Coffee Break with Gulden Mesara, chief marketing and communications officer at City of Hope

This week on Coffee Break, PRWeek editorial director Steve Barrett is joined by Ben Miller, founding team member and chief adviser at Common Goal, to discuss the soccer nonprofit’s mission, its new deal with Adidas, and the organization’s anti-racism project. Coffee Break topics: 1:50 - How Common Goal works with athletes, managers and agents to invest in soccer-based NGOs around the world. 3:30 - Common Goal’s current partners and how it plans to expand its network to reach an even larger audience. 8:05 - Discussing the power athletes have to create authentic and positive change around the world. 9:25  - Why Common Goal’s new partnership with Adidas will enable it to create new content and invest in more charities. 12:49 - A look at Common Goal’s anti-racism project.

Prince talks about the return of Mexican Pizza, which blew up on social media when Taco Bell originally removed it from its menu in 2020.

This week on Coffee Break, Hirsch reveals the secret sauce inside his new versatile, agile, generalist agency. Hirsch, together with Evan Leatherwood (duos at SJR, Hill+ Knowlton and WPP), set up their very own shop in December 2020. Today, with a staff of 20 based out of an office in midtown Manhattan and a suite of services steeped in media relations, content and strategic comms, the agency is thriving. In this week’s Coffee Break, Hirsch opines on talent recruitment, the tech boom migration and creating a flexible culture that embraces a positive work/life balance. Podcast topics- Creating a small team of nimble, versatile, generalists with the ability to create efficiencies, greater value and engagement.  - Experimenting with the work week to avoid burnout and integrating programs to ensure success for every member of the team.- The tech boom migration from Silicon Valley to Miami, Austin, LA and Canada too!- Hirsch Leatherwood’s tactics for less fire drills and work-free weekends.- Why investing in talent will become even more crucial for building out teams, culture and attracting long-term growth.

Mesara talks about leading both marcomms roles at the 100-year-old cancer treatment center, which recently acquired Cancer Treatment Centers of America, thus extending its reach nationally to encompass 115,000 patients. She also talks about her long career in comms at pharma at Pfizer, Abbott and AbbVie and pharmacy retail at Walgreens Boots Alliance.

This week on Coffee Break, PRWeek editorial director Steve Barrett is joined by Arielle Patrick, CCO of Ariel Investments. Ariel is the first Black-owned investment firm in the U.S. and currently has almost $20 billion in funds under its management. Co-CEO Mellody Hobson has long been a mentor of Patrick's, including when she was working on the agency side, first at Weber Shandwick, then at Edelman. She moved client-side at Ariel in 2020 and looks after a number of areas in her chief communications role. Coffee Break topics: - Detailing Ariel Investments - Creating purposeful business in a world that’s focused on volume - Corporate directors report - Any surprises from conducting the report? - Making sure the agencies you work with are doing what they say

Hoffman looks back at founding his agency in Silicon Valley almost 35 years ago and how PR has evolved over the decades.

Ben LaBolt talks about working on the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court and how skills learned in the political realm are transferable to the corporate world.

This week on Coffee Break, PRWeek editorial director Steve Barrett is joined by Naimul Huq, SVP of operations at VaynerNFT.

Tovar talks about moving from McDonald's to take the lead role at GrubHub 7 months ago, getting the go-ahead from the delivery company's CEO to invest in a comms team and bringing on Golin as its consumer AOR, the fourth time he has worked with the Interpublic Group agency (previously at McDonald's, Sprint and Walmart).

Stake discusses the intersection of sustainability, DE&I and philanthropy, as well as pushing companies to use their power to do good in the world.