Writing
Below are several recent writing samples to give you a sense of my comfort, style, and versatility as a writer. Click the links below to jump to each each sample piece.
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Additionally, early in my career, I had the opportunity to serve as a ghostwriter for the CEO of a software startup as he set out to write and publish his first book. The Power in a Link details how to use LinkedIn to close deals and improve the sales process and was published by Wiley in 2011. You can check that out (and preview a sample of the book) here.
Strengths
Message tracks • Corporate and program narratives • FAQs • Talking points • Email newsletters • C-suite communications • Board meeting decks • LinkedIn articles • Social copy • Press releases • Web copy • Internal memos • Blog posts • Video scripts • How-tos • RFP responses • Pitch decks • White papers
Recent samples
Highlights of our work from the first year of DigitalOcean's social impact team and program
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January 2023
Building trust and improving care (client blog post)
A client's community partnership provides access to healthcare for vulnerable populations
July 2021
Client's narrative for increasing access to healthcare in low- and middle-income countries
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May 2020
A recap of social impact activations from DigitalOcean's annual customer conference.
November 2022
A client CEO's perspective on the results from their inaugural global CSR program
April 2021
Client's win of the ESPN Sports Humanitarian Awards for their community work​
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June 2019
Reflections on progress and the work ahead for DigitalOcean's social impact team
June 2022
Announcing the start of a client's first-ever global CSR program in nine countries around the world
September 2020
Personal POV on 'world awareness days' and how certain companies are making an impact
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April 2019
Blog post
January 2023
Blog published on digitalocean.com
A look back at the first official year of DO Impact
With the wild wave of 2022 behind us, we’re taking the opportunity to look back at the impact DigitalOcean created and supported last year. Here’s a recap of progress and highlights from the first official year of DO Impact:
Launching DO Impact
In April, DigitalOcean launched DO Impact at the NYSE. The event was both a celebration and a commitment to developing our strategy and programming as a Pledge 1% member. We’re just getting started, but feel excited about the meaningful headway we’ve made since then.
Giving more than $1.1M in cash grants to 900+ organizations and supporting another 2,200+ with infrastructure credits
Despite an economically challenging year, DigitalOcean remained committed to its philanthropy and Pledge 1% commitment. Between cash grants, ERG-driven donations, employee donation credits, and matching employee contributions, DigitalOcean gave over $1.1M to more than 900 organizations in 2022. This $1.1M was split across:
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Hollie’s Hub for Good grants to support almost 30 organizations using DigitalOcean and several other partners who enable nonprofits in the digital space
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deploy grants to support three communities where many of our employees are geographically based, including New York, Colorado, and Pakistan
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ERG grants to more than 20 organizations important to our five current employee resource groups supporting women, early career professionals, military and veterans, the LGBTQIA+ community, and the Black community
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Employee matching gifts and credit programs that gave employees the opportunity to have donations matched 100% by DigitalOcean (and in some cases, like Giving Tuesday, 200%)! DigitalOcean also offers donation credits to employees for anniversary milestones, peer-to-peer kudos, and various other awards.
Finally, this year, we surpassed 2,200 nonprofit organizations using DigitalOcean with the support of infrastructure credits via Hollie’s Hub for Good (HH4G).
Supporting employee giving and volunteering
In 2022, we hosted two extremely successful employee giving campaigns and launched our first skills-based volunteering pilots. These initiatives reinforced how fortunate we are to be the place of work for such generous and thoughtful employees. Below are a few highlights:
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Total employee donors jumped from 248 in 2021 to 753 in 2022, an increase of more than 300%
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As of September, we had a total of 80% participation in our employee giving campaigns
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Collectively, employees directed more than $228K to 400+ organizations
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We created various funds on our giving platform to allow employees to respond to humanitarian crises and environmental disasters throughout the year
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We launched our employee ambassador program and completed our first successful project with Ersilia, a tech nonprofit supporting universities, hospitals, and laboratories in low-resourced countries with data science tools
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We sponsored several employee volunteer events, including backpack packing, career card-writing, and a beach cleanup
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Engaging new partners, telling new stories, and receiving new awards
We engaged with amazing partners like UNICEF and Fast Forward, helping catalyze and extend our reach to more tech-driven nonprofits worldwide. We held a workshop in Bolivia with Hollie’s Hub for Good recipient Unicodemy, where we helped young girls in La Paz learn how to use cloud technology. We also held our first panel session at our customer conference highlighting two incredible nonprofit partners, Code Berlin and Bonterra.
