So we're in the Eastern market.
And you chose this location, right? I did.
I love Eastern Market.
We come here almost every Saturday.
But part of the reason why Eastern Market is so special to me is when we first
moved to Detroit from Chicago, it was the summer of COVID, right?
That very first summer, full summer.
And everything was closed.
There was no place to go and think about when you move to a new city,
part of what you love is exploring places right?
Restaurants and museums.
None of those places were open or available to us.
But Eastern Market
was that it stayed open the whole time, but it was a place where we could go.
You felt like you were a part of a community.
And for us, for my family, my kids and I like
this is a really special place, I think because it was one of the first places
that we discovered and connected to when we moved here.
Heather Geisler, our
Chief Marketing Communications and Experience Officer.
It's a lot kind of in one job title,
but there are so many different facets to your role.
Can you maybe just start us off and tell us a little bit about your job?
What do you do at Henry Ford? Yeah, it's such an amazing job.
And I have to tell you,
when I first got this job or started considering this job two years ago,
one of the things that I loved about this job was the fact that it did
include a focus on our brand and our marketing.
How do we make sure that people understand what makes Henry Ford a special place?
Communications, which is so critical in healthcare,
never been more important, both inside and outside the organization.
As we've learned so acutely going through COVID,
how important information and access to information is
and then the experience piece,
how are we really making sure that we are meeting and exceeding those expectations?
And so the ability to have a role
where you can really impact the end to end health care journey
for those that we serve was tremendous and very exciting.
I feel like you also get a glimpse into what this looked like
maybe 50 years ago, a hundred years ago, and the idea that it's a tradition
in a place where people have come together for so long, I think that's part
of what makes it a place that people keep coming back to.
Similar, in a sense, to Henry Ford Health almost, right?
Another anchor place in Detroit.
Another anchor institution, an organization that has such a great
history, reputation,
you know, some similarities and connected to generations of family.
Right.
And there's a similar idea when you come to a place like this is that
people have memories of coming there with their parents or their grandparents.
And at Henry Ford, you know, Henry Ford,
we talk about Henry Ford being like family.
We've taken care of families and generations who have been in Detroit
for years.
And that's a really important part of what makes Henry Ford
so meaningful for so many people.
So, Heather, how did you get here?
Kind of walk me through your trajectory that that led you to.
Henry Ford?
Yeah, I have a very eclectic background, my entire career has been spent
in marketing and communications and creating experience,
but I've done it for lots of different industries,
lots of different organizations in lots of different sectors.
So I actually started working at agencies for a number of years.
I worked for, you know, high profile individuals.
So for example,
I worked for First Lady Michelle Obama around her Let's Move initiative.
So lots of things connected to the health
care and public health space, but not necessarily in a health system.
I also worked in media for a number of years in New York
at MSNBC, the cable network,
really helping them think about what that brand could or should be
and how they could change the relationship with their viewers.
And then I went and worked at Hyatt Hotels Corporation.
So I was creating branded experiences
across 18 different hotel brands all over the world.
And so it really is at the core of everything
I've done in my career has been about meaning and purpose and mission.
I've been lucky enough to work for organizations for whom that's
been very important and for whom their brand and those experiences
really become the greatest expression of that mission and purpose.
And so looking at health care, in particular during COVID, in particular,
in a place like Detroit, in particular at a storied institution
with such a strong brand like Henry Ford, was a tremendous opportunity.
Wow, this is super cool.
So are you really into public art?
You know, is this sort of your
feel like I do and I feel like this is so Detroit, though, too, right?
I mean, the fact that there are spaces that have transformed
as the city has transformed.
And, you know,
I think it's really interesting because public art is about expression.
It's also reflective of the community, who you are and who you want to be.
So I think one of the things that's amazing about the murals in Detroit
is how they're used as canvases to express what's important
to communities, but also really important canvases for advocacy.
You know,
and you see a lot of really important messages about engagement and voting and
like the social issues that really have an opportunity to change communities.
One of the things I love about Henry Ford is how engaged
we are in public art and supporting the arts
and the connection between art and community and healing and, you know,
there's no shortage of really amazing, engaging public art spaces in Detroit.
What are you most proud of here at Henry Ford Health?
I would say I am incredibly proud
of the brand work that we did on the repositioning of the brand.
When I look back on that and I am proud of it, but I am proud
for what we as a as an organization have accomplished through that.
It took a long time.
It was the effort of the organization to really align behind
that new brand promise of being your relentless advocate
and making the impossible possible and opening their hearts and minds
to the idea that we could be something different in embracing
what it means to be “I am Henry” and really leaning into those stories
and that kind of sense of connection community
of that shared vision for who we could and should be.
That's something I'm incredibly proud of.
You know, I think a lot of people would have some interest in this.
But, you know, how do you, Heather, see the future of healthcare
from your very unique perspective that you bring?
Yeah, I think it's so interesting because I do think we're seeing
this tremendous rise in consumerism, in healthcare.
Right.
The emergent healthcare players, our retail brands,
their technology companies, their organizations who are taking data
and insights and understandings about what consumers expect from an experience.
And I think that that
they are setting the pace and they're reframing the expectations.
And I think that is both a challenge
for us, especially when you have a large institution
that's so storied and established, is how do you make those
pivots in the right areas that allow you to be responsive to those needs while
still staying core to what makes you different and unique?
So I think that's a tremendous opportunity.
Do you guys only come for the market or do you come downtown for other stuff?
Oh yeah. No, no, no.
We love to go to the museums.
We love coming down for sporting events.
So especially with a 12 year old son, we go to Tigers games and Pistons games.
And I love Detroit style pizza.
I love it, love it, love it.
I think it's praises high and low, even back in Chicago with my family.
So Detroit style pizza.
I didn't I didn't even know it existed really.
And it is
a thing and it's a thing worthy of celebrations
like yes, we are big, big pizza fans
for sure.
This is a women and leadership series.
What would be your advice to women of any age, women
that are coming up in their careers, women they're looking back at their careers.
What would you say to a young woman,
you know, who's wondering where their path is in life
and where they're going and what would you tell them?
When people ask me about my personal brand, I say, this is my motto.
And my motto is “never settle”.
And so I think for a young woman who's coming up and finding her path
and forging her way, this idea of never settling,
you know, for so long,
and that doesn't mean that you don't detour and it doesn't mean
that you don't downshift, but it's entirely self-directed, right?
Settling says that you're resigning yourself
to something you can't control or you can't change.
And I would hope that
when I think about my younger self and I think about other young women
that are coming in to really claim your power
and in that way, don't settle to let things happen to you.
I do think consistent across my career and this is true to who
I was at 18 and true to who I am today.
My work is incredibly personal to me.
I feel a high personal connection between my personal values
and the work that I do and part of that never settling was always making sure that
I was working in a place or on a brand or with an organization for whom
I had a meaningful personal connection and was aligned with my personal values.
And as
you know, Wendy, as my personal path has been,
I do think that that's been something that's been consistent across my career.
Heather Geisler, our Executive Vice President, Chief marketing, Communications
and Experience Officer, thank you so much for the conversation and the insight.
We appreciate you so much. Thank you, Lauren.
It was so great chatting with you.
With you.
And they've really good Agua Frescas.
Oh, delicious. It's delicious. I need some horchata.
We really like my favorite.
It's the weirdest thing.
It's like liquid rice pudding.
It's so bad for you...
Oh, you didn't have to say that.
Oh, it's not that bad for you.
It's totally like no calories at all.
There's nothing bad about it at all.