Vanessa serves as the Vice President of Marketing at the NAACP, headquartered in Baltimore, MD. Since her time at NAACP, she has primarily been responsible for communicating the historic organization's federal advocacy and policy initiatives through digital campaigns, media relations, and integrated marketing. 

An experienced public relations and communications professional, prior to joining NAACP, she was an Account Executive at one of the Washington, D.C. metro area's fastest-growing PR firms and before that, she was a health reporter for AARP and AARP the magazine, the widest circulated magazine in North America. She is passionate about equity-centered policies which uplift the Black, immigrant, and disenfranchised communities. 

Tirelessly working to shatter the glass ceiling, she seeks to highlight opportunities where women's voices can be represented. Born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, Ms. Mbonu emigrated to the United States at a young age and grew up in Laurel, MD. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a dual degree in Journalism and International Studies at St. John's University in New York and earned her master's in Global Media and Communication from the London School of Economic and Political Science.