The 202 Strategy story
202 Strategy leverages two decades in communications roles in Washington, DC and Minneapolis to provide strategic communications support to protect or enhance your company's reputation or products. Ianthe (yahn-thay) Zabel (zay-bel) spent 15 years leading integrated media relations teams on Capitol Hill, for a federal financial regulatory agency, and for the mutual fund industry in Washington, DC. She worked in corporate communications in Minneapolis before launching 202 Strategy in 2016.
Ianthe's experience leading communications in regulatory, policy, and political circles provides clients with an integrated approach to communications strategy that evaluates and leverages the multiple angles of every unique situation.
Ianthe enjoys working with complex subject matter and unlocking its human side to tell stories to the public, including regulators, policymakers, customers, and consumers as part of a broader communications strategy. After earning a journalism degree in college, Ianthe started her career as a local television reporter and transitioned to media relations and communications work for the last 15+ years. The common thread in her career is harnessing the power of the media to tell a story or advance a cause.
While working as a reporter early in her career, she was bitten by the political bug and transitioned to a press secretary position on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. She led communications for the Ways and Means Committee and led government affairs and external affairs for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission during an historic oil price spike.
She spent 10 years working in financial services for the mutual fund trade association in Washington, DC, served as the national spokesperson for small businesses and worked in corporate communications for United Health Group. She serves on the board of the Minnesota chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and volunteers on a communications subcommittee for her community's school board.
Ianthe lives in Southwest Minneapolis and is a transplant to the Twin Cities from Washington, DC. She was raised in northern New Jersey by immigrant parents and graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism. Her family moved to Minneapolis in 2015.