Rachel Kalera-Mhango, President of the Public Relations Society of Malawi, is a strategic communications and media engagement professional with over a decade of experience working at the intersection of science communication, digital media, and feminist philanthropic advocacy. She recently led the Communications and Media Engagement function at Urgent Action Fund-Africa, where she managed the Fund’s communications throughout the African region. Before that, she worked in the science communication sector with the Malawi Liverpool Wellcome- Clinical Research Programme, where she led external communications and media relations initiatives. A recognised thought leader in public engagement, with a strong background in mainstream media and production, Rachel excels in creating content and strategies that influence policy, raise public awareness, mobilise resources, and alter narratives for development and social change. Rachel holds a BSc in Mass Communication and a Master’s degree in Media Practice for Development and Social Change from the University of Sussex, UK. She is also a Chevening Scholar, a Mandela Washington Fellow under the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI), and an alumna of the Women’s Leadership Development Programme at the University of Oxford.