Tangela D. Richardson

Tangela D. Richardson is a National Public Affairs Specialist in the Social Security

Administration’s Office of Communication External Affairs at headquarters in Baltimore, MD. She directs

African American, Social Media and Women outreach for the agency. She has been a member of the

Social Security Administration’s Communication Team since 1999 having worked in the Press Office and

now in External Affairs. She works with national organizations, headquartered in Washington, D.C., to

build partnerships and coalitions to disseminate information about Social Security programs and public

policy throughout the U.S.

The Black Public Relations Society of Washington, D.C., selected her in 2014, to serve on their

Executive Board and on their Social Media Team, first as a Twitter contributor and now as the Instagram

contributor (editor).

Tangela began her career in journalism having worked in radio at her campus radio station in

undergrad at Florida A&M University (WAMF-FM) as a program director. She also worked for NPR

(National Public Radio) in Atlanta, GA post-graduation. She also did stints in television working for

WTBS-TV (Atlanta, GA) and a CBS affiliate station in Tallahassee, FL. She transitioned from television

and radio to working for newspapers in the southeast (Tallahassee Democrat, The Atlanta Journal

Constitution and The Columbia, South Carolina Record). The White House Office of Public Engagement,

in 2012, selected her to serve as the liaison for the Social Security Administration as a Kitchen Cabinet

member for African American outreach in the Obama Administration. She served as a Kitchen Cabinet

Member in the Obama Administration from 2012 to 2013. She continues to work in government in public

affairs at the Social Security Administration.

In January 30, 2014, she was awarded a Team Commissioner’s Citation (the highest award given

at Social Security) in recognition for outstanding efforts in successfully coordinating one of the six

informative Deputy Commissioner’s Roundtable for African American, Asian American and Pacific

Islander, Hispanic, Homelessness, Disability and Faith Based communities.

She is a recent graduate of American University, School of Communication, M.A., and has an

undergraduate degree from Florida A&M University, B.S., in Broadcast Journalism.