Authenticity, Data-backed Ideas & Kindness: A (really great) Q&A with Keeley Teslik

After a September break (shout out to all the UNGA survivors), the Distaff newsletter is back!

This installment features the one and only Keeley Teslik, Deputy Director of Social Media and Content Marketing at UNICEF USA, who graciously shares a riveting set of personal, authentic, and completely jargon-free insights.

Working with Keeley is a dream. She is kind, smart, fast, and hilarious. The kind of colleague you can approach with a "dumb" question and leave with the most creative brainstorm. The colleague who is a go-to for a gut check and who Venmos you money for a birthday drink just because.

Typically, I use this intro space for what I think of as a public-facing pep talk to hype up the incredible women who kindly allow me to feature them. However, I am tempted to keep it brief so everyone can dive into Keeley's genius words.

But let me share some of her beautiful reflections on what makes for a wonderful colleague such as herself: "Of the jobs I’ve had over the years, the colleagues I most fondly remember or remain connected to today—and from whom I’ve learned the most— are the ones who led with kindness. Be a refuge for your colleagues. Be a person who makes it easier for your colleagues to more joyfully do their jobs, welcome open feedback and communication, and be open to learning from one another. Your team is one of your biggest sources of fuel for growth, enlightenment, and joy, both in your career and in your life."

Thank you, Keeley, for sharing your brilliance with us!

How did you get into communications? Tell us your story.

How far back would you like me to go? Because if we’re starting from the beginning, it all began on a blizzardy March morning when my mother felt a sudden—just kidding.

I’m not one for believing that we’re born to follow a specific track, but I’ll say that language, storytelling, and written communication have played a collective guiding role in my life since I can remember.

I used to pretend to type stories on my grandmother’s printing calculator before I could spell out the words in my head. When I was 12, I earned my first publication (a poem we will never discuss), won my first fiction contest, and wrote an (embarrassingly) impassioned letter to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration about how we need to better protect marine life. To my surprise, a representative from NOAA sent a personal letter in response, agreeing, with a box of ocean-themed posters and books. I think that was one of the first times I realized, hey, holy shit, writing can lead to positive change.

Okay, maybe that wasn’t the exact thought I had at 12 years old, but you get the gist. It felt like I had discovered my voice, and my voice had been heard.

When my mom was diagnosed with cancer while I was in high school, I leaned into and found a lot of peace and strength in journaling. A few years and a few hundred journal entries later, I fell into a small writing community at Duquesne University. I found my people there and was privileged to learn under incredible writers and mentors—shoutouts to John Fried and Craig Bernier—who encouraged and challenged me to lean into my craft.

Right around the time I graduated, I received a fellowship offer to Emerson College’s MFA program in fiction and also learned that my mom’s cancer had returned for the fourth time. (She’s now been cancer-free for 11 years. I consider her an honorary BADG—UNICEF speak for badass do-gooder, for those unfamiliar). She had opened a preschool when my brother and I were young—her dream—and after I graduated from Duquesne, I stepped into her shoes at the school to help while she recovered. I ended up staying five years and falling in love with the imagination, resilience, humor, optimism, and general magic of children.

While working at the preschool and beyond, I also worked as a freelance writer and editor for eight years, using my language skills to support non-native speakers with research projects, and collaborating with individuals and teams in the fields of education, government, psychology, and science. I later worked with small Pittsburgh-based non-profits, including the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and the Environmental Health Project. At the former, I supported marketing and social media efforts during a referendum campaign, in which the Conservancy successfully earned public support of an additional $10 million in annual funding. At EHP, I worked alongside a brilliant team of data scientists, researchers, and nonprofit leaders who worked to support public health in the face of oil and gas operations in southwestern Pennsylvania and beyond.

These experiences solidified what I wanted out of my career. Wherever I ended up, I knew I wanted to do work that positively impacted others—taking a bold, protective stance for the most vulnerable, especially children, and a stance against those who threaten their rights. Non-profit communications, and specifically UNICEF USA, was the clear path forward.

As a member of the social media team at UNICEF USA, how do you conceptualize and execute a compelling social media strategy? What are the key considerations and how do you get buy-in from key stakeholders?

First things first: What’s the goal? Whether we’re aiming to raise awareness, inspire action, or get people to donate, nailing down the campaign objective determines the rest of the process.

Sounds simple, right? But you might be surprised how often teams present beautifully crafted campaign concepts and then struggle to answer that question. Once we’ve locked in the goal and confirmed how it aligns with what our audience cares about, we can map out the content strategy.