Hollie’s Hub for Good was recognized at the 2022 DevRel Awards, winning Best DevRel Initiative and Greatest Contribution to Society, and DigitalOcean was honored as the RaisedBy.Us Impact Partner of the year.
Finally, we joined our Pledge 1% community at Nasdaq to celebrate Giving Tuesday, and DO Impact was highlighted on the NASDAQ tower and the Pledge 1% blog.
What to watch for in 2023
Reflecting on 2022 has us feeling equally proud of our early accomplishments and motivated to take continued action in 2023. As we move full steam ahead into this new year, we’re excited to focus even more on several areas, including:
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Evolving our product donation strategy to get DigitalOcean into the hands of even more nonprofits
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Creating more skills-based volunteering opportunities for our team members
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Engaging our increasingly global employee base in continued giving initiatives
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Forging an environmentally sustainable path forward and sharing these stories with the world
There is so much more to come. Stay tuned for more impact updates in the coming months.
Blog post
November 2022
Blog published on digitalocean.com
DO Impact at deploy
This year at deploy, DigitalOcean’s annual customer conference, the DO Impact team had an opportunity to shine the spotlight on nonprofits, sharing sessions, content, and engagement with a unique social impact focus. Our team announced a new round of grants, interviewed nonprofits and social enterprises, and had a blast connecting with conference participants in our social impact Discord channel. We loved learning more about what DigitalOcean means to our broader community. Check out a recap of the events below!
Five new grantees; one giving milestone
During the opening keynote, we shared the exciting news that in 2022, DigitalOcean has committed a total of $1M in cash grants to support nonprofits and social enterprises around the world. This milestone is the first of many we’ll share on our journey toward our Pledge 1% commitment.
As part of this year’s giving, we announced five new grantees at deploy. DO Impact will award a total of $300,000 to five organizations spread across three communities that are important to us—each representing places where most of our employees are concentrated. We’re so inspired by—and thrilled to partner with—these incredible organizations dedicated to improving their communities.
New York: As the location of DigitalOcean’s original headquarters, the city of New York is home to many of our employees. And we know that across NYC, the Bronx is the borough with the highest percentage of residents without broadband internet access. We’ve partnered with The Bronx Community Foundation's Digital Equity Initiative to expand access to digital resources for children, families, and seniors in the Bronx—the most underserved community in NYC. In addition to the cash grant, our Data Center team is working with the Foundation on a broader collaboration to leverage equipment, like retired servers, and technical capacity with our employee volunteers.
Dr. Meisha Porter, President and CEO of the Bronx Community Foundation, said: “We’re so excited to work alongside DigitalOcean as we build sustainable futures in the Bronx. Our organizations are incredibly mission-aligned, and this partnership will allow us to continue to enable the next generation of diverse innovators.”
Denver: As another large employee hub, the greater Denver area is a key community for DigitalOcean. We are delighted to partner with the GreenLight Fund, an organization focused on advancing equity across 11 U.S. cities and growing. Our grant will enable the Fund to open opportunities for families experiencing poverty in Denver and break down systematic barriers to inclusive prosperity. Since our first meeting with the GreenLight team, we’ve felt deeply aligned with the organization’s overall approach of applying social innovation to community needs.
“We are so grateful for this grant from DigitalOcean that will enable us to bring bold and innovative solutions that are needed to address seemingly intractable issues like food insecurity, financial stability, homelessness, and education success to Denver,” said co-founder John Simon. “Partnering with a company like DigitalOcean, which has a personal stake in the future of the Denver community, will help kickstart our efforts in the area.”
