Hello! Welcome to this special sweet edition of The Switchboard. I’m your Editor, Julia Levy. In my quest to explore the ways we communicate and connect at work, I often find food stories to offer powerful metaphors. This is one of those posts. If the message in this article resonates, I hope you’ll share it with a friend and pass it forward to someone who might need sweetness or resilience in their work or life. “Desserts are stressed spelled backward.” This playful palindrome on a bakery’s welcome sign captured my curiosity as a kid. A gleeful discovery, it encouraged me to embrace the sweet ..read more

Hello, It’s Julia, Founder of The Switchboard. Thank you for being part of our community. I’m grateful to you for reading, reacting and commenting. If you enjoy this edition, consider sharing it with a colleague or friend. Share What sparked your career path and drives your professional path? If you look at my path, it's been very unconventional, but there’s a main thread — it’s always been about learning at the intersection of talent, product and teams. Each experience has led to the next – I’ve worked in sales, recruiting, operations and supported engineering and product.  I believe a p ..read more

From fairy tales to modern movements, children’s books teach important lessons in short stories with beautiful illustrations. As a genre today, it is known for sparking creativity, teaching empathy and celebrating differences. Today is a day to celebrate these stories — it’s International Children’s Book Day, a holiday started in 1967 in honor of the father of fairy tales, Hans Christian Andersen who made many of these classic stories famous with The Ugly Duckling, The Little Mermaid and The Emperor's New Clothes. To celebrate the movement he sparked, his birthday, April 2nd, was declared a ho ..read more

Women are the muses for The Switchboard’s brand — the telephone operators of the past transformed communications in daily conversations at work and at historical moments. For International Women’s Month, I took a look back at 24 incredible women of today who I’ve had the honor of featuring in this newsletter. From communications leaders to community-builders to founders, their powerful quotes share insights and experiences on important topics, ranging from championing kindness to choosing joy to investing in yourself. Join me in celebrating their impact by sharing this post, giving it a heart ..read more

Imagine it’s your first day of work. You’re assigned an ordinary project — design a picnic poster for the company’s summer employee outing. Instead of brushing it off as basic, you invest creativity into the project. You treat the poster like a work of art. Fast-forward, years later, your picnic posters are displayed at the Museum of Modern Art and prestigious art galleries around the world. Now, that’s the epitome of taking an ordinary assignment and transforming it into an extraordinary experience. This is the true story of Herman Miller’s Steve Frykholm, who is now Vice President of Creativ ..read more

☎️ Hello. It’s Julia. Thank you for dialing into The Switchboard where I explore the ways we communicate and connect at work and beyond. Later today, the third and final (for now) newsletter club is tonight, ​March 13th. The focus of our time — how to transform work culture. I hope you’ll join us for this live experience. RSVP Today’s edition focuses on an interview with Lorraine K. Lee. Learn more about our conversation below: What sparked your career path? I studied journalism but I knew I wanted to work in a non-traditional journalism role. As I explored opportunities after college, a man ..read more

? Press Play to listen to me narrate this edition. Happy listening! ☎️ Hello. It’s Julia. Thank you for dialing into The Switchboard where I explore the ways we communicate and connect at work and beyond. To celebrate Year 3, I’ve been hosting Newsletter Club conversations. It’s similar to a book club, except we read and discuss several articles published here. In one hour, you’ll meet each other, learn about a topic, share reflections and hopefully discover new strategies to take with you. The third and final (for now) session is on ​March 13th. The focus of our time — how to transform wo ..read more

☎️ Hello. It’s Julia. Thank you for dialing into The Switchboard where I explore the ways we communicate and connect at work and beyond. I’m piloting scheduling this newsletter for an earlier arrival in your inbox. Do you prefer this time? Reply to let me know. Today: February 28th is the next gathering of our newsletter club. Register as my guest to join the exclusive conversation on Work Hacks to Support Happiness and Success at 5pm PT / 8pm ET. Register This edition is inspired by our first newsletter club gathering focused on Executive Communications. We grounded our conversation with the ..read more

? Hello. It’s Julia. Thank you for dialing into this edition where I explore the ways we community and connect at work and beyond weekly. I’m hosting an exclusive subscriber-only Newsletter Club for The Switchboard’s community. The second session is ​February 28th. It focuses on Work Hacks to Support Happiness & Success. Reserve Your Seat ? On a personal note, if you like to bake and make an impact locally, join me for National Muffin Day, a philanthropic food holiday I co-founded 10 years ago. We’ll be baking chocolate muffins with a healthy twist on Sun. Feb. 25th at 1pm PT / 4pm ET or ..read more

? Hello. It’s Julia. Thank you for dialing into this edition. I’m hosting a special subscriber-only Newsletter Club for The Switchboard’s community. The next session is ​February 28th. It focuses on Work Hacks to Support Happiness & Success. Join me! Reserve Your Seat On this Valentine’s Day Eve, I have a confession. Last year, I bought myself a greeting card! I saw it on the shelf at Trader Joe's, and I made a spontaneous 99-cent purchase. It’s one of the best investments I’ve made in my career. Here’s why I highly recommend it:  ? ? Celebrate You I had a special professional occasio ..read more