Lead With Your Brand!™

For the first time ever on the Lead With Your Brand! Podcast, you will hear Jayzen truly surprised with “wait..you were on The Amazing Race??!!” And, now as CEO of a leading multicultural marketing agency, that’s just one of the great stories and useful insights that Oswald Mendez brings to the show.

As a kickoff to Hispanic Heritage Month, Jayzen is so thrilled to welcome Oswald to the podcast. As an openly gay man of Cuban decent, Oswald not only celebrates his own multiculturalism, he continually works to help brands understand and better meet the needs of multicultural consumers in a way that drives business impact.

Starting his career as a receptionist in a major advertising agency to pay for college, he has gone on to a successful career in the agency world and is currently the co-founder and CEO of New Majority Ready LLC, whose mission is to put multicultural audiences front and center in the business planning process for companies to engage meaningfully and authentically in their marketing and growth strategies.

Guest Bio

 Oswald M. Méndez 

Co-Founder & CEO, New Majority Ready LLC

Unconventional thinker who balances creative and analytical approaches to problem-solve. Throughout his career, Oswald has been at the forefront of market trends. His ability to combine analytics and the Zeitgeist has led to his business success by uncovering new and unique growth opportunities.

Oswald’s business trajectory began at the same time he started his studies at NYU. As a recent arrival to the U.S. from Cuba, it was out of financial necessity that he joined Conill Advertising, the largest Hispanic full-service agency at the time, to pay for college. And, it was there that he discovered his passion for companies to understand the importance of being attentive to future market trends while serving untapped audiences that can generate significant growth opportunities. It was at this intersection of culture and commerce that Oswald found his purpose in business.

 Currently, as CEO and Co-Founder of New Majority Ready, Méndez’ career path has come full circle in continuing his passion to super-serve and elevate under-represented audiences that are critical to the future of businesses. New Majority Ready’s mission is to put multicultural audiences front and center in the business planning process for companies to engage meaningfully and authentically in their marketing and growth strategies.

Links

To learn more about Lead With Your Brand and the Career Breakthrough Mentoring program, please visit: LeadWithyYourBrand.com

 To book Jayzen for a speaking engagement or workshop at your company, visit: JayzenPatria.com

Description:

Jayzen is so thrilled to welcome his former colleague and all around amazing person, Susan Jin Davis, to the podcast. Susan has an amazing story to tell that is truly at the intersection of career and life. She has an incredible understanding how intertwined work and life are and need to be. As a self-proclaimed “change agent,” Susan leads with her bold brand to support her community and the world we all share, with a “pay it forward” attitude, constantly trying to open doors for those around her.

Susan has had an incredible career journey, serving as Comcast’s first Chief Sustainability Officer, working as an attorney and many other roles. She has been a pioneer in the field and currently is the Social Impact Officer for Al Roker Entertainment. In addition to her work in sustainability and social impact, She is a tireless advocate for diversity and the AAPI community.

Guest Bio

Susan Jin Davis

Social Impact Officer, Al Roker Entertainment

Susan Jin Davis has 30 years of experience in the telecommunications, media, entertainment, and technology industries. She currently serves as Social Impact Officer for Al Roker Entertainment, a leading producer of TV, digital, branded programming and entertainment. She is also an advisor for ALO Advisors, a firm specializing in areas of sustainability, diversity, and corporate social responsibility.

She is also serving as a Senior Advisor on Social Impact & Sustainability for Philadelphia Soccer 2026, as part of Philadelphia's application team to be a host city for the World Cup games in 2026. Her focus is on human rights such as worker rights, housing, discrimination, safety and security, and grievances.

Most recently, Ms. Jin Davis was a senior executive at Comcast Corporation, where she held a multitude of roles over a 15-year career at the Company, including becoming the company’s first Chief Sustainability Officer, creating the framework for the company’s Environmental, Social, and Governance disclosures, operationalizing its renewable energy and energy efficiency strategy, and contributing to transforming its fleet to low-carbon vehicles.

Ms. Jin Davis is a well-experienced and well-respected executive in the area of diversity, equity, and inclusion (“DEI”). While at Comcast, Ms. Jin Davis negotiated a historic Memorandum of Understanding between Comcast and the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) national community as part of the company’s acquisition of NBCUniversal. This created ground-breaking diversity commitments in the areas of programming, supplier, employment, and community investment that are the foundation for the company’s current DEI strategy.

