Brittany-Rae Gregory Rivers ’08: A Love of Writing Extends to Public Service

Brittany-Rae Gregory Rivers ’08, communications director for Next Century Cities in Washington, D.C., first became inspired to write when she read “Harriet the Spy,” a book series written by Hutchison alumna Louise Fitzhugh ’46. Now, she focuses on public service as she shares stories for a tech-focused nonprofit.
It was early March 2020, and Brittany-Rae Gregory Rivers ’08, Ph.D., had accepted a new job as the communications director with Next Century Cities (NCC), an organization whose mission is to advocate for broadband internet connectivity for all communities. By mid-March, shutdowns began to occur across the nation to help curb the spread of COVID-19, and many people started working remotely and using the internet to communicate with family and friends.

Before she had started work in earnest, the significance of Rivers’ job had been amplified. “It became very apparent how critical the internet was at that point in the pandemic,” she said.

As everyone adjusted to “virtual meetings,” Rivers and her team continued to help educate mayors and local government officials in various communities about the importance of broadband and how their voices could and should help inform policy.

She admits it was difficult at first. “The pandemic was a challenge because before that, relationships were built by seeing people at press conferences, meeting up for coffee, or going to happy hours after work. That was how you built a strong rapport,” Rivers said. “At first it was such a shock. I was thinking, ‘How am I going to be a communications person when I can’t meet with people in person and have them see my personality and understand my interests?’ You can only do so much via a video conversation, and a lot of people were burned out on video at the time.”

She believes social media helped to some degree. “I am a social media, pop culture kind of person. I feel like that helped me build up or at least maintain a communications network and expand my interests. The pandemic also showed us how to create intentional community.”

These days, even though Rivers is still able to work remotely, she’s happy that people can come together when needed. NCC serves as a platform between local leadership and federal agencies, and while some meetings can be handled as video calls or webinars, there are times when in-person meetings can’t be replaced, such as when they escort people on visits to Capitol Hill to talk with their representatives about why the internet is so critical.

Rivers majored in English and creative writing at Wellesley College in Massachusetts and knows how a personal story can help move the needle when seeking funding. “A big part of the work that we do is help people tell their stories,” Rivers said. “You can tell people about numbers, but personal stories help people contextualize what’s happening. For instance, how does being disconnected impact a family, their livelihood, or their ability to achieve their goals?

“NCC touts itself as a bipartisan organization,” Rivers continued. “We truly try to meet leaders and communities where they are and help them in the way they tell us is best for their community. If they say they want to be heard at the national level, then we’re trying to help them get to the national level, whatever that might look like for their community and in whatever direction that may lead.”

Sometimes it’s also as simple as showing how essential the internet can be across the board. “I think there’s a misconception that the internet is a wealthy, urban thing, but farmers in very rural areas, for example, need the internet these days to run their farms.”

The pandemic helped to underscore one more key benefit of the internet: Rivers, who has twin three-year-old sons, managed her pregnancy and the birth of her children during the pandemic, so she experienced firsthand how vital the internet was for telehealth appointments and access to maternal health information. “Much of what I learned about maternal health while being pregnant came from social media. It helped me understand what kind of questions to ask. Telehealth was critical to me having a healthy pregnancy and postpartum journey, so it’s something that has become a passion point of mine in my work.”

She continues to help advocate for maternal health issues today. In addition to producing the usual communications tactics such as newsletters, social media posts, news bulletins, and press releases, Rivers said that she is involved with research as well. “My two areas of research are centered on maternal health and historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and the role that broadband and digital skills have in helping to connect people within those communities. Last year, I wrote a report specifically looking at the U.S. maternal health crisis and the role that telehealth could play in helping to address the crisis.”


A Spark for Writing at an Early Age

Even though she considers Tennessee her home state now, Rivers’ family moved from Los Angeles to Memphis when she was in fifth grade. She originally attended Snowden in Midtown before transferring to Hutchison in the ninth grade. Rivers knew from looking at materials about Hutchison and seeing the campus that it was where she wanted to be.

