Communications Portfolio · 2025

Winnifred
Maduekwe
Communications Strategist

Editorial Strategy · Brand Communications · Digital Acquisition · Community Management

I'm a communications strategist specialising in editorial content, brand development, and digital community management. I hold a master's in International Communication from the Université Grenoble Alpes, and a background in linguistics that shapes how I think about audience, language, and message. Born in Nigeria, based in France — I bring a cross-cultural perspective that's increasingly rare and consistently useful.

4
Case Studies
3
Languages
2
Countries of practice
MA
InfoComm · Grenoble Alpes

The strategist
behind the story.

I'm a communications practitioner with a background in linguistics and a master's in International Communication and Management from the Université Grenoble Alpes. I'm Nigerian-born, France-based, and professionally fluent in multiple languages and cultural contexts — which means I don't just communicate, I translate: ideas into strategy, data into stories, and brands into movements.

I've worked across enterprises in communications, community management, branding, and project coordination. I structure creative work with design thinking methodology — starting with deep audience empathy, moving through precise problem definition, bold ideation, and data-backed prototypes before anything goes live.

I believe creativity without rigour is decoration. Data without story is noise. The work I'm proudest of combines both.

Editorial Strategy Brand Communications Community Management Design Thinking Data Storytelling Content Production
"I work well in complex, fast-moving environments — and no, that's not code for pressure. It's genuinely where I do my best thinking."
English Native
French DELF B2 · Academic + Professional
Igbo Native

MA · InfoComm — Communication et Management à l'International
Université Grenoble Alpes · 2022

BA · Linguistics
University of Nigeria, Nsukka · 2014

DELF B2 · French Language Proficiency
Institut Français du Nigéria · 2019

Selected work

Case studies in communications,
editorial strategy & brand.

01
Editorial Strategy Web Content Academic · UGA Lead Writer & Editor

SOL-FA — Webzine de la Musique Urbaine

Building an editorial identity for a student-led urban music publication from scratch · Université Grenoble Alpes

The brief

As part of the M1CMI programme at Université Grenoble Alpes, I led the writing and editorial direction of SOL-FA — a student webzine dedicated to urban music culture. The challenge was not simply to produce content, but to establish a credible, consistent editorial voice for a niche audience in a saturated media landscape.

Strategic approach

1
Audience definition

Mapped the core reader — French-speaking urban music fans aged 18–30 — and benchmarked against existing webzines to identify a white space: deep editorial content rather than news aggregation.

2
Editorial positioning

Established SOL-FA's tone of voice: culturally informed, accessible, not academic. Built a content architecture spanning features, reviews, agenda, and artist profiles to give the publication structural depth.

3
Content production & editing

Led the writing and editing of the publication's core content. Maintained editorial standards across contributors — consistency of voice, structure, and factual accuracy.

What this demonstrates

The ability to build an editorial identity from a blank page — defining audience, positioning, tone, structure, and content simultaneously. This is the core competency of an editorial strategy role: not just writing, but architecting how a publication thinks and sounds.

Full
Editorial lead
Sole writer and editor responsible for voice, structure, and standards
3
Content sections built
Features · Reviews · Agenda — distinct formats, unified voice
B2B
Bilingual production
Content produced in French for a French-speaking urban audience — cross-cultural editorial
Deliverables produced
Webzine editorial strategy and tone of voice guide
Full publication content across all sections
Editorial calendar and content architecture
Visual cover design direction (Canva)
02
Brand Content Strategy Digital Campaign Commercial Client Content Strategy Lead

Mathon.fr — Brand Content Campaign

Developing a content strategy for a French kitchen and baking brand to drive community engagement · UGA group project

The brief

Mathon.fr is a French specialist retailer of kitchen equipment and baking supplies. As content strategy lead on a 5-person team at the Université Grenoble Alpes, I was responsible for developing the strategic framework guiding all content decisions — positioning, audience segmentation, messaging hierarchy, and platform logic.

Strategic approach

1
Brand audit & opportunity mapping

Analysed Mathon.fr's existing content presence against competitors in the French home-cooking market. Identified an underserved community: amateur bakers seeking expertise, not just products.

