Office Hours: I led comms teams at Tesla, Nike, and Square – now I’m the Chief Comms Officer at Him & Hers. I’m Khobi Brooklyn. AMA!Featured

Posted in:Marketing Office Hours Management and Leadership

Hi everyone!

I’m Khobi Brooklyn, Chief Communications Officer at Him & Hers. My experience spans two decades of redefining industries, building powerhouse brands, and introducing the world to new technologies and lifestyles.

Now, at Hims & Hers, I’m leading communications and government affairs, so largely responsible for shaping and protecting our reputation and helping to build connections with consumers looking for health and wellness treatments.

Before Him & Hers, I led global communication teams at companies such as Tesla, Nike, Square and Aurora when each was at critical stages of building their business, redefining their brand and introducing new products to the world.

A great brand is born from a combination of the products and the value they deliver, and the quality of the people and culture that create those products. I’ve been fortunate to work with brands that impact society by taking bold approaches to changing the status quo, and that’s something that I’ve pursued throughout my career. At each company, my challenge has been to help people understand what it is that we’re building and most importantly how it will impact their lives.

When I’m not working, I try to focus on the things that give me energy which are playing outside, cooking and eating, and being with my family—they give me the best energy I could ever find. I’d like to say I am always finding adventures to introduce to my children, but in truth, they are the ones teaching me about the important things, everything from outer space to humility.

Ask me anything about being a CCO, leadership, branding, storytelling, marketing, communications strategies, brand crisis management, building a team, reactive vs proactive, communications culture…or anything else!

ElphaStaff·Nov 20

Thanks so much for joining us @khobibrooklyn!Elphas – please ask @khobibrooklyn your questions before Friday, November 22nd. @khobibrooklyn may not have time to answer every questions, so emoji upvote your favorites 🔥👍🏾➕

KathyF·Dec 04

Hi Khobi - Thank you for your post and answering our questions. I'm wondering if there's a spot in Comms for me.I enjoy writing and I've been told by people since high school that I'm very good at it. Now I've moved years forward in my career and just beginning to think about writing as part of my work. I want to work for a company. The freelance route isn't for me. I don't have training in business communications, but I've written lots in my last role. Would any hiring managers consider me based on my current writing, which is limited to posts and articles on LinkedIn? I know this may be a long shot, but I miss writing and if I could make that my work I could buy my new couch! :-)

Lavina218·Nov 20

Hi Khobi! Do you have any advice on how Manager-level execs can get better at influencing senior leadership (and partners that are senior leaders)? What sort of skills would you develop to achieve that?

khobibrooklyn·Nov 22

Hey there. Great question. I think about this in a couple of ways. One, is being really intentional with your own brand --- how you show up at work. And by this I mean, when you're in a meeting, when you're sending a slack or email, taking the time to think about your tone, your words, etc. Your voice is a great to show you're engaged, you're thinking about the issues and solutions, and you understand the business. Asking thoughtful questions, providing helpful perspectives, are all ways to be a resource and show leadership you're a valuable part of the team. And then, I think naturally you become a trusted and valued voice. Related, I would say trust yourself and your expertise. If you're invited into "the room" (maybe that's an email thread, a meeting, a slack conversation...) trust that you've been asked there because your opinion and perspective is wanted. So speak up, share your thoughts!

Laura198·Nov 20

Hi Khobi! Thanks for being here. As someone who is trying to define their own brand and get good at communicating it, how do you measure or assess how effective the communication is? I feel in so deep in my space that is hard to take a step back and objectively take in the conversation from the audience point of view. Any advice on how to get better at perceiving how your communication is being received?

