Natalie Walston has worked in Central Ohio for close to 20 years. She has been  a respected radio and television reporter but found her calling in public relations.

Natalie successfully started the communications and public relations program at the Ohio Corn Growers Association in 2007. In the position of Director of Communications Natalie spearheaded a successful relationship with local, state and national media. It was common for her to connect Ohio farmers with reporters from The Columbus Dispatch and the Dayton Daily News and more.                                                                                                                                                    

She worked with farmers to help develop skills in talking with the media and regularly connected them with reporters from television stations in Columbus, Ohio and beyond. Ohio farmers were also often quoted in prestigious newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal and multi-media news organizations such as Bloomberg News.

Natalie worked on various national communications committees on projects to help connect consumers with farmers. This involved working with notable people such as Steve Hildebrand, who was part of President Barack Obama’s team that forever changed how candidates run for office by developing a very large online presence. She also worked with various Republican strategists and lobbied members of the U.S. Congress.

Through her years working in agriculture she helped with re-branding the associations as they went from the Ohio Corn Growers Association and the Ohio Wheat Growers Association to one powerful entity, the Ohio Corn & Wheat Growers Association (OCWGA).

Natalie began her career as a public radio reporter, producer and news anchor with WOSU-AM radio in Columbus. Her stories were often heard on National Public Radio programs such as Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

She also taught at the prestigious Miami University when she worked as a public radio news anchor and reporter at WMUB-FM in Oxford, Ohio. Frequently she was called to work with the Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau in Columbus on radio and television stories, even hosting the award-winning The State of Ohio, a political round-table television show with political guests from both sides of the aisle.

Her impressive resume landed her a reporting job at NBC4 television in Columbus, Ohio in 2003. Natalie’s stories were not only seen in the Midwest but on MSNBC as she reported on the troubles and eventual tragedy that Spanish-speaking immigrants faced when they called for help during a deadly apartment fire.

Working in the media provided her with extensive high-level contacts and ingrained in her the importance of honesty and integrity.

Her integrity has helped her keep contacts in the media, politics and agriculture.