“Bird Hill PR is extremely responsive, communicative and supportive. Ricki Weisberg has your back and is the best hype woman. Bird Hill delivered strategic press results that focused on building our community and increasing visibility for our organization. I would highly recommend any nonprofit to work with Bird Hill PR to help you get the word out about your mission.”
Bird Hill PR is a boutique public relations agency founded in 2019 to help make the world a better place by leveraging our 20+ years of experience working in social impact public relations and strategic communications.
Since we have worked in-house at nonprofit organizations and mission-driven companies, we understand the unique challenges team members face in these industries. We know there is almost never enough time to implement a proactive PR strategy, yet PR is the key to growth in the social impact space.
“Ricki goes above and beyond with how much she cares about the success of her clients. When we work together, we are a team. Bird Hill has 100% contributed to the success of my social impact business, and I would totally recommend them with any and all marketing, communications and PR endeavors!"
Ricki leverages over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit and corporate world to build nonprofit brands into household names through effective press relations and social media strategies. Her work has helped clients like International Medical Corps and Oshun Family Center increase brand awareness for their critical work.
Nessa is passionate about engaging with PEOPLE via social media and IRL! She loves to learn what motivates folks to make a difference. Protecting your nonprofit’s reputation on social media while building an authentic and engaged community of supporters are her focus areas at Bird Hill.
The backbone of Bird Hill PR, Mariana supports all agency activities from social media to public relations. Her passion for social justice drives her to over-deliver for our clients, and is always thinking outside the box.
An author, Filmmaker, Publicist and Marketing Expert, Kelli is the connector for our clients and their celebrity partners. Kelli is passionate about using her 20 years of experience to help our clients build their unique audiences.
Ryan is a current undergraduate student at Towson University in Baltimore Maryland. She is studying psychology and mass communication. She strives to help people in every part of their life through what she learns. She is a superstar intern and we are so lucky to have her!
The Bird Hill team is comprised of experienced dedicated freelancers driven by social justice and creating transformative change for our clients.
All accounts are personally staffed by our CEO, Ricki Weisberg.
Ricki Weisberg
Ricki Weisberg (she/they) is a Nonprofit Publicist and CEO of Bird Hill PR. She is passionate about making the world a better and more equitable place and has spent over two decades developing and implementing communications strategies and building brands in the nonprofit and private sectors.
Ricki started her career as an activist in Washington, DC, working for nonprofit organizations, Women for Women International, The Landmine Survivors Network and Green for All, focused on
global women's rights, disability rights and building a more equitable green economy. That is where she learned about fundraising, donor relations, media relations and that she loved the challenge of communication. How do you get people to care? How do we capture their attention? Those are the sparks that light the fire in her brain.
In 2019 Ricki launched her boutique PR agency, Bird Hill PR, to help nonprofit organizations increase their brand awareness and grow their community of supporters by securing consistent press. Her clients range from the preeminent global disaster relief organization, International Medical Corps, to Philadelphia’s Oshun Family Center, fighting for Black maternal and mental health. 2023 year-to- date press efforts for Bird Hill PR’s nonprofit clients have reached over 1 billion people.
She has recently been known as the “Terrible Sandwich Mom” after a video of her son, telling her
“terrible sandwich, by the way” after his first day of school, went viral. The video gained national
attention and featured Ricki and Abe on national news broadcasts such as Good Morning America and The Today Show. Always a social justice advocate, Ricki used the spotlight to highlight the fight against childhood hunger and raise funds to support Feeding America.
Ricki graduated from George Washington University with BAs in Women’s Studies and Psychology. She lives in Ardmore, PA, with her husband, Moni Ndege and her son, Abe Ndege.
Connect with [Ricki on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickiweisberg/) to read more about her career, from filming for The Oprah Winfrey Show in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to leading global corporate rebranding efforts.
