Why Provoc?
Our vision is a world transformed by equity, beauty, and love.
For 25 years, Provoc has partnered with visionary leaders on the critical social issues of our time. We are a majority woman, Black, and person of color-led firm and certified B Corporation, with offices in Washington, D.C. We meet comprehensive and transparent social and environmental standards in an effort to use the power of business as a force for good.
Our Values
We view all our work through the lens of equity, including our core values:
_Vulnerability
_Relationship
_Actualization
Successful collaborations require vulnerability, so we leave our ego at the door. We believe that impact happens in strong, transparent relationships, so we intentionally build partnerships with your team in pursuit of collective growth. And all our work should drive toward actualization — for your team members, for your organizational goals, and for the people and causes you serve. In pursuit of actualization, we set measurable outcome goals at the onset of work and evaluate our progress as we go.
Our Services
We build brand, campaign, and marketing strategies that drive powerful outcomes.
Partnership
Provoc is a principle-based organization that supports those working to heal the wounds of systemic racial discrimination with solutions grounded in racial equity.
Who we partner with
Our partners work is centered around engaging historically underserved populations affected by systemic neglect, discrimination, and oppression and the institutions meant to serve them. From campaigns focused on health study participation, to mental and medical health awareness, and voting rights and engagement and more, we work closely with coalitions and their audiences in order to listen, gather insight, and learn from peoples’ experiences to ensure equitable outcomes.
Discover our unique approachHow we partner
As a principal-based organization, we develop intimate and honest partnerships where value alignment and transparency about outcome are essential factors in determining mutual success. If you share our vision of challenging systems of discrimination and working with systemically oppressed communities for prosperity and justice, there may be a valuable partnership in our future. Contact us to see if we make a good match.
Get started – contact usWe guide you from a transactional to a relational to a transformational dynamic with your audiences to deepen the impact of your message.
Transactional
Audiences interact with your content to fulfill a specific need, and they leave immediately after they’ve found what they want.
Relational
Audiences become participants and see you as a trusted source of high-quality content, which they seek out repeatedly over time. The communications are established as part of an ongoing, durable relationship with your audience.
Transformational
The audience has committed themselves to your cause and are partners in an ongoing effort to make significant change. They know it won’t be easy and there will be challenges and uncertainty along the way, but they’re ready to be part of the solution and trust you to lead the way.
Throughout our work, we identify and address potential barriers to outreach among populations in their communities and co-create materials designed to overcome those barriers using an inclusive process.
Our stakeholder engagement employs an equity lens that forces us to question assumptions and dig deeper to uncover underlying inequities.
We practice honesty and transparency regarding the historical mistreatment of minority populations and the disparities that have resulted. We address these issues openly in our communications and messaging, and in our interactions with local communities.
Our Experts
Provoc brings together a diverse constellation of experts, guided by our core team.
Bettina Sferrino
Strategy Director - Equity Communications
PRONOUNS: she/her/hers
Bettina’s purpose is to share her passion, skills, creativity and time to fight for justice. For 10 years, Bettina supported and led nonprofit communications teams, leveraging stories and connections to change hearts and minds for affordable housing, LGBTQIA+ equality, reproductive justice, and public land advocacy. Bettina intimately knows the challenges many nonprofit communications teams face — her broad understanding of internal operations and dynamics, experience collaborating with fund development and programs teams, and expertise in community building, brand strategy, and messaging all inform her approach to communications that are not only inclusive and accessible, but also build equity.
According to social media, Bettina is “super stylish,” a “cookie sorceress” and “generally awesome.” She lives in Oakland, California, with a cat named Lady Bird.
Bonnie Coberly
Strategist
Bonnie Coberly is a communications professional, facilitator and strategist with 15+ years of experience supporting business and nonprofits to grow their organizations. She has mastered the ability to sincerely listen, gather important insights and then turn those insights into strategies and content that inspire engagement and create results.
