Aprill O. Turner

Aprill O. Turner is a public relations professional with nearly twenty years of experience working with non-profit and corporate clients as well as elected officials in the areas of political and communication strategy, message development, media training, crisis communications and public affairs.

Currently Aprill is Executive Vice President of Communications and External Affairs at Higher Heights for America, the political home for Black women, where she works to harness the collective organizing power of Black women from the voting booth to elected office.

Prior to this role, Aprill served as Vice President of Communications for the Campaign for Youth Justice for eight years, where she led media strategy to elevate the issue of prosecuting youth in adult criminal court, ensuring that the voices of those affected by the issue are front and center in the national media and in key media outlets in states.

Aprill founded Turner Communications, LLC, where she practiced “public relations with a purpose” by advancing worthy causes. In this role she served as a senior advisor to Megaphone Strategies, a nonprofit social justice strategy firm.

Previously, Aprill worked on Capitol Hill in several media capacities including Press Advisor to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California. Aprill has also been a Senior Account Executive at CooperKatz Public Relations in New York City, and has planned and conducted media outreach initiatives for New York Lawyers for the Public Interest and the National Campaign to Restore Civil Rights. Additionally, she has led media strategy for several local, Congressional and Senatorial campaigns.

Aprill teaches public relations courses at Montgomery College in the Washington, D.C. metro area. She is on the Board of Directors for the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education and the Secretary of the Public Relations Society of America, Maryland Chapter. Additionally, Aprill serves as the current Audio/Visual Ministry President at her church, First Baptist Church of Glenharden in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Aprill’s other memberships include the National Public Relations Society of America, the National Press Club, the National Black Public Relations Society, the National Communications Association and ColorComm. She is a former board member of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Aprill holds a bachelor’s degree in legal communications from Howard University and a master’s in political communication and fundraising from George Washington University. She is currently working on her doctorate in Strategic Communications at Regent University. Aprill has obtained her Accreditation in Public Relations (APR).