For Jessica Nirk, internal communication is more than delivering information—it’s about shaping how employees experience the organization.
When employees think about the organizations where they have done their best work, they rarely remember a single email, presentation, or company announcement. What stays with them are the moments that shaped their experience of the workplace—a leader who communicated with transparency during uncertainty or an initiative that helped them understand why their work mattered.
Those moments don’t happen by accident. They are designed with intention.
Communication has its greatest impact when it gives people more than information. It helps them understand why something matters and where they fit within the larger story.
That shift – from delivering information to designing experiences—is changing how organizations think about internal communication. Employees expect communication that feels relevant and human, yet workplace messages don’t always meet those expectations. The challenge is no longer simply getting information in front of people. It’s creating communication that gives them a reason to pay attention and a clearer sense of what comes next.
Few communicators have embraced that evolution more fully than Jessica Nirk.
Throughout more than two decades in internal communication, Jessica has approached communication as a form of experience design. Rather than asking whether employees received a message, she asks a different question: How did they experience it? It’s an approach that recognizes how intentionally designed experiences can shape the way people encounter and remember communication.
That perspective has guided her work throughout roles at Westcor (remember “shopping Nirvana?”), Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona, and now as Director of Internal Communications at Achieve.
Her career demonstrates what happens when communication moves beyond awareness and becomes a catalyst for understanding and action.
At Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona, Jessica developed a multi-year cybersecurity awareness campaign that increased suspicious email reporting by 210%, helped maintain zero successful cyberattacks, and earned a PRSA Copper Anvil Award for internal communication excellence. The campaign succeeded because it did more than share information—it changed behavior.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jessica also helped sustain employee engagement scores above 90% as teams adapted to remote work. Later at Achieve, she helped build an internal communication strategy that supported business priorities while achieving an 82% employee favorability score during a period of workplace transformation.
Behind each initiative is a simple belief: communication is ultimately about people.
Jessica sees the employee experience as an ongoing journey that begins before someone joins an organization and continues throughout their career. Her approach combines creative problem solving and a deep curiosity about what employees need from communication.
Collaboration is also central to her work. Jessica brings together leaders, employees, human resources partners, and creative teams to develop communication that supports both organizational goals and the people behind them.
As expectations of the workplace continue to evolve, her work offers a powerful reminder that internal communication is no longer defined by the messages organizations share. It’s shaped by the experiences those messages create.
In this edition of Brilliance@Work, Jessica shares how strategy, creativity, and empathy come together to transform communication into something employees remember long after the message has been delivered.
Designing Internal Communication That Matters
Information answers the question of what is happening. Meaning comes from understanding why it matters.
Jessica’s emphasis on answering the “Why?” and “So what?” questions reflects her belief that information becomes more meaningful when employees understand the context behind it.
Starry Blue Brilliance: How do you intentionally design communication that helps employees understand not only what’s happening, but how they fit within the organization’s larger story?
Jessica Nirk: You have to know your audience and answer the “Why?” and “So what?” questions for them. You must craft communication in a relevant way and deliver it where they’ll read it. You also need to communicate/prep their leader beforehand so they can answer questions for their teams.
“You have to know your audience and answer the ‘Why?’ and ‘So what?’ questions for them.”
Jessica Nirk
Where Strategy Meets Creativity
Strategy provides direction, but creativity determines how ideas come to life.
For Jessica, creativity is not simply about making communication more engaging. It’s a way to translate complex business priorities into experiences that people can understand and act on.
The way a message is shaped can influence what people notice, how they understand it, and what they remember.
SBB: Many people see strategy and creativity as separate disciplines. How do you use both to influence behavior and strengthen employee engagement?
JN: Your strategy has to get creative if you plan to make an impact. You can’t expect employees to pay attention and for your communication to cut through everything else if it doesn’t grab their attention first. Employees are so used to seeing graphics and videos on social media, yet we keep sending long emails from the CEO. That’s why things like infographics and short videos will always perform better.
“Your strategy has to get creative if you plan to make an impact.”
Jessica Nirk
Bringing a Marketing Mindset Inside the Organization
Employees bring the expectations they have as consumers into the workplace. They are accustomed to experiences that are intuitive and designed around their needs.
Jessica sees an opportunity for internal communicators to borrow from that mindset. Marketers are constantly looking for ways to earn attention and create relevance. Internal communication faces the same challenge.
SBB: How has a marketing mindset influenced your approach to internal communication, and what lessons can communicators borrow from the brands that employees interact with every day?
JN: Internal communicators are trying to do the same thing marketers are doing—break through and resonate. Since employees are so inundated with info and job demands, what can we do to break through and create that experience? We can use the same tactics that marketers use and that employees have frankly come to expect. Tapping into pop culture and tying two seemingly opposing things together grabs attention. For example, I tied a Microsoft upgrade campaign to Beyonce’s “Let Me Upgrade Ya” song and image. When there were feral cats on campus and we needed to communicate and tell employees to stop feeding them (I can’t make this stuff up!), the headline and lead referenced Taylor Swift and her cats.
Communicating Through Moments That Matter
The importance of communication becomes most visible when circumstances are uncertain.
Throughout her career, Jessica has helped organizations navigate moments when employees needed more than information. They needed to know that leadership understood what they were experiencing and was willing to communicate honestly about what came next.
Her approach reflects the idea that communication can do more than explain change—it can help people understand what comes next and move forward with greater confidence.
SBB: What have you learned about communicating during periods of change or crisis, and how do you help employees remain informed and confident during uncertain times?
JN: Change is hard, even when it’s change for the better. You also need to respect your employees’ BS meter. I hate to sound like a broken record, but transparency and authenticity matter, and employees know when you’re trying to spin it. That may mean you write what the company/boss wants you to write, but maybe also prep an alternative version that you recommend. This goes back to knowing your audience. We also use a simple template: intro including answer the “Why?” and “So what?” questions, then move on to what you need to know and what you need to do.
“You also need to respect your employees’ BS meter.”
Jessica Nirk
The Human Behind the Communicator
Communication may be Jessica’s profession, but her creativity extends well beyond her professional role. For Jessica, creativity is a way of seeing the world, shaping how she approaches her work, and the experiences she creates for others.
SBB: Creativity seems to influence every part of your life—from music to design to the way you think about employee experiences. How has nurturing your creative side made you a better communicator?
JN: From a very young age, I was taught to create authentic experiences—from performing on stage, to hosting friends and family at our home, to designing a room, or writing an employee message/crafting a communication campaign. It’s all about the emotion and connection to others. We’re all divinely connected, and I love tapping into that through creativity. I try to nurture my creative outlets and continue to be curious, which I think helps me be a better communicator.
Jessica’s work challenges the traditional view of internal communication as a function responsible for explaining decisions after they are made. Instead, she demonstrates the influence communicators can have when they help shape experiences from the beginning.
By combining creativity, strategy, and empathy with measurable outcomes, Jessica shows that brilliant communication is both an art and a discipline. It can turn information into something people understand—and ultimately remember.
Communication reaches its greatest potential when it moves beyond delivery and becomes an experience people understand, value, and remember.
Leave a Reply