One word to describe yourself: Multifaceted
Alma Mater: George Washington University
Fast fact about yourself: I love to travel and have visited more than 14 countries.
What’s your best experience on transit and what made it memorable? Riding Metro after attending a watch party to see the Washington Nationals win the 2019 World Series. The energy was electric!
Whitney Nichels, vice president of communications, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), is responsible for defining and executing WMATA’s digital voice, public relations strategy and crisis communication framework. She leads a multidisciplinary team of communications professionals tasked with managing WMATA’s external messaging, digital content creation, media relations and customer engagement across multiple platforms. Her role includes overseeing crisis communications, emergency alerts and real-time updates for the agency’s 24/7 operations, ensuring the timely and accurate flow of information to the public.
Her journey in transportation began as a student in New York City, where she worked as an on-air reporter for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Emmy award-winning public access program “Transit Transit Newsmagazine.” Since then, her transportation career has included time spent at the state and federal level working in support of safe driving practices.
Colleagues say Nichels has been instrumental in redefining the public perception of WMATA as a brand that is not just a mode of transportation but a cultural and social touchstone for the communities it serves. She led the charge in revitalizing the agency’s social media presence, achieving a 347 percent year-over-year increase in Instagram engagement. Her work has been highlighted in major publications like The Washington Post, Washingtonian and Milkkarten. Nichels has pioneered a multi-platform content strategy that leverages the unique strengths of each social media platform, from the professional tone of LinkedIn to the rapid, conversational style of X (formerly Twitter) and the visually driven storytelling of Instagram and TikTok.
The agency’s social media breakout moment came in June 2024 with a video Nichels helped develop using the viral “Man in Finance” song as a tongue-in-cheek way to promote transit as an alternative to dating apps. The video has gotten over five million views across Instagram and TikTok.
Her leadership extends beyond content creation, as she actively mentors her team, fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration that empowers her staff to push creative boundaries while maintaining operational excellence. Under her leadership, WMATA’s social media channels have evolved from purely informational platforms to vibrant, community-focused digital spaces that engage, inform and inspire.
Outside of her work at WMATA, Nichels is an active participant in various professional and community organizations. She serves as a mentor for emerging communication professionals, offering guidance on career development and digital strategy. She has also been a featured speaker at industry conferences, where she shares her insights on the future of digital communications, social media strategy and crisis management.
Additionally, she supports local nonprofits focused on public transportation advocacy and community engagement, reinforcing her commitment to improving urban mobility and fostering stronger connections within the Washington, D.C., community. Her involvement extends to professional associations, where she actively contributes to discussions on best practices in transit communications and digital brand management.
She has served as a guest lecturer on public relations at American University and presented to public information officers across the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia region at meetings hosted by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. Nichels served alongside other transportation leaders on a panel discussing external messaging at the 2025 NACTO Designing Cities Conference in May of this year.
Is there a specific experience that led you to where you are today?
In 2016, I left my job as a news anchor and reporter. I always thought working in broadcasting was my calling, but after a few years, I was feeling burnt out and disillusioned, which overshadowed my passion for storytelling.
I quickly realized careers don’t have to be linear to be fulfilling. The transition to communications and social media management has not only opened new doors for me in my career, but also reignited my enthusiasm for engaging with audiences in meaningful ways.
What’s the most challenging part of your job?
In my role as vice president of communications, I oversee external messaging—including media relations, digital communications such as social media, parts of the WMATA website and many of the digital display screens throughout the system—and multimedia production. My team plays a key role in all crisis communications and emergency messaging around service and safety-related incidents, and we also handle media relations and social media for the Metro Transit Police Department.
My team operates 24 hours a day through a rotating on-call schedule to cover nights and weekends; I am on-call seven days a week. With that said, social media—which I am very passionate about—is just a small piece of my current responsibilities. It’s a daily challenge to balance crisis communications and creative content.
Safety and service are our core values, so that will always come first, but it’s great when you can still have a little fun with your customers and put a smile on their faces while keeping them safe and getting them where they need to go.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I enjoy making people feel seen and appreciated, whether it is our customers, operational staff or Metro Transit police officers. We’ve had a few recent media opportunities and social media posts where we were able to feature frontline employees who don’t often get the spotlight, including station managers, mechanics and operators.
My favorite is one of our recent efforts to highlight our janitorial staff. We brought together a team of divas to do a fun trend that had them strutting their stuff and dancing in their uniforms. The goal was to show that people have more to their story than their work, and WMATA is more than just a service. We’re human beings.
That content later helped us promote our position as a finalist for a national cleaning award, and we used it to encourage people to vote for us. Thousands of votes later, we won! I was so proud of the way a fun video was able to help us secure a huge honor for our janitorial staff who work hard every day to keep the system clean.
What is your best advice/tip/best practice you can share from your area of expertise?
It doesn’t matter how important your message is if your customers aren’t paying attention to it. Find a way to not only capture but connect with your target audience in a way that is authentic for your brand. That may mean stepping out of your comfort zone and leaning into new styles of content.
Remember, the easiest way to stifle creativity is putting good ideas through lengthy approval processes. In an organization that is focused on safely transporting thousands of customers a day and accounting for 13,000 employees in a multi-modal environment, there’s no time to sit our senior executives down and explain how the latest TikTok trend relates to ridership, but that is how having diverse leadership contributes to the success of an organization.
As a young leader, I have different strengths than someone with 30 years of experience. When we bring those strengths together, we can have a much greater impact on the communities we serve.
About the Author
Brandon Lewis
Associate Editor
Brandon Lewis is a recent graduate of Kent State University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Lewis is a former freelance editorial assistant at Vehicle Service Pros in Endeavor Business Media’s Vehicle Repair Group. Lewis brings his knowledge of web managing, copyediting and SEO practices to Mass Transit Magazine as an associate editor. He is also a co-host of the Infrastructure Technology Podcast.