How Hilton’s Emily Amesquita crafts leadership comms that employees actually engage with

Plus, Hilton’s senior director of executive communications shares how to build comms to boost engagement.

Emily Amesquita is a communications leader who’s always been curious about the world — and how to connect with the people in it. As a child, Amesquita tagged along on her dad’s business trips, visiting unique places where he inspected things like blimps and spacesuits as a quality assurance engineer.

Those experiences helped build the foundation for her love of travel, storytelling and path to Hilton, where she serves as senior director of executive communications. Amesquita helps senior leaders shape messaging that connects with people and drives impact. Her career spans roles at Capital One, Marriott International and Edelman, with a focus on executive visibility, change communications and storytelling.

You’ve worked with some of the biggest names in hospitality, finance and PR. Have you noticed any common threads or lessons that have carried through each role?
When you’re in the middle of your career, you’re not always looking back for through lines because you’re still in it. But if I had to pick one, it’s the power of leadership — and the power of communications to enable strong leadership.

My first internship was helping the governor of Puerto Rico and those stewarding the Panama Canal Authority. Then, while at Edelman, I worked full time and earned my MBA at night because of their tuition reimbursement program. I eventually started helping Edelman’s Washington, D.C., office with new business pitches. That taught me how storytelling and knowing your audience contribute to leadership and business growth.

After Edelman, I supported partners at two law firms in Washington, D.C., with business development and marketing. Partners in D.C. often lead regulatory practices, so they must be strong subject matter experts.

Then the opportunity at Marriott came up. I supported the CIO with comms and learned how to motivate teams through change. Later, I supported the chief commercial officer, especially for World Economic Forum engagements, which brought my international affairs background full circle. I also helped launch Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy — learning how to align a new venture with the company’s core values.

In your current executive comms role, how do you make leadership messages feel personal and not overly polished?

That depends on the moment and the channel. In person offers more flexibility for humor and anecdotes. On calls, you need concise sound bites or space for spontaneous moments. Platforms like LinkedIn are great for showing a leader’s personal evolution, their arc with the company, but in a way that feels very purposeful and intentional and … helps show the culture of the company where they are, too.

How do you connect brand narratives with employee engagement strategies?
Let your organization speak to you. Give them an opportunity to be a part of the storytelling, whether that be through Q&As, surveys or polls. Then, help your leader reflect that back to them — co-creating culture instead of just broadcasting messages.

What’s the most challenging part of your role?

Constantly strengthening my business knowledge and translating it into something compelling and digestible. You have to understand what’s happening at your company, who needs to know, and the most effective way to communicate it — clearly, creatively and with motivation.

How do you recharge outside of work?

 I spend time in nature. I’m on a wellness journey, and this year I earned my yoga teacher certification and became a certified mindful outdoor guide. I lead mindful outdoor experiences to help people rest and recharge by reconnecting with nature. I always try to make time for mindful movement and time outside

With so many channels — newsletters, intranets, town halls — what’s one thing communicators should keep in mind to boost engagement?

 I would always do your due diligence in learning about your audience.

Build your communication so you can have those metrics at your fingertips — and learn from them. We have a lot of different channels, but taking the time to build in those measurement points means you can see what’s working and you can pivot.

So, if you’re able to measure emails, are people looking on their desktops? Are they looking on their mobile? Is the majority of your organization in the U.S.? Is it global? That will help you think through your editorial strategy. What regions should you be storytelling from? You have to make sure that your content is short, pithy and visual. If a lot of people are looking both on desktop and mobile, is it easy to scroll and understand?

It’s about thinking about your audience. And then I think it’s thinking about what is the know–feel–do is. Is this email just for them to read and consume? Is it something you’re asking them to take action? Is it an emotion that you’re looking for them to feel?

I also think those kinds of things always help direct what channel you pick.

To hear how Emily Amesquita and other top leaders are rethinking internal channels to cut through the noise, build trust and move people, join Ragan’s Revitalizing Newsletters and Town Halls to Drive Engagement webinar on Tuesday, Aug. 12. Register here.

Isis Simpson-Mersha is a conference producer/ reporter for Ragan. Follow her on LinkedIn.

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