Rachael Payton is the Founder and President of BeGreatDC and holds an extensive professional background in communications and public relations. She created BeGreatDC in an effort to create unique community service opportunities and to provide a platform for local nonprofits to gain awareness. What began as a simple volunteer fair in 2017, has now blossomed into an incorporated nonprofit hosting dozens of community service events each year.

​

BeGreatDC has helped to provide hundreds of meals to the homeless, school supplies for students, books for children, toiletries for women’s shelters and much more. In 2019, the organization plans to launch 3 permanent programs for minority women and high school students.

​

Prior to founding BeGreatDC, Rachael served on the 2016 Executive Leadership Team as Director of Communications for the Northern Virginia Urban League Young Professionals Network.

​

Rachael earned her Bachelor of Science in Communication from Old Dominion University in 2014. She is also a 2013 alumna of the Washington Media Institute where she developed a mature understanding of media relations while studying the intersection of communications, politics, and journalism in DC.