The Industry Cosign Spotlight: Rachel Noerdlinger

Originally published on The Industry Cosign June 9, 2015

Rachel Noerdlinger is a Managing Director at Mercury, a leading national, bipartisan strategy firm that she joined in January 2015. She is based out of the New York City office where she practices strategic communications, crisis management and public affairs, along with community engagement in electoral politics and business.

Most recently she was the Chief of Staff for New York City’s First Lady, Chirlane McCray, and prior to that she was President of Noerdlinger Media, a consulting firm representing a cross-sector of high-profile clients in politics, business, civil rights, law and entertainment.

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Noerdlinger has over two decades of experience in Communications and she has been positively featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New York Daily News, The New York Amsterdam News and other publications for her work in Communications. In 2008, she was featured in Essence Magazine as one of the top ten females in the country making strides in her respective field, and she has been called “the public relations force behind Rev. Al Sharpton and National Action Network” whom she has advised in communications since the late 90’s.

Noerdlinger received her public relations tutelage from one of the country’s preeminent publicists, Terrie M. Williams, whose firm Noerdlinger joined as an intern in 1994 and where she worked her way up to the position of Vice President. Noerdlinger gives credit to Williams for teaching her about the art of public relations and all of the intricacies of message and brand development, crisis management, and communications strategy.

A Mills College graduate, Rachel moved to New York City in 1993 after completing a year in the Teachers for Africa Program in The Gambia, West Africa. She enrolled in a Masters program at Teacher’s College at Columbia University in education but did not complete the program after discovering the field of communications through her internship at The Terrie Williams Agency

Noerdlinger’s career highlights include her work bringing visibility to critical cases in civil rights and politics, as well as her role as Press Secretary during Rev. Al Sharpton’s 2004 Presidential bid, and her role as a public relations advisor to the late Attorney Johnnie L Cochran, Jr.

Noerdlinger has led successful public relations campaigns around key social justice issues and has brought visibility to such issues as education, employment, and voter education.