Mpact PR: Roots, Grit, and the Power of Story

Jacqueline Lara built Mpact PR on a clear conviction: the storyteller matters.

A sociology major turned PR strategist, Jacqueline Lara has spent more than two decades helping mission-driven organizations and small businesses shape narratives that influence culture, policy, and public perception, particularly for Black and underrepresented voices.

Her path into PR wasn’t traditional. Early on, she saw how movements grow, funding flows, and decisions shift when the right voice carries the story. That belief crystallized when, while supporting the Bay Area nonprofit Playworks (formerly Sports4Kids) during its national expansion, she witnessed a stunning example of how the right voice at the right time can dramatically shift public sentiment. 

The organization was introducing a simple conflict-resolution practice—the time-honored children’s game “rock, paper, scissors”—in elementary schools with bare-concrete playgrounds, devoid of organized activities or play structures, and where recess was routinely being canceled because of playground fights. The game was transformative. Recess fights virtually disappeared. When Jacqueline got a talented fifth grader booked on NPR’s Morning Edition to tell the story, listeners were deeply moved. Donations surged.

The lesson stuck: perspective drives connection, and connection drives action.

Mpact PR: Two Launches. One Mission.

After going out on her own a few years later, Jacqueline launched Mpact PR twice. Both times, the mission remained the same: close the gap in whose stories get told, and who gets to tell them, to create greater impact.

First Launch

After a maternity leave, she began building Mpact PR independently, seeking greater agency over the narratives she amplified. With experience across social impact agencies, radio, and nonprofit consulting, she transitioned into full-time entrepreneurship once demand showed her the pathway.

After eight formative but exhausting years, she stepped back in-house, joining a startup PR firm that worked across healthcare, education, economic justice, and the 2020 election cycle — deepening her expertise in high-stakes communications.

When the pandemic shuttered that firm, her clients asked to stay.

Second Launch

Jacqueline ventured out on her own again, but this time she built for resilience. 

She redesigned Mpact PR as a flexible, team-based consultancy, with a curated bench of senior communications professionals spanning politics, campaigns, 360° marketing, and nonprofit leadership, a team she could activate based on each project's needs.

Today, Mpact PR partners with mission-driven nonprofits, associations, and growth-minded small businesses. The American Marketing Association is its anchor client.

What Mpact PR Delivers

Mpact PR turns complex ideas into clear, resonant narratives that spark action.

Core services include:

• Strategic communications planning and execution
  
  
• Executive thought leadership and ghostwriting
  
  
• Enterprise messaging frameworks and storytelling audits
  
  
• Media relations and multi-channel campaigns
  
  
• Arts and culture representation - most recently supporting an artist’s Art Basel debut

For businesses going from launch to pivot to scale, Mpact builds adaptable strategies aligned with business goals.

Jacqueline is especially known for messaging distillation: translating insider language, particularly in economic justice spaces, into stories real audiences understand.

The throughline is simple: clarity builds credibility.

The Narrative Strategy Sprint

Jacqueline is piloting a new initiative: the Narrative Strategy Sprint.

Designed for organizations not ready for a long-term retainer but clear that their storytelling isn’t landing, the Sprint provides focused sessions to audit messaging, clarify positioning, and build a sustainable narrative system.  

The result is clear messaging, reusable storytelling themes, a simple process for collecting real-time stories and testimonials on an ongoing basis, and a framework clients can maintain independently.

Initiated with Spiritual Essence Yoga in Prince George’s County, the Sprint helped establish a consistent, values-driven newsletter and Instagram presence that the owner now manages confidently.

The goal isn’t dependency. It’s narrative ownership. 

Who Mpact PR Wants to Work With in 2026

Jacqueline is connecting with:

• Brick-and-mortar small businesses (yoga studios, fitness spaces, boutiques)
  
  
• Mission-driven nonprofits
  
  
• Organizations preparing for a launch
  
  
• Founders, artists, and subject-matter experts whose story feels scattered or invisible

She welcomes referrals.

Rooted in Montgomery County

Jacqueline grew up in Illinois and came to the DC–Maryland region as a University of Maryland student. She is now rooted in Silver Spring, where she leads a business shaped by both strategy and resilience. Her two sons attend Montgomery County Public Schools.

She previously served as the inaugural Marketing and Communications Manager at the Maryland Women’s Business Center (MWBC), launching its social presence, securing grant funding, redesigning its website, and piloting new programming. She has since re-engaged with MWBC as a client – creating a full-circle partnership.

The daughter of immigrants who rebuilt their lives in the United States after fleeing Uganda and later returned home to retire, Jacqueline grew up understanding that reinvention is not a setback; it’s a strategy. That inheritance of grit shapes how she leads Mpact PR: steady in disruption, strategic in transition, and always anchored in story.