Victoria Meadows

Through Open Door, Victoria helps project teams understand community readiness before the public process becomes reactive. Her Relational Readiness™ framework looks at the conditions that often shape how communities respond to a proposal: past crisis or conflict, uncertainty, fairness, trust in the process, and whether the project feels aligned with local identity and priorities. The framework draws on research in crisis communication, risk perception, sensemaking, and political economy, but its purpose is practical: to help teams see where trust may be strong, where it may be fragile, and what kind of engagement a community may need next.

Before founding Open Door, Victoria spent six years with the Lansing Economic Area Partnership, one of Michigan’s leading public-private economic development organizations, where she served as Chief Strategic Officer. At LEAP, she led marketing and communications strategy, advised executive leadership on policy and organizational direction, supported regional business attraction and growth efforts, and helped communicate programs and initiatives during moments of high public attention. During her tenure, the region saw a 242% increase in private investment and a 113% increase in new jobs created. She also led communications for more than $20 million in COVID-era grant programming and helped develop statewide messaging strategies with government and nonprofit partners.

Victoria’s career spans 25 years across economic development, public institutions, and higher education. She has led strategic planning processes, designed stakeholder research using surveys, focus groups, and advisory groups, produced award-winning marketing campaigns, and built coalitions across sectors. Across roles with Lansing Community College, Capital Area District Libraries, and regional economic development partners, her work has centered on helping organizations listen earlier, communicate more openly, and earn trust in high-stakes environments where decisions can affect how people live, work, learn, and participate in community life.

She holds a Master of Science in Communication and a Graduate Certificate in Strategic Communication Management from Purdue University’s Brian Lamb School of Communication, where her coursework focused on crisis communication, organizational communication, and quantitative and qualitative research methods. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Communication from Siena Heights University and an Associate of Applied Arts in Graphic Design from Lansing Community College.

Victoria serves as immediate-past Chair of the Capital Area College Access Network and as Vice-Chair of the Lansing Community College Foundation. She is based in Lansing, Michigan.