Aprill O. Turner is a public relations professional with twenty years of experience working with non-profit and corporate clients, as well as elected officials, in the areas of political and communication strategy, message development, media training, crisis communications, and public affairs. Currently, Aprill is Vice President of Communications and External Affairs at Higher Heights for America, the political home for Black women, where she works to harness the collective organizing power of Black women from the voting booth to elected office. Prior to this role, Aprill served as Vice President of Communications for the Campaign for Youth Justice for eight years where led media strategy to elevate the issue of prosecuting youth in adult criminal court, ensuring that the voices of those affected by the issue are front and center in the national media and in key media outlets in states. Aprill started Turner Communications, LLC, where she was able to practice “public relations with a purpose” by advancing worthy causes. In this role, she served as a senior advisor to Megaphone Strategies, a nonprofit social justice strategy firm. She has worked with: The NAACP, Hip Hop Caucus, She the People, NDN Collective, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Education Post, The National Association of Black Journalists, The National Alliance of Public Charter Schools, The Children’s Dental Health Project, Resilience Force, and Medgar Evers College’s Center for Law and Social Justice. Previously, Aprill worked on Capitol Hill in several media capacities, including Press Advisor to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, Deputy Press Secretary to Congressman Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, Communications Director to Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy of New York. Aprill has also been a Senior Account Executive at CooperKatz Public Relations in New York City, as well as planned and conducted media outreach initiatives for New York Lawyers for the Public Interest and the National Campaign to Restore Civil Rights. Additionally, she has led media strategy for several local, Congressional and Senatorial campaigns. Aprill teaches public relations courses at Trinity Washington University and Montgomery College in the Washington, DC metro- area. She is on the Board of Directors for the Maynard Institute of Journalism Education, and she is the Awards & Recognition Chairwoman for the Public Relations Society of America, Washington, D.C. Chapter. Additionally, Aprill serves as the current President of the Audio/Visual Ministry at her church, the First Baptist Church of Glenarden in Upper Marlboro, MD. Aprill’s other memberships include The National Public Relations Society of America, the National Press Club, the National Black Public Relations Society, The National Communications Association, ColorComm, and she a former board member of the National Association of Black Journalists. Aprill holds a bachelor's degree in legal communications from Howard University and a master's degree in political communication and fundraising from The George Washington University, and she is currently in the dissertation phase of her doctorate program in Strategic Communications at Regent University. Aprill has obtained her Accreditation in Public Relations (APR).