For the month of March, IABC/Chicago will feature some of our members, their career experiences, advice, and who has inspired them in their professional lives.
Lauren Westbrook joined IABC in the summer of 2022 – just after relocating from North Carolina, and before attending the IABC World Conference in New York City.
“I always knew I wanted a job involving words,” Lauren reflects. “Growing up, I would write a neighborhood newspaper with regular updates. I’d draft ‘emails’ to my younger brother on our Nintendos and coax him into replying.”
In high school, Lauren’s communication dreams started taking shape as editor of the yearbook. When the time came to look at colleges, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was at the top of her list because of the renowned media, journalism, and applied communication programs.
Following college, Lauren worked at Duke University Health System, the National Marrow Donor Program, and a technical publishing agency. Those roles introduced her to the business/employee communications world, and then she would land at Red Hat, an open source software company, where she spent the last three years doing exactly that: creating global internal communications strategies and programs that inspire and connect employees to company goals; and distilling complex, sensitive subjects into deliverables that resonate with a busy, technical audience.
She’s moving on to her next role later this month as a communications consultant at Pivot Strategies where she will lead the communications for transformations, specifically enterprise-wide tech, process, and people-related changes.
“I’ve greatly enjoyed my time as an internal and corporate communications specialist. My role was supporting the information technology department at Red Hat. It was fascinating to work in an IT department at an IT company,” she explains.
Moving forward, from career path to career path, is exactly what IABC’s Career Assessment Tool can help with. Using that as a guide, Lauren is excited to take the Communication Management Professional certification later this Spring.
Her advice to others moving from a foundation path to generalist/specialist: “You can try out different areas or tasks across the company to solidify the next step in your career journey,” she explains. “Investing time through a mentorship (or two) and lots of informational interviews with people who have jobs you’re interested in was conducive for me.”
The value of your network is unparalleled – one example for Lauren was joining the IABC/Chicago board when she moved to the city, which allowed her to meet other business communicators who “get it” and helped her feel at home.
“I have been very fortunate to have several female leaders and mentors. A special thank you to my communications mentors at UNC, Duke, Red Hat, IABC, and beyond. Each of you has helped me explore who I am and what I want to do throughout my career.”
This Women’s History Month, Lauren closely follows the work of Gretchen Rubin (focused on happiness), Angela Duckworth (grit), and Susan Cain (inspiration) to inspire her.
“As I learned at last year’s IABC World Conference, ‘words create worlds’ and can be used to leave a lasting impact.”
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