Pakistan: Finally, with our recent acquisition of Cloudways, we gained a new community of colleagues based in Pakistan, many of whom have been impacted by the devastating floods earlier this year. We worked with our colleagues in the region to identify three organizations that are working relentlessly on flood relief and community rehabilitation efforts across Pakistan:
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The Edhi Foundation: One of the most trusted organizations in the region, the Edhi Foundation has been on the ground since day one in all flood-affected areas, rescuing families and livelihoods and providing relief assistance.
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HANDS Flood Relief Campaign (via I-Care Fund America and I-Care Foundation): One of the leading nonprofit organizations in Pakistan, HANDS flood relief teams are working tirelessly to provide life-saving health services to flood-affected families.
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Akhuwat USA: Akhuwat transforms lives by providing collateral and interest-free loans to people in need. The Flood Relief Fund is helping to rehabilitate and support flood victims across the country.
Panel discussion on scaling nonprofits during uncertain times
Jen Petraglia, who leads DigitalOcean’s Nonprofit Market Development, led an engaging panel discussion with two nonprofit leaders: Tracy Kronzak, Director of Partnerships at Bonterra, and Kavita Kapoor, Executive Director of the Federation of Humanitarian Technologists. Jen, Tracy, and Kavita discussed the importance of reducing complexity, documenting your failures, and driving impact through your values, particularly during times of global economic uncertainty.
Tracy mentioned, “The data clearly demonstrates that if you broaden who is at your table when you’re making decisions about your technology, you will accelerate adoption, sales, and impact.”
Customer interview with Tech in Schools Initiative (TSI)
We heard from DigitalOcean customer TSI on how developers, small businesses, and nonprofits can set themselves up to grow faster and become more resilient in the cloud. Co-founders Ross Cohen and Alisher Farhadi shared three key learnings to ease the uncertainty: 1) come in knowing what you want from your hosting and find a provider that will grow (or even downsize!) with you, 2) seek better control of your infrastructure through software so you can stay consistent in your tech, and 3) supercharge your infrastructure through software.
We’re eager to continue our partnership with MyTSI on an initiative that allows students to manage their own hosting, build infrastructure, and utilize Droplets for free.
DO Impact’s Discord debut
Conference participants actively engaged in our #social-impact Discord channel throughout deploy. We heard from Hollie’s Hub for Good members Casa Hacker, Fork Facts, coLegend, Unicodemy, and MyTSI. We shared our love for the SDGs and more information on DO Impact and Hollie’s Hub for Good. We learned some trivia (fun fact: Nov. 15, the first day of deploy, was National Philanthropy Day). And we connected to share our ideas, challenges, and plans for 2023 and beyond.
Looking ahead
We’re grateful to be wrapping up 2022 on a high note after the incredible engagement at deploy. We’re also looking forward to our upcoming end-of-year employee giving campaign, which kicks off the week of Giving Tuesday. We still have lots of ground to cover as we fulfill our Pledge 1% commitment, and we’re looking forward to even more progress in 2023. We hope you’ll continue to join us on the journey!
Blog post
June 2022
Blog published on digitalocean.com
DO Impact: Reflecting on progress and the path ahead
It’s been a whirlwind three months since we announced the launch of DO Impact—our global social impact program to empower changemakers through our three pillars of product, philanthropy, and planet—and we’ve been busy! Though the road to meaningful, sustained impact is a long one, we’re eager to share some early wins as we continue to lay the groundwork for DO Impact. One of our goals is to bring this community along for the journey, so we’re excited to share the first of many progress updates and a look ahead to the rest of this year (and beyond).
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Celebration, recognition, and growth
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Shortly after the initial announcement, we celebrated the start of DO Impact and our first anniversary as a publicly-traded company with an event at the New York Stock Exchange. For the first time in a while, we had an opportunity to gather in person, so many of our colleagues were able to reunite, and others met for the very first time.
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In the same month, DigitalOcean was honored at the 2022 DevRel Awards—Hollie’s Hub for Good (HH4G) took home Best DevRel Initiative and Greatest Contribution to Society. The awards recognized HH4G for creating meaningful impact beyond the developer community and standing out amongst peers in the category.
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Since then, our DO Impact team has grown: Christy Schmidt joined the team to help us create and scale our social impact programming, and Jen Petraglia is on board, helping us leverage our technology to support and expand the technical capacity of more nonprofits. Partnering with teams across DigitalOcean—from marketing, sales, and people, to operations, engineering, and product—we’re working together to develop ambitious goals for DO Impact.
