Mercy A. Quaye
Mercy A. Quaye has built a storied career in journalism, communications, and public relations in New Haven and statewide for more than a decade. After working in the public and non-profit sectors, spearheading communications strategies in a variety of industries, she launched The Narrative Project to offer high-quality communications for organizations who seek to do good in the world.
After leaving a formal career in Journalism, Mercy began working in mission-driven communications for public and non-profit organizations focusing on equitable education, undocumented students' rights and more. She’s also spent time working in public relations as the managing director of external affairs with Educators for Excellence, the director of communications with New Haven Public Schools, and as a communications associate with the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now.
At the core of everything she does is a deeply seeded desire to effect positive social change through collaboration and highlighting lesser-discussed aspects of the Black and American experiences. The daughter of a Ghanaian immigrant on one side and a first-generation college student on the other, Mercy's relationship to justice through storytelling and exposure was born shortly after moving from low-income housing in Newhallville to the West River neighborhood — a Westville adjacent community with the promise of opportunity, but far fewer resources than it required.
A self-proclaimed "inner-city kid who went to college," Mercy's perspective on life has been shaped through a number of experiences including: converting from Christianity to Islam to agnosticism; joining a historically Black sorority at a predominately white university; section hiking the Appalachian Trail and having a brief stint in the outdoor industry; having an oddly in-depth interest in astrophysics; being in an interracial marriage with an former Wyomingite from a conservative family, and a convergence of countless other random happenings.
She’s a professor of digital journalism at Southern Connecticut State University, the Vice President for Communications with the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists, and a columnist with Hearst Connecticut Media. Her column Subtext offers readers a lesser-examined perspective on well-known topics and delves into the potential ripple effects of any given issue.
She obtained a bachelor’s in journalism and a master’s in public relations from Quinnipiac University.