Reshaping Nuclear Narratives Online
Using GIFs and memes to reframe nuclear deterrence for new audiences
Senior Director, Communications
Elise Rowan serves as a Senior Director with NTI’s Communications team. In this role, she helps lead the organization’s public engagement and political will-building activities centered on narrative change, cultural engagement, and campaigns.
She rejoined the organization in 2022 after a prior stint with NTI from 2011 to 2016 where she helped launch the inaugural edition of the NTI Nuclear Security Index and the International Partnership for Nuclear Disarmament Verification.
Elise is an entrepreneur and founder of Better Future Families, a start-up focused on helping millennial parents raise changemakers and giving families a roadmap to act on the issues they care about most. Prior to her return to NTI, she spent six years in various fundraising and strategic communication advisory roles with the National Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Association, a nationwide network of nearly 1,000 programs and 100,000 volunteers advocating for children and families involved with the foster care system.
Earlier in her career, Elise held positions with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Weapons of Mass Destruction Terrorism, the Ploughshares Fund, and the Stimson Center.
She has an MA in security policy studies with concentrations in transnational security policy and strategic communication from The Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University and a BS in international business management and French from Butler University. She lives in DC with her husband, two small children, dog, and cat.
Using GIFs and memes to reframe nuclear deterrence for new audiences
The power to craft a safer future is in our hands.
Building a critical mass of public support to eliminate nuclear weapons risks