Communication strategy for organizations that don’t do average.

Hi! I’m La Toya Stevens, founder and principal consultant of Inspired Designs and Marketing Solutions, LLC, where I help clients transform the way they approach communication, storytelling and audience engagement. My work brings strategy, storytelling, audience insight and data-informed communication together to help organizations build stronger systems, deepen engagement and communicate with purpose. 

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Since 2016, I’ve built my career around understanding how systems communicate what they value. Through strategic storytelling, content development, data analysis and communication planning, I help clients identify how their internal processes, audience experiences and messaging connect to larger outcomes. 

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Before founding Inspired Designs and Marketing Solutions, LLC, I spent four years at the University of Missouri-Columbia, where I held leadership roles that allowed me to shape storytelling and strategy at an institutional level. As the first director of communications for the Division of Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (IDE), my storytelling work was recognized with a 2024 CASE Circle of Excellence Award and Best of District VI Award for Storytelling. I later served as director of content strategy, leading content strategy and narrative development across nine university units and contributing to a collaborative communications effort that earned CASE Gold recognition.

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I received my MBA with an emphasis in Marketing from Hampton University and am preparing to begin my PhD studies at the University of Missouri in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, with a continued focus on communication, organizational systems, and how institutions communicate with the people they serve.

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At my core, I believe communication always reveals something about what an organization values. Everything we engage with—faith, politics, education, brands, community and culture—is shaped by the stories we receive, believe and repeat. Stories give people context, help them make meaning and influence what they trust. 

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That is why I believe strategy should guide storytelling. A compelling story can capture attention, but strategy ensures the message is intentional, meaningful and built to serve the people it is trying to reach. I don’t do average—and I don’t believe my clients should have to either.