An advocate for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) in business and corporate America, she is active in the AAPI community nationally. She serves as the Chair of the Board of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) and serves on the Board of the Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce & Entrepreneurship (National ACE). Additionally, Ms. Jin Davis is a past board member of Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, Inc. (LEAP) and the Asian and Pacific American Scholarship Fund (APIA Scholars). Her other volunteer leadership service includes the Board of Directors of the Juvenile Law Center and the Board of Trustees of her undergraduate alma mater, Bryn Mawr College where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.

She holds a Juris Doctor degree from the Dickinson School of Law of Penn State University. The active runner, arts lover, and foodie lives in Kennett Square, Pa. with her daughter, Sophia.

Links

To learn more about Lead With Your Brand and the Career Breakthrough Mentoring program, please visit: LeadWithyYourBrand.com

To book Jayzen for a speaking engagement or workshop at your company, visit: JayzenPatria.com

Description:

Every single person has a brand, whether you think you have a brand or not. The real question is, are you consciously competently making strategic choices to show up with the brand that you want? In this premier episode, Jayzen introduces the concept of personal branding and how the Lead With Your Brand™ system can help you develop your own brand using a real brand marketer’s toolkit. Ultimately, answering the question, in your career, “Are you coffee, or you Starbucks?”

 Jayzen welcomes Jackie Hernandez to the show. She is the CEO and Co-Founder of NewMajorityReady, LLC, a marketing and content development firm focused on helping companies rethink multicultural audience reach and engagement. Jackie shares her incredible career story and key breakthrough moments as CMO of NBCUniversal Hispanic Enterprises, COO of Telemundo, Publisher of People en Español and more.

 Guest Bio

Ms. Jackie Hernandez is a strategic and visionary multi-media business leader with expertise in driving commercial revenue growth, transforming business models, building brands, and leading world-renowned companies’ teams. Over her tenure Jackie has turned around negative trends, unlocked business performance, built successful sales and marketing organizations. Her business and cultural fluency in key markets (US Hispanic, North America, Consumer Youth market, and International) have informed all her work and helped her attain industry acclaim for originality and differentiation. 

Currently Ms. Hernandez is CEO and Co-Founder of NewMajorityReady, LLC, a marketing and content development firm focused on helping companies rethink multicultural audience reach and engagement.  

Formerly, Jackie was President of Combate Americas, Chief Marketing Officer of NBCUniversal Hispanic Enterprises, Chief Operating Officer of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and Publisher of People en Español and TEEN People. 

Jackie has earned various industry awards, including FORTUNE’s Most Powerful Latinas in 2017.

Links

To learn more about Lead With Your Brand and the Career Breakthrough Mentoring program, please visit: LeadWithyYourBrand.com

 To book Jayzen for a speaking engagement or workshop at your company, visit: JayzenPatria.com

 To learn more about our guest, Jackie Hernandez, visit : newmajorityready.com

Jayzen is so excited to welcome Nawal Fakhoury to the show! If you have ever wondered if you could do more with your LinkedIn profile and how and why some people just seem to have all of the connections, this is the show for you! As the Director of Employee Experience at LinkedIn, she is the “official” LinkedIn Cheerleader. She’s made it her mission to cheerlead for the employees and the company both inside and outside of the LinkedIn walls and drive company culture. Nawal shares her best tips and tricks on how to build your network and hone your personal brand, and how she used LinkedIn to leveragher network and land the job she’s always wanted.

Since joining LinkedIn in 2014, Nawal has developed the company’s global onboarding experience, redesigned the enterprise-wide people manager training journey, designed their signature program “Culture Camp” in an effort to scale our culture through employee volunteers, and created LinkedIn’s culture social strategy known as #linkedinlife – which allows for the world to peek behind the blue curtain and see their an employee’s experience firsthand and unfiltered.

Guest Bio

Nawal Fakhoury

Director, Employee Experience @ LinkedIn

Nawal Fakhoury serves as LinkedIn’s ultimate “Culture Champion” as the Director of LinkedIn’s Employee Experience team. Nawal and her team are responsible for fueling LinkedIn’s unique company culture by designing and delivering global programs across LinkedIn’s to ensure every one of our employees has an exceptional employee experience.

Since joining LinkedIn in 2014, Nawal has developed the company’s global onboarding experience, redesigned the enterprise-wide people manager training journey, designed our signature program “Culture Camp” in an effort to scale our culture through employee volunteers, and created LinkedIn’s culture social strategy known as #linkedinlife – which allows for the world to peek behind the blue curtain and see our an employee’s experience firsthand and unfiltered. She currently manages a team of five who bring LinkedIn’s culture to life through employee programs in Bangalore, Dublin, New York, San Francisco, and Mountain View, CA.

