Episodes

  • Living Out Loud, Faithfully

    Living Out Loud, Faithfully
    Jul 25 2023

    Author, Vice President of the GLAAD Media Institute, and Lutheran Deacon Ross Murray joins Edelman's Gurpreet Brar and Faith McIver in conversation to discuss his life and experiences as a spiritual person within the LGBTQ+ community.

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    GLAAD said about Ross's recent book Everyday Advocate: Living Out Your Calling to Social Justice: "Drawing on his own experience, Ross encourages readers to discern their own call to advocacy, learn to identify injustices and respond faithfully by incorporating big and small actions into their everyday lives."
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    33 mins
  • Trans Representation at Work

    Trans Representation at Work
    Jul 10 2023

    Dani D'Amico, McKinsey & Company New York Partner, joins Christiane Schulz, Edelman Germany CEO and GWEN (Global Women’s Equality Network) Lead, in conversation on an Authentic 365 Pride Takeover.

    USA Today recently reported that a review of leaders at America's 1,000 largest companies found that just 10 out of thousands of named executive officers identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community, underscoring the importance of increased representation. In this episode, Dani shares her experience as a transgender woman navigating a corporate leadership role and what it means to be a role model for future transgender executives.

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    18 mins
  • On the Frontlines for Trans Rights

    On the Frontlines for Trans Rights
    Jun 15 2023

    On the Frontlines for Trans Rights: A Conversation with Rep. Zooey Zephyr and Journalist Erin Reed

    Edelman’s Lauren Gray (she/her/hers) and Lou MacAfee (they/them/theirs) will host this episode, uncovering what it means to be on the front lines advocating for trans rights in the United States with Montana State House Representative, Zooey Zephyr (she/her/hers), and LGBTQ+ Journalist, Erin Reed (she/her/hers).

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    Representative Zooey Zephyr identifies as transgender and, in a recent high-profile incident that sparked controversy, was censured and banned from the House floor after speaking out against a bill that would ban healthcare for transgender youth. Erin Reed is a leading transgender journalist who writes for Erin In the Morning and recently wrote an influential point-by-point rebuttal in response to the alleged Missouri whistleblower on transgender healthcare.
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    41 mins
  • Faith at Work

    Faith at Work
    Dec 20 2022
    This episode of A365 will discuss religious acceptance in the workplace and how we can all recognize various faiths in a respectful and inclusive way. Isabel Wong (Hong Kong) will lead the conversation with Eboo Patel, Founder and President of Interfaith America to address understanding and embracing different religious identities in the workplace, and how people and organizations can be more inclusive and supportive of diverse religions around the globe. Authentic 365 – Faith at Work Isabel Wong [00:00:00] Hi, I'm Isabel Wong with Edelman, currently based in Hong Kong. Now for this episode we are going to have a deep dive into the topics of religious acceptance, best practices in the workplace for interfaith dialog, and how religious identities are very much part of the broader diversity and inclusion conversation. And joining me for this conversation is Eboo Patel, founder and president of Interfaith America. Eboo is also a former faith advisor to President Barack Obama. So, Eboo, thank you so much for joining us from Chicago. It's great to have you with us on the show. Eboo Patel [00:00:40] Isabel, it's great to be with you. Thank you for having me. Isabel Wong [00:00:43] Thanks for joining us. Now, before we kick start the deep dive conversation, in order to set the scene right, I would like to have you help us understand and give us a brief introduction to our international audience about the work that you do at Interfaith America. Eboo Patel [00:01:01] Sure. So about 25 years ago, I founded an organization called Interfaith Youth Core. Actually founded it when I was a graduate student at Oxford University. And we ran programs all over the world. And the big idea was that, we should, it was going to strengthen the global fabric to bring young people from different religious identities together, to discuss the shared values between their faiths and to act on those positive values like compassion and hospitality and service. As the organization developed, we rooted it in the country in which I'm a citizen of the United States, even though I was born in India and educated in part at Oxford. I'm an American citizen. I've grown up here. I feel most comfortable in this culture and the organization as we would have here in the big idea of the organization whose name is now Interfaith America, but which started as Interfaith Youth Core, is that religious diversity can be a great strength of a nation in a world if faith is a bridge of cooperation and not a barrier of division or a bludgeon of domination. That's the case at city level, at the national level, and certainly also at the company level. And I'm excited to talk to you, Isabelle, about how positively and proactively engaging religious diversity can strengthen the fabric at both Edelman and for Edelman's clients. Isabel Wong [00:02:27] Mm hmm. Yeah, I do very much look forward to our discussion as well. And I know that for this conversation, we are going to touch on the concept of religious diversity and also religious acceptance. So I just want to get your help to help our audience understand the concept of religious acceptance as well. And why is this so important? Eboo Patel [00:02:48] Sure. So so religious diversity is just a fact of our world and a fact of most nations in the world. Meaning that there are people from different religious identities who are living in close quarters together, whether that's in the United States or in India or Brazil or Australia or the United Kingdom or Morocco or South Africa. Anywhere in the world you have people from different religions living together, working together, studying together, playing on sports leagues together, etc.. We don't talk about religious acceptance at Interfaith America because we don't ask people from one religion to accept the doctrine of another religion. It's not about acceptance. It's about cooperation. The idea is not that that Muslims who believe that Jesus is a prophet of God, but not the son of God, should accept the Christian doctrine about Jesus. The idea is that Muslims and Christians should cooperate positively. So we speak of religious diversity, should give rise to interfaith cooperation where faith is a bridge and not a barrier. Isabel Wong [00:03:58] Yeah, I do very much agree with that as well. And the very foundation of it is also fostering a sense of, you know, ability to appreciate spiritual values, beliefs and faith based practices. You know, there are different from opposed by removing prejudices and stereotypes, which is very much the kind of work that you do also. And it requires mutual respect. Now, I would like to take a deeper dive into embracing religious diversity at work, because obviously when it comes to this topic, a lot of people would just be thinking, how can we really do that? And for authentic 365 this podcast, the kind of conversations that we create, are all about how can one really bring ...
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    26 mins
  • Beyond the Binary: Gender Identity and Expression at Work

