🌅 Tori Barnes, VP of Communications and Corporate Marketing at Headspace

From creative writing to tech comms

Welcome to this interview edition of The Switchboard, my newsletter exploring the ways we communicate and connect at work and beyond. I’m Julia.

About Tori

Tori Barnes is the Vice President of Communications and Corporate Marketing at Headspace, a mental health and wellbeing company. In her current role, she oversees Headspace's brand awareness, corporate reputation, external communications, internal communications, advocacy work and non-profit partnerships.

Tori has over a decade of agency and in-house communications experience, specializing at the intersection of healthcare and technology. Tori is a graduate of James Madison University with Bachelor's Degrees in Communications Studies and Spanish. She currently resides on the South Shore of Massachusetts with her husband, two children and a giant Bernese Mountain dog.

How did you get started in your field?

I fell in love with creative writing as a little girl, thanks to my grandmother. We'd spend hours writing stories together based on magazine clippings. She'd put on a timer and we would both write free-form for as long as we could, and then come back and share the stories that we created. This experience sparked my love for storytelling at an early age.

In college, I majored in communications and discovered my passion for media relations and journalism. I landed an internship in Burson-Marsteller’s Technology Practice in New York. At first, enterprise tech didn’t sound all that exciting, but once I dug into the work, the stories and the people behind them, I was hooked. The internship stretched me in the best of ways. I built skills I still draw on today, and formed lasting relationships with some of the most talented and kind communications leaders in the industry.

Over the next six years, I dove into campaigns and client work where tech was reshaping some of society’s most pressing challenges—the most compelling to me being in health and wellness. That journey ultimately brought me into the intersection of healthcare and technology - a space I’ve been passionate about ever since.

What’s a value that grounds you?

Connection is a core value that drives my decision-making. I’m a convener in my professional and personal worlds, and thrive on building meaningful relationships and bringing people together. At the end of the day, I believe most people want to feel three things: seen, heard and understood. When you bring the right people together with that foundation, there’s no challenge too big to tackle.

As the VP of Communications and Corporate Marketing at Headspace, can you share your journey at the company with us?

I joined Headspace (then Ginger.io) in 2019, inspired by the idea that mental healthcare could be so much more than sitting in a leather chair in a therapist’s office. Technology not only made it possible to deliver care virtually, but also to integrate an entirely new set of tools like mental health coaching and content to help people feel better, faster - a category we defined as on-demand mental healthcare.

I came into the company as we were raising our Series C to build awareness of this reality and expand Ginger’s reach among employers and health plans. A few fundraising rounds, a global pandemic, a merger, (and two babies of my own!) later, I now lead Communications and Corporate Marketing for the combined organization, Headspace, overseeing corporate reputation, external communications, employee communications, non-profit partnerships and advocacy work.

In addition to being (by far) the most world-changing, powerful brand I've ever worked for and with, working at Headspace has given me the tools and language to support my own mental health and guide my family through life's ups and downs. I have the unique opportunity to partner with world-class therapists, psychiatrists, meditation and mindfulness experts every day, alongside Emmy-award winning producers, AI experts and innovators. This has been such a gift.

What’s a project you're proud of supporting?

In 2023, we launched our Mindful Families campaign - an initiative designed to raise awareness around the mental health challenges facing families, and provide accessible and engaging tools and resources for parents to turn to in a moment of need. The genesis of the campaign was to bring together world-class mental health and mindfulness experts with highly engaging brands and celebrities, including Sesame Street and comedian/actress Lilly Singh, to co-create fun, accessible mental health tools and resources for parents and families to turn to in the moment.

We activated our full marketing, comms, content, product and social impact engines to get these tools in the hands of parents and caregivers around the world. The project won a PR Week “Best in Healthcare Award” and has had a lasting impact on brand and social impact efforts.

Why is it important to have social impact part of your portfolio?

Our Social Impact program at Headspace allows us to reach communities that may not typically have access to our resources through our traditional channels (direct to consumer, employers, commercial health plans). This work is critical to our mission at Headspace of providing every person with lifelong access to mental health support. We’ve focused our work today on reaching those who support the mental health of the next generation - parents, caregivers and educators - building on the foundation of our Mindful Families campaign mentioned previously.

What’s a habit that grounds you?

Journaling. I try to write every day before the sun comes up. Some days it’s a to-do list, other days it’s an idea for work, or just a brain dump of how I’m feeling, but almost always it includes a quick gratitude list. As a working parent with two young kids, this habit helps me maintain a sense of clarity and purpose as I start my days.

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Thank you for tuning into this edition. I’m always grateful for your support in growing this community of caring communicators and connectors. If you enjoyed this article, give it a heart, consider sharing it with a friend or posting a learning on LinkedIn. Signing off. — Julia