Expertly Said

How do you build trust in the age of AI? Lead with originality and authenticity. 

Justin Vajko’s mission is to give a voice to 10,000 entrepreneurs who deserve it. Founder of Dialog Video Marketing, he developed the Content Buddy System, which helps even the busiest B2B entrepreneurs produce thoughtful short videos that build trust with buyers online. He now teaches that same system on podcasts and stages around the world.

In this episode, Justin joins Kristen to discuss trust in the age of AI and how to create content that stands apart from “AI slop.”

Sometimes, the most effective leaders are the ones who are willing to say, “I don’t know.” 

As Executive Director of Global Medical Excellence at ITF Therapeutics, Mary Jane Salinas, PharmD, provides strategic leadership across scientific communications, publications strategy, and medical affairs, partnering with cross-functional and global teams to ensure that science is communicated with clarity, rigor, and alignment at every level.

In this episode, Mary Jane joins Kristen to talk about why admitting what you don't know is one of the most powerful starting points in science communication.

When your audience has less than a minute to spare, less is almost always more.

Sean Sheffler-Collins, PhD, is Director of Global Scientific Communications and Content at Astellas Pharma. A global medical affairs professional with 14+ years of medical communications experience, Sean leads integrated, omnichannel scientific content strategy across therapeutic areas and the product life cycle. Before moving into communications, he researched the molecular mechanisms of synapse formation and earned a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania.

In this episode, Sean joins Kristen to discuss how to create marketing and communications content that earns healthcare providers’ attention.

If you’re using AI primarily to write a little faster, polish a little tighter, or summarize a little smarter, you could be missing out on a major opportunity. 

Dan Gaynor is an Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School and founder of Kelp—now Signal AI—a company whose data analytics platform helps enterprises to better understand where their reputation stands and how to strengthen it.

In this episode, Dan joins Kristen to talk about the journey from speechwriting at USAID to selling shoes at Nike to building an AI company before ChatGPT was publicly released—and how marketing and comms pros can move past surface-level prompting to use AI as a real strategic tool.

How might your approach to pharma communications shift if you suddenly found yourself on the patient side?

Sara Noonan has dedicated nearly two decades to building patient communications in rare disease and oncology,  holding roles as the Senior Director of Product and Pipeline Communications for Servier Pharmaceuticals and Director of Public Relations and Investor Relations in the oncology business unit at Takeda.

In this episode, Sara joins Kristen to reflect on how becoming a rare disease patient herself has reshaped her thinking about patient education, advocacy, and what it really means to be "patient-centered."

What if the biggest barrier to effective communication is how quickly we react? 

DeeDee Fisher, founder of Discover Response, is a strategic communication leader, executive coach, and entrepreneur with three decades of experience guiding executives and teams to communicate with compassion and clarity. Her speaking and coaching work centers on teaching people to move communication beyond the reaction. 

In this episode, DeeDee joins Kristen Sweeney to explain how her Compassion Process Learning framework helps people communicate more effectively.

In a fully remote organization, the hallway doesn't exist. Neither does the break room, the impromptu lunch, or the moment you sit next to someone new in a meeting. So how do you actually build a culture?

Kristen Oeltjen-Bruns is the US President of Ashfield Medical Communications, where she leads a 160-person organization working across 20 to 30 client teams. With more than 25 years in medical communications, Kristen has held senior leadership roles at global organizations, where she's overseen large multidisciplinary teams and led organizational transformations. She's passionate about building organizations where teams feel seen, valued, and inspired.

In this episode, Kristen joins Kristen to discuss what it really takes to build a strong culture in a fully remote agency.

How can pharma companies build marketing and communications strategies that truly put patients first? 

Sara Zelkovic is a communications leader with more than a decade of experience supporting life sciences and biotech organizations through critical growth milestones. As Associate Director of Research and Development Communications at Astellas, she leads global scientific communication strategy and drives engagement across the company's gene and cell therapy portfolios.

In this episode, Sara joins Kristen to talk about what patient-centricity actually looks like in the day-to-day work of communications.

The best leaders aren't the ones with all the answers. They're the ones still asking questions.

Eileen Habelow, PhD, is the CEO and founder of Leadership-Link and co-founder of Know 2 Grow. With over 30 years of experience improving the performance of people managers, teams, and leaders across more than 110 companies—most in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries—Eileen helps smart professionals build people expertise grounded in empirical research. 

In this episode, Eileen joins Kristen to unpack why curiosity is a leadership superpower and how leaders can model it in the workplace. 

What happens when your side project starts feeling more like your real calling than your full-time job?

Zach Randles-Friedman is a podcast host, content creator, and corporate communications professional with nearly 25 years of experience across banking, pharmaceuticals, and biotech. He's the voice behind two podcasts: Everything and Anything…and A Bit Gay and Listen Up Girl. 

In this episode, Zach joins Kristen to talk about his winding path from psychology major to digital pioneer in pharma, and his recent decision to leave the corporate world and go all-in on podcasting.