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Impact updates across our pillars
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Product
We have more than 2,000 organizations enrolled in Hollie’s Hub for Good, and that number continues to grow rapidly. We love hearing from our Hollie’s Hub organizations that are advancing equity and building a better world, all with the help of DigitalOcean’s range of cloud computing products. Some of the newest Hollie’s Hub for Good projects include:
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Idealist.org, which has the largest repository of social impact job listings and provides tools for its users such as a volunteering database and a salary calculator to address pay inequality within the nonprofit sector.
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Development Hackers: a community of software developers, no-code makers and DIY enthusiasts getting together to build a more sustainable future. Development Hackers provides a place where technology is leveraged to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The team at Development Hackers uses their DigitalOcean credits to build and support their website.
We’re also investing in research and expanding our efforts to get our products and tutorials into the hands of even more nonprofit organizations. We know our technology is one area where we can achieve massive impact—something that has been built into DigitalOcean’s mission and values since its founding. From supporting nonprofits to host websites and content to providing the infrastructure to create impact-driving web applications, our technology reduces complexity so nonprofits can focus less on developing IT infrastructure and more on their missions.
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Philanthropy
As we shared in April, we kicked off our Pledge 1% commitment with a $500,000 cash donation across 30 global Hollie’s Hub for Good projects, and we’ve already heard from some of the recipients on the impact these grants will have.
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TSI, an org that works to make STEM education available in all communities, shared that the donation will help them create new tools for the students in their tech program, and combined with the Hollie’s Hub for Good credits, they’re now enabled to “build without limits.” Unstructured Studio, a Canada-based non-profit organization that supports children from underserved communities with creative learning experiences, plans to use the funding to expand the reach of their platform to thousands of learners and educators in the coming year.
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We’re also making strides to develop our employee giving and volunteering programs. This year, our five ERGs (employee resource groups), will donate a total of $100,000 to nonprofits and causes of their choice. Our Rainbow Dolphins ERG is kicking things off with a $10,000 donation to several LGBTQIA+ advocacy organizations to help celebrate Pride month.
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Looking ahead, we’re prioritizing giving back, community engagement, and skills-based volunteering initiatives across our global employee base. In 2021, one-third of DigitalOcean employees donated through our matching program or logged volunteer hours. Just halfway through 2022, we’ve exceeded that number, and we’re working to provide even more future opportunities for our employees to get involved.
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Planet
Finally, we’re in the process of diving deep to better understand DigitalOcean’s carbon footprint and to identify key environmental, social, and governance (ESG) focus areas in the coming years. To do that, we’re working with several external consulting partners to 1) determine our carbon baseline, which will help inform our long-term strategy to build sustainability into our plans for growth, and 2) complete our ESG materiality assessment to prioritize the issues most relevant to our business—as we know this is the best way to integrate social impact into our business model and have the greatest overall impact.
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2022 and beyond
We’re just getting started! And we’re excited to bring you along with us. Follow us here and on social (#DOImpact) to hear more about the progress we’re making as we support DigitalOcean’s mission to empower builders to change the world, and to give back while we do it.
Client blog post
July 2021
Article published on Abbott.com
Building Trust and Improving Care
Partnership with the University of Minnesota Community University Health Care Center brings care closer to underserved communities.
Build it, and they will come. But, will they really?
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Sometimes, the challenge of ensuring vulnerable communities get the healthcare they need goes beyond just access and affordability. It's about truly understanding the community you're serving and going the extra mile to meet them in settings where they're most comfortable.
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Communities of color, immigrants and refugees experience myriad socioeconomic, cultural, language and other barriers to care. And consequently, they bear a disproportionate burden of disease. And ironically, well-intentioned as they may be, some healthcare clinics attempting to address this problem can actually add more barriers. By entering a community without understanding local contexts or making inaccurate assumptions, residents may see certain actions as intrusive and shy away from these programs.
