After serving the Philadelphia and Harrisburg region for over a decade, Bellevue Strategies, LLC will be expanding its operations and presence to Western Pennsylvania into Pittsburgh.

The move to expand the government relations, public affairs and strategic communications firm was announced Monday, Jan. 3

“We view this as a tremendous opportunity to offer more value and services to our existing clients in Pennsylvania,” Mustafa Rashed, president & CEO of Bellevue Strategies, told AL DÍA. 

“For me, personally, I’m proud of the work of our team that has made this expansion possible,” he added. 

To help lead this new expansion effort, Bellevue has tabbed Andrea Fields as the new director of its Western PA location. 

Prior to this new role, Fields most recently served as executive director of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus (PALBC) to Chairwoman Donna Bullock. 

In that role, she was responsible for building long-lasting relationships with members, advocates and stakeholders to ensure an inclusive and equitable plan for communities of color in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Throughout her career, Fields has also served as a legislative assistant to Representatives Emilio Vazquez (Philadelphia), Mayor-Elect Ed Gainey (Allegheny County), and House Minority Whip, Representative Jordan A. Harris (Philadelphia). 

“She’s a natural connector and people person, and we thought she’d be a great addition to the team,” Rashed said of Fields. 

In a press release, Fields noted that she is “thrilled to join the team at Bellevue,” believes her experiences “has uniquely prepared” her for this role, and is “happy to be on board to lead this effort.” 

Founded in 2011, Bellevue Strategies is a leading minority- and veteran-owned firm, and has worked with a number of nonprofits, labor unions, Fortune 500 companies, small business and advocacy organizations. 

When Rashed founded the firm over a decade ago, he did so to help fill a void.

“The communities in which companies and organizations wanted to do business are of color, the elected officials are persons of color but the consultants were not,” he said.  

In a city such as Philadelphia, in which 43% of the population is African-American, that didn’t make sense to him.  

“I think there's value in the diversity of our team's shared experiences that helps to bring the best innovative, thoughtful and equitable ideas to the table,” said Rashed.

With its latest expansion, Rashed, Fields and the entire Bellevue team will be able to offer its governmental affairs, public funding and strategic communication services to a larger number of diverse people across the state of Pennsylvania.