Before her LinkedIn days, Nawal was first introduced to Talent Development during her time at NBCUniversal where she facilitated learning & development experiences for various employee populations and provided thought leadership on employee engagement initiatives for various brands including CNBC, USA Network, Bravo and Telemundo.

Links

To learn more about Lead With Your Brand and the Career Breakthrough Mentoring program, please visit: LeadWithyYourBrand.com

To book Jayzen for a speaking engagement or workshop at your company, visit: JayzenPatria.com
 

Jayzen is thrilled to chat with Rita Drucker on the show. Rita has one of those super cool jobs that you hear about and has had an incredible career journey across entertainment, tech and now aviation. In her words, “your career is basically a suitcase,” taking skills and experiences from each position and bringing them with you to the next. Rita has packed an amazing suitcase and has fantastic stories and advice that anyone can learn from. Currently, she is in the inaugural role of Head of Marketing Partnerships for supersonic manufacturing company Boom, which is creating a sustainable supersonic commercial airliner.

Rita is a former movie studio executive with nearly two decades of entertainment marketing experience, Drucker often uses movie references as she makes complex ideas sound simple. From working on films like Avatar, X-Men, and Ice Age, to founding Yahoo Storytellers content studio and leading brand integration at Snapchat, Drucker has helped companies across industries grow through collaboration.

Guest Bio

Rita Prosyak Drucker

Head of Marketing Partnerships

Boom Supersonic

“I have a very particular set of skills.” The iconic line delivered by Liam Neeson’s character in the action thriller Taken is how Rita Drucker describes a career that has constantly evolved and allowed her to build a skill arsenal. A former movie studio executive with nearly two decades of entertainment marketing experience, Drucker often uses movie references as she makes complex ideas sound simple. Currently, in the inaugural role of Head of Marketing Partnerships for supersonic manufacturing company Boom.

From working on films like Avatar, X-Men, and Ice Age, to founding Yahoo Storytellers content studio and leading brand integration at Snapchat, Drucker has helped companies across industries grow through collaboration.

After a career spent in theatrical marketing including more than a decade at 20th Century Fox as Senior Vice President, Rita made the leap to tech. In 2013, she joined Yahoo, the grand-daddy of the internet, to launch the marketing partnerships and branded entertainment teams.

Drawn to disruptive ideas, she founded and launched Yahoo Storytellers to leverage its vast 1st party data ecosystem to inform storytelling strategies and optimize performance for advertisers, driving 8-figure revenue growth.

In January 2018, Rita arrived at Snapchat in a newly created post, leading the company’s efforts to bridge content and monetization for its original shows and publisher partnerships as Head of Brand Integrations, and subsequently, as its first Head of Premium Content Solutions.

Drucker is a proud immigrant who came to the US as a refugee from the Ukraine. Raised in Los Angeles, she attended the University of Southern California (Fight On Trojans!), earning a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.

Links

To learn more about Lead With Your Brand and the Career Breakthrough Mentoring program, please visit: LeadWithyYourBrand.com

To book Jayzen for a speaking engagement or workshop at your company, visit: JayzenPatria.com

Jayzen is excited to welcome an old friend, Kelly Edwards, to the show. Kelly is an immensely successful writer, producer and diversity advocate in Hollywood. Her career has taken her to every major studio in Hollywood, and at each stop she has constantly strived to open doors and expand diversity in the entertainment industry. She formerly oversaw diversity for the twenty networks of NBCUniversal and currently is a writer on Our Kind of People, due out this fall on FOX.

Kelly has a remarkable career story to tell - regardless of industry. She has been able to combine her talents in writing and producing with her passion for diversity to expand the business that she loves so much, and help others find their own career breakthroughs.

Guest Bio

Kelly Edwards : Writer, Executive, Diversity Thought Leader

Veteran producer and creative executive Kelly Edwards has worked with every major studio in Hollywood. Mentored by legendary director Garry Marshall at Disney and famed producer Laura Ziskin at Sony, Edwards eventually shifted her focus to television, where she served as a comedy executive at Fox and headed up UPN’s Comedy division.

After producing a drama series for Paramount, she moved on to NBCUniversal, where she oversaw diversity for their twenty networks. Edwards spent her final stint as an exec creating HBO and Warner Media Entertainment's emerging artists programs. Along the way, she also produced a Christmas movie for Hallmark.

Edwards holds a B.A. in Theater from Vassar and an MFA in Screenwriting from Emerson College. She has been a Sundance Episodic Lab fellow and was recently staffed on the new Fox drama Our Kind Of People. Her new book The Executive Chair: A Writer’s Guide To TV Series Development, will be released October 5th.

