This episode features an interview with Natalie Ridsdale, Director of Internal Communications at Levi Strauss & Co. Natalie has spent the last 21 years refining her communication skills, starting out as a copy editor at newspapers and now managing employee experience at Levi’s. In this episode, Amanda and Natalie discuss how internal and external communications can work better together, collecting employee feedback, and how Levi’s is making space for employees to have tough conversations. --...
Sep 13, 2022•36 min•Ep. 25
This episode features an interview with Beth Collier, founder of Beth Collier Consulting. She has spent 20 years helping people and companies become better, more connected leaders through communication. In this episode, Amanda sits down with Beth to discuss what pop culture can teach us about communications, the impact of creativity, and how to turn leaders into effective communicators. ------------------- “You've got to be courageous if you want to be creative, because it is hard to put ideas i...
Aug 30, 2022•42 min•Ep. 24
This episode features an interview with Kristin Hancock, Vice President of Community and Engagement at ICology. Kristin’s passion for communications fueled her career at organizations like Ronald McDonald House and Children’s Wish Foundation. Kristin has over a decade of experience connecting humans through meaningful messages. She also has a flair for astrology and offers birth chart readings for people and pets! In this episode, Amanda and Kristin discuss how ICology improves culture, how to m...
Aug 16, 2022•36 min•Ep. 23
This episode features an interview with Michelle Press, Director of Corporate Communications at Envoy Solutions. Michelle has over 25 years of experience leading merger and acquisition communications, community relations, and change management. Previously, Michelle’s leadership roles include KemperLesnik, UL Solutions, and Golin. In this episode, Amanda and Michelle open their playbooks on mergers and acquisitions. They discuss the dos and don'ts of a communications plan, the channels and tech t...
Aug 02, 2022•40 min•Ep. 22
This episode features an interview with Suman Gopalan, Chief HR Officer at Freshworks. Suman has spent her entire professional career in HR, holding positions at publicly traded companies like The Nielsen Company, Dell Technologies, and Whirlpool. At Freshworks, Suman pilots the global people strategy to develop and engage their employees. In this episode, Amanda and Suman examine diversity in the workplace. They discuss Suman’s passion for women in the workforce, key elements of workplace cultu...
Jul 19, 2022•39 min•Ep. 21
This episode features an interview with Stephanie Briggs, Director of Employee Experience at ivanti. She has over ten years of experience in digital and social media marketing, where she puts storytelling at the forefront. Stephanie’s passion for storytelling doesn’t stop there. She is also a published horror author of the “Sophia Rey” series, in which the main character goes undercover in a cult. In this episode, Amanda and Stephanie discuss who owns employee experience in an org and how storyt...
Jul 05, 2022•44 min•Ep. 20
This episode features an interview with Mary Poppen, Chief Strategy and Customer Officer at involve.ai. With over 2 decades of experience in customer success, executive leadership, and business consulting, Mary is dedicated to advancing the next generation of CX leaders. In this episode, Amanda sits down with Mary to discuss how a great customer experience can lead to happy employees and how to measure employee and customer satisfaction. ------------------- “Early in my career, I realized that o...
Jun 21, 2022•31 min•Ep. 19
This episode features an interview with Debbie Gunning, Vice President of People at Human Interest. Debbie has spent the last 24 years building powerful business teams through talent acquisition, employee relations, and workplace culture. In this episode, Amanda and Debbie dive into employee onboarding. They discuss the relationship between onboarding and employee retention, the importance of culture during this time, and how Debbie’s team transitioned to a virtual onboarding experience. -------...
Jun 07, 2022•38 min•Ep. 18
This episode features an interview with Danielle Tabor, Chief People Officer at Emburse. Danielle has over 15 years of human resources experience in the biomedical, architecture, and financial industries. She also holds a Bachelor’s in Psychology and a minor in Education from Clark University. In this episode, Amanda sits down with Danielle to discuss work-from-home burnout, HR’s ability to adapt, and the importance of an equitable employee experience. ------------------- “I really think the fut...
