Jessica is the Consumer Communications Director at Instagram, where she oversees all PR efforts across consumer verticals such as fashion, entertainment, sports, teens and music, as well as broader topics like well-being and small business. When she was young, her mother subscribed to the print edition of Women’s Wear Daily. She read the publication everyday and, at a young age, developed a love for magazines. Her passion for publications inspired her to attend the University of Michigan and study Communications with an end goal of becoming a writer or editor for a fashion magazine. Though she interned at a teen magazine while an undergrad, when it came time to graduate, she ventured into public relations to gain more exposure to the industry. She began her career working at a small public relations firm. “Working at a small company is a great experience because you really have to hit the ground running,” she said. “You have to do every job from meeting with the heads of companies to taking out the office trash at night. You have to be able to learn how to do it all.”
Over the course of her career, Jessica earned roles at established companies such as The Knot and Hearst Magazines. Her last role before her current position was at the parent company of LA retail brand Fred Segal. While she loved her time there, after a few years, she wanted to challenge herself in new ways. “It is very easy to stay somewhere when you are comfortable,” she said, “but I wanted to be challenged.” With that in mind, Jessica left and set out for the tech industry. She accepted a position at Instagram and has been there since.
“Networking is so important. It is about always having conversations with the people you meet because you really never know where something is going to lead,” Ashley said. “Always be open. It can lead you to great places.”
Jessica agreed, and added, “I don’t even like to call it ‘networking’ because it has the word ‘work’ in it. I like to call it ‘connecting’ because that is really what you are doing.” They both stressed the importance of constantly staying in touch with your network. “Don’t just get in touch with people when you need something,” Jessica added. “Stay lightly in touch throughout the year.”
While at first glance the technology and fashion industry can seem totally disconnected from one another, they are more intertwined than one might think. Jessica and Ashley shared how big of a role fashion plays in their jobs. “The entertainment industry is a major part of social media,” Ashley said, “and fashion is instrumental in entertainment. We work with our entertainment partners in Los Angeles to find interesting stories to share with our users. These partners are young Hollywood stars, directors, studio heads, and more. We work with them to give them best practices and creative ideas to shape and inform Instagram strategies.” She went on to share more of her personal job description. “My role is to find compelling stories to tell and think of ways to promote these stories throughout the year. We call the bits of your life that you share on your Instagram story the ‘moments in between.’ Instagram’s mission is to strengthen relationships through shared experiences.”
As Instagram has evolved, events like red carpets and fashion week have been an important part of the platform’s content. “We work very closely with all kinds of stars and entertainment companies during award show seasons,” Ashley added. “Our makeup artist base in particular has been expanding rather quickly. The app has really changed the way fashion trends are seen and shared. Events like fashion week have historically been incredibly exclusive, but with our app, now it’s accessible to everyone.”
Both women shared that Instagram is a passion-based company. “I love Instagram because I’ve always worked in content,” said Jessica. “Instagram is a content company, but the content comes from users, versus coming from editors. I find it really amazing to see trends form organically from our user base.” Ashley agreed, adding, “Instagram has become a source of fashion inspiration, and I love that.”
“With the shift in retail fashion as of late, we’ve seen more and more brands incorporate entertainment and media into their retail spaces,” What is a point of advice you could give to fashion retailers during this critical point of innovation in the industry?” Jessica replied, “I’ll say that from my time at Fred Segal, one of the things I loved about that company was that they really invented experiential retail in the 1960s and 1970s. The location in West Hollywood was really where the rock stars, celebrities, and coolest locals would come to hang out, eat, and spot trends. The Segal family understood that you have to make your stores a destination. Personally, I don’t enjoy shopping in department stores anymore. There has to be a reason for me to go somewhere. Retail has to take cues from digital companies. I think it’s really interesting that so many online fashion startups like Bonobos and Warby Parker are now opening brick and mortar stores. I want to know if they are using their online stores as a real-time database to figure out how best to approach their business before building brick and mortar, or because they are hearing from their customer base that they want to have a physical space in which they can go in and try on items before making a purchase. I don’t know what the answer is. I do know however, that physical retailers have to give customers a reason to be there.”
“Instagram is constantly adding new features to its platform to further engage its user base. How did you all approach the addition of the ‘shoppable’ feature to the platform?” another scholar asked. “We launched Shopping on Instagram a few months ago as a test, and it is still in its test phase,” said Jessica. “We begin with about 20 retailers including Warby Parker and Kate Spade. We don’t make money off of our Instagram shop pages. We created them because we were taking in what we were hearing from our audience and working to make the company and the app the best it can be.” She went into some of the differences between the Facebook and Instagram strategies. “We like to test things. We like to tip toe in and see how things go before we go all out. We want to make sure than we are doing things right. Facebook is all about ‘moving fast and breaking things.’ Instagram is a bit slower in how we roll things out. We don’t necessarily need to be the first to do something, but we need to do it our way,” she said.
“There is so much passion in Instagram,” Ashley added. “Everything that we’ve rolled out at Instagram is something that we’ve heard from our community that they want. We see the relationships forming on Instagram. We know how people use it and how it is so tightly incorporated into their lives. So because of this, everything that we roll out is going to be in response to that.”
Jessica & Ashley’s Word’s of Wisdom:
- Always stay in touch with every person you meet along your career journey. You never know when your paths are going to cross again.
- Be your own best publicist.
- Networking is about connecting with people.