Chelsea Mandello is the Director of External Relations and Communications at Spirit of America, where she focuses on driving awareness-building efforts across PR and communications. She has a wealth of experience in nonprofit work that aligns with the betterment and support of troops.

Prior to joining Spirit Of America, Chelsea served for seven years as a Mass Communication Specialist in the US Navy; during this time she was deployed across 13 countries and nine naval platforms to help share imagery and tell stories about missions taking place worldwide. Additionally, through her work founding Troopster — a non-profit organization providing care packages for deployed military members — more than 50,000 packages were sent out to 22 different countries with partnerships developed from companies like Dominion Energy, BAE Systems, and QTS Data Centers among others.

Chelsea holds an MBA from the College of William & Mary along with her bachelor’s degree in Advertising from Ball State University. As Director of External Relations, she will leverage all these experiences into creating influential relationships between key influencers such as media professionals and press outlets, analysts, think tanks, and cultural influencers and brand partners so that they can elevate their visibility and credibility within communities while furthering their mission objectives. She looks forward to building strong connections while supporting those who serve our country both domestically and abroad.