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Ms. Jewelean Jackson knows well the struggles of both community members and the healthcare centers trying to serve them. As a 73-year-old Black Minnesota resident and former board chair of the University of Minnesota Community University Health Care Center (CUHCC), Ms. Jackson's perspective is unique, having been a member of the healthcare center and a patient herself. She's seen firsthand the reluctance, for example, of the Black community to be vaccinated against COVID-19, due largely to a distrust of the healthcare system.
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"I often have to act as a cultural broker between the communities I serve and the people who have a proverbial seat at the table, because I understand both sides," said Ms. Jackson. "As healthcare providers, we need to infuse cultural sensitivity into our services, ensure patients can get care where they are most comfortable, and provide the necessary education that helps bridge the gap between 'we know best' and 'we're here to serve you.' CUHCC understands that you need to put patients in the driver's seat."
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CUHCC is dedicated to breaking down these barriers, building trust and creating a healthier community. Abbott has partnered with CUHCC to help deliver health care outside the clinic walls, meeting people where they live and gather. With grant funding from the Abbott Fund, their mobile clinic has provided COVID-19 testing and vaccinations, conducted chronic disease screening and treatment for hypertension and diabetes, and established a virtual care model — all while keeping patients and their individual needs at the center.
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With the grant, the clinic was also able to hire a new mobile health program director – Opeyemi (Opy) Adesida. Previously a physician in Nigeria working in mobile pop-up clinics, Adesida also emphasizes the importance of having a full understanding of a community's diverse population and needs when providing care.
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"I've seen firsthand the impact of building trust with a community, mobilizing health care and decreasing barriers to address economic disadvantages and health disparities," said Adesida. "These mobile clinics give us new and effective ways to continue engaging those with the highest needs while also lowering barriers to providing care."
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The CUHCC mobile clinic and Adesida are working with key community partners to address specific outreach and care needs of the most vulnerable and underserved populations. These partnerships allow the clinic to reach more patients, link them to existing resources and deliver preventive and culturally appropriate care and services, such as:
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Recording a video in Spanish with a CUHCC provider to share information around the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine for the Latino community;
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Organizing a mobile vaccination event at Masjid Rawdah (Somali Cultural Institute) in preparation for the month-long celebration of Ramadan;
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Providing health education and transportation to CUHCC to encourage minority groups to get vaccinated; and
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Hosting a special vaccination event for 17 Somali Imams (religious leaders in the Muslim faith) from across Minnesota.
With the Abbott Fund's support, CUHCC has distributed almost 100 blood pressure home kits, provided more than 5,200 COVID-19 vaccine doses, and administered more than 2,100 COVID-19 tests to those who might not have otherwise sought care. We're encouraged by the success of this partnership, which exemplifies Abbott's ongoing commitment to health equity.
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For more information about Abbott's work to advance health equity in the U.S., click here. We also have longstanding, significant work in other countries around the world – you can find out more and see examples at Abbott.com/sustainability, and also on the Social Impact section of our site.
Client CEO LinkedIn article
April 2021
Article published by Otis CEO on LinkedIn.com
Celebrating our colleagues who 'Lift Our Communities'​
Throughout several decades in senior leadership roles in the technology industry, I have come to believe that the most successful companies are those guided by a set of deeply held cultural values – including an unwavering commitment to advancing the common good, especially during times of disruption. Companies and their leaders need to be on the front lines when it comes to tackling society’s biggest challenges.
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Companies are increasingly recognizing their responsibility to be good corporate citizens – and embracing the idea that financial performance and corporate social responsibility go hand in hand. A recent global survey by Deloitte found that among 350 business leaders surveyed, 93% believe that companies have a responsibility to be “stewards of society.”
To ensure that colleagues feel empowered to give back, it’s critical for leaders to demonstrate their own personal commitment. This requires leading with empathy and compassion, accounting for the challenges colleagues face, and creating the pathways that allow for connecting around the issues that matter most to colleagues and our communities.
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Amid all the changes my own colleagues had to navigate during the last year, their passion for giving back never faltered. They embraced the opportunity to make the world a better place, contributing their matching gift donations to COVID-19 relief funds, embracing Our Commitment to Change, continuing to support local communities, and devoting thousands of hours of their own time to the successful launch and implementation of our new global Corporate Social Responsibility program, Made to Move Communities.