May 24, 2022•31 min•Ep. 17
This episode features an interview with Parag Kulkarni, Chief Technology Officer at Simpplr. Parag has nearly 25 years of experience as a technology industry leader. Previously, Parag was the Senior Vice President of SaaS Engineering at Nutanix where he developed modern SaaS applications covering the customer and partner lifecycle. Parag is now heading Simpplr’s engineering and technology teams to create more value for its customers. In this episode, Amanda and Parag discuss Simpplr’s new employ...
May 10, 2022•32 min•Ep. 16
This episode features an interview with Annette Reavis, Chief People Officer at Envoy. Annette is an HR and business leader with over 20 years of experience. After spending 10 years at Facebook as the Vice President of HR, Annette retired. But not for long. She soon became the Chief People Officer of Root Inc. and now, Annette holds the same position at Envoy. In this episode, Annette and Amanda dive into work-life blend versus work-life balance, the modern employee experience, and how Diversity...
Apr 26, 2022•42 min•Ep. 15
This episode features an interview with Sophie Hamersley, Manager of Internal Communications at HubSpot. With over a decade of experience under her belt, Sophie has held positions at fully integrated agencies such as RF|Binder and Image Unlimited Communications. Sophie joined HubSpot in 2018 as the Communications Manager of the Culture Team where she helped attract talent through storytelling. In this episode, Sophie and Amanda dive into all things related to company culture. They discuss why Hu...
Apr 12, 2022•38 min•Ep. 14
This episode features an interview with Jill Stracko, Director of Global Executive and Internal Communications at Uber. Jill’s impressive career spans from Washington D.C. all the way to Silicon Valley. Jill led President Barack Obama’s writing team in the White House and once served as Senior Legislative Correspondent to then-Senator Joe Biden. On this episode, Jill sits down with Amanda to discuss her 3 principles of Internal Communications: informing and inspiring, connecting the dots, and ex...
Mar 29, 2022•45 min•Ep. 13
This episode features an interview with Ben Matthews, Senior Director of Internal Communications at NVIDIA. Ben has spent his entire career in communications. He is a recognized industry leader and speaker who has previously worked for Google, eBay, and Crown Castle. In this episode, Ben and Amanda discuss building an internal comms program from scratch, how to prove value to leaders, and why internal communicators are the imagineers of business. ------------------- “10 years ago, everyone that ...
Mar 15, 2022•40 min•Ep. 12
This episode features an interview with Andréa Topper, Director of Internal Communications at Guardant Health. Andréa’s path to internal comms has been anything but conventional. Starting out as a journalistic reporter and editor for publications like The Associated Press and Central Penn Business Journal, Andréa realized her passion for communicating with an audience. That passion took her to fitness company CrossFit, where she was in charge of content marketing. On this episode, Andréa sits do...
Mar 01, 2022•52 min•Ep. 11
This episode features an interview with LaToya Lyn, Chief People Officer at Help Scout. Fascinated by the connection between employee and employer, LaToya has wanted to be an HR practitioner since she was 16. Her impressive career spans multiple executive and leadership roles in HR and Talent Strategy at publicly traded billion-dollar companies like LivePerson, Compass, and Oscar Health. On this episode, LaToya sits down with Amanda to discuss how HR leaders influence the human experience in the...
Feb 15, 2022•35 min•Ep. 10
This episode features an interview with Jason Anthoine, Managing Founder (or Head Honcho as Jason puts it) at Audacity. With more than 32 years of experience, Jason’s career includes leading global communications at GE, Newell Brands, and Verint. On this episode, Jason shares his three step process for building a successful Internal Comms plan that’s proven with ROI. He also gets into why he started his own comms consulting company and how he handles Imposter Syndrome. ------------------- “It’s ...