khobibrooklyn·Nov 22

Message resonance. It's hard to measure! It's especially hard to measure when it's your personal brand. A couple of things I do:1) Take the time to really think about your audience. Not all audiences receive information in the same way. So, shaping your communication specifically for who you're talking to is important. And it's often different than how you personally might want it! So you have to really step outside yourself and ask, how does this person digest information, or what's most important and interesting to this team? And then engage with them through that lens.2) Ask for feedback! Feedback is so helpful in understanding how things are going from other people and perspectives. And the more regular the feedback is, I think the easier it is to react to it. Less surprises or big things to work through. I try to be as transparent as I can with peers, my boss, my team...my family, so that we're always checking in and making sure we're all on the same page.

meganheinz·Nov 20

I am at the point in my long, successful career in tech where I truly want to work for an organization that impacts society. I want to use my skills for good and moving a brand forward I believe in. Any recommendation for getting for foot in the door in organizations where this is your primary draw?

khobibrooklyn·Nov 22

That's great. I would suggest just start having conversations with companies and organizations that you're attracted to. A great way to understand how you can add value to an organization is to get to know the people and the work. I think many companies are open to connecting and working with people from other industries and with different skill sets because diverse perspectives often make work so much stronger. So just start going on lots of coffee dates!

kaitlingraham·Nov 20

Your experience is amazing! Thanks for hosting office hours! I'm a digital marketing specialist and freelance writer. I have a degree in communication and would like to work in a more communications oriented role in the future. Do you have any advice on what I should do know to start working towards making that transition?

khobibrooklyn·Nov 22

Thank you! The good news is, communications means many different things across industries and companies. I would suggest keeping an eye out for communications roles that look interesting to you and rather than letting a list of qualifications or experience get in the way, reach out and share work experience you have. Because marketing/writing/comms is all about storytelling and connecting with audiences in compelling and impactful ways. I guess another way to say what I'm saying is, craft your story of experience in a way that shows the impact of your work and I bet it will align with what many communications roles are looking for.

kaitlingraham·Nov 22

Thank you for that advice!!!

Wava21·Nov 20

Hi Khobi, thank you for doing this AMA :) This is my question: How do you support the company you work for in as a marketer, when nailing down the product market fit and looking for new segments of potential customers? thank you xxx

khobibrooklyn·Nov 22

Hey there. Happy to be here. Across many teams at my company, we do a lot of insights work to understand the needs of our customers and potential customers, as well as understand how we can best introduce and support new products and categories. One of the key focuses we have when thinking about introducing new products and categories is how we can bring something to market that meets the quality standards we hold for ourselves -- and these standards span the customer experience to the product itself. So, in short, this kind of work is incredibly collaborative across many teams at my company which is really valuable because it helps us be thorough while also pushing ourselves to be innovative, all through the lens of serving our customers.

Wava21·Nov 26

Thank you for your response. It is true, each department that interacts with customers / market learns something from their own angle. Thank you, I will keep that in mind. Have a good day :)

MandyWong·Nov 25

Thanks @khobibrooklyn What are the main competitors for Him & Hers and what is a brand in the health/wellness space that’s doing inspiring work (product, marketing, brand storytelling etc)?

Lorraine142·Nov 20

HI Khobi! When it comes to determining whether to be reactive vs. proactive in comms, what is your advice in how to weigh getting ahead of something that could cause swirl vs letting it play out and potentially avoiding the swirl altogether?

khobibrooklyn·Nov 22

Balancing proactive vs. reactive comms is tough! In an ideal world proactive always outweighs reactive, because ultimately being able to drive the narrative pushes away the ability for reporters or whoever else to create their own spin. With that, reacting to incoming questions, rumors, speculation, etc. is a reality of any company in the spotlight. As far as swirl goes....there's really no right answer. I think you have to take each moment on it's own and weigh the risk of letting it run its course or really trying to shut it down. The things I think about when making that decision are, 1) the moment in time from a news perspective and the company --- is there a lot of other noise in the news right now, is it a Friday so the press cycle will probably be short, or a Monday, so likely to run all week? What else is going on in our own news, do we have more announcements coming that will drown this out?, etc. 2) how will the information itself affect key audiences like employees, investors, customers, etc.