I have been in rooms most people never enter. Now I use what I learned there to protect what matters most to you.
— Brandi Richard Thompson, Principal, BRComm
Brandi Richard Thompson
Principal, BRComm | Crisis Strategist & Legacy Architect
Former Federal Emergency Management Official — 20+ years of disaster response coordination
BRComm is independently owned. All services are provided by Brandi Richard Thompson in her private capacity and are not affiliated with or endorsed by FEMA, DHS, or any government agency.
There are communications professionals who have handled crises. And then there are people who have managed crisis communications when getting it wrong meant communities did not know where to go, what to do, or whether help was coming.
I am the second kind.
For more than 20 years, I served as a communications officer within the federal emergency management system — coordinating public affairs, media relations, and strategic messaging during some of the largest disaster responses in modern American history. Hurricanes. Wildfires. Mass displacement events. Situations where the communications strategy was not a press release — it was a lifeline.
I have briefed officials. I have prepared spokespeople for cameras on the worst days of their organizations’ lives. I have written statements that had to be precise, fast, and right — because there was no second take.
In 2026, I transitioned full-time to BRComm to bring that methodology to a different client: organizations, executives, and creative professionals who understand that reputation is an asset — and that protecting it requires someone who has operated at the highest level of pressure communications.
I also know that a crisis does not always look like a hurricane. Sometimes it is a board investigation. A talent incident. A DEI statement that landed wrong. A leadership transition that became a media story before you were ready. The fundamentals are the same: who is talking, what they are saying, when they are saying it, and to whom.
That is message control. That is what I do.
Credentials
20+ years of federal crisis communications leadership. Disaster response coordination across California, Nevada, Hawaii, the Gulf Coast, and Pacific territories. Public affairs, media relations, and strategic messaging in high-stakes, high-velocity environments. Expertise in spokesperson preparation, press statement development, and stakeholder communications. Entertainment PR: Cannes Film Festival, award-season campaigns, independent filmmaker launches. Recognized at the 2013 Black Woman in Media Conference. Texas Woman’s University — Business, Computer Science, and English. Early career: Temerlin McClain Advertising Agency — award-winning brand communications.
A track record built over two decades — not assembled overnight.
Before BRComm, there was a career of building. From an advertising award at Temerlin McClain that kicked off a decades-long streak of institution-building — nonprofits, youth leadership programs, community organizations, product companies — to national recognition for communications leadership, Brandi has been doing this work longer than most PR firms have existed.
What follows is a selection of the moments that shaped the methodology behind BRComm.
| Early Career | Award-winning brand communications debut First professional design project — an annual report for an advertising agency client — earned an industry award. The beginning of a career built on strategic storytelling. |
| 2013 | Black Woman in Media Conference Recognition Recognized for trailblazing contributions to mass communications and media. First national acknowledgment of Brandi’s impact beyond her federal role. |
| 2016 | Taste of Soul Community event communications and brand support for one of Los Angeles’s largest cultural events. |
| 2016 | National Urban League & Young Professionals Strategic communications and PR support for one of the country’s most prominent civil rights organizations and its national young professional network. |
| 2016 | Foundation for Second Chances Communications support for a nonprofit dedicated to reentry and second chances — mission-driven work that reflects BRComm’s commitment to organizations that matter. |
| 2016–2021 | Political & Legislative Communications PR and communications support for elected officials including Assemblyman Michael Blake, State Representative Mandela Barnes, and State Representative Anthony Daniels — navigating the intersection of policy, media, and public trust. |
| 2021 | Kerwin Thompson — Emmy & National Gold ADDY Award BRComm supported actor Kerwin Thompson’s appearance in the UAB Basketball hype video that became one of college basketball’s most celebrated commercials — earning both an Emmy and a National Gold ADDY Award (one of 52 recipients from 25,000+ entries). 947,000 impressions. 141,100 Twitter views. |
| 2025 | ?Enough! — 78th Festival de Cannes Festival de Cannes PR for an independent film featured at the 78th edition of one of the world’s most prestigious film festivals. |
| Ongoing | OBE Studios — Barry & Jasmine Brewer Long-term communications partnership with Cannes-credentialed independent filmmakers building a legacy of culturally resonant cinema. Currently supporting The Flight Before Christmas campaign and ongoing brand development. |
This is not a highlight reel. It is a pattern — and the pattern is what BRComm brings to every client engagement.
Message control is not spin. It is clarity under pressure.
Most organizations do not fail in a crisis because they said the wrong thing. They fail because they said nothing, said too much, or said something without knowing who was listening.
BRComm works with clients the way a senior communications officer operates in the field: with a clear chain of messaging, an understanding of every audience in the room, and the discipline to stay on message when the pressure to deviate is highest.
We do not just respond to crisis. We prevent the next one.
Recognition & Work
Kerwin Thompson — Emmy and National Gold ADDY Award-winning UAB Basketball Campaign (947K impressions).
OBE Studios — Cannes Film Festival filmmakers | The Flight Before Christmas campaign.
‘?Enough!’ — 78th Festival de Cannes, 2025.
Taste of Soul, Fierce Urgent Now, We Got Now — community and cultural events.
If your organization is navigating a communications challenge — or you are smart enough to prepare before one arrives — let’s talk.