Links

To learn more about Lead With Your Brand and the Career Breakthrough Mentoring program, please visit: LeadWithyYourBrand.com

To book Jayzen for a speaking engagement or workshop at your company, visit: JayzenPatria.com

Jayzen is thrilled to welcome Richard Culatta to the show. Richard has spent his career helping people, organizations and government use technology and innovation to be more successful. Always looking for breakthrough solutions, Richard’s new book Digital for Good: Raising Kids to Thrive in an Online World (HBR Press) uncovers the challenges with our current approaches to preparing young people to be effective humans in virtual spaces and presents a path to a healthier and more civil future digital world.

Richard was appointed by President Obama as the Executive Director of the Office of Educational Technology for the US Department of Education. In that capacity, he focused on expanding internet connectivity to schools across the US and developed a national ed tech plan to make learning more equitable and engaging. He also pioneered new opportunities for the tech industry to engage with the Department of Education to address tough problems, including bringing top game designers from around the world to the White House to help re-design testing and learning materials.

Guest Bio

Richard Culatta

CEO, International Society for Technology in Education

Richard Culatta is an internationally recognized learning innovator and tech futurist. His work centers around using technology to empower people and accelerate problem solving. Culatta is the CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), a nonprofit organization focusing on using technology to improve learning opportunities around the world. Culatta served as the first Chief Innovation Officer for his home state of Rhode Island, where he gained national attention for pioneering strategies for using technology to help government be more responsive and collaborative.

 Culatta was appointed by President Obama as the Executive Director of the Office of Educational Technology for the US Department of Education. In that capacity, he focused on expanding internet connectivity to schools across the US and developed a national ed tech plan to make learning more equitable and engaging. He also pioneered new opportunities for the tech industry to engage with the Department of Education to address tough problems, including bringing top game designers from around the world to the White House to help re-design testing and learning materials.

 Richard’s new book Digital for Good: Raising Kids to Thrive in an Online World (HBR Press) uncovers the challenges with our current approaches to preparing young people to be effective humans in virtual spaces and presents a path to a healthier and more civil future digital world. Culatta holds degrees in humanities and instructional technology from Brigham Young University. He serves as a senior fellow at NYU’s GovLab, design resident for the global design firm IDEO, and Innovation Dean for the Masie Learning Collaborative. He is married to the violinist Shaundra Baird Culatta, and the two live in Virginia where they spend most of their freetime running around after their four children.

Links

To learn more about Lead With Your Brand and the Career Breakthrough Mentoring program, please visit: LeadWithyYourBrand.com

 To book Jayzen for a speaking engagement or workshop at your company, visit: JayzenPatria.com

Jayzen is excited to welcome an old friend to the show, Charles Vogl. Charles is one of those people who seems to have had many careers, all of which have brought him to where he is today. From joining the Peace Corps, to bootstrapping his work as a filmmaker by waiting tables and eventually winning an international award for the film, to now an accomplished author, speaker and adviser. His work reflects a calling to help leadership create a culture of belonging in the most lonely era in organizational history. Drawing on three thousand years of spiritual traditions, Charles teaches the wisdom and principles to build deep community and resilient relationships that foster innovation and integrity within organizations

He is the author of the international bestseller The Art of Community and is a strategy advisor to Google’s global health and performance programs and a founding member of the Google Vitality Lab which works to innovate healing in our era.

His work is used to advise and develop leadership and programs worldwide within organizations including Google, Airbnb, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitch, Amazon, ServiceNow, Meetup.com, Wayfair and the US Army.

Guest Bio

Charles Vogl

Author, Speaker & Adviser

Charles Vogl is an adviser, speaker, and the author of three books, including the international bestseller The Art of Community.

His work is used to advise and develop leadership and programs worldwide within organizations including Google, Airbnb, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitch, Amazon, ServiceNow, Meetup.com, Wayfair and the US Army.

His first book, The Art of Community, won the Nautilus Silver Award for Business and Leadership. Drawing on both spiritual traditions and his own personal experience, The Art of Community lays out seven time-tested principles for growing enduring, effective, and connected communities. His second book, Storytelling for Leadership, draws on his own experience as a PBS documentary filmmaker to distill principles that help those in leadership confidently share authentic stories and inspire emotional resonance. His most recent book, Building Brand Communities (with Carrie Melissa Jones) won an Axiom Business Book Gold Medal. The work speaks directly to organizational leaders that seek to connect people in ways that serve both members and larger brand goals.