Carter Stowell
Data Scientist, Strategist
PRONOUNS: he/him/his
As a data science consultant and lead strategist at Provoc, Carter Stowell brings twenty years of experience to successfully managing distributed project teams. With a passion for data-driven strategy and predictive analytics, Carter can synthesize complex information into actionable insights and solutions. He creatively applies tools and methodologies that improve decision-making and drive effective and equitable communications strategies. He is fluent in data analytics and visualization, and grounded in best practices for user experience design and agile project management.
Carter holds an M.S. in Predictive Analytics from Northwestern University, and a B.S.E. from Duke University. Prior certifications include Project Management Professional by PMI, and ScrumMaster by Scrum Alliance. Before bringing his talents to Provoc, Carter had built his foundations in high-traffic web work at Wired Digital, where he provided production and project management for Wired.com and Hotbot.com.
Cesar Rodriguez
Visual Designer
Cesar is a visual designer and licensed architect with a history of working on a wide breadth of project types throughout his career. His educational foundation includes a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Arizona as well as a Master in Design for Emergent Futures from ELISAVA, Barcelona School of Design and Engineering. While home is both San Francisco and Arizona, Cesar currently resides in Barcelona, Spain, where in his free time he works on experimental food-design projects and enjoys hosting events at his collaborative design studio space.
Cory Osborn
Senior Designer
PRONOUNS: he/him/his
Cory has worked as a design strategist for Provoc for more than 11 years, and as a commercial illustrator and designer for over 20 years. His education includes traditional and digital art studies at the University of California Santa Barbara and graphic design at the Corcoran College of Art and Design. A resident of Washington, DC from 2002 until 2010, Cory now lives in Amsterdam, NL. Living in Europe gives him valuable perspective and insight on global social change and citizen engagement movements.
Eric Shu-Pao Wang
Associate Director of Business Development
Eric joined Provoc in August 2023 with more than 18 years of experience in business development, proposal management, and small business ownership. He brings a diverse set of skills and knowledge in process improvement, strategic leadership, creative problem-solving, cultural competency, and data organization. He takes immense pride in helping growing organizations succeed through their expansion using scalable continuous improvement strategies.
Eric’s neighbors would describe him as “that gym rat who fosters dogs.” In his free time, he enjoys eating his way around the world, teaching young minds to think critically about food and human migration as an adjunct at Drexel University, creative writing, compulsive spreadsheet making, culinary curation for cultural events, and mentoring young professionals. Although, spending his childhood in Taiwan and Japan, Eric considers himself a DC-native, and he currently resides in West Philadelphia.
Janée Johnson
Project Manager
Janée has professional experience working in people-oriented fields including mental health, education, and human resources. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from The University of Texas at Austin and an M.Ed in Community Counseling from Howard University. With a knack for creative problem-solving, Janée supports individuals and teams in accomplishing their vision. Janée is originally from the DC-area and enjoys traveling and connecting with people from all walks of life.
Keisha Igbazua
Interim Chief Operating Officer
PRONOUNS: she/her/hers
Keisha is an Operations Professional with over 15 years of experience in non-profit management, administration, finance, and project management. She is also a proud wife, mother of 4 black sons, Reiki Master, Breastfeeding Peer Counselor, and Black Maternal Health Advocate. As Director of Resource Operations, she supports Provoc through the three pillars of our well-being – vision, operations, and finance – all rooted in racial equity. She works with the business development, project management, and executive leadership teams to innovate solutions that ensure Provoc walks the talk of “purpose, people, planet” rooted in equity while being a for-profit, service-for-hire company.
Kela Lester
Creative Strategist, Copywriter
For brands, Kela is the person who gathers everyone around the bonfire to make s’mores and spark conversations. Creative and strategic, Kela is the welcomed bridge between the big picture and its moving parts. Kela focuses on the stories of people and brands who are building a better world. Come as you are if you dare to leave feeling more connected to yourself and others.
Mara Hughes
Copywriter, Research Strategist
PRONOUNS: she/her/hers
Mara has built a career communicating complex ideas in service to the public good. A former high school English teacher, she spent several years working as a sociologist of education and contingent faculty organizer before transitioning to communications, where her specializations in research and writing have made her an asset on projects with heavy data and regulatory components. After lengthy stints in public healthcare and nonprofit journalism, Mara freelances as a strategist with a special interest in projects that draw on her subject matter expertise and let her delve deeply into new opportunities to learn.Mara is from Philly and for Philly. She’s still looking for a workplace with the energy, innovation, and unerring ethics of a classroom of tenth graders.