    Beyond the Binary: Gender Identity and Expression at Work
    Oct 26 2022
    This episode of A365 will discuss gender expression and identity in the global workplace. Rafael Franco (Brazil) leads the conversation with Edelman leaders to address several topics, including understanding and respecting pronouns, recognizing differences in inclusive language globally, navigating gender expression in the workplace and more. The episode will also explore the experiences of those within the LGBTQIA+ community in sharing their identity at work and in the world. Transcript Dani Jackson Smith [00:00:01] It's who you are to work after hours and back at home. Exploring every layer. Finding out what makes you uniquely you. And letting that shine back out into the world. It's authentic. 365 A podcast that takes a glimpse into how some of the most inspiring people among us express themselves and make magic happen. I'm your host, Danny Jackson Smith, VP at Edelman by day, community enthusiast and lover of the people always. On this episode, we are engaging our colleagues across the globe in a conversation on gender identity, understanding that how gender is addressed and acknowledge shifts based on your location. Let's join the conversation now. Rafael Franco [00:00:51] Hello. I'm Rafael from Brazil, Adama San Paolo. And we're here today to discuss to explore the stigmas around gender identity and expression, to go beyond the binary gender identity and expression at work. And for this conversation I have here, for different persons around the globe, we have Monika Tik Tok from Brazil whistles. She's a senior account manager. I will ask everyone to say your pronouns as well as tragedian director from Malaysia. Lauren Gray, Senior Vice President, New York Crisis and Reputation Risk Advisory. And Nick Nelson, Senior Vice President Austin. Welcome, everyone. Nick Nelson [00:01:34] Glad to be here. Monica Czeszak [00:01:36] Happy to be here, too. Rafael Franco [00:01:38] So we just start with an open question to everyone. So one identity is important to us all, and should we be respected by everyone knowing the formal definition of gender identity and expression? What do those terms mean to you personally and your response? Again, please say your personal pronouns. Mo, you can you can start, please. Monica Czeszak [00:02:03] Okay. Hi, everyone. Glad to be here. If everyone, I'm Monica. But let's see Mo for short. As you heard, my name is a little tricky. My pronouns are actually all the pronouns. And like the lady on the mall, that puts everything on the shopping carts. So he / she / they I'm comfortable with all of those. And to me, that's a special question because expression to me it's whatever I feel like that day. Sometimes it's braids, sometimes it's baggy clothes, sometimes it's nothing at all. I'm also very forth on getting out of that image that everyone that's nonbinary only wears pajamas. And I think expression is just feeling comfortable with yourself and being your best self every day, and that's particularly special at work. And I think respect only starts with us looking at each other and getting to know each other and asking questions and having safe spaces to ask those questions because it's not easy. Sometimes I'm very feminine, so people might assume I use she or her. Sometimes I'm very masculine, so people might assume similar he. But it's very fluid like gender and like expressions. So we have to be safe to ask each other questions and present ourselves as we are. Rafael Franco [00:03:28] Okay, great. What about you, Asra? Ezra Gideon [00:03:31] So yeah, my pronouns are he / him. I've recently transitioned from female to male about two years ago. And I guess, you know, I'm. How do I say this? It is more true to me being a he / him than it ever was before, you know, being in any other pronoun, to be honest. So it's most comfortable for me and this is the pronoun that I feel most myself. It's a little tricky here because the Malaysian language does not have a he / him / they / them, its all dia means they / he / she. So it's you know, it's it's an amazing language. Trouble is, in Kuala Lumpur, corporate language is still English. So but it's still kind of, you know, a yeah, there's a mix of of Malay and English. So it's it's not as difficult, I think, for us here in Kuala Lumpur as opposed to parts of other parts of Malaysia. But yeah, it's a it's those are the pronouns I'm comfortable within and I'm happy to to use whatever pronouns someone tells me they want. I will use that because I respected that, that they know themselves better than I do. So, you know. So, yeah. Rafael Franco [00:04:52] That's great. Well, I'm making myself vulnerable here because I'm not a known non-native English speaker. So it's hard for us Brazilians as well to understand this gender way of speaking in English. So I will hand over to my English colleagues. My English speaker, English- speaking colleagues learning and make plays well. Lauren Gray [00:05:17] Thank ...
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    44 mins
  • The Power and Potential of Authentic Connection