“I remember my dad describing Hutchison as having college-style classes,” Rivers explained. “I didn’t know what that meant at the time, but I was into academics as a kid, so it excited me that I could be doing something that big kids were doing. The campus also seemed pretty to me.”

Rivers recalled that when she was about six years old, she read the book Harriet the Spy, which she later learned was written by Hutchison alumna Louise Fitzhugh ’46. “The main character journaled daily about the people and situations that she encountered, and I started to do the same thing,” Rivers recalled. “I have to say that I really came to love storytelling and its impact while at Hutchison. I often tell people that Mrs. Kelly (Newberry) helped me to become a confident and opinionated writer in her Honors English and Heritage classes. This is something that I took with me to Wellesley, and it definitely influenced my decision to pursue my passion and major in English and creative writing.”

Her interest in Wellesley also came about from a Hutchison connection. When Rivers started at Hutchison in 2004, she was introduced to a senior named Sequoia Taylor ’04 who was about to graduate and attend Wellesley College. “That was the first time I had heard about Wellesley. I admired Sequoia and thought she was a good role model. When it came time to apply for college, I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll apply to Wellesley because Sequoia goes there. It must be a good place.’ Once I got accepted into Wellesley, they had an admitted students day, and I stayed in Sequoia’s dorm with her. She sold me on Wellesley.” Taylor is now a member of Hutchison’s Board of Trustees.

At Hutchison, Rivers had a penchant for science, math, and Spanish and originally thought she would pursue a pre-med track. At Wellesley, though, she became more and more interested in creative writing, even though she wasn’t sure how she would apply that in a career. She also gravitated toward media studies courses and developed an interest in the role that communications plays in shaping popular culture and institutions. “It just seemed to be a more natural fit,” she explained.

Focusing on Public Service

During her junior year, Rivers participated in a Wellesley in Washington fellowship and lived in Washington, D.C., for the summer, working with a Wellesley alum at the Department of Labor in the public affairs office. “That was the first time that I understood what public relations was and realized it was a route I could pursue post-college. I liked the relationship building and that there were always special events,” she explained. “I was meeting new people every day. Even while working at the Department of Labor, there would be special guests that we’d help escort. There would be an initiative that they were launching. I liked that I was continually building upon the same skills, but there was always something fresh and new to do.”

After graduating from Wellesley, Rivers decided to pursue a master’s degree in mass communications at Middle Tennessee State University, where she looked at media depictions of HBCUs. She also worked at a public relations firm in Nashville, which helped her gain confidence in that kind of work. After completing her master’s, she wanted to get back to D.C., so she enrolled in a doctoral program in communications, culture, and media studies at Howard University. “While I was at Howard, I studied the role that communications played in the evolving dynamics between residents and university students in the neighborhood surrounding Howard. After I wrote my dissertation, they started a program of community forums, where students, alumni, and residents could come together to communicate about what they wanted from the neighborhood and how they could best forge relationships with each other.”

She also had a unique opportunity while at Howard: she applied for and was accepted as a graduate fellow for the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans. In this role, she was able to combine her background in research and communications to examine what students at all levels of education needed to thrive both inside and outside of the classroom. She said the initiative was about giving students a seat at the table to talk about their needs. “After that summer, I was hooked,” she recalled. “I knew that whether I was in academia or industry post-Ph.D., I wanted to center public service in my career path.” After graduating from Howard and before she started working for NCC, Rivers worked for U.S. Congressman Jim Cooper of Tennessee during his last year in office.

Rivers credits Hutchison with nurturing her critical thinking skills, which are central to her work these days. “While I was at Hutchison, the school’s tagline was ‘A Girl’s School of Thought.’ This was centered in our coursework and extracurricular activities,” she said. “At Hutchison, it was important to me to always think—to think outside of the box, to think about things from multiple perspectives, and to think ahead. This is something that I took with me, and I continue to apply to my daily life.”
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