Brianna R. Zgodinski

I think being able to pivot is so important in the current environment. I wanted to be a professor really bad, but it just wasn't gonna happen at the time. When COVID happened and a lot of us lost our classes, I decided to try something a little different and switched to the nonprofit sector. I've been very lucky with my current boss, Erika Anthony, who started Cleveland VOTES. She's been a great mentor, even though she's not a communications person. She's so supportive in helping people be the best version of themselves and growing into their roles, even if that's not something she's interested in or good at. Sometimes mentoring is just being generally supportive and being a good listener.

I have some advice for young women just starting out and for women who are thinking about switching careers This isn't career advice I've gotten--it's career advice I've learned over time. The economy and job market are constantly changing, and a field you thought would be there might be virtually gone within a few years. Instead of thinking about what you want to be, try to think what you'd like to be doing during an average day. Do you want to be doing something creative? Do you want to be challenged? Do you want to work with people? Do you want to work outside? And then pursue education and career opportunities that let you do those things.

Another piece of unusual advice I read in a career book once was "If you don't know what your passion is, follow your jealousy." That is, the people who are doing work you are envious of can be a huge clue into what's important to you. Instead of judging yourself, pause and reflect on what it is a certain person is doing that's making you envious. Are they making cool stuff? Are they a good writer? Do they get to work with animals? This can be a helpful way to figure out how you'd like to spend your days if you don't have a particular passion yet.

For women (or gender fluid folks) who want to go into communications, don't limit your learning to just one field. Companies and organizations like individuals who can do a little bit of everything. You might be asked to do a little marketing, a little writing, a little visual design, a little social media management, etc.. The more skill areas you meet, the more competitive you will be in the job market. And if you don't have one of the skills that they list on the job posting, come in with a plan for how you will learn that skill. That said, once you get hired make sure you have strong boundaries. In some cases, comms professionals are now doing the jobs of what used to be an entire department. You are only one person, and it's ok to say no sometimes or delegate.

Another piece of advice I would give is if you want to learn another comms skills (say graphic design, for example), don't feel like you have to get an entire new college degree. There are plenty of low cost certificates and online courses out there. You don't have to get in debt to expand your marketability.

There's a challenge with communications being undervalued, not just in the nonprofit sector, but all the sectors. People either think they don't need comms, they think they can do it, or they use AI. This leads to issues like their websites and reports being riddled with errors, or they're not accessible. This can really hurt your brand and credibility. And AI is a short term solution. For example, AI doesn't do market research of your target audience for you. Comms people are needed because they understand nuance. They know you need to use different communication strategies with different audiences.

Another issue is a lot of people want a comms "unicorn." Now we have to wear a lot of hats, whereas before there would have been a marketing person, there would have been an editor, there would have been a social media manager, there would have been a communication strategist, there would have been a graphic designer, etc... What happens then is comms people are getting burnt out.

Truth. Creativity. Knowledge. Equity. Hospitality.