🏘️ Jessica Kleiman: Senior Vice President Communications, Lennar
Reflecting on Honesty, Kindness and Connections
Hello. It’s Julia Levy. Welcome back to my weekly newsletter exploring the ways we communicate and connect at work and beyond. Thank you to Jennifer Levine for nominating today’s interview. Have a suggestion for a story? Reply to this email or message me.
Top Takeaways
💙 Be honest and kind to everyone, from your teammates to the front desk team and beyond.
🪄 Make your “Work Wish List” and pursue those ideas
☎️ Pick up the phone to connect with your network
About Jessica
Jessica Kleiman is a seasoned communications professional who has helped transform brands across tech, media, sports/fitness and design through powerful messaging and strategic marketing communications. Currently, she is SVP, Communications at Lennar and previously served in senior comms roles at StubHub, Peloton and Instagram.
Kleiman is an advisor to early stage digital health startup, Hearty, and an operating advisor for Bessemer Venture Partners, one of the largest venture capital firms in the US, where she helps provide strategic communications counsel to founders and executives at the firm’s portfolio brands. She has written for many national media outlets over the years and co-authored the book, Be Your Own Best Publicist: How to Use PR Techniques to Get Noticed, Hired and Rewarded at Work. Kleiman graduated with a B.A. in Communication from the University of Michigan.
What sparked the path into your field?
I grew up as a magazine junkie. My goal was to become an editor or writer. I started by freelance writing for magazines in college. When I graduated, I interviewed at the major magazine publishing companies in New York but couldn’t land an Editorial Assistant position. So I found a job at a magazine PR firm, hoping it'd help get me back to the editorial side. Instead, I ended up enjoying communications and the rest is history.
I got to do everything in that first job. At 22, I was taking out the trash and stuffing envelopes, but also having lunch with clients in New York and flying to LA to pitch new business. It was the type of job where you really had to figure everything out on your own and was a great training ground for me. My boss never let my youth stand in the way of opportunity, and, for that, I'm very grateful. She also allowed me to continue to freelance write on the side while I honed my PR skills.
What values drive you personally and professionally?
Be honest and be kind. I'm someone who likes to put my head down, do good work and develop solid relationships with my colleagues. I'm a “shoot from the hip” kind of person, so I will always be straightforward and I expect the same from others.
One lesson I learned early on was always to make friends with the receptionists, the assistants, the mailroom and security teams. They really run the show behind the scenes, but they rarely get the glory. Those are the folks you'll need in a pinch, and if you're not kind and respectful to them all year long, you can't really expect their help when you need it. When you see people who are only kind to those above them or whom they think have power, it's a sign — you never know where people will go. You could interview for a job years later and that person you dismissed on the way up could work there and influence whether they hire you.
You should stay in touch with people you’ve managed over the years. I've watched many former team members grow and flourish in their careers, and it brings me great joy.
As you look back, is there a pivotal project that's shaped your career or inspired you?
The four years I spent at Peloton and the opportunity to build the comms function, team and strategy from scratch when they were just getting known as a startup brand was a pivotal moment. I love to build – I joined as a team of one and grew the team to 25 people globally. I helped build Peloton and its instructors into household names, took the company public and managed through major challenges.
When I started there, I made a wish list of press opportunities. One of those was to get our founder, John Foley, on the “How I Built This” podcast with Guy Raz, of which I've long been a fan. And we not only achieved that goal, but also ended up being the live interview they occasionally host in front of a full theater of people. We brought some of our team members, and it was one of my proudest moments while working there.
What are the skills needed for great communicators?
Communicators need to have strong writing and editing skills. That may sound like a no-brainer, but it's amazing to me how many people in our industry aren't great at these skills. When I was a freelance writer, I learned the importance of being able to express a story that's relevant to an audience in a clear and simple way.
Second, developing real-life relationships is crucial. Now, we can easily hide behind email or text and never truly have a conversation. Pick up the phone and call a reporter. Find things you have in common and use that to connect with them — whether you share an interest in dogs to went to the same college. It really makes a difference.
What's a hack or habit that grounds you in life and/or work?
I tried to cook for my family at least a few times a week. My 14-year-old daughter is a competitive swimmer and, when we lived in New York, she got home from swim practice so late that we rarely all ate a proper dinner together. Now that we live in Miami and she has practice after school, we all get home around 7:00 p.m. and try to eat together as a family every night. That's a gift.
If you could give a TED talk, what would the topic be?
The art of mentorship! I've been fortunate to have had several mentors over the years, both formal and informal. I continue to mentor others, particularly young women still in college or coming up in the business world. There's something very rewarding about being able to coach and support others and help them grow in their personal and professional lives that gives me energy, and I'd love to inspire others to experience mentorship as well.
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