    The Power and Potential of Authentic Connection
    Jul 27 2022
    True connections must first be rooted in trust. In our latest Authentic 365 podcast episode, our hosts Dani Jackson Smith and Delicia Tan are joined by a panel of external experts to discuss the power and potential of authentic connection and how it can help build bridges to partnerships, sponsorships, new opportunities and more. Featured in this episode: Carlos Correcha-Price, Chief Communications and Marketing Officer at eMed Digital Healthcare; Janaye Ingram, Director of Community Partner Programs and Engagement at Airbnb; Donald Knight, Chief People Officer at Greenhouse Software; and Natalie Rizkalla-Kamel, Intellectual Property Lawyer, Partner and Registered Trademark agent at Gowling WLG. Transcript Dani Jackson Smith [00:00:01] It's who you are to work after hours and back at home. Exploring every layer. Finding out what makes you uniquely you. And letting that shine back out into the world. It's authentic. 365 A podcast that takes a glimpse into how some of the most inspiring people among us express themselves and make magic happen. I'm your host, Dani Jackson Smith, VP at Edelman by day, community enthusiast and lover of the people, always. For a global day of belonging, me and my fellow co-host, the newly appointed Edelman, Hong Kong CEO Delicia Tan, explored the power and potential of authentic connection with an all star panel. This conversation highlights the process of building true connections and how to remain authentic as they shift at different phases in your career. Our guests include Carlos Correcha-Price, Chief Communications and marketing officer at Image Digital Health Care. Janaye Ingram, Director of Community Partner Programs and Engagement at Airbnb. Donald Knight Chief People Officer at Green House Software. And Natalie Rizkalla-Kamel, intellectual property, lawyer and partner and registered trademark agent at Gowling, WPLG. Delicia Tan [00:01:21] I'll kick off with our first question. True connections must first be rooted in trust. What are some of the ways that you've worked to build trust with colleagues, partners, or even communities? Perhaps, natalie, would you like to get the ball rolling? Natalie Rizkalla-Kamel [00:01:36] I work as an attorney in an international law firm, and there are so many different kinds of relationships in that environment where building trust and connections are so important. One connection that I do dedicate a lot of time to is building connections with associates who are junior to me. I try not to be just that work provider, but I try to be a mentor by action and not just by name. What I mean by that is, as I was growing up in this law firm, I had those formal mentors that were assigned to me. But then I chose who those informal mentors would be, and those were people that I trusted. And so what I do to try and be an effective mentor is make it known that both my physical and virtual door is always open. I reach out to them for catch up sessions. I get them involved in interesting initiatives and look for ways to advance them by maybe sending a note to management on what a great job they've done or nominating them for awards. Internal and external to the firm. And these kinds of connections are so crucial in such a high stress environment, because you need to feel like you're a part of a team. And it increases morale and keeps people in this field of law where we're seeing the great resignation and so many people leaving. So I do really value and spend a lot of time on that kind of relationship. But what I wanted to talk about a little today is this new way of making connections that I started with two of my partners. We started a LinkedIn newsletter called Taking Up Space. We're three female, diverse partners with seven kids between us, and we all have distinct experiences about being diverse women, trying to make it in our careers, about parenting. And over the years, we noticed there's a lot of obstacles, a lot of struggles and inequity in the field of law. But we really didn't do anything or say anything, and we just wanted to fit in and not really show we're different because we're just sort of grateful to be part of this profession. But we finally had the courage this year to launch this newsletter without getting express permission from our law firm to do it and to just break the silence on being open and honest about the struggles that we faced and continue to face being diverse, female partners in a large law firm. We talk about our successes, but also setbacks and give advice to a younger audience. And I have to say, being transparent and open about our struggles in a profession that doesn't really encourage that was scary. We were worried about backlash from our firm and from the profession as a whole, but we decided that this is what we're going to do as our own personal brand and being authentic and really trying to effect change. And we would go for it, and it's turned out to be a pretty gratifying ...
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    45 mins
  • The Power of Gen-Z