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We created Made to Move Communities to advance youth STEM education and support inclusive mobility in underserved communities, two areas we identified where we could have the biggest impact – given our own expertise in engineering mobility solutions and our longstanding commitment to closing the STEM skills gap.
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In our inaugural year, students from 14 schools in nine geographies worked with Otis mentors to research and creatively design technology-based solutions to address mobility challenges in their local communities. The first year’s theme appropriately focused on mobility solutions for communities deeply impacted by COVID-19.
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The final student projects were brilliant. It’s clear that something magical happened in the collaboration between these young innovators and their Otis mentors. Their ideas and solutions were inspirational, sophisticated and impressively practical for the real world.
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To help revive the economy at a popular tourism destination, the students from the International College of Technology in Japan developed a “people’s mobility” smartphone app for monitoring crowd density in real-time, enabling travelers to schedule their visit accordingly. Other solutions involved improving mobility for aging populations, simplifying grocery delivery and shopping in local markets amid the pandemic, and making city infrastructure more bicycle-friendly.
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The success of this program shows that it’s always the right time to give back to our communities – and even more so during trying times like these. I was recently moved by this New York Times article on how the need for mentors is greater than ever. Here at Otis, even as we stayed focused on ensuring business continuity and the safety of our colleagues and passengers, our commitment to the larger good and giving back remained as strong as ever – as core to our values and part of our DNA.
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Every year, my Otis colleagues volunteer thousands of hours of their own time in service to causes they care most about. This includes Made to Move Communities and many other programs around the world, including Special Olympics and FIRST. Through these activities, they support one of our own deeply held cultural values: #WeAreBetterTogether.
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I want to extend my personal gratitude to our colleagues – and all others across the world – who made a tremendous effort to step up for their communities during the past year.
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For me, mentoring the next generation of leaders and encouraging young scientists and engineers along their career paths has long-lasting impact – and is rewarding in immeasurable ways.
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We’re committed to doing our part to give back and to lead. I am eager to see the creative problem solving that continues to emerge from our businesses and communities as we move forward to a brighter future – together.
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Learn more about Made to Move Communities here.
Client press release
September 2020
Release published on PR Newswire
Otis Launches 'Made to Move Communities' Global CSR Program
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Otis employee mentors to connect with students in a STEM challenge that inspires creative mobility solutions for communities in need.
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Students in the program's first year will focus their research on mobility solutions for communities most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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FARMINGTON, Conn., Sept. 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Otis Worldwide Corporation (NYSE: OTIS) has launched a new global corporate social responsibility (CSR) program focused on advancing youth STEM education and inclusive mobility solutions. Otis is the world's leading company for elevator and escalator manufacturing, installation and service.
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"We are deeply committed to global citizenship and are proud to advocate for inclusivity and sustainable solutions in our communities through this program," said Otis President & CEO Judy Marks. "As a company that created an industry and transformed how people live and work, we look forward to doing our part to further shape the world we live in for generations to come."
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Made to Move Communities™ is an annual global student challenge that will inspire creative, STEM-based solutions for real-world mobility issues. Students in the program's first year will focus their research on mobility solutions for those communities most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the United Nations 2020 Sustainable Development Goals report, over 90 percent of COVID-19 cases are in urban areas. During the challenge, students are free to explore solutions that enhance connectivity and productivity; education, employment, medical care and social services. For example, this could include challenges with public transportation or mobility access for those with disabilities. The 2020/2021 program will be conducted virtually to support a safe learning experience for students.
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The program's goals align with "Our Commitment to Change" announced in August, as the company expands upon its ongoing commitment to STEM and vocational education, joining with community and business partners to invest in and build a diverse talent pipeline. Through hundreds of dedicated employee mentorship hours and STEM program grants, Made to Move Communities aims to make meaningful impact.
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"We know that the STEM skills gap may leave millions of positions in the manufacturing industry unfilled over the next decade," said Laurie Havanec, Executive Vice President & Chief People Officer. "This is one way to start to close that gap. We are harnessing our passion, resources and commitment to help young minds explore new ways to give people freedom to connect and thrive in a taller, faster, smarter world."
