Nike

A group of employees whose insights can be tapped into for feedback on NIKE Inc. initiatives or products for caregivers.

Nike Families - Care Council Member

-Act as main point of contact for all Social Media Engagement and Service touch points, strategies and operations, extending to external partners (i.e. Social Platforms and Social Capabilities Leaders). 
-Accountable for setting social engagement goals and service levels - and monitoring progress towards those goals.
-Defines opportunities for new investments in support of Social Engagement strategies and operations, in partnership with Social Innovation and Activation.
-Collaborate and form relationships across cross-functional partners in geo, marketing and across the enterprise. 
-Social Media Service Experience Design- creating innovative engagement strategies to increase brand affinity and member recruitment and retention.
-Create and manage sustainable and successful working models with key partners in the social space: Platform Innovation, Marketing Activation, Comms, Legal, Privacy, Product, Tech, Brand Storytelling, Brand Safety, Nike Intelligence Center, etc. 
-Set policies, processes, and best practice for Engagement operations. 
-Develop playbooks, operational success definitions and capability mapping - empower global operation teams to deliver effective, efficient and high-quality service and engagement across all social media platforms in alignment with brand objectives and marketing goals
-Partner with Operating teams to define best working models, ensure talent development and retention and build for business growth. 
- Global Service Experience Strategy for All Nike Apps - ensuring forward thinking and industry leading support for Nike's apps
- Design Innovative and Impactful Consumer Experiences Across Multiple Digital Platforms (Example: .SWOOSH)
- Increase Revenue and Member Conversion within Nike's Social Communities
-Lead social moderation strategy and process to ensure brand-right, consumer-safe experiences across our social platforms.

Global Director of Social Engagement & Service Operations

- Social Media Service Experience Design and Strategy for Global Social Platforms
- Operational Best Practice and Management of Global Social Media Teams
- Lead Innovation Efforts in Social Space to Enhance Consumer to Brand Affinity and Relationship
- Design Innovative and Impactful Consumer Experiences Across Multiple Platforms
- Increase Revenue and Member Conversion within Nike's Social Communities
-Lead Teams in Four Geographies, to Bring Relevant and Culturally-Right Experiences to Life

Global Director of Social Support and Expert Services

- Act as key point of contact for all Global Digital Commerce (GDC) teams with a focus on Running, Women's Training and Expert Services and to understand consumer experiences and impacts.
- Act as a key point of contact for all Brand Category and Corporate Responsibility partners where dedicated support is offered.
- Monitor support CS KPIs to identify trends requiring attention; elevate issues to responsible functional teams for issue resolution.
-Coordinate and lead key cross functional team efforts for key product or category initiative launches
- Identify and develop relationships with resources and content owners across organization.
- Attend and participate in cross functional meetings representing CS and Voice of the Consumer 
- Responsible for creating and developing enhanced service strategy and implementation plan.
- Responsible for proactively driving continuous process improvement.
- Develop and manage detailed CS project plans and related change management requests through implementation with Global CS Center of Excellence Leadership and Operations team.

Senior Global Category Partnership Manager:  Nike Women, Nike Running and Expert Services

-Oversee the Women's Training, Running, Nike+, Skateboarding, FBAT (Football, Baseball & Athletic Training) social media support businesses
-Enable consumer interaction with the Brand via Facebook, Twitter, various Apps, Instagram and Amazon.com
-Design global workflows to enable social support and engagement across global social platforms and accounts
-Innovate new Listen and Respond social strategies to enable athletes and build Brand affinity
-Refine our social "voice"
-Define social excellence and ensure adherance to KPI goals
-Coach the social media support team

Social Media Area Manager

Establish and maintain the relationship between consumers and the brand by providing a timely and relevant response in the social space. 

Lead a team of 8 to provide coverage to many social networking channels. 

Maintain a pulse on conversation about the brand.

Respond as Nike Running on various social channels.

Nike Running Social Media Lead

Manage and support nikerunning.com, a global marketing website. 

Concept and produce content ranging from video to photography. 

Planning, organizing, producing digital marketing campaigns with emphasis on community engagement and brand representation.

Associate Digital Producer Running

-Aided in project management
-composed public relations stories for the Nike intranet
-assisted in a complete analysis of the Nikemedia.com website
-aided in creation of a Nike social media policy
-contributed to marketing campaigns
-participated in a variety of detail-oriented tasks

Corporate Communications Intern

Chief

I’ve just joined Chief, a private network built to drive more women into positions of power and keep them there. Chief is the only organization specifically designed for the most powerful women executives to strengthen their leadership, magnify their influence, and pave the way to bring others with them.