Charles teaches the wisdom and principles to build deep community and resilient relationships in the most lonely era in organizational history. His work draws on three thousand years of spiritual traditions to understand how individuals build loyalty, strengthen identity, and live out shared values. Building deep community in turn builds organizational resilience, attracts and retains community members around shared purpose and values, and fosters innovation that disrupts industries and influences global change.

He holds an M.Div. from Yale, where he studied religion, ethics, and business as a Jesse Ball duPont Foundation scholar.

Links

To learn more about Lead With Your Brand and the Career Breakthrough Mentoring program, please visit: LeadWithYourBrand.com

To book Jayzen for a speaking engagement or workshop at your company, visit: JayzenPatria.com

Learn more about Charles at: charlesvogl.com
 

Jayzen is thrilled to welcome Marjorie Gilberg, CEO of NCJW LA, to the show. As a “triple bottom line enthusiast,” Marjorie has dedicated her career to advancing causes in the non-profit sector with the belief that profit, people and planet can all thrive together. She brings a wealth of experience creating successful partnerships that bridge the gap between corporations and nonprofits, creating successful outcomes for all involved.

Marjorie's “fix it” approach to management has made her a sought-after leader who knows how to turn an organization around with lessons we can all learn from.

Guest Bio

Marjorie Gilberg

CEO, NCJW LA

Marjorie Gilberg is a triple bottom line enthusiast specializing in results-driven partnerships for causes and companies. Marjorie is a dedicated change-maker and lifelong activist who has steered the strategic development and communications for a wide range of causes. She is currently the CEO of NCJW|LA, a non-profit focused on advancing economic justice for women. During her short tenure, Marjorie has led the effort to modernize the 100+ year-old agency and create an inclusive culture, preparing the organization for a sustainable future. Most recently, Marjorie was the Executive Director of the House of Blues Music Forward Foundation where she transformed the organization by leading a complete operations and brand overhaul. Prior to joining Music Forward, Marjorie served as the Executive Director of Break the Cycle, a national nonprofit dedicated to preventing dating abuse.

As an outspoken advocate, she has appeared in hundreds of media outlets including CNN, Washington Post, MTV and The Today Show. Marjorie has lobbied to protect the rights of women and youth in numerous states and worked closely with policymakers in DC to increase funding for young victims of violence. She was a founding member of the “No More” campaign – a national partnership between corporate and social sector agencies designed to raise awareness for bystander intervention and accountability.

Marjorie has combined her unrelenting passion for social justice with keen business savvy to forge unparalleled partnerships between the nonprofit sector and powerful brands, such as Nike, Crest, Blue Shield, Microsoft, Mary Kay and Verizon. When she is not busy working as a social justice warrior, Marjorie works behind the scenes at her busy recording studio: The Invisible Studios, in West Hollywood, CA

Links 

To learn more about Lead With Your Brand and the Career Breakthrough Mentoring program, please visit: LeadWithyYourBrand.com

To book Jayzen for a speaking engagement or workshop at your company, visit: JayzenPatria.com

Jayzen is excited to welcome Laura Kriska to the show. She is a successful author, including her first book The Accidental Office Lady where she shares her experience as the first American woman to work in Honda Motor Company’s Tokyo headquarters when she was twenty-two years old.

Laura’s latest book, The Business of WE, presents a practical roadmap for building cohesive, high-performing teams, regardless of members’ differences. Drawing on her decades of international experience as a cross-cultural consultant, Kriska shares her unique mindset and proven method: WE-building. ​

She shares her personal career and brand journey with practical tips and advice on how we can each understand and build on our differences.

Guest Bio

Laura Kriska

Author & Cross-Cultural Consultant

 Laura Kriska, author of The Business of WE, is a leading cross-cultural consultant with more than thirty years of experience bridging gaps in diverse workplaces. She has worked with Fortune 500 companies on four continents helping thousands of professionals build trust across Us versus Them differences based on nationality, ethnicity, race, religion, age or any factor of identity. Her WE-building framework provides practical and actionable insights for creating a more inclusive and productive world.

 Born in Tokyo, raised in Ohio and now residing in NYC, Laura has been navigating culture gaps her whole life. She regularly speaks on the topic of inclusion and conducts bilingual training sessions around the globe. Considered an authority on cultural integration, she is a regular lecturer and a TEDx speaker. She was the first American woman to work in Honda Motor Company’s Tokyo headquarters. This experience is the basis of her first book The Accidental Office Lady.

Links

To learn more about Lead With Your Brand and the Career Breakthrough Mentoring program, please visit: LeadWithyYourBrand.com

To book Jayzen for a speaking engagement or workshop at your company, visit: JayzenPatria.com