    The Power of Gen-Z
    Mar 28 2022
    What does it mean to be a Gen-Z professional? It's about bringing your authentic self to the table in new ways and unapologetically searching for transparency and truth. In this episode, four Gen-Z Edelman colleagues chat about how they show up as their authentic selves—at home, at work and when interacting with brands. TRANSCRIPT Dani Jackson Smith [00:00:01] It's who you are at work after hours and back at home exploring every layer, finding out what makes you uniquely you and letting that shine back out into the world. It's authentic 365, a podcast that takes a glimpse into how some of the most inspiring people among us express themselves and make magic happen. I'm your host, Dani Jackson Smith, VP at Edelman by day, community enthusiast and lover of the people Always Edelman released the power of Gen Z Trust and the Future Consumer Report. The data identifies Gen Z as the generation of sensibility, breaking through myths and assumptions that Gen Z is simply the influencer generation cancel generation or TikTok generation. On this episode of Authentic 365, our London co-host Jermaine Dallas will be leading a conversation on Gen Z and authenticity from time spent at home and work to interacting with brands and finding truth in a sea of opinions. You will hear personal stories direct from people that identify as Gen Z. Jermaine Dallas [00:01:09] My full Gen-Z guests are from four different countries, and they have their own experiences to share with us. So first of all is Ali Al, ultimately who is an associate research analyst from Edelman's research DXI, Ali is based in our Chicago office. Next up is Asha Jani. Asha is an Account Executive from Edelman's Brand team in London. Then we have Kristen Bettencourt's, who is an account executive and influencer marketing based in Toronto. Finally, we have Sebastian Nicholas Schifrin, who is a senior account executive in the Paris brand team. So thanks everyone for joining us on the show today. What do you expect from brands--going to come to you first, Kristen, what you expect from brands and what will influence the purchase decisions that you make, how you sort of like an activist when it comes to choosing the brands that you buy from? Or are you more driven by price? Kristen Bettencourt [00:02:10] Yeah, I think when brands create relatable content, I'm someone that's very into fashion and lifestyle content, and I make a lot of my influence based on like, let's say, I follow an influencer. I see something come up on my for you page that I really like, like, for example, like those in North Face jackets are really popular, really kind of all around the world and everyone's wearing them and you see everyone kind of build different outfits with them. So that's kind of what drives my purchase. And even though it is a little bit more pricey, but you can see it's very diverse and you can wear them with a lot of different outfits. So when I see brands create relatable content, I know that definitely drives it. I know when we work with influencers and we work with like a specific type of influencer for a campaign, and they're creating that content that really relates to their brand, for example, and are working with HP and we work with the tech influencer them just like really getting into detail and spitting the facts and reviewing all the details of the product. You can really see how engaged their audience is because they really want to see every detail and that you're hitting all the questions. Jermaine Dallas [00:03:22] So I know you do work with influencers a lot anyway, Kristen. But do you think the influencers really do matter then when it comes to two Gen-Z and making the purchases they make? Kristen Bettencourt [00:03:34] I definitely do think they have a big influence because I know it works on me. Sometimes I know sometimes I'll be very rash on my decisions, so I'll see something come up and I know it's going to maybe sell out right away because the specific influencer wore it. I know that and I'm not the only one in my friend group thought that happens. Do, and we do see a lot of ROI with our our brands and like them, getting really good engagement on their posts and their click through rates have been amazing. And so we've been seeing results and we've definitely been seeing positive feedback. Jermaine Dallas [00:04:09] Ali, are you driven by influences? Ali Almeflehi [00:04:15] I would have to say no. So I'm not particularly social media guy, right, like I don't spend so much time on social channels, but when I do, I'm looking for content that I particularly like like, you know, business content, entrepreneurship content, stuff like that. I will say just to kind of tackle, you know, how how to get to someone like me who is young but may not be necessarily on social all of the time. You know what you say on social media matters, and I'll give you an example. I love a brand who can crush communications with Gen Z, right? Like a brand who can ...
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    35 mins
  • Ethnicity is Authenticity

