Jaci Hirschfeld is the Director of Audience Engagement and Growth at Science Friday, where she leads her team in making science exciting and accessible to a wider, more diverse audience.

Equipped with a B.A. and M.A. in Cultural Anthropology, she’s spent the last 20 years leveraging her understanding of dynamic demographics to support local, national, and international organizations including the Women’s Refugee Commission, Young Survival Coalition, and most recently, the 14th Street Y in the East Village.

She got her start in marketing at DCF Advertising, a social-impact agency that works on huge campaigns for clients like the NYC Department of Health. Jaci led many acclaimed public service initiatives, including smoking cessation campaigns (one of which went international), NYC MindSpace (the first social media campaign by any government agency), and NYC Condom—the first municipally branded condom in the United States (which she actually designed!).

Beyond her communications adventures, she’s a third-generation Brooklynite and an avid traveler who’s visited more than 20 countries so far. Her happy place is in the kitchen, where she’s been perfecting English pub food, and she plays a mean game of Ms. Pac-Man. She still lives in Brooklyn with her husband, who is an equally excellent cook, and her 19-year-old black cat, Icarus.