Darcy Totten

Darcy was hired as the Director of External Affairs for California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls in 2023 after serving as the Commission’s Director of Communications since 2019. She has over 20 years of experience in crisis communications, journalism, and public policy advocacy.

In 2019, Darcy served as the Interim Director of Operations at the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls as the organization began a period of intense growth and transition. In 2021, a new Executive Director, Holly Martinez, joined the Commission and led the effort to build a significant expansion focused on women’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

 In her capacity as Director of Communications starting in 2021, Darcy built nationally recognized communications efforts including authoring the Commission’s award-winning Annual Reports and serving as primary author of the California Women’s Economic Blueprint for Pandemic Recovery. The Commission advocated for and was awarded a state investment to build the Women’s Recovery Response $5 million Grant Program. This represents the first time the state of California has dedicated resources, under the oversight of the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, to the specific needs of women impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Darcy led the External Affairs efforts of the first-of-its-kind Women’s Recovery Response grant project, building partnerships and developing the #WomenAreEssential campaign to raise awareness and support for the needs of women in the ongoing pandemic.

Darcy is an expert in social impact strategies, advocacy, and crisis communications with experience centered in educational leadership, tribal governments, political campaigns, state and national issue advocacy, and public policy. She is passionate about coalition building and working with intersectional and inclusive teams that prioritize historically marginalized communities.

She is also the co-founder of Activism Articulated, a crisis communications firm in Sacramento that serves change making efforts nationwide and provides media training and consulting for organizations and community groups. Projects have included support for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Black Women United, Sacramento Women’s March, the Sierra Health Foundation, CASTLA, 50 Women Can Take the Lead, and the Sierra Health Foundation. Darcy and Jasper have worked together for nearly 15 years as community advocates, artists, place makers, and organizational change facilitators.

Darcy serves as a Board Member for the Sacramento LGBT Center (2020-present), is a Nehemiah Emerging Leaders Program Senior Fellow (Class X), and a Coro Fellow (2019). She is a Next City Vanguard Fellow (40 urban innovators under 40 in 2019) and serves on the Stonewall Democrats PAC Board (2019-present). She was named one of the Sacramento Business Journal’s “Women Who Mean Business” in 2023.

Darcy holds a bachelor’s degree from Mills College in Photography and Visual Communication and a master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin in Journalism. She lives in Sacramento with her wife Jasper and too many cats.

Email: Darcy.Totten@women.ca.gov