🚌 Communications Introductions: Jenny Mayfield
Vice President of Communications at Zum
This is a special edition. It’s my 100th published interview! I’ll reflect more on this celebratory moment soon. For now, thank you for being part of The Switchboard community. I hope to see you on May 31st for our Crucial Conversations talk with
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🧡 The power of purpose-driven communications
🛣️ What it’s like to work at the intersection of policy and chance
❓Why it’s okay to not know all the answers
About Jenny
Jenny Mayfield is Vice President of Communications at Zum, where she leads the company’s global communications and public affairs. Previously, Mayfield was the Head of Communications at Nextdoor; Director of Media Relations at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University; and in the White House, where she held positions as a Special Assistant to the Vice President’s Chief of Staff and a Press Secretary to the Vice President. A strategic thinker known for her purpose-driven leadership, Mayfield has been recognized as one of the Top Women in PR for her achievements. She lives with her husband and three young children in San Francisco, CA.
What inspired your career path?
Growing up, I was very active in student government. I followed my passion for politics to Washington, D.C., and I was fortunate to join the White House at an early age. I started as a Special Assistant managing policy matters, where I had the opportunity to put complex policies into layman's terms so that we could speak to the American people.
This experience led me to the Vice President’s Communications Office at the White House, and I became a Press Secretary. This work has been foundational to my career path. First, it made me passionate about informing people by driving impactful messages that created change. Second, it led to my focus on being a purpose-driven leader. While working on policy issues that made a real difference in healthcare and the economy, I could see the impact I was having. Since then, I’ve chosen opportunities with a purpose and mission I can believe in.
Third, working at that level of government taught me to collaborate with a very entrepreneurial approach. I wore many hats and made a lot happen with very little. To this day, I run my teams that way as a lean operation to drive maximum impact.
Can you tell us about your current work?
I’m leading communications at Zum, where we’re modernizing school transportation. It’s hard to imagine, but the yellow bus hasn’t changed in 80 years! We’re partnering with school districts to offer innovative solutions and support parents with an app to communicate with them about their children’s commute to school. The way Zum applies modern technology to this antiquated industry has never been done before - so it's pretty exciting!
There are three crucial elements we’re bringing to life in our work: First, we’re developing sophisticated technology to transition from paper to digital. We’ve created optimization and efficiency that has never really existed. Next, we’re bringing a multi-size fleet to the table — everything from big buses to sedans to vans — to offer variety based on the needs of the school population. Third, we’re leading in sustainability. We made the commitment to 100% offset diesel emissions and a bold move to transition our entire fleet to electric, which has never been done in this field.
As the first Communications hire, I lead all disciplines, including corporate, internal, consumer, product and social communications. I joined because I love the people and the purpose. I’m inspired and motivated by the fact that I can potentially impact communities all over the U.S. and, hopefully, the globe. We’re disrupting an industry — student transportation is actually the largest mass transit system in the U.S. For schools, it’s their second-largest budget line item. It’s fun for me to be at a place that’s leading these policy conversations and creating change.
I’m honored to be able to tell stories of impact. In particular, we have these incredible drivers who work really long hours in stressful situations. They do it because they love the kids. I’m celebrating and elevating them because they really are true Community Heroes! They make me excited about the work that we do and, quite frankly, we couldn't do it without our drivers. As Communications people, we want to do a lot to promote the brand, but I think it's also important to take care of our people, and it’s a true honor to be able to do that here.
As you look back, what is one project you are proud of creating over the years?
As Communications leaders, we’re the closest to our customers. We’re on the front lines, and I think it is our job to always look for ways that we can meet our customers in the moment, particularly in times of distress. At the start of the pandemic, I was working at Nextdoor, the neighborhood social network, and seeing how it was impacting neighbors around the world. I partnered with our product team to create “Help Maps” for global neighborhoods so neighbors who were at risk and couldn't leave their homes could ask for help from those nearby.
It created this hyper-local network that never really existed — knowing your neighbors can be hard. I’m really proud of how we were able to connect people to give back to each other. We also supported local businesses that were struggling during Covid. We rolled out tools to help drive traffic and boost economies.
As we were talking to neighbors, we realized how many of them were experiencing loneliness while living in isolation. I reached out to BYU Professor Julianne Holt-Lunstad who is a scholar in this field. She embarked on a research study with us to show the data that getting to know your neighbors could reduce loneliness. This had such a ripple effect. Here’s more about the study.
How do you approach communicating internally with your team?
At Zum, we're predominantly remote, and internal communications are critical.
Your employees really are the most important ambassadors. They should be empowered, comfortable and happy talking about what your organization is doing. Because I've always worked at purpose-driven places, there's an appetite for people to be around the table and be excited as part of the process.
I also approach my work by leading with kindness. I'm super collaborative as a partner to my team. It makes work better when you have multiple perspectives.
What skills are essential for someone to succeed in your field?
The baseline is that you need to be persistent and have grit. Find a CEO who really values communications and who gives you a seat at the table. Being religious about your priorities and being able to say no is really key to having success. You need to focus on the projects that are going to best have an impact on the company's bottom line.
As Communications people, we often feel like we need to have all the answers, but there's nothing wrong with not having an answer. Some of my best answers have come from brainstorms with company leaders because it often takes many viewpoints to find the right answer. Don’t ever be afraid to ask them questions.
How do you continue your own learning journey?
What’s been most helpful is my informal Advisory Board, which I would encourage everyone to have — there are six people whom if I ever want to bounce an idea off of, I can reach out to them, many of them are on my daily speed dial. You know who you are.
Building relationships with your peers is really important, and I try to stay in touch with them to learn from their experiences. Those live conversations are the most impactful for me.
Having said all of that, while work keeps me busy, I think it is extremely important to carve out time for people and passions outside of work. For me, that is making sure that I have time with my family. I am religious about taking my three kids to school every morning and I work very hard to not miss an opportunity to sit at the dinner table to hear about their day. The moments are precious to me. My teammates know that this is central to who I am as a leader, and I encourage them to do the same.
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