About
Hello, Hello! I’m Julia. Welcome to The Switchboard where I aim to explore the ways we communicate and connect at work and beyond with career insights, inspiring stories and best practices from industry leaders.
On This Page
📚 Content Highlights
☎️ Why The Switchboard? — The Past, Present and Future
🧁 About Me
📚 Content Highlights
I’ve personally interviewed 100+ leaders and published 35+ best practices articles. Here’s the Index page summarizing all posts. These are a few of the popular industry insights — Top 10 Skills, Hosting Epic All Hands, Intranet Guide, Newsletters, Editorial Calendars, Operating Values, Internal Brand and my favorite — Planning a Howl-i-day Pet Show. 🐶
The leaders featured work in diverse industries including tech, tourism, health, consumer goods, food, coaching, education, public service, real estate, philanthropy, art, consulting and more.
They lead at large companies, start-ups and non-profit organizations, including Google, Delta, Yum! Brands, LinkedIn, Reddit, PBS, Peloton, Mapbox, National Geographic Partners, Hopin and the World Food Programme to name a few.
☎️ Why The Switchboard?
The Past
Once upon a time, before email, Zoom and Slack, the telephone served as one of our primary modes of business communications. Calls were connected by switchboard operators who required “concentration, good interpersonal skills and quick hands” according to London’s Science Museum. The operators required the utmost confidentiality as they often heard private conversations.
To experience the Hollywood version of a typical switchboard room, the opening scene of Mrs. Maisel (Season 2) offers a classic portrayal — a chaotic, boisterous space filled with calm and focused operators. The job exuded energy, thrill and purpose — it was their role to connect people with the information they needed or find the right channel to get them there.
The Present
With the passage of time, invention of technologies and evolution of job responsibilities, I observe parallels between this past work and the current role of internal communications professionals. We connect people, distribute information and empower employees to learn about each other, their work and the company’s mission.
Today, when we send a company email newsletter, host a virtual meeting or distribute major announcements, the digital, automated processes make connecting and sharing quick, impactful and efficient (most of the time). Behind the scenes, much like the telephone exchange operators, we are drafting, planning and strategizing.
Along the way, we also cultivate experiences that make work meaningful with a vibrant culture of employee events, diversity initiatives and learning opportunities.
The Future
In this publication, I focus on the ways we communicate and connect at work and beyond. I showcase Internal Communications leaders and partners to recognize their accomplishments, share best practices and articles of interest to inspire future paths — for those who are seeking new initiatives to bring back to their teams, experts to advise them or inspiration to reach a goal.
Internal Communications collaborates with many leaders, including Executive Communicators, Employee Engagement specialists, Chief Communications Officers, Human Resources leaders, Culture creators, DEI champions, Executive Coaches, Chiefs of Staff and many more. Overall, we feature career stories, best practices and articles to inspire our mission.
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🧁 About Me
Hi! 👋 I’m Julia Levy. As the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Switchboard, I enjoy connecting with leaders to learn their stories and reflecting upon my experiences to share lessons learned.
By day, I design internal communications systems, cultivate community and develop content so teams can focus on what matters. In my career, I’m motivated by mission-driven work. Currently, I work in tech. My career began in executive communications. Previously, I’ve been a community manager, content creator and fundraiser in philanthropy. I believe in pursuing side projects to make an impact outside of work, including Tradition Kitchens and National Muffin Day. I created this website to share my story.
I also enjoy connecting for conversations on podcasts, children’s books and family recipes. Feel free to say hello to me on LinkedIn (if you reach out to connect, I always appreciate a message to say hi) or Twitter. If you have suggestions or ideas of what you’d like to see featured, reach out to me directly by replying to any email from The Switchboard.
All opinions shared on this site reflect those of the individuals featured and not their past or current employers.
Testimonials
Switchboard Operators From History
Learn more about the stories of these iconic women in history:
