Learnings from Leaders: the P&G Alumni Podcast

“You need other people — work well with others and learn from them. The more you grow, the more you realize you don't get anything done alone.” Poliana Sousa is Latin America’s Coca-Cola™ Lead, which includes communication strategy and innovation in 39 countries in South and Central America, the Caribbean, and Mexico. Poliana also plays a key role in the brand’s long-term strategic planning and leads key global projects as part of the Global Coca-Cola network. Before joining Coca-Cola, Poliana held several leadership positions at Procter & Gamble for nearly 20 years — her roles included Marketing, Brand Communications and Media Director in Brazil, and on brands such as Gillette, Pampers, and Oral-B. Poliana has a degree in Business Administration from Iowa State University and an MBA from Xavier University. She has received several industry awards including Forbes' Best 10 CMOs in Brazil (2020) and 10 Most Admired Executives in Brazil by Agency Scope (2020). You’ll enjoy this authentic and vulnerable conversation about overcoming big changes, imposter syndrome, and adversity - to persevere and thrive at work and life.

“Leading in social media and fighting bad actors - these problems didn’t always exist. It's fascinating how quickly things change.” Jakub Kocinski is a Digital Safety & Trust leader - with experiences across P&G, Google TikTok, and Meta — where he’s held responsibility for a wide array of key issues of digital platform integrity. Prior to his most recent role of Responsible Innovation at Meta - Jakub served as Director of Trust & Safety at ByteDance, the company behind the popular app TikTok. Prior to Bytedance, Jakub spent 6 years building and leading Trust & Safety in Google focusing on Gmail, Google accounts security as well as a wide portfolio of Google products. Jakub started his career at Procter & Gamble in 10 years across eCommerce and IT operations, Jakub was born in Poland and completed his Computer Science Masters at Technical University of Gdańsk followed by an MBA at Kozminski University in Warsaw. A family man, Jakub enjoys being outdoors and tinkering with the latest gadgets to automate - or complicate his life. You’ll enjoy this candid conversation about the importance of digital safety and trust - but also the importance of responsible innovation we must all bring to our work.

“Creativity is listening to an idea, even a bad idea, and helping turn it into a good idea.” Guy Raz is arguably among the most prolific voices in podcasting. He’s the creator and host of popular shows like “How I Built This”, “Wisdom from the Top”, and “The Rewind” — and the co-creator of “The TED Radio Hour” and the kid’s show “Wow in the World.” Guy is the only person to have had three shows ranked in the top 20 podcasts worldwide and a recipient received the Edward R. Morrow Award, the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize, The National Headline Award, and the NABJ Award - among many others. You’ll enjoy this conversation on creativity and curiosity. But Guy Raz is not exactly a P&G Alumni, so what’s the deal? Alongside our partners at P&G, we’re thrilled to share another episode of P&G’s “More Than Soap” podcast - available exclusively each week to P&G Employees at GetMoreThanSoap.com. On “More Than Soap,” P&G shares weekly conversations with Inspiring guests, unique perspectives, and unconventional ideas. “More Than Soap” is P&G’s official internal podcast - available  to all 100,000 P&G employees worldwide, and hosted by Dorion Positano, P&G’s Director of New Business and Content Innovation. Interested in learning more about P&G’s “More Than Soap” podcast, or P&G Studios, can reach out directly to Dorion on LinkedIn. GetMoreThanSoap.com

