

Although like everyone at Spitfire, Claire and AnaChristina are top-notch writers, they both embrace design and visual storytelling because of the power it has to help people understand complex issues. AnaChristina is working with Pisces Foundation, Energy Efficiency for All, Living Cities and The Nathan Cummings Foundation, among others.

AnaChristina focuses on meeting audiences where they are and creating a meaningful connection to the issues her clients aim to solve.

“Visual storytelling is an effective tool to create a personal connection and make issues feel real for our audiences,” says AnaChristina. “Photos and videos can illuminate systemic injustice and complex issues.”

When you come right down to it, Claire and AnaChristina share one critical attribute: a passion for social justice. Every day, they work to improve the health, safety, and well-being of communities.

“Our work is driven and united by the goals of social justice, healthy communities and systems change,” says Claire, “and the belief that communities deserve the right to a healthy environment.”