NESSA RODRIGUEZ
Nessa was born in Houston, Texas and moved to Matamoros, Mexico, from age 1 - 7. Her family then came back to Texas when she started school. Coming into a new school, in a new country, with a new language has had its struggles, but it fueled a fire in her to learn all she could about the language, and Vanessa believes it is the biggest reason creating conversations is so important to her.
She has been an engagement specialist for over a year now, as well as worked in client success for over 10 years. Nessa is a relationship builder! At Bird Hill PR, she helps our clients build community with their current followers while also helping build their network with their target demographic.
Nessa’s values include integrity, gratitude, courage, loyalty and honesty. While her pet peeves are not being accountable for your actions, lying, and chewing with your mouth open! When she isn’t working, you can find her playing board games with her family, watching cooking and baking shows, and reading. During the holidays, she loves building puzzles!
When asked what she loves about working at Bird Hill, she said,
“Working with Bird Hill has not only given me new energy for my specialty but also fulfilled the humanitarian part of my life. The ability to work with nonprofits motivates me to continue to stay current with the latest strategies and best practices so we can surpass our goals for our clients. As a CEO Ricki has created a space at Bird Hill where we are safe, acknowledged, appreciated, and valued. She is a true champion for her team and I am always in awe of the dynamic human being she is.”
MARIANA LEONE
Mariana (aka Mara) is originally from Philly and grew up a 10 minute walk from the original La Colombe coffee shop. Fun fact, she actually went to the same high school Ricki attended in Bryn Mawr, PA. Mara recently graduated from Northwestern University with majors in Political Science and Theatre. She has interned on Pennsylvania political campaigns and Chicago non-profit organizations, mostly working on digital communications or social media.
She has always wanted to work within an advocacy/social-justice space, and gets the chance to be involved in a small way in everything Bird Hill does! Mara works on social media for our clients, prepares pitch decks, conducts research, and assists Ricki.
A typical day for Mara looks like getting up and scheduling out her day in her planner, having coffee, working on Bird Hill projects, and taking occasional breaks to cook lunch (she’s a big couscous fan) and meet with the team!
Her values are consistency, kindness, and being willing to learn. Pet peeves include BAD WIFI, people who aren't considerate, Romaine Lettuce (don’t ask her why, there's just something about it!). And when she isn’t working she can be found distance running or painting!
When asked what Mara loves most about her job, she said,
“I love getting to work with multiple non-profits, advancing many different missions all united under a common set of principles. It's exciting to be a part of publicizing the great work these organizations are doing. The Bird Hill team is also tremendous. They are all so welcoming, encouraging, and great at what they do. Ricki is an absolute powerhouse!”
Kelli McNeill-Yellen
Kelli McNeil-Yellen is a twenty-year marketing and public relations professional with stints at Fortune 50 Companies and startups alike as both a marketing and creative director. She made the leap to independent filmmaking with her feature film DARUMA, which she wrote and produced. After debuting the film at one of the top festivals in the US to a sold-out screening and securing media coverage in all of the major trades as well as CNN, she was approached by a number of filmmakers, creatives and distributors for her assistance with their projects.
She founded KLA Media Group in response and currently helps her clients create marketing and public relations efforts to build their unique audiences while continuing to develop her own film and television projects with her husband and producing partner in Los Angeles.
She's also a published author with Scholastic, and sold the book unagented to the publishing giant via the same methods she used to get her feature film out into the world. Kelli is a graduate of the University of Southern California.
Kelli is excited to work with Bird Hill PR on a variety of initiatives that align her passion for entertainment and philanthropy in the non-profit space to create exciting, story-driven initiatives that make the world a better place.
Bird Hill combines Ricki's last name, Weisberg, which means white hill, and her husband and son's last name, Ndege (pronounced in-day-gay), which means Bird.
The Ndege bird is also our mascot, a little yellow weaver bird found in Uganda.
Like the Ndege bird, we work together to weave beautiful stories to help attract new audiences to support your mission.
Our clients often say the Bird Hill nest feels like a safe space on their busy days.