“We are all intersectional - uniqueness is our greatest gift. Empathy makes you a better leader.” This Pride Month, we wanted to replay a few conversations with past LGBTQIA+ guest on this P&G Alumni Podcast. Shelly McNamara is P&G’s Chief Equality & Inclusion Officer, where she’s responsible for shaping culture, policies, and leadership to promote greater diversity. Shelly’s also an avid storyteller, speaker and writer — her new book No Blanks, No Pauses - weaves her life story with reflections and poetry. Shelly got her start in Sales, and spent 25+ years rising through P&G’s HR ranks, ultimately rising to the level of Executive Vice President - where she worked on some of the company's largest businesses with brand portfolios ranging from $4B to $35B, working on employee populations exceeding 25,000. Shelly’s committed to enabling employees of every background to bring their full selves to work. - an active member of P&G’s Corporate Women’s Leadership Team, and she’s led the expansion of LGBTQ+ employee groups around the globe. Shelly shares many stories from her personal and professional life - as a mother and “out” female executive. Through her writing - and poetry - she’s been able to process and persevere through many moments of inclusions - and exclusion. Core to Shelly’s every day work is to have people think more about our shared humanity - because ultimately, that’s where true understanding comes from - to tackle the issues we must all face together.

“Let's be wrong sooner because we'll learn from it - move on and take on challenges in a very different way.” This Pride Month, we wanted to replay a few conversations with past LGBTQIA+ guest on this P&G Alumni Podcast. Jay Sethi is the CMO of Diageo Beer Company and Senior Vice President of Diageo’s Convenience Category. In addition to leading and executing for three of Diageo’s business units, Jay has a strong passion for inclusion and diversity and was instrumental in creating the “Love Wins” campaign for the Smirnoff brand in partnership with the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) celebrating love and acceptance. Prior to Diageo, Jay worked at Procter & Gamble as the Director of North America COVERGIRL, returning the brand to growth through new and exciting partnerships, including the NFL and The Hunger Games movie franchise. Jay is known as an innovative marketer and has received numerous awards, including a “40 under 40” Marketing Leadership Award from Advertising Age. Jay graduated from The University of Chicago and previously worked in the world of Chicago politics with roles in the U.S. Senate and top political campaigns. Jay is fluent in Spanish and is proudly multicultural as a Mexican and Indian American. You’ll enjoy this candid conversation about how to be more thoughtful - and intentional about using your skillset to have an impact in and beyond work, because there are many actionable steps anyone can take to be more open and inclusive in business, and life.

“Being the first person in a role can be a career accelerant.” This Pride Month, we wanted to replay a few conversations with past LGBTQIA+ guest on this P&G Alumni Podcast. And what better executive to revisit than Julie Eddleman, DoubleVerify’s Global Chief Commercial Officer. Prior to joining DoubleVerify, Julie spent six years at Google as one of the companies top Client Partners - accelerating partnerships with companies like GM, Ford, Fiat Chrysler, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and P&G. And across nearly 20 years at P&G, Julie worked on partnerships with the NFL, Olympics, and many of the company’s biggest partnerships and investments. Julie’s been recognized as an AdAge Media Maven, an LGBT Influential Leader by The Advocate magazine, and Woman of the Year by PowerPlay New York City for her role in mentoring young women and girls. Julie’s a graduate of Purdue University, as well as a proud wife and a mother. You’ll enjoy this candid conversation about not just bringing your full, authentic self to work, but the importance of taking risks, making choices, and building relationships

“Authenticity and relevancy are easy to connect back to the business when you have people who represent the diversity of our consumers.” Kevin Shapiro is Coty’s SVP of US Marketing at Consumer Beauty at Coty, where he manages a large portfolio of consumer brands, including Sally Hansen and CoverGirl. Kevin has led beauty brands across a number of iconic global companies, including L’Oreal, Revlon, Elizabeth Arden and Procter & Gamble — where he served as brand manager on The Art of Shaving and Pantene.  Having received his MBA from the University of Southern California, and studied business at Georgetown, Kevin actually got started in the Automotive industry working for Edmunds.  Kevin grew up in Mexico and brings his fluency in Spanish and a multicultural mindset to everything he does. You’ll enjoy this candid conversation on authentic brand building, representation, and the power of learning and listening in the ever changing  beauty industry.