CHIEF member

My house

Simultaneously performed my day job as a Director at Nike and delivered top-notch results, while also caring for a baby and toddler during a global pandemic.

- Performed regular risk assessments for health and safety
- Provided emotional guidance and wellbeing
- Administration of daily calendar updates and meeting coordinator
- Supplies sourcing - specializing in Covid Rapid Tests
- Navigated extreme ambiguity
- Prioritization of many, many tasks
- Budget management 
- Event planning of daily activities and team enrichment
- Nutrition and meal planning
- Education curriculum creator
- Facilities and daily cleanliness checks
- Catering
- Workplace design based on employee need
- Development of physical activity programming
- Instituted strategies for morale and mental health
- Transportation provider

Working Pandemic Parent

Oregon State University

Compile Statistics, provide accurate information to the media, maintain osubeavers.com with up-to-date information, interview athletes and coaches, provide office assistence and compose press releases concerning all Oregon State University athletic teams.

Athletics Communication Intern

Oregon Gymnastics Academy

Faciliated the instruction of fundamental gymnastics to children of all ages. Supervised a staff of 13 coaches for a gymnastics summer camp, maintaining organization and safety.

Coach and Staff Supervisor

The Daily Barometer

I covered a variety of OSU athletic events writing previews, recaps, reviews, columns and profile pieces (76 articles total).

Sports reporter

KBVR radio

Narrated play-by-play analysis of Oregon State gymnastics meets, broadcasted on KBVR radio.

Sports Broadcaster

I strive to be the type of leader who sets up my team so that my ceiling becomes their floor. I aim to leave a legacy of betterment in everything I do - from the operational excellence by which we win in the market, to the cultures that we create that ensure all feel welcome and cared for. 

A competitive gymnast for 16 years, there is very little that scares me. I have centered my career around creating new methodologies and platforms to build relationships between brand and consumer, coach and athlete. With over 15 years of experience in the sport industry, I have set a goal to help serve athletes with the tools, product and inspiration to make them better. I have coached teams of athletes and career professionals of up to 100 people strong, in countries all over the world. When your team is motivated, healthy and enabled with the tools they need to succeed, you win.

I once interviewed for a role very early in my career. 

I really wanted the job, so I prepared like crazy. 

I got the job. 

I later got feedback that I came across as intimidating during the interview. I think this feedback was well intentioned, but as I was relatively young and newer to the job market, this made me panic. I wanted to be likable and easy to work with. That feedback stuck with me for a very long time. 

I had done everything I'd been coached to do in an interview. 

I made eye contact, leaned forward, spread my documents across the table, answered questions directly and clearly, made it clear that I was invested in the role, and knew, without a doubt, what I was talking about. 

And now, looking back, I can't help but think, that the feedback they meant to give was "I was intimidated by how qualified you were." 

And now when I mentor people, especially women, I make sure to mention that people being intimidated by you speaks more to their perceptions of themselves, rather than you. 

Sami Unrau

I had a whole post that I wrote about how we care for people during times of immense change - and I deleted it.

Because you know what, there were people who were laid off today who had to then put on a brave face for their families, cook dinner, wrestle an over-exhausted toddler into the purple jammies because the pink ones weren't clean, pack for school tomorrow and read a bedtime story with a smile on their face, and I think they are heroes. 

And that about covers it. 







(Edit to reduce confusion: I am still personally employed. But many of my colleagues across many companies and industries are not. And I deeply empathize with those who are living this experience right now.)

Global Director of Social Media Engagement & Service Ops @Nike | NIKE FAMILIES - CARE COUNCIL | Views are my own and do not reflect that of my employer

What are some tips for coping with layoffs?

He practices braids at bedtime. 

He can make a perfectly messy bun. 

Space buns and pigtail extraordinaire. 

Ponytails are now easy. 

This matters to me. For a man who hadn’t brushed hair longer than a couple inches in his first 29 years of life, he leans into parenting and caregiving his girls wholeheartedly. 

Watching hair tutorials on TikTok and YouTube to make sure they are ready to go on his days for school drop off. 

Caregiving is a learned skill. And I am so grateful my girls have an example of a dad who says, “I can learn that.”

It is possible to be two things at the same time. 

You can be a team player and prioritize people outside of work. 

You can be dedicated to the work and take all your breaks. 

You can be empathetic for the human element and business results driven. 

You can work really hard and have strong boundaries. 

You can be a rockstar in your career and a great mom. 

Don’t let them tell you that there is one definition of success, that black and white is the only way. 

Be both. Exist in the grey. Better yet, be the one that finds the color.

It's been about 30k followers since I last introduced myself, so...

