“We cry at work now.” Jennifer Palmieri, the former White House communications director who served for President Obama, said this to group of communications professionals at USC’s Lead On event in 2019. It was a watershed moment for me, and this idea really resonated. Not just because I am someone who has, on occasion, showed emotions while on the clock, but for all professionals: who are...
Seventy-three percent of professional communicators expect to increase their engagement with social issues this year, and communications partnerships with activist organizations have increased by three times. Anecdotally, the vast majority of brands’ engagement with social issues does not happen at a personalized level — meaning, few, if any, of the brand’s employees or customers can engage...
I dislike the term “disinformation.” It whitewashes the danger and damage caused by the creation and distribution of false information. It is simpler to use a clearer word — lies. The objective of sharing information — every communicator’s core goal — should always be to provide clarity in a truthful, authentic way.
Disinformation does the opposite. It obfuscates, breeds doubt, and...
From sports teams to board rooms, representation is one of the most pressing issues of the 21st Century, and Hollywood is responsible for much of the confusion — most of the problems and much of what we understand as cultural representations are derived from media.
In particular, finding positive representation of South Asian characters in U.S. film and television has been a challenge...
In the past several years, anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policy has increased, placing the topic of queer rights more centrally on the public agenda and amplifying the polarization around LGBTQ rights.
As conversations increase, so does the anti-LGBTQ sentiment.
According to The Trevor Project, the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention...
In the last two years, we’ve seen daunting challenges to social and environmental justice, whether it’s outside the Supreme Court or inside the U.N., and in 2023 there will be no shortage of causes worthy to support. In the process, we’ve also been witnessto an inspiring masterclass in innovative, out-of-the-box problem-solving: from large-scale vaccination campaigns to online guerilla efforts...
“PR people don’t do numbers.”
The number of times I’ve heard a variation on this theme could fill volumes of now-outdated encyclopedias. We all agree that we live in a technological world. We even value things like “digital native-ness” and the skills that go along with it.
But there’s a growing divide that’s putting the long-term future of our profession at risk. Certainly,...
In a world dominated by all things digital, the internet — social media, specifically — frequently infiltrates our everyday actions, thoughts, and even our mental health. With a career centered around technology and a 13-year-old daughter who would spend the majority of her free time scrolling through Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram if she were allowed, I’ve become hyper-aware of the effects...