Feb 01, 2022•48 min•Ep. 9
This episode features an interview with Carolyn Clark, Head of Internal Communications and Employer Brand at Opendoor. Previously, Carolyn was the senior director of internal communications at GoDaddy and held senior internal comms roles at Pandora and Yahoo!. On today’s episode, Carolyn shares what it was like working on SNL & Late Night with Conan O’Brien, why she started her own comms consulting company, and valuable case studies from her career and teachings in crisis comms. ------------...
Jan 18, 2022•50 min•Ep. 8
This episode features an interview with Leslie Quinton, VP of Communications at Ubisoft, a gaming company with over 20,000 employees and 40 office locations worldwide. With over 20 years of communications experience across multiple industries at companies big and small, Leslie is a walking comms playbook. On this episode, Leslie shares her must-do’s for doing global communications right, what the secret ingredient is for improving company culture, and her advice for comms leaders struggling to g...
Jan 04, 2022•44 min•Ep. 7
This episode features an interview with Guido Ditto, Senior Manager of internal communications and employer brand at Coursera. Guido works with Coursera executives and teams to inform, engage, and connect colleagues around the world. Since joining the company in 2019, he has optimized information sharing with a new intranet, helped employees stay aligned to the company’s lofty mission during hypergrowth, supported the company's transition to remote work, and led comms during Coursera’s IPO. Prev...
Dec 14, 2021•45 min•Ep. 6
This episode features an interview with two distinguished executives from Gainsight, the leader in Customer Success software. Robin Merritt is the SVP and Chief of Staff & Community, and previously served as Global Head of Internal Communications at Box. Karl Mosgofian is the Chief Information Officer. He comes to Gainsight after previously serving as CIO of Harmonic, the publicly-traded leader in virtualized cable access and live video streaming. On this episode, Robin and Karl dive into be...
Nov 30, 2021•42 min•Ep. 5
“I would say that one of the most important things these days is to understand that as knowledge workers, we have the ability to learn anything we need to know. You should never let lack of knowing something be a barrier. Even if you’re slower than everyone else...take the time you need. You have the ability to learn this. It’s a bit of a journey. New technology will come along. There’ll be new things to learn. There’ll be new norms. And you know what? It’s not a race. You will be able to figure...
Nov 16, 2021•44 min•Ep. 4
“When you think about internal communications, It's so much about change management. It's about bringing people along on the journey that the CEO or the executive team have created in multiple meetings. They already know it, but now they have to turn around and communicate it. And so they have to make that their own. They have to believe it. And we as humans can really smell when somebody doesn't believe what they're saying. And so you have to just own it and practice it and know it inside and o...
Nov 02, 2021•45 min•Ep. 3
“What we forget is all of these physical and digital experiences are what you call the culture. Culture is not something that you separately write down and then everybody's like, ‘oh, this is culture.’ It is this amalgamation of all of these beautiful experiences that you have." — Rajamma Krishnamurthy -------------- Episode Timestamps : *(1:50) - How Rajamma got into human resources *(3:20) - Rajamma’s current role as senior director of HR technology at Microsoft *(4:55) - Focusing on the indiv...
Oct 26, 2021•38 min•Ep. 2
“Being young and not knowing how things are supposed to go created in me this real comfort with ambiguity and the acknowledgement that there's a ton of opportunity in ambiguity. So if you can embrace that and lean into it and accept that there's no right way to do anything. Everybody's just trying to chart their own path together. And as long as you're aligned on the goals and you're organized and you're going to stay focused on the objectives that the company is trying to achieve, you can learn...
Oct 12, 2021•49 min•Ep. 1
You want to create an exceptional employee experience. You want the right technology stack, the right processes in place, and you want your people to have the right information at their fingertips when they need it most. Why not learn from the best of the best? On the Cohesion podcast, you’ll hear from internal comms, IT, and HR leaders who are innovating and leading the industry forward. These visionaries are changing how things are done at some of the most innovative companies in the world. Li...
Sep 28, 2021•57 sec
