Kasia Kalstad

I entered the workforce in 2013 with dreams of being a journalist - I was really Rory Gilmore-ing it hard. After interning and completing the Pulliam Fellowship in Indianapolis, I landed my dream job as a breaking news reporter at the Oregonian, essentially working the night crime beat from 3 p.m. to midnight with 5 police scanners covering 4 different counties. I won some awards for stories I reported, but my journalism career was shorter than anticipated. The content was heavy, I was new to the city, working odd hours, and I wanted more stability in my life, so I made the switch to PR. I cut my teeth at a couple of agencies - WE Communications and then Matter Communications in Portland - and I really struck gold being part of that Portland creative agency world when it was just doing so well and taking off. For the last 7 years, I've been at Microsoft in Seattle, doing everything from supporting their mixed reality group to doing PR during the height of the pandemic for Microsoft Education. For the past 5 years, I've served as the Executive Communications and Internal Communications Director for the Office group - everything Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Copilot. I've won lots of awards for the art of the meeting, creating really big, award-winning all-hands that get employees involved with the highest engagement across Microsoft. I'm passionate about creative storytelling across organizations that helps employees feel heard, be part of the culture, and helps organizations thrive.