2
Content strategy framework

Built the strategic brief defining content pillars, tone of voice, platform allocation, and audience segmentation. Key insight: Mathon.fr's authority was in expertise — the content strategy repositioned them from retailer to community anchor.

3
Campaign concept & team direction

Translated the strategy into a campaign concept the team could execute — defining the creative platform, content formats, and success metrics before a single piece of content was made.

Content pillar allocation (strategic recommendation)
Community
40%
Expertise
30%
Product
20%
Brand story
10%

What this demonstrates

The ability to lead content strategy for a commercial brand — from audit to framework to campaign concept. Specifically: audience segmentation, content architecture, and translating brand positioning into executable content decisions. These are the core deliverables of a content or communications lead role.

Lead
Content strategy role
Strategy lead on a 5-person team — responsible for framework, not execution
3
Audience segments defined
Amateur bakers · Home cooks · Pastry enthusiasts — each with distinct content needs
FR
French-market campaign
Developed for a French audience — demonstrates local market understanding
Deliverables produced
Full content strategy framework and brief
Audience segmentation and persona mapping
Content pillar architecture with platform allocation
Campaign concept and creative platform
KPI framework and success metrics
03
Communications Strategy Design Thinking Data Research Self-initiated

D'Tigress — "The Brand Nigeria Forgot to Build"

A full design-thinking communications strategy for Africa's #1 women's basketball team, grounded in market data · Self-initiated portfolio project

The brief

Nigeria's D'Tigress are ranked 8th in the world by FIBA (August 2025) and have won five consecutive AfroBasket titles — a feat no other African team, men's or women's, has achieved. They operate with the brand footprint of a team that barely exists: approximately 37,000 Instagram followers and no known commercial jersey sponsor. This project asks: what would a serious communications strategy for D'Tigress look like?

Methodology — design thinking applied

1
Empathise — three audience personas

Mapped three distinct audiences: the diaspora fan (proud, underinformed), the unconvinced brand sponsor (open but needs ROI proof), and the young Nigerian girl (invisible as a female athlete, hungry for role models).

2
Define — the precise problem

Africa's sports market is worth $12B and projected to reach $20B by 2035, yet Africa captures less than 1% of global sports sponsorship. D'Tigress sits at the centre of this gap — world-class product, near-zero commercial infrastructure.

3
Ideate → Prototype → Test

Generated six prioritised campaign ideas across content, community, editorial, and sponsorship development. Built a full 8-week execution plan, deliverables matrix, and KPI framework with measurable targets.

Achievement vs. visibility gap (indexed)
FIBA ranking
#8 World
African titles
5 (record)
Instagram reach
37K
Commercial sponsors
~0

What this demonstrates

End-to-end strategic communications thinking: research, audience empathy, problem definition, idea generation, campaign architecture, and measurement framework. This project was built entirely on verified data (FIBA, Statista, Oliver Wyman, Sports Business Africa) — demonstrating that creative strategy decisions can and should be evidence-led.

$12B
Africa sports market
Growing to $20B by 2035 · D'Tigress sits at the centre of this opportunity
5-Peat
AfroBasket titles
No African team — men's or women's — has matched this record
3
Audience personas mapped
Diaspora fan · Brand sponsor · Young Nigerian girl — distinct needs, distinct strategies
Strategy deliverables
Full design thinking research brief (5 stages)
Brand audit and competitive landscape analysis
"Still Standing" campaign concept and storyboard
8-week execution plan with KPI framework
Sponsor pitch deck data brief
Platform strategy across TikTok, IG, LinkedIn, YouTube
04
Data Storytelling Editorial Strategy Brand Positioning Self-initiated

WNBA — "Already Watching"

A data-driven brand story and 6-week campaign strategy repositioning the WNBA for brand sponsors and communications audiences · Self-initiated

The brief

The WNBA is in the middle of a commercial transformation — a $2.2B media rights deal, +170% ESPN viewership growth in one year, and a $10 sponsorship revenue-per-follower ratio that exceeds both the NFL and NBA. Yet the narrative in many markets still hasn't caught up. This project built the communications case for the WNBA as both a cultural story and a brand opportunity.

