What is your role at Hattaway?
I’m a Strategy Associate here at Hattaway, which means I work with our researchers, storytellers, and other strategists to learn about our clients, their audiences, and the world around them. Then we turn what we learn into communications that work. I bring to our team a background in campaign execution and evaluation that gives me an end-to-end understanding of communications campaigns. I know where even the best strategies can break down on the long path to execution or be led astray by unclear goals, so I enjoy anticipating those issues and ensuring our work is goal-oriented, interpretable, and durable.
What are you currently working on that you are really passionate about and why?
Our work with Great Schools North Carolina is particularly inspiring to me during this political moment. We have an opportunity with this work to get past political polarization and overwhelming uncertainty to ensure kids and families across the state have access to the best possible public education. I’m excited to be a part of making the futures kids deserve more real. There is no strategy without obstacles to overcome, so this kind of challenge is exactly what makes my work feel impactful.
What is currently igniting your imagination?
I’ve been really impressed with how one of my favorite charities, Giving What We Can, has responded to cuts to international aid. I think many organizations shy away from politically charged moments out of fear. I also think many of us believe that when times are tough, that’s the time to check out and focus on our own needs. GWWC instead has identified that, regardless of what’s going on in the world, people don’t want to see others suffer, and difficult circumstances are precisely the time to step up and help. They’ve picked up the microphone others have set down, directly combatted misinformation, and elevated personal stories of giving in response to this crisis. I’ve been thinking a lot about the strategy behind this, and how important it is to so much of the cause-related work we do at Hattaway. Contributing to making bad things better not only is important to our aspirational values but also immediately makes us feel better about what’s going on. Being able to satisfy short-term and long-term needs is powerfully motivating, and the fact that doing good checks both boxes gives me a lot of hope.
What is your favorite way to spend a day off?
I love mornings, so having a long hike to get me out of the house bright and early is great, ideally with a big group! In a perfect world, the hike is long enough that I’m extremely hungry afterward, because nothing tastes as good as simple food when your body needs the energy. I’m still trying to beat my #1 culinary memory: a PB&J on white bread after a 10-mile trek through the coastal redwoods in Northern California. I also really enjoy cooking, especially with my best friend because she’s amazing at it, so after we get back I’d love to put together a nice, hearty dinner and fruity dessert with her and share it with friends. To round things off, games like Balderdash, Telestrations, and Scattergories are my favorites to get people laughing, especially when everyone’s too sleepy to discern between the dumb and the hilarious.
What originally got you interested in communications?
Is it silly to say learning to talk? Seriously, communications speaks for itself. Humans getting information from other humans is an incredible thing. No two people have the same brain nor the same experiences, and yet we have thousands of years’ worth of examples of our still being able to get a whole bunch of people on the same page about what’s important, from teaching each other how to make fire to cook our food and keep ourselves warm, to convincing millions of the value of a child’s first few years of life to their education. Throughout my life I’ve seen communications go very right and very wrong (my last conversation with my hairdresser comes to mind), and I’ll never stop being inspired by the empathy, trust, and openness we’re all required to show each other just to get through each and every day. At our best, we have the most remarkable ability to see the world through each other’s eyes, so I love that my career’s about striving for that.