Hi! You can call me Sami. 👋🏻

I've worked at Nike for about 14 years and I've written/led every global social media service and engagement playbook we've had since 2012.
 
I’ve been an athlete all my life and I believe in the power of sport to transform lives. 
 
My friends would call me as transparent as glass – I have a tendency to speak my mind frequently. 🔥
 
Words are my gift – I’ve been writing since I could form letters and they are my form of self-expression.

I post a lot of selfies because I believe in boldly standing behind the statements you make, and I want you to know that I would say these exact words in real life, to your face. 
 
I am an unapologetic feminist who believes in gender equality and the value of individuals without finite boxes. ❤️‍🔥
 
I am a mother of two who survived two life-threatening pregnancies to bring her strong, beautiful and spirited girls earthside. And I will make this world better for them. 👶🏼👧🏼

I am (believe it or not) an introvert. And you'll often see me staring off into space during long social interactions. I promise I love people, I am just recharging my social battery. 
 
I love doing meaningful work – and when I can see the impact that work has out in the real world. 🌎 
 
I believe that our approach to work should be constantly evolving and support the person doing it - that’s the most sustainable way to produce results. 📈
 
I believe we should be able to bring our whole self to our career – every messy, talented, caring, loud, extroverted, introverted, beautiful piece of ourselves.
 
People will always be my number one priority.
 
Thanks for being here.

✨Let’s go change the world. ✨

Thank you. 🥹

I am humbled and overwhelmed by the support and suggestions from my plea for help yesterday for my sister. 

I’ll be honest, between this and looming layoffs, the stress lately has been heavy. 

And yet, it’s total strangers (Are we really strangers at this point? I’m not so sure.) on the internet who help me see the hope in the heaviness. 

So me and my venti triple shot are gonna go see what we can make of this day, feeling just a little bit lighter.

“I wish I had been there.”

I was talking to someone who had put in the time, built an epic career, had the accolades and was successful in every definition that corporate America gives us. 

And when I asked her what was one thing she wished she had done differently, she said that she wished she would have been there. 

She was talking about her kids. 

She was talking about the sports games, the school plays, the bedtime routines. 

The things that come along during such a short season, and then never again. 

And that sentiment stuck right to my ribs, right by my heart. 

And it became a core tenet of my views on leadership and vision for my own path - to intentionally “be there” in all the ways that I could manage.

In a world of job hopping to get ahead and fast track promotion to the top...

...I hope you have at least a couple periods in your career where you get to go deep. 

Where you stay long enough to build expertise that only comes with time, to build relationships that are deeper than surface level and transactional, and to experience the autonomy and credibility that can come from staying put for a bit. 

My team tries really hard to stick to No Meeting Fridays. 

We've been doing it successfully for over two years, so don't try and convince me it doesn't work. 

Our roles are about as collaborative as they come, and if we are not careful, 100% of our capacity could be spent in meetings - that's usually what my calendar looks like M-Th. And while meetings are important for relationships, coordination, alignment and decision making, they often aren't where the tangible deliverables get done. 

So we have to create space for delivery. 

We fill Fridays with email catch up, asynchronous collaboration (we aren't unreachable), deck building, recap creation, tools and systems work, updating trackers, playbook design - the hands on keys type of stuff that puts the ideas down on the proverbial "paper." (And sometimes, if we are lucky, we can even squeeze in some personal development.)

Is it perfect? Nope. Sometimes we end up needing to meet on Fridays. It happens. 

Will No Meeting Fridays work for all teams and industries? Of course not! But I guarantee that there is SOMETHING that WILL work for just about every team and industry that allows for heads down, focused work - the key is that you have to be willing to change and try new ways of working. 

We have to stop thinking of meetings as "the work." They are a mechanism to propel and align the work - but without time for tangible delivery, all we will have left when the meeting is over are fond memories of getting to chat with one another. 

If I were to ask any working parent what they wish they had more of, I bet you “time” would top the list. 

We have about 15-20 minutes to get dinner on the table every evening from the moment we herd our kids through the door to when they start getting hangry. 

And since I work out at lunch nearly every day, I usually eat at my desk and don’t have to time to run and grab something. 

One of the ways I try and maximize every spare minute is with meal prepping since takeout every night is not ideal for our family. It just cuts down on the level of crazy and helps keep us sane. 

I love cooking, and sometimes we can plan out multiple from-scratch recipes and make them in bulk to divvy out. 

Sometimes, I buy pre-made ready-to-heat meals from Costco  (Highly recommend the chicken salad - cut up a bunch of grapes and celery to mix in for an easy lunch option.) 

And sometimes I buy a couple large pizzas and put slices in ziploc bags. 

I remember the days when I had time to make dinner every night after work, and someday that will be my life again. 

