Macollvie Neel
Founder and Principal, Comms Maven LLC
Showing non-media companies the value of journalism skills
Macollvie Neel moved to the U.S. from Haiti when she was 10, settling with her family in New York City. She said she felt lucky to be in a country where she could go to school uninterrupted by violence.
A lifelong learner, Neel has a bachelor’s degree in business journalism from Baruch College and an MBA from Florida International University.
Neel currently holds several media roles. She’s the executive editor of the Haitian Times, a publication focusing on the Haitian-American community, where she helps shape the coverage and editorial strategy of its digital newsroom. Neel is also a corporate communication consultant at Gagen McDonald, a management consulting firm. Combining her experience in management consulting and journalism, she develops employee communication content for corporate leaders.
Her many passions also led her to create a one-woman publishing house: Comms Maven LLC. As an entrepreneur, Neel writes for various publications and offers freelance consulting. She is also writing a book about communications.
By Agnes Cheung
I’ve always had a love affair with business and communications. I love books that talk about people in the past and how they got to where they were.
To me, the reason for making life decisions has a hierarchy: love for family and friends, then money. I already had love and support from family and friends, so I wasn’t lacking in that aspect of life. I understood that finance and the world of money impact people’s lives and decisions more than love for family. I wanted to understand money and business; I wanted to understand how the masters of the universe think.
I went to Baruch College to focus on business, but I missed the storytelling experience that I grew up with. That’s why I got a degree in business journalism — it seemed like a good way to marry both of my interests.
Living Through the Pivot from Print to Digital
I had worked at the Haitian Times throughout high school and college. After graduation, as the general-assignment reporter for the Haitian Times, I got to interview Barack Obama before he was a presidential candidate.
I then moved to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in the early 2000s, where I was the only Haitian reporter in the newsroom. This was the time when print was transitioning to digital journalism and nobody knew what to do. All of a sudden, our deadlines were changing and our roles were changing. I was no longer just a print reporter; I also had to bring audio content for our radio partners and videos for the local TV station. I felt like I was reporting the same story three different times.
We all were so nervous and anxious about what would happen to our jobs. There was a lot of trial and error in the newsroom. Instead of waiting for sources to confirm and verify a rumor, it became okay to publish that we were looking into confirming a rumor. The journalism became more speculative than I was willing to do. There was constant confusion, and it was taking a toll on me. I wasn’t doing the storytelling I got into journalism to do.
I thought that there had to be a better way to manage a big industry change like this. I decided to go back to school and let the storm pass. I just didn’t have the emotional and physical desire or the will to keep going through it over and over again.
Telling Stories from Within Companies
After my MBA, I joined the human resources management consulting firm, Mercer. They had a whole HR communications consulting function to help executives manage their staff communications.
Corporate communication consulting was a great job. It paid well and it was stable. Preparing to meet with clients was similar to doing research before interviews as a reporter. The main skillset I brought into the rest of my career from journalism was the appreciation for connecting with people on a human level. Everybody matters, regardless of their roles and titles. Their stories matter.
I eventually worked for Metlife and Disney in their corporate communication departments. I was like an internal journalist, helping to tell stories from inside the companies. I was looking for stories, profiling employees and presenting different trends.
But the job became too much about monetization and not about storytelling. I felt like I wasn’t contributing anything to society. I did some soul searching and figured out that I enjoy coaching. I wanted to focus on people who were younger, especially women or fellow moms and people of color.
Why Having Communication Skills Matters
I was getting a lot of requests for support both inside and outside the companies I worked for. People were asking me how to strengthen their messaging in emails or presentations. Some of them aspired to be like certain well-known executives. I put things in perspective for them — those executives have an entire communications team to support them, but you are just you.
The main skillset I brought into the rest of my career from journalism was the appreciation for connecting with people on a human level. Everybody matters, regardless of their roles and titles. Their stories matter.
I thought maybe consulting individuals could be something I do on the side. I was a new mom and I no longer wanted to dedicate more time to things that I was not finding as fulfilling. I also wanted to dedicate more time to writing stories that I was not seeing. I called the company “Comms Maven.”
I am working on a book with the working title “Scripts for Success.” It gives readers the communication tools to navigate their careers. I finished the manuscript and it is now going through the editing process.
I felt like I had finally found the sweet spot where I could feed all my interests and feel like I was still contributing to society.
Good communication advisors are almost like therapists. They help you think beyond your initial approach or decisions, get to the story behind the story of why you needed help to communicate certain messages.
Communication alone isn’t going to solve any problem. But using communication to prompt leaders and individuals to think about how something will impact others, that’s what matters.