“Politics is all about empathy — people believing that you understand their plight, their issue, their life  — and that you have a plan to help them.” Aftab Pureval is the Mayor of the city of Cincinnati. As Cincinnati’s 70th Mayor, Aftab has made equitable economic growth a top priority of his administration, as well as a comprehensive reform and improvement of public safety, affordable housing, and environmental action. Formerly serving as the first Democrat to be elected Hamilton County Clerk of Courts in over 100 years, Aftab opened an award-winning Help Center and became the first countywide officeholder in Ohio to offer paid family leave. Mayor Aftab was born and raised in Southwest Ohio - he attended The Ohio State University and the University of Cincinnati College of Law where he represented victims of domestic violence who could not afford an attorney. Aftab served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney and worked as an attorney at Procter & Gamble working on brands like Olay. Mayor Aftab lives in Clifton with his wife and sons. You’ll enjoy this candid conversation about redefining what a name means - and showing up for what matters.

“There is a level of compassion to understanding that there's things that need to be done.” // “We have to make up for lost time - transparent actions and results need to follow.” In the midst of all the social and upheaval we continue to face facing - we sat down with serial entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, alongside Logitech CEO (+ P&G Alum) Bracken Darrell for a conversation with two “Masters of Digital Disruption”. In a candid conversation that spanned the internet and blockchain technologies (driving increased transparency and accountability) - to the greater need for social and environmental impact (rooted in business values) - you’ll enjoy this conversation with two leaders who are constantly learning and growing personally, and professionally. Gary Vaynerchuk is an entrepreneur at heart — he builds businesses. Considered one of the leading global minds on what’s next - Gary is a serial entrepreneur, and serves as the Chairman of VaynerX,  the CEO of VaynerMedia and the Creator & CEO of VeeFriends. Gary works with Fortune 1000 brands thru his agency VaynerMedia — a part of the VaynerX holding company - which also includes Eva Nosidam Productions, VaynerNFT, Gallery Media Group, The Sasha Group, Tracer, VaynerSpeakers, and VaynerCommerce. Gary is also the Co-Founder of VaynerSports, Resy and Empathy Wines. He is a prolific angel investor with early investments in companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Venmo, Snapchat, Coinbase and Uber. Gary’s also a Board Member, advisor, best-selling author, and award-winning speaker and thought leader with millions of followers. Bracken Darrell is President & CEO of Logitech - a company he joined in 2012 - where he’s led brand vision and operations - as the driver for Logitech’s continued growth and profitability (up over 13x) —  reinventing Logitech into an award-winning design company, an industry force pursuing a more sustainable and equal world. Beyond Logitech’s numerous awards in design, innovation, and sustainability during his tenure, Bracken himself has been named Swiss CEO of the year by Obermatt three times in the past four years, won the P&G Alumni Innovation Award, and will receive the 2022 Edison Achievement Award. Prior to joining Logitech, Bracken spent a decade in executive roles @ Whirlpool, Braun, and General Electric - and also worked in brand management at P&G. Prior to receiving his MBA from Harvard, Bracken worked at Arthur Anderson and PepsiCo. Bracken serves on the board of directors of Life Biosciences, a longevity company, and on the U.S. advisory board of Harvard Business School. Bracken received his MBA from from Harvard Business School and studied English from Hendrix College in Arkansas, and loves playing basketball with his boys.

“It's through language that you understand another culture - how their world works. It's about that human connection with people.” Mike Shangkuan is an EdTech entrepreneur, fitness fanatic, and pioneer in language learning. As the CEO of Lingdoda, Europe’s leading online language school. And he’s a polyglot -  speaking six languages - English, German, Spanish, French, Chinese and Japanese — having lived in 8 countries across 4 continents, and traveling to over 100 countries. Prior to leading Lingoda, Michael was CEO of Terra Education, a B-corp offering life-changing service learning summer programs to teens in Africa, South America, and Asia. Mike has worked in brand management at both Clorox & P&G, and held roles at Goldman Sachs and Borden Capital Management. He is a graduate of Yale University and received his MBA from Harvard Business School. On top of all that, Michael was also once a former natural bodybuilder having competed at several international competitions. You’ll enjoy this candid conversation about life, language, and the culture quotient.