What does it take to move from being brought in at the end to being the first call leaders make?

In this episode of Elevate, host Joy Fajardo sits down with Meghann Klein, Senior Director of Internal Communications at Marriott International's Revenue and Technology Group, to unpack what strategic internal communications really looks like when you earn the title instead of claim it.

Meghann has spent 20+ years walking into functions that weren't being taken seriously and rebuilding them into something the business can't operate without. From healthcare and non-profits to a rebrand at the Entrepreneurs' Organization that lifted communications value by 22%, she's built her career turning comms from a support function into a strategic lens on the business. At Marriott, she led her team through a major restructuring, introduced a business partner model, and rebuilt how internal comms shows up across 140+ countries and nearly a million associates.

In this conversation, Meghann shares the diagnostic questions her team used to rebuild after restructuring, why the Einstein principle is a communicator's best filter, how to earn your way from "phone tree number five" to phone tree number one, and why variable speed (not speed itself) is the leadership muscle women especially need to protect.

This one is for every IC and EX pro who's ever delivered beautiful work no one else saw, and wondered how to get pulled into the room earlier.