Yasheaka Oakley Owens is an established marketing strategist, multicultural leader, project manager, and digital advertising expert, passionate about helping businesses increase brand awareness and customer engagement. With more than a decade of exceptional experience building brands and driving businesses, she has proven to be a creative leader and mentor, adept with the knowledge of organizational development through orchestrating integrated marketing programs that yield bottom-line results.
She is the founder and CEO of YO & Associates, LLC, a minority- and women-owned digital marketing consultancy that delivers strategies that drive membership growth, engagement, and retention for professional associations, nonprofit organizations, and communities. Yasheaka is also an Associate Director of Business Insights and Analytics at CMI Media Group, Philadelphia. In this capacity, she is responsible for strategic oversight and development of measurement, analysis & optimization recommendations of online and offline marketing campaigns for $1B+ large pharma clients.
Yasheaka has served in various top marketing managerial positions across global companies and nonprofit associations in the U.S. Most recently, she worked with Drug Information Association as a Global Digital Marketing Manager. While there, she built an outstanding reputation for herself, leading management teams and programs to uncover business opportunities, enhance B2C and B2B lead generation, and exceed company annual revenue targets goals. Prior to joining the team at DIA, she served as the Marketing Strategy Manager for the International Fresh Produce Association (formerly Produce Marketing Association), where she led teams to develop data-driven strategies and associated strategic positioning/messaging to promote year-round member value and drive revenue to support a $30 million product portfolio.
In 2015, the Public Relations Society of America Philadelphia Chapter awarded Yasheaka Oakley Owens with the Anthony J. Fulginiti Award in recognition of the YOakleyPR Virtual Internship Program and its work to educate and mentor undergraduate and postgraduate students interested in marketing and public relations.
Yasheaka Oakley Owens earned a B.A. from Cheyney University of Pennsylvania and a M.A. from Kent State University. Bringing brands and consumers together through innovative strategies and initiatives that help drive awareness and business growth is the driving force behind everything she does.
Yasheaka is a brilliant and transformational mentor. She develops and empowers entry-level marketing professionals while being incredibly down to earth. Yasheaka has mastered the balance between guidance and delegation, recognizing leaders, and building them up.
Zack Waldorf
Yasheaka is a highly dynamic, professional, proactive, and creative leader whose skills and vision allow teamwork to excel. She is a results-oriented executive with immense talent and realistic problem-solving capabilities. Working with her has been both enlightening and inspiring.
Alejandro Larreátegui
The thing that strikes me the most about Yasheaka is her organizational skills. I thought I was somewhat organized until I saw how she operates and now I have organization envy! It becomes obvious very quickly that Yasheaka keeps the trains running on time and is seen by colleagues as dependable and indispensable.