Tired of hearing the word “storytelling?” Grab some caffeine, my friend.

At UNICEF USA, storytelling is at the core of everything we do, whether we’re highlighting the resilience of children in Gaza, Haiti, Sudan, or the U.S., or shining a light on the humanitarians who turn our work into impact. People connect with people. By leaning into storytelling, we can forge those connections and, most importantly, amplify the voices of children and youth around the world, making sure they’re truly represented and heard.

To get stakeholder buy-in, we keep it simple: We show how the campaign ties into our organization’s goals and we back up our ideas with data. Throughout the campaign, whether we’re crushing it or… learning some hard lessons, we keep everyone in the loop with updates and post-campaign reporting. That way, we can adjust on the fly and make sure our future campaigns are even stronger.

You and I helped stand up an external-facing executive comms strategy together. What is your biggest piece of advice for an organization that is seeking to put time and resources behind an executive’s profile for the first time?

Be open ?? to trying ?? something new. ??

It can be scary to dive into an executive communication strategy on social media. Cancel culture is out there, and it’s ready to amplify the mistakes you’ll inevitably make—or, to put it more accurately, to illuminate your opportunities for enlightenment. Own the risk. Take the risk. Learn. Adapt. Evolve.

So many executive social strategies play it safe, and simply rewrite their organizational messaging in the first-person, and call it a day—or take a powerful message and dilute it until it feels balanced enough to share publicly. Full transparency: We’ve been guilty of this, too. I don’t know of any team who hasn’t. But the end result of doing this consistently is compromising your audience’s interest, engagement, and support.

I’m not a gambler, but I’d bet everything I have and ever will that no matter who your executive is, their audience craves authentic messaging from an authentic person. If your team isn’t willing to embrace your executive’s personal voice as an individual with unique experiences, skills, and expertise—and instead only presents them as a figurehead—your strategy is bound to fall flat.

Take risks. Celebrate the unique individual, not just the role they represent. And make that person accessible to their audiences.

Who is an inspiration to you? Either someone who showed you the value of communications or a person that you follow who does it well??

I’d say I’m more inspired by quality storytelling moments than by any specific individuals. Is that cold? Yikes.

Still, it’s the truth. I’ve blubbered over beautiful storytelling moments in films, have books on my shelves with tear-soaked pages, now dried and wavy. I’ve found inspiration in UNICEF’s Poems for Peace project and other children’s voices I’ve stumbled across during my time at UNICEF USA. I’m inspired by the stories my colleagues have shared from their personal lives and by the dense, molasses conversations that come after the hours of chitchat at social gatherings. I consider storytelling essential to the human experience. When it’s done well, it’s always inspiring.

But—for a more practical response to your question—when it comes to social media, in particular, there are a few notable experts and accounts that I (and many, many others) consider to be best in class. I’m talking about Zaria Parvez and Duolingo, Tim Chau and Michelle Andrews and Impact, and Matt Turner and the National Parks Service. When brands hit the right balance of information sharing, advocacy, humor, and the occasional shock value, that’s where it is. That’s gold.

What advice would you give to someone starting their career in communications or someone who is trying to advance in their career?

Great question. I have three thoughts on this, and I’ll try to keep them as minimally cheesy as possible. My vegan thoughts:

One, take the time to identify your core values, then find a role and an organization that complements them. Spoiler alert: No job is perfect. There will be Sunday Scaries and faux sick days and stress and frustration and burnout at every job—hopefully just in the tiny spaces between periods of pride, pleasure, and fulfillment. Returning to your values will get you through the tough days—and every job has them.

Two, lean into the intersection of your skills and talent. If you’ve read James Clear’s Atomic Habits, you might remember one of his final lessons: Identify what you’re good at and what you enjoy doing, and work really, really hard at it. Especially when working to advance in your career, take time to mindfully reassess where your talents, skills, and interests intersect and explore how you can lean further in that direction. Maybe it’s a readjustment to your existing job responsibilities or a new role better suited to the uniquely-you expertise you’ve honed.

Three, lead with kindness. Whatever move you make, prioritize your values, be open to change, and lead with kindness—to yourself and others. Of the jobs I’ve had over the years, the colleagues I most fondly remember or remain connected to today—and from whom I’ve learned the most—are the ones who led with kindness. Be a refuge for your colleagues. Be a person who makes it easier for your colleagues to more joyfully do their jobs, welcome open feedback and communication, and be open to learning from one another. Your team is one of your biggest sources of fuel for growth, enlightenment, and joy, both in your career and in your life.