Compass Communications LLC

When a crisis happens, the time to meet your Public Information Officer counterparts in the region is not right after the scanner goes off.

Back in 2015, my friend and colleague Chad Doran and I saw that gap and started a regional PIO network to connect the crisis communicators — police, fire, EMS, municipalities, counties, healthcare, schools and private sector — across northeast Wisconsin. Life happens, things evolve, and that group faded.

Last week it came back. Better.

I am grateful that Eric Rasmussen, Paula Van De Leygraaf and Daniel Kane, directors of Winnebago, Outagamie, and Brown County Emergency Management, took the initiative to revive and reshape this into the Tri-County Region PIO Group, asking me to join them. We created a mission, a vision and a plan to grow.

Thanks to our first presenter, Lori Blakeslee from Green Bay Area Public School District, who talked about how to validate and respond to negative social media.

Crisis communication is better and more impactful when the communicators know each other, trust each other, and have discussed the hard questions before the hard day arrives.

This group is building that foundation. I am proud to have planted a small seed a decade ago and even prouder to see what it's becoming.

Sometimes your "job" is to get the right people back in the same room.

I had coffee with Julie Keller, Executive Director of the Women's Fund for the Fox Valley Region, and Jamie Voster, two women who already knew each other but hadn't connected in a while. I made the connection (which turned into a reintroduction).

We talked about The Monthlies Project, Girl Powered Giving, and the Appleton Noon Optimist Club.

Julie and the Women's Fund have been championing women and girls in this region for over 30 years, awarding more than $2.7 million in grants. And Jamie has the passion and community heart that makes things happen.

Some of the best professional connections start nowhere near a conference room.

Vikki and I met Tiffanie at our friend Pamela's birthday party. I gravitated toward her immediately. She has this vibrant, magnetic energy and a big welcoming smile. All three of us are in marketing, all entrepreneurs (Vikki in a part-time capacity), and completely on the same wavelength. By the end of the night, we were already making plans.

We followed it up with a proper sit-down meeting over tacos to dig into what we each do and where we might work together. Tiffanie helps small businesses with rebranding, corporate initiatives, or basic day-to-day needs. She was interested in learning more about my fractional work and what we could do together and was also eager to keep Vikki busy with some project work.

Pamela wasn't aware we followed up with each other and are planning to work together but I'm pretty sure she loves this. I can hear her laugh and feel her arms around us in a strong girlfriend hug.

Samantha and I crossed paths years ago, and it was Women In Technology Wisconsin Inc. (WiT) that brought us back together when she joined a panel I helped connect her with. Catching up properly was long overdue.

In a note afterward, she said our conversation challenged her thinking and gave her clarity "in a place that was feeling a little muddy." She's been sitting with a question I asked her ever since.

It's a reminder of what honest, open conversation between two people can do. The Fox Cities really is a small world. And I'm grateful it keeps putting the right people in my path.

Here's to catching up way more often than every 6-8 years, Sam.

Four years after Abby first reached out through PRSA Northeast Wisconsin looking for her next opportunity in marketing and public relations (at the time she called me Ms. Mulholland; love that!), we finally sat down for coffee. We saw each other in person at a Heart of the Valley Chamber of Commerce marketing event. Abby is now doing great work at Appleton Downtown, and it was fun to reconnect, hear where her career has taken her, and talk about professional growth and development.

This is one of many reasons why I say yes to coffee.

Two years ago yesterday, I quietly went full time at Compass Communications.

This past year:
🧭 I sent 62 invoices, 12 more than my first year.
🧭 I billed 16 different organizations, up 5 from the previous year. To note, my first year I did many presentations, so many of those invoices were for one-time work.
🧭 That means this second year I increased my number of clients - steady, consistent work - by at least one-third and decreased the number of paid presentations.
🧭 I met more than 120 people for coffee, lunch, or wine, 40 more than the year before (and yes, mostly coffee. I am well caffeinated).
🧭 I wrote 130 handwritten thank-you notes to clients, connectors, and people who simply believed in me.
🧭 Financially, I grew by another third this year, making almost twice as much as what I did when I was employed.

I'm working fewer hours. Traveling more. Making time for the people and experiences that fill my cup.

Two years in, and I'm more energized than I was on Day One. The growth has been unbelievable, but the relationships I have built and the impact my work has had are what I'm most proud of.

To everyone who's been part of this: thank you.

Arlington PreK-8 in Pittsburgh went from 105 fights to 7 in a single school year through daily huddles, healing circles, and leaders who actually see their students.

As the school year winds down, I think this is a perfect post to share. I don't live in Pittsburgh. But I am invested in this city.

This is Pittsburgh Futures Collaborative work, and I work alongside its founders Geoff Webster and Paul O'Neill, who celebrate this initiative's progress, challenges and journey. They reinforce that it takes discipline and humility and includes a relentless belief that communities can be better, and that the people closest to the problem are the ones who will get you there.

Having been exposed to the ThedaCare Community Health Action Team in Northeast Wisconsin, I've seen firsthand what happens when people in a community decide to stop reacting and start truly understanding what's in front of them. Pittsburgh is doing that in a school with kids who need someone to show up for them every single day.

Proud to know people who love their city this much.

Read the Pittsburgh's Public Source article: https://www.publicsource.org/pittsburgh-schools-preventing-fights/

As the school year comes to an end, I wrapped my second podcast for SCORE Mentors Northeast Wisconsin.

My kids recently graduated high school. Many of my friends are teachers; my brother and mom were teachers. Education is personal to me; I talk about it often. Chatting with Britni Walz and Jennifer Riggle of LIFToFFS Learning Collaborative about rethinking how we prepare students was a fun, interesting and timely conversation.

I asked the question "will AI replace teachers?" AI is accelerating change, amplifying human potential and creating learning environments where students and educators can thrive.

The future is changing faster than education systems were designed to respond to. Preparing students today requires more than content knowledge. Students need durable skills, authentic learning experiences, adaptability, curiosity, and opportunities to connect learning to purpose and community.

Britni and Jennifer are doing incredible work through LIFToFFS, a nonprofit pushing for education built around human potential, not standardized tests.

Grateful to my co-host Rick Sense for this educational - literally - conversation.

🎧 Listen here: https://www.score.org/wi/northeast-wisconsin/podcasts/liftoffs-learning-britni-walz-chief-impact-officer-and-jenny-riggle-chief-innovation-officer/

I had a great coffee and tour of the new Gold Cross Ambulance main offices with Executive Director Nick Romenesko.

Nick and I have known each other for over a dozen years and have had the privilege of working together, so it was wonderful to reconnect and see firsthand how much Gold Cross has grown.

I was impressed with the scale of change happening in emergency medical services right now, including shifts in healthcare delivery to evolving response models. The new facility reflects that ambition. (It was also fun to see the "old" facility where I had visited many times over the last 25 years.)

Small world. Big connections.

My friend Alyson and Carie, who I recently met through the chamber, lived in the same apartment complex. The three of us got together and had a fantastic time. It was great to listen to them reminisce and I learned more about Alyson.

Our circles are smaller and more connected than we think.

Safe Driving Matters