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The student program will take place in phases across each of Otis' four geographic regions, beginning in October 2020 and concluding in March 2021. Schools from Brazil, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Russia, Singapore, Spain and the United States will participate in the inaugural program. Otis intends to build on the successes from this pilot year, growing the number of locations, students and employees involved – and the reach and impact of the program – each year.
Client internal narrative
May 2020
Narrative published on internal channels
Preparing for the Innovations of Tomorrow ​
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At [CLIENT], we know that the solutions put in place today shape access to the innovations of tomorrow. That’s why we’re developing comprehensive, scalable solutions to do our part in ensuring people in low- and middle-income countries can access the care they deserve.
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The current pandemic has only reinforced the importance of strong health systems that are equipped to care for people in times of crisis and for chronic health conditions. It’s on us—with our partners across the industry and across sectors—to ensure we are building resilient health systems that meet the needs of all people.
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In a time when expectations for businesses are changing, we know we need to do more to address the persistent, but solvable, barriers people living in low- and middle-income countries face at every step of their health journey. We do this because it is part of our own sustainable growth and because it is part of our enduring commitment to positive social impact.
An innovative healthcare leader, we keep access at the heart of our business and are firmly committed to increasing the reach of medical innovations in low-resource settings. We use the expertise we’ve developed from our long-term presence in 42 low- and middle-income countries to address barriers to care and help solve the access issues these countries face. We approach health holistically and prioritise science and innovative solutions, not just product development. Most importantly, we put the patient first. Period.
Starting with a focus on oncology and rare disease, we are exploring new ways to scale and speed access with our partners on the ground. Tackling systemic barriers requires new ways of thinking, partnering and working to advance solutions that strengthen health systems and deliver innovation at scale. We know that we can go further, faster when we work together and when our strengths are complemented by the strengths of others.
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Our relentless commitment to making sure innovation reaches all patients is evident in how we work internally and how we partner with others. We’re already making great strides in countries like Kenya, where we’re working with partners to improve diagnostics, leverage telepathology and support a networked care model. In Pakistan, we were able to increase access to our targeted cancer therapy by 10 in just one year. We are eager to take our learnings from these projects and scale them globally.
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With the right partnerships, policies and patient solutions, we can work toward a future where any patient, anywhere, has affordable access to our innovative treatments. We are doing now what patients need next.
LinkedIn article* for Under Armour CEO
June 2019
*Article was only published on internal channels
A humbling honor and win
Last night at ESPN’s Sports Humanitarian Awards, the Under Armour team and our partners at the NBA and RISE won the Corporate Community Impact Award for our ongoing work with Building Bridges Through Basketball (BBTB). To be recognized in a category among four other finalists who are also breaking ground in their communities is an incredible honor and I could not be prouder of the team and partners involved in this transformative program.
From my seat at The Novo, waiting for the award to be announced and hearing the BBTB story, I reflected back to the earliest days of UA. I thought about the time when all of our inventory was in my grandmother’s basement and I was driving hundreds of thousands of miles in a windshield-cracked Ford Explorer, just trying to get this company off the ground. In 1995, it would have been hard to believe that Under Armour would be a global, household brand—and that our team would be receiving an award from ESPN for making an impact on the communities where we live and operate.
Of all the “pinch me” moments I’ve had in the last 24 years, this was by far one of the most meaningful and humbling.
The larger mission
Together with our partners, we are helping young people realize their potential on and off the field. BBTB is a perfect example of our shared commitment to awaken athletes worldwide, especially in underserved communities.
The program, which brings together youth, coaches and local law enforcement, combines on-court training with a curriculum on topics like diversity, empathy and respect. Three years ago, when we teamed up with the NBA and RISE, our goal was to create spaces for participants to have candid conversations, build trust-based relationships, become leaders in their community and to have fun playing basketball. Three years later, the program has impacted the lives of 11,500 youth and police officers in five cities. And we’re just getting started.
Giving back to the communities where we live and work has been part of Under Armour’s DNA from the start. Over time, this ongoing commitment to unlocking kids’ potential while inspiring and uplifting our hometowns has continued to fuel everything we do.
