The Comms Collective – Conversations in Purposeful Communications

Episode 6 of the Comms Collective Podcast delves into the humanitarian world with Ka Man Parkinson, Communications and Marketing Lead for the Humanitarian Leadership Academy, with host Vishnee Sauntoo. 
 
Ka Man explains how she works hard to understand her audience, the humanitarian field teams who are time-poor, lack good Wi-Fi, and work in very stressful conditions. The HLA brings learning to the sector through their digital platform, Kaya. 
Ka Man tells us about a brilliant piece of research she conducted on the use of AI and the report and lessons learned from it. She also manages a podcast, so she could definitely have some learnings I can use.

Episode 5 - Claire Quigley, Deputy CEO and Director of Communications and Fundraising, joins Vishnee for a conversation about charity growth, rebrands and how to manage a hybrid team.
 
Claire discusses the importance of progress over perfection and how developing relationships is crucial when working with external individuals, emphasising the value of tackling the harder tasks instead of the easier ones. And how to ensure her team has a good work-life balance.

Björn Ólafsson, Research-Writer working for many organisations, including the Better Food Foundation, joins Vishnee from Barcelona, Spain— so we are going international today!
Björn talks about his background in animal welfare and advocacy, why good communication needs strong research, and how strong research needs good communication to explain it. He tells us about the challenges of talking about sensitive topics like food and climate, and about his approach to reducing meat consumption.

Guy Abraham, Strategic Comms Lead for Haringey Council and Founder of BrandGuy consultancy, talks to Vishnee about how work in local government can lead to real impact on communities. 
He shares his experience working on charity brands and why we should focus on the strengths of the team rather than their weaknesses.

Our host, Vishnee Sauntoo, sits down with Jenny Legg, Head of Comms of Scottish not-for-profit organisation Flexibility Works.
Jenny discusses what truly flexible working means, the limited part-time opportunities, especially at senior levels, and her journey from being a journalist to moving into comms. She provides insight into successful remote working and what it is like to drive change with limited resources.

In the first full episode of The Comms Collective Podcast, Vishnee Sauntoo sits down with Adeela Warley, CEO of CharityComms - a membership organisation for charity communications professionals.
Adeela discusses the future of communications and her role at CharityComms, as well as what leadership means to her. She talks about the evolution of leadership and the impact of AI on the sector.

Welcome to the Comms Collective podcast, where Vishnee Sauntoo explores the highs, lows and hard-won lessons of comms in the mission-led world.
Each episode features candid conversations with charity and public sector comms leaders — on everything from budget squeezes to breakthrough campaigns, comms in crisis to finding your voice as a leader.