Strategic approach

1
Data research and story mining

Sourced and synthesised data from ESPN, Nielsen, Deloitte, SponsorUnited, and Sportico to build the factual foundation of the campaign. Identified the core tension: the numbers tell a story that the general narrative hasn't caught up to yet.

2
Multi-format content architecture

Designed a 7-slide carousel with platform-specific copy variants for both Instagram and LinkedIn. Each slide serves a distinct narrative function — hook, proof, comparison, call to action — building a cumulative argument across the scroll.

3
6-week campaign framework

Structured a phased campaign: Disrupt (myth-busting) → Inform (data deep-dive) → Activate (brand conversation). Each phase has distinct content formats, platforms, and success signals.

WNBA viewership growth · ESPN season average
2023
444K
2024
1.19M
2025
1.3M+

What this demonstrates

Data literacy in service of storytelling. The ability to find a narrative inside a dataset, structure it for multiple audiences and platforms simultaneously, and build the editorial and campaign architecture to deliver it. This is the core skill set for digital acquisition and editorial strategy roles that need content to actually perform.

$2.2B
Media deal — basis of story
Largest in women's sports history · The data anchor for the campaign
+170%
Viewership growth identified
The single most compelling proof point — sourced from ESPN/Nielsen data
$10
Per-follower sponsor ROI
vs. $9 NFL and $4 NBA — the brand case in one number
Campaign deliverables
Brand story infographic with sourced data
7-slide carousel with IG + LinkedIn caption variants
"Already Watching" 6-week campaign storyboard
Content pillar strategy by platform
Projected KPI framework with benchmarks
Capabilities

What I bring to the table.

Core discipline
Editorial & Content
  • Editorial strategy and direction
  • Tone of voice development
  • Content architecture
  • Long-form writing and editing
  • Multi-platform content adaptation
Core discipline
Brand & Strategy
  • Brand communications strategy
  • Campaign concept and planning
  • Audience segmentation
  • Design thinking methodology
  • Competitive landscape analysis
Core discipline
Digital & Community
  • Social media strategy
  • Community management
  • Digital content production
  • Data storytelling
  • KPI framework development
Differentiator
Cross-cultural
  • Nigeria · France · diaspora markets
  • African brand and audience strategy
  • Multilingual content (EN/FR/IG)
  • Global to local narrative translation
  • Cultural intelligence in comms
Differentiator
Research & Data
  • Market research and synthesis
  • Data-backed brief writing
  • Statistics as narrative tools
  • Trend analysis and forecasting
  • Evidence-led creative decisions
Production
Tools & Formats
  • Adobe InDesign · Illustrator
  • Adobe Photoshop · Premiere Pro
  • Canva · MS Office Suite
  • Trello · WordPress · Google Workspace
  • Inshot · CapCut · Instagram · LinkedIn · TikTok
Emerging differentiator
AI-Augmented Communications

Research & strategy acceleration

  • Rapid market research and data synthesis
  • AI-assisted competitive analysis
  • Brief development and problem framing

Content & editorial workflows

  • AI-assisted editorial planning and ideation
  • Multi-format content adaptation at speed
  • Prompt engineering for communications outputs

Strategic problem solving

  • Using AI tools to move from brief to prototype rapidly
  • Combining AI output with human editorial judgement
  • Data visualisation and insight generation

The projects in this portfolio were built using AI as a strategic tool — for deep market research, data synthesis, campaign architecture, and rapid prototyping. The thinking, the strategy, and the editorial decisions are mine. AI accelerated the execution. That combination — human strategic intelligence working with AI capability — is the communications skill set that matters most right now.

Let's build something
worth talking about.

I'm open to full-time roles, freelance projects, and strategic collaborations — particularly in communications leadership, editorial strategy, digital content, and brand development. Available in Paris, remotely, and with flexibility for the right opportunity.

Instagram @winnifredmaduekwe
Location Paris, France · Open to relocation