Raj Aggarwal
President
PRONOUNS: he/him/his
Raj founded Provoc in 1999 and serves as President and Lead Strategist. Over twenty years of experience as a communications and technology strategist, he has worked with more than 400 nonprofits and socially responsible businesses on a variety of projects including internal and external branding, marketing and customer engagement. Raj keeps Provoc rooted in empathy-driven work by forging partnerships with values-aligned, visionary leaders and has led workshops and talks at dozens of national conferences. He serves on the boards of Think Local First, DC and Ben’s Chili Bowl Foundation, and recently shared his personal story on NPR.
Sierra Moses
Project Manager
PRONOUNS: she/her/hers
Sierra Moses is a certified Project Management Professional with experience managing complex communications, marketing, and branding projects. Sierra has led a variety of web, digital, and content marketing programs across multiple industries and has a proven track record of delivering highly specialized web and print content marketing campaigns, projects, and programs.
Tamika McCormack
Project Manager
PRONOUNS: she/her/hers
Tamika McCormack is a dynamic Project Manager with over 12 years of experience across multiple industries. Her project experience ranges from global strategic initiative implementation, all the way to on-site operational process improvement. Tamika pays close attention to detail and is passionate about structure and organization, yet agile enough to get ahead of risks and mitigate issues when they arise.
With a B.B.A. from Howard University and an M.S. from Full Sail University, Tamika has taken her education and matched it with her natural creativity to become a thought-provoking leader that is committed to innovative and strategic thinking, to provide the most efficient solutions to her clients and partners.
Will Coyle
CEO
PRONOUNS: he/him/his
As Provoc’s CEO, Will takes great pride in the company’s mission and collaborative values. He enjoys providing sound company structure while also delivering beautiful design solutions for Provoc’s clients. With twenty years of creative strategy experience, Will has an especially strong background in brand development. His work balances functionality, intuitive content delivery, and visually compelling aesthetics.
“Our workshops with Provoc were pivotal and catalytic.”
- Heather Vana PetSmart Charities
“Stellar customer service, impeccable work and responsive to feedback. Without Provoc’s work we wouldn’t have been able to launch a GOTV campaign for the 2018 election cycle.”
- Elana Needle Anchor Coordinator, UnidosUS W.K. Kellogg Foundation Racial Equity Anchor Collaborative
“We didn’t know exactly what we wanted, but you listened to everything we said and gave us exactly what we needed.”
- Matt Brown Director of Participant Training, World Learning
“We have gotten countless compliments on the appearance of the Registry website. Our registration numbers continue to grow and the Registry’s Salesforce implementation is working like a champ behind the scenes!!”
- Dianna Wheaton Director, FTD Disorders Registry
“Bringing together teams with different, but complementary, skill sets and areas of expertise, has allowed us to create a program that is highly effective at helping to fulfill our ambitious goal of accelerating recruitment and enrollment into Alzheimer’s prevention trials.”
- Jessica Langbaum Principal Scientist, Alzheimer’s Prevention Initiative / Banner Alzheimer’s Institute / Banner Health
”Provoc was masterful at bringing academics, scientists, leadership, and staff together to streamline and name an extremely complicated pan-Institutional new brand at the Smithsonian: Smithsonian Global.”
- Erika Ferrin Brand Manager (Former), Smithsonian
We’re a certified B corp
Provoc is one of the first B corps. We act as both activists in the community and consultants to B Lab. Over the years we’ve been a key instigator and partner on B Lab’s racial equity journey, their leadership transitions, advising on their Theory of Change (in which we work with CoLab – a collaboration amongst POC led B Corps) and leading the BCCC Climate Justice Task Force that led to authoring the Climate Justice Playbook which is the foundation of the community’s work of rooting their climate action in climate justice. Our team has received two awards from B Lab and we’re grateful to be in the company of many trying to use business as a force for good.