But for now, we do the work to make it work. 

(Sharing the mundane reality of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into working parenthood because there is so much work that goes into making work possible.)

I will work efficiently. 
I will manage my time and calendar with rigor. 
I will ruthlessly prioritize and plan. 
I will get it all done when I said I would, or earlier. 

Because I WILL deliver at work and then I WILL get home on time. 

Because I won’t miss this - getting to watch her make her daddy feel so pretty sticking butterfly clips over every inch of his head. 

You’ll find I am epically motivated and productive when golden hour with my family is on the line.

We do Sunday dinners, around a table, together. 

Because as much as we try and do dinners together during the week, it's so easy to get caught up in the chaos with a starving toddler, a kid who walks in later from swim practice, bath times, checking tomorrow's schedule and preparing for the next day. 

The work week with kids can feel like the longest sprint sometimes. So much to do, never enough time. 

But on Sundays, we sit. We eat. 

And we listen to the three year old innocently call brussels sprouts "butthole sprouts" with all the sincerity and confidence of a kid who was so impressed that she knew what this obscure vegetable was called. 

Caregiving is not always a choice.

And yet, the way we talk about it as a "lifestyle choice" insinuates that it is a situation that people always willingly take on, that the burden of it should rest squarely on their shoulders. 

And while having kids is something you may personally choose to do, there are a billion other ways that people fall into caregiving. 

Adoption of family members to keep them out of an overtaxed system, caring for aging parents, medical emergencies, accidents, crises, extra care needed for those with disabilities and special needs, loss of a spouse, and hundreds of other life scenarios can initiate a path of caregiving for just about anyone. 

Caregiving is as natural to human nature and our existence as breathing. 

And breathing is not really a choice. 

Let’s hear it for the magic makers. 

The meal planners and cookers. 
The tiny egg fillers. 
The egg hiders who stayed up late and got up early. 
The basket assemblers. 
The bunny pancake makers. 
The researchers who found all the local kid activities and pre registered before they sold out. 

Every holiday, I can’t help but think of the people behind the curtain making the magic that so many take for granted. There’s work in creating joy. 

Hoppy Easter, to all who celebrate, from the Unrau fam to yours. ❤️ 

Let the sugar rush begin. 🐰🐣

There are few things more satisfying as a leader than working with your team to set them up for success and then getting out of their way.

They got this. I trust that they will keep me updated. And they trust that I am there when they need my help.

Empower and go. 🚀

I could write something about how athletics is my passion (true) and how grateful I am that I get to spend my days connecting people to sport (also, true) at Nike.

But instead, I'll just say that I really like it here, right here, on this patio, in the sun, with my bright pink dunks, surrounded by talented and creative people who give a damn about doing good stuff. 

Pretty good, pretty good. 👟 💗 

We used to have a poster in my baby’s room that said:

“You are braver than you believe,
Stronger than you seem,
And smarter than you think.”

Seemed like a cheesy, but good reminder. 

Thinking of my Nike friends and teammates today. 

I took a lap around the lake yesterday, it was stunning. But for all the beautiful landscaping, it’s the people that make that place something special. ❤️

You may not working parent the way that I working parent. 

And that is wonderful. 

My flavor of working parenthood is modeled after the things that MY kids need, MY capacity to provide them, and what is most important to US. And the same will be true for your own parenting journey. 

We have finite everything as working parents. Finite time, money, and sanity. And so we choose to invest those finite resources in the ways that make the most sense for each of us. 

For me, it ends up looking like prioritizing 5pm dinner together as a family (even if that dinner is a Happy Meal or giving them a plate for "whatever you can reach, you can eat" night), attending sports practices and events, story time every night at bedtime, and getting crafty with holidays and gift giving. That is what is important to me. That is what I would regret missing. 

And it doesn't look like being a part of the school PTO, volunteering in classrooms, from scratch meals every night, lots of playdates and scheduled activities or a whole host of other things that other parents may find valuable for their own families. 

We get caught up in false comparison when we turn working parenting into a checklist score sheet in which your value as a parent is measured in your ability to check off some arbitrary list of what makes you "good." 

Historically, working models have been prohibitive for parents who are trying to define this sense of "balance" for themselves and their families. It's not about propping up a singular vision of what working parenthood should look like, but rather propping up working caregiving in all it's forms. 

I’ve seen many beautiful decks pitching an idea or recapping a project in my tenure. 

But remember, if you strip the slides down to just black words and numbers on white backgrounds, and you don’t feel the same about the content, it’s not the work and ideas you’re reacting to, it’s the design and art of storytelling. 

Decks are beautiful. Decks are powerful. And decks can also be lipstick on a pig.

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