    Ethnicity is Authenticity
    Feb 28 2022
    It is the last day of Black History Month in America. Here at Edelman our theme has been Joy-full: Manifesting Wellness and Unity with programming that has prioritized self-care and community along with personal and financial health. As a bonus episode for this month, Dani Jackson-Smith talks with Dr. Jason Chambers author of Madison Avenue and the Color Line: African Americans in the Advertising Industry about the importance of understanding history. TRANSCRIPT Dani Jackson Smith [00:00:01] It's all you are at work after hours and back at home exploring every layer, finding out what makes you uniquely you and letting that shine back out into the world. It's authentic 365, a podcast that takes a glimpse into how some of the most inspiring people among us express themselves and make magic happen. I'm your host. Danny Jackson Smith, VP at Edelman by day, community enthusiast and lover of the people always. Its the last day of Black History Month in America, and here at Edelman, our theme has been Joy-full: Manifesting Wellness and Unity with programing that has prioritized self-care and community, along with personal and financial health. As a bonus episode for this month, I'll be talking with Dr. Jason Chambers, author of Madison Avenue and the Color Line African-Americans in the Advertising Industry and note, he is also my former professor at the University of Illinois. Dr. Chambers, let's start with this Where are you from? Dr. Jason Chambers [00:01:02] I am originally from Central Ohio, a small town named London, Ohio, which probably most people have never heard of. But it's about 20 minutes outside Columbus, so it's almost right smack dab in the center of the Great State of Ohio. Dani Jackson Smith [00:01:14] When did you first start getting passionate about advertising? Dr. Jason Chambers [00:01:18] You know, I'm one of those weird people who always kind of paid attention to advertising. I can remember watching it, watching commercials on Saturday mornings in-between cartoons, back when kids still did such a thing. So I've always kind of had an interest in advertising. I've always been one who kind of paid attention to advertising. I always I grew up in the last heyday of the jingle, the advertising jingle. So I've always liked advertising in some form, some form or fashion, even from a very young age. Dani Jackson Smith [00:01:48] OK, so at what point did you say or begin to shift this passion for advertising into really digging into the history of advertising? Dr. Jason Chambers [00:01:58] That was something for me that came in graduate school. I'd always had an interest in media. For example, I edited a Black newspaper, Black student newspaper when I was an undergraduate, so I was always going to go either. You know, I was always going to be in some way shape or form connected to media, whether it was going to be journalism, whether it was going to be advertising, whether it was going to be something in the realm of of production. So I'd always had an interest in media. But I went to when I went to graduate school to get an advanced degree, advanced degrees in history. It really was a set of classes that I took that studied consumers and studied the way that people had evolved as consumers. And I combine that with an interest, a growing interest then of studying the history and the story of African-American business enterprises, African-American as business owners and a variety of industries, or African-Americans, as high level employees, executives and a variety of industries, so that the various things media and advertising and business, those interests kind of all came together into a study of African-Americans' participation in the advertising industry. What we have been able to do as business owners, as high level employees, how we had or had not been able to matriculate in the advertising industry. Those are those things all came together at that point. Dani Jackson Smith [00:03:18] And what really stood out for you in the research that was that you were beginning to do at the graduate level? Dr. Jason Chambers [00:03:26] I think the things that stood out for me, perhaps not so not so much in a good way, is the way that our story in advertising had really been obscured or ignored or overlooked. One of the things about history that you learn is that it's not that stories don't exist, it's that stories just haven't been told or stories just haven't been known. And so for much of advertising history, for much of advertising story was really a story of White men. We didn't even really, this is back in the 1990s, early 2000s, I got my Ph.D. in 2001, so I'm in graduate school in the 1990s. Back then, we didn't even really consider the story of women. It was still rare to consider the story of women White, Black or otherwise in advertising. So advertising was very much a story of what what had White men done in concert with other White men. So White men on the advertising agency side of ...
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    42 mins