Most career advice assumes a straight line. Pick a lane, climb the ladder, stay the course. Lisa Chensvold's path looked nothing like that, and it's why her work in communications carries the weight it does today.
In this episode of The PR Bunker Podcast, Lisa walks through how she moved from a winding career into agency work, and what that journey taught her about counseling nonprofits, building outcome-focused communications, and using storytelling as a tool that actually drives results.
A few things that stood out from our conversation:
Lisa's varied background gave her something most consultants lack: range. She can read a room of nonprofit leaders, executives, and donors and adjust the message because she's been on multiple sides of the table. Range is a competitive advantage.
A lot of communications work gets measured by output: press releases sent, posts published, impressions counted. Lisa builds her work around outcomes the client cares about: shifted perception, secured funding, organizational alignment. That's the standard reputation work should be held to.
Strategy gets the meeting. Storytelling closes it. Lisa makes the case that even in B2B and nonprofit communications, the organizations that win are the ones that can tell a clear, human story about why their work matters.
We also get into AI and where she sees communications heading, what scaling looks like for a values-driven practice, and the lessons that only come from staying in the work long enough to make mistakes and learn from them.
If you're a communications professional thinking about your own next move, a nonprofit leader trying to figure out how to talk about your mission, or a business owner who senses your story isn't landing, this one is worth your time.
Listen to the full episode above.
Reading is the hello. SBGA is where we get to yes.
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