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Welcome to Changemaker Stories from LOCAL - an ongoing series of personal interviews with leaders driving change across every industry and discipline. Because change shouldn’t mean going it alone.
This week, we sat down with Meredith Mascolo, a lifelong storyteller and communications expert who now serves as a Business Manager at Microsoft. With roots in music education and a career that spans nonprofits, higher ed, and high-growth tech, Meredith brings a uniquely human lens to organizational change. In our conversation, she shares what it’s like to navigate a massive acquisition from the inside, why creativity and clarity matter more than ever in corporate comms, and how thoughtful storytelling can bridge the emotional gap during moments of transformation.
My background is in music education. I was a music teacher for many years, worked in nonprofits, and worked in schools. I ended up working in higher education and got my master's degree in business with a focus on innovation and technology. And then I made the pivot to work in for-profit, really just because it moves much faster than education and has less red tape.
Working in high-tech and communications is the most creative job I've ever had. I’ve spent most of my career working in the arts and education, but my recent work has really challenged me creatively. There's a certain amount of figuring out what motivates people similar to how teachers operate — like how do you make something interesting to learn so that students (or employees) connect with and remember it?
Storytelling has been a constant thread in all my work. From music and teaching to my work at Microsoft, it’s all been about storytelling. If you tell someone a story, they're going to remember it better than if you just throw facts at them. Plus, storytelling hits the emotional component.
If I don’t understand it, how can I explain it to others? At Microsoft, I’m often communicating about new technologies and if I don’t understand someone’s answer, I’m not satisfied. I’ll keep asking questions or do my own research until I understand.
“I'm always putting myself in the employee’s shoes - what's easiest for them?”
Guide the way. For some changes, I create an employee-centered guide with instructions and scenarios. I work with the business to understand the change, but then I have to translate it for the employees by putting myself in their shoes and thinking about what they care about and what they need to know.
Comms people can attest to the craziness of it all, because we consult with every single leader — and each one is super different. It’s not a one-size-fits-all. Each process is different. Leaders will come to me and say, "Here's all the information. What do we do?” And so I can advise them: "Well, this should be a guide," or, "We should come up with a series of emails over the next four months," and then work with them on what that means. That partnership is so critical.
Metrics are like gold. Everyone wants to know if they're making an impact — that they're doing something. Otherwise, it feels like you're just shouting it into an abyss. With email metrics we can measure open rates and clicks — but when we’re talking about actual impact, like how people are feeling, it's a different set of metrics altogether.
It's harder being at home. I'm remote now, and I used to be able to talk to people in the cafeteria or stop by their cube. Those were some of the best conversations I could have, and I can't really do that anymore – so I find new ways to connect. It's not like I'm going to talk to everyone, but I can get a sense of which teams are doing well. And if a team is not doing well, then we can try and give them a little love in some way.
People like to see their own team, their own people. We did spotlights on different leaders, different products, and different formats. We would interview people, shoot videos, and we even recorded a podcast for a while. There are so many great things happening — but unless someone tells those stories, people aren't going to know about it.
The key is finding the right stories to tell — the ones that were successful or that weren't always paid attention to. “How do they do that? How do they start with that? How did they problem-solve? How do they make it something that comes to market?” There are so many stories behind how technology is built.
Prioritize recognition. Any person you're interviewing has a whole team behind them. I make sure to keep a dedicated section for shoutouts — who else worked on this? What did those team or team members do? People like to see their own names highlighted – it not only recognizes their contributions, but also helps readers understand who the teams are.
Building relationships is key for comms. You have to make people trust you and see you as the expert, and a big part of that is just talking to them; listening to them. What are your biggest worries about this? What's coming down the road? What do you want your audience to do? What are you concerned with that they're not going to get? A leader’s answer may be different than what the employee says. So you have to reconcile both things together.
Are you a Changemaker? We want to hear your story. Let's talk.