We seek to think globally as a brand while acting locally everywhere we do business. Wherever our brand grows, that’s where you’ll find us giving back.
What lies ahead
As I conveyed to teammates when we learned we were shortlisted for this award: I have always believed that the UA brand is about more than our products. It's an idea. An ethos. It's how we carry ourselves. It's aspirational and it's inspirational. This recognition brings with it an honor and a responsibility that we’ll apply to all of our future endeavors. #WEWILL
To our incredible partners, we’re grateful to be honored alongside you, and we’re eager to continue this important work. To the amazing team who made the BBTB program and this award possible, I’m so grateful for and inspired by your dedication to this initiative.
I look forward to keeping our focus on making all athletes better, and to driving forward more initiatives where our kids—and our communities—are the real winners.
Thought leadership article
April 2019
*Article was published on Medium.com
World Awareness Days: Diving Deeper
Today marks 17 days since World Water Day 2019. Yesterday, it was World Health Day’s time to shine. On April 25, the spotlight will be on World Malaria day.
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Three massively important awareness days in just over a month. Hundreds of others throughout the course of a year. Twenty-four hours allocated to drive home the importance of some of the most critical and enduring global issues.
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To ensure that each doesn’t lose its significance in a sea of other awareness days, the true challenge may actually lie in going beyond just awareness. Diving deeper. Learning enough about an issue and finding solutions that last year-round. Sustaining the momentum needed to put tangible dents in these global issues.
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One powerful source of momentum can come from large organizations taking holistic, long-term approaches to tackling global challenges. Weber Shandwick’s holding company, Interpublic Group (IPG), is following this model to address the global water crisis.
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In signing on to the common ground initiative, IPG adopted UN Sustainable Development Goal Number 6 (SDG #6), ensuring universal access to clean water and sanitation, with a goal of water for all by 2030. Since 2016, IPG and its agencies have committed to learning, sharing and taking action to contribute to this ambitious target.
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IPG’s 2018 annual donation went to charity: water and fully funded a well in Ethiopia, providing more than 275 people with clean water. An organization-wide email from IPG’s Chairman Michael Roth outlined the project details, provided direct links and incentives to donate, and showcased creative examples of IPG agencies contributing to SDG #6.
Various IPG agencies are also throwing their weight behind the holding company’s commitment:
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This year, the 3PM/Weber Shandwick team partnered with Stella Artois and Water.org to create a Super Bowl spot featuring The Dude and Carrie Bradshaw. For a limited time, each Stella Artois purchase triggered a donation to Water.org. This partnership has provided access to clean water to more than 1.7 million people since 2015.
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Weber Shandwick works with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and its many partners worldwide to improve awareness of the need for sanitation for the world’s poor. The goal: advance solutions that will transform the way cities — and even countries — manage waste, and to engage engineers and the private sector to reinvent the toilet. You can learn more about Bill Gates’ commitment to solving the sanitation challenge by watching his segment on the Daily Show.
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Last month, Rapport partnered with Sky Ocean Rescue to do a world’s-first live broadcast from 300 meters beneath the Indian Ocean to show the extent of human impact on our oceans.
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FCB partnered with Getty Images to release Watermarks for Water, transforming the iconic Getty Images watermark and donating 10% of proceeds to charity: water.
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Going beyond awareness
As part of IPG — and as an organization that cites “positive impact” as one of its core tenants — Weber Shandwick strives to be a model of this lasting ripple effect. So, while it’s been almost three weeks since World Water Day 2019, the organizations that needed your help then still need your help now. Here is an opportunity to go beyond just awareness of the global water crisis.
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First, check out the UN’s 2019 World Water Day website — a beautiful representation of the learn-share-act model required to make an impact. Deeper context into the problem, resources to help spread the word, and tangible ways to participate — or to come up with your own solutions.
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For an immediate, clickable action, below are several organizations you can donate to right now. But don’t let a donation allow you to lose sight of the greater mission. Dive deeper into where your donation goes and why it’s important. Share what you learn. Tell your friends and family about it and give them tangible ways to contribute. Talk to your employer about ways you can make a bigger impact as an organization. Keep the conversation — and the momentum — going beyond just one awareness day.
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