NextUP – Breanna Ahern

Breanna Ahern, senior writer and podcast producer at STO Building Group, describes her career transition from an intern to a full-time employee. Ahern also discusses with Isis Simpson-Mersha and Dante Muccigrosso from Ragan and D S Simon Media about how she stepped out of her comfort zone and helped create an STO Building Group podcast, which has experienced high engagement since first launching. She also shares the importance of planning ahead.

ISIS: I am Isis Simpson-Mersha, Conference Producer and Reporter at Ragan.

 

DANTE: I am Dante Muccigrosso, Client Reporting & Media Planning Manager at D S Simon Media.

 

ISIS: We’re here with Breanna. I’m so excited for you to be joining us today.

 

BREANNA: Hi, happy to be here.

 

ISIS: Can you tell us what was your experience like transitioning from an intern to a full-time employee at STO Building Group?

 

BREANNA: I would say my experience transitioning from an intern to full-time was pretty seamless. I actually joined the corporate marketing team as a digital marketing intern initially, and through that role, I started drafting, you know, press releases, and social posts, and internet stories and things like that, more writing communications focused. And through doing that, I found that that was more of my passion. So, through my internship, I kind of naturally started doing more of the writing content versus the digital content. And so, when I joined the team full-time, I was offered a position on the copy team. And so, that’s what I’ve been doing ever since, but I was working as an intern during my senior year of college, and I was in the area, so I was there three days a week. And at STOBG, like we always treat our interns kind of like full-time employees like me. We don’t do the whole get us coffee type internship. It’s very like a learning experience for sure. So, when I joined full-time, I knew what I was getting into. It was kind of more just transitioning to having more responsibility. When it comes to like the day-to-day owning campaigns and things like that.

 

DANTE: And I know that you started the “Building Conversations” podcast and, you know, there’s so many topics and options for podcasts, especially in the media space. So, how did you develop the idea of starting this particular podcast?

 

BREANNA: Well, I don’t know if I can take full credit for like the full idea, but I am an avid podcast listener myself. And at the time, this was 2019. At the time, me and my team were talking through some more innovative ideas and ways that we can get our message across versus like just website content and like the traditional routes that we had been using for the last few years, like we were trying to up our game in terms of, you know, portraying our message and telling our story. And so, knowing that I am a podcast listener, my SVP of Marketing Communications, Rebecca Leonardis, asked if she thought that it would be doable for us to do a podcast. And I said, sure, not knowing everything and it really about how to start a podcast, but that’s how it kind of came about. And in terms of the topic that we decided to focus on, it was construction trends, mostly in the beginning, but since then, it’s kind of evolved into whatever we need content for at the time or something that’s kind of hot in the industry. So, like if we’re trying to push a sector specifically for a pursuit, then we might look into what the top trends for that sector would be and then see who in our industry and within our own company can speak to it. And that’s kind of how it’s evolved. It still is pretty focused on construction trends, but it’s not super, you know, we’re not following the like top trends in construction and, you know, making podcasts on them to a tee, it’s more fluid than that.

 

ISIS: Yeah, it sounds like you were able to add some creativity to the podcast, so that’s really cool. And also, I am an avid podcast listener as well, so we’ll have to connect on what you like the most.

 

BREANNA: Yeah.

 

ISIS: As a, you know, a young professional or really anyone in their career, I know it sometimes it’s like really hard to like pivot or like change roles and, you know, decide to take a chance, you know, for something else because you enjoy it more. So, what advice would you say to a communicator who wants to pivot their career because they found a new interest?

 

BREANNA: I would say go for it. Like I said, I didn’t have any podcast experience before. And just being open to like working through that with my team and knowing that I was going to have some ups and downs navigating the launch and everything like that was, you know, a challenge in the beginning, but I would definitely say just go for it and don’t be afraid to ask if it’s your idea or to take the opportunity if it’s presented to you like it kind of was with me and definitely pitch your idea with like a serious plan. Like think it through top to bottom before you bring it up just in case. Like, you don’t want to seem like you’re throwing something cool and flashy out there and haven’t thought it through. So, that would be my biggest advice.

 

DANTE: Construction is historically a male-dominated field, and with your podcast, we see that it’s becoming increasingly diverse. What has your experience been being on the forefront of that change and a catalyst of that?

 

BREANNA: Yeah, great question. It’s been great to see the industry changing. When I joined the company in 2017, like it was totally different. The way that the workforce, even within our company has changed is really pretty amazing. And through the podcast, it’s been great to highlight more female voices, more diverse voices, and also to be able to showcase like things that we’re doing within a STO Building Group and throughout like our brands as well as throughout the industry, kind of the programs that we’re putting in place to support those kinds of changes throughout the industry. Like we’ve done some podcast on our DEI program in Philadelphia that engages local minority businesses to see how we can, you know, reach that audience better. As a construction management firm, we’re always trying to get more diverse suppliers and vendors involved in our big projects and kind of prop them up in that way. So, that’s been a great experience. And the podcast obviously is an awesome platform for that kind of thing. So, it’s been very cool. And also, in terms of just the changing demographics, I’ve noticed there’s a big shift towards technology now that there wasn’t in the beginning when I started. When I first pitched the podcast, a lot of people didn’t know what a podcast was. I had to kind of explain what it was, what the purpose was, why it was valuable, how we could use it, where it would be published, all of that stuff. And now I notice that, like, no matter who I’m reaching out to, to be guests or to review an episode or something like that, they know what podcasts are now. And I think that has to do a lot with COVID, you know, working from home kind of forced construction to adopt technology a little quicker. Historically, we also are a little bit slower at that kind of thing, but that was really cool to see as well over the last few years, just the more engagement in terms of technology, social media, podcasting, all of that stuff has just exploded for us over the last few years.

 

ISIS: I love that you being on the side of change and then, you know, it makes me think about people who you’re pitching the podcast to, you know, what are their thoughts now? They’re like, oh yeah, this is a great idea or they give you any feedback.

 

BREANNA: I will tell you that they also love the podcast now, and they I often get a lot of like topic ideas from them, like they’ll be in a meeting and then shoot me a note saying like, hey, this would be a cool podcast idea. And then I add it to my list and we get back to it in a few months, but yeah, their engagement has just continued to increase and I just feel like so happy that they like it that it’s been successful and that, you know, it’s being recognized as a platform that’s valuable within our company. So yeah, it’s been a great opportunity for me and for us to STO Building Group and to showcase our people. So, yeah.

 

ISIS: How will you rise to the occasion over the next few months in your career?

 

BREANNA: For me personally, is to prepare for the moment. I’m a very avid believer in planning like I am organized. I need to have my thoughts written out like top to bottom to kind of wrap my head around it fully. And that way I know that when I get questions or people are, you know, kind of throw scenarios at me, like, what if this happens? Then I know I’m prepared. And so, this coming year, I’m continuing to lead the podcast. I have a few other key initiatives that I’m leading. And so right now I’m in kind of the strategic planning organization phase of making sure that next year I can execute even higher. So yeah, I would say prepare for the moment in order to meet the moment is my tidbit there.

 

DANTE: I love that. Yeah, definitely a planner as well.

 

ISIS: I think we’ve had an amazing discussion. I just want to thank you for joining us.

 

BREANNA: Thank you guys so much. This is great.

 

DANTE: Great talking to you. Yeah, really nice to meet you.

 

BREANNA: Nice to meet you.

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