Faces of Alliant
I worked with Alliant Insurance to create an online magazine, Faces of Alliant, focused on an internal employee audience.
Jennifer Sokolowsky
I help companies such as Microsoft and Amazon create dynamic marketing content that resonates with the right people. I specialize in crafting content that is clear, credible, and offers customers authentic value, drawing on years of experience in journalism and marketing. You can reach me at jennifer@jensoko.com.
Profile content
Unlocking the power of context is key | Profile of Jenny Jarrad, Elastic
“I’m a big fan of communicating with human beings and learning all about them,” says Jenny Jarrad, Partner Marketing Director at search analytics company Elastic. This has been core to her approach in technology marketing leadership roles for companies including Amazon Web Services (AWS), SAP, and VMware.
Seeing the big picture | Profile of Sarah Watson Head of Marketing, AWS Strategic Accounts
For Sarah Watson, marketing has an important role to play in business success. Marketing teams should partner with the business and customers to drive meaningful outcomes—and, most importantly—revenue.
It’s all about people | Profile of Simran Sachar, Director, Global Partner Solutions, Data & AI and Digital & App Innovation, Microsoft
For Simran Sachar, the future is definitely digital. But it must be a digital future that’s created responsibly—and one that will help us live better. The foundation will be data and AI, and Sachar is passionate about their potential to transform businesses and human life.
Lumen’s Paul Savill shares his view from the edge of the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Transform spoke with Paul Savill, senior vice president of Product Portfolio Strategy and Alliances for Lumen Technologies, about the alliance between Lumen and Microsoft, and what it means for the enterprise world.
The Discipline of Diversity & Inclusion
Diversity & Inclusion, or D&I, has received a lot of attention of late and is quickly becoming a high priority for corporations. But many organizations tend to neglect the “I” part—inclusion—according to GeriAnn Baptista, Microsoft Strategic D&I Brand and Communications Counsel.
Campanilla Compound: Welcoming Visitors Like Family in Santa Fe
Campanilla Compound has long invited visitors to “live like a local” in Santa Fe, New Mexico, decades before Airbnb was created. The charming community was built in the 1980s and operates on a unique model that allows owners to hold quarter deed shares in their homes. The result is a year-round mingling of residents and visitors in a close-knit atmosphere.
Personal Best: Spotlight on Bruce Davie, CTO for VMware, Asia Pacific Japan
Bruce Davie, VP and CTO for VMware, Asia Pacific and Japan, knows how to stay ahead of the pack. A technology early adopter since his teenage years, Davie is also an avid runner. For Davie, setting goals is central to his approach to both running and life. And throughout his career journey, Davie’s overarching goal has been to make a positive impact through technology.
Bam! Kapow! Microsoft’s Glenton Davis brings action-packed field enablement to life
Sometimes it takes a superhero to get the job done. Glenton Davis, senior product marketing manager for Microsoft Security, didn’t have a superhero handy to help salespeople understand their products better, so he led the creation of a whole league of crime-fighting heroes.
Sharon Michie: Sheltering the Sanibel Island community through a new kind of storm
Sharon Michie’s family has been in the vacation rental industry for 38 years. In that time, they have experienced hurricanes, 9/11, the BP oil spill, red tide, recessions, and now, the COVID-19 pandemic. She learned a crucial lesson from these catastrophes: Be prepared.
Danielle Dirks: Detroit STR host helps medical workers get the housing they need in a crisis
Danielle Dirks, a short-term rental host in Detroit, operates several downtown units near major hospitals through her business, CozyHaus. Traveling nurses and other medical professionals have long been a regular part of her clientele.
So when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she decided to use her resources to help medical staff battling the disease.
NOLA's Stay Redamo Houses First Responders for Free
Chris and Ashley Genard, owners of New Orleans short-term rental company Redamo, were all set to have a record spring. Their properties had around 85% occupancy scheduled from March through May. That quickly fell to 0% when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Then Chris saw a Facebook post by the New Orleans EMS Foundation asking for housing for first responders. Since then, he has housed several first responders at his properties for free.
Chattanooga Property Managers Donate Personal Savings to Laid-Off Employees
Two years ago, Christina Thoreson gave her husband, Christian, an unusual Christmas present: paperwork to form a nonprofit. The couple wanted to create a foundation that could help fund personal and professional development for employees at their short-term rental management company, Chattanooga Vacation Rentals. It sat on a shelf as they tended to their growing business, which manages properties in Tennessee and Georgia. Then came COVID-19. So they dusted off their nonprofit paperwork and relaunched the Fly Foundation, funding it with their personal savings, with a new mission: to supplement what unemployment does not cover so their laid-off staff could receive their normal level of income even while the business is down.
Manatee County Vacation Rental Owners House First Responders for Free
Mike Wilcox and his wife, Jennifer, had a longtime dream of leaving Ohio’s winters and retiring in sunny Florida. A big part of fulfilling that dream was their purchase of a rental property in Anna Maria Island, Florida, last October.
Things were going well until the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Still, they wanted to do what they could to help others, even while they were suffering financial losses.
