Meet our newest Champion for Good: Nikki Silber! She's an Account Executive at Amazon, who knows a thing or two about the power of social good. Read her full interview with us below!
Q: How have you worked with the Ad Council? What campaign(s) have you supported and what was the project you worked on with us?
Nikki Silber: I’ve had the pleasure to work with the Ad Council team to support campaigns across Teach.org, High School Equivalency, Discover the Forest, Emergency Prep, The Shelter Pet Project and Love Has No Labels. Each of these campaigns help spread awareness in an effort to drive social good and highlight important messages within our communities. Being able to play a part in helping Ad Council connect with our Amazon customers is an incredible opportunity to do social good in tandem with my everyday job. I feel very lucky to work for a company that supports giving back.
Q: Social good ads pull at our heartstrings. What social good ad has made you cry or stand up and cheer?
NS: Love Has No Labels always creates extremely compelling stories that aim to strip bias and judgement from the world. I feel so passionate and emotional about these campaigns because it resonates so deeply with my views on compassion and love. One of my all-time favorites is the X-Ray campaign showing love at its core regardless of anything else. Cue the *tears* of love!
Q: How do you or your team integrate social good into your work, or how do you think your brand is making the world a better place?
NS: My team works hard to incorporate social good and giving back into our workplace culture. It is important to me to give back and when possible, I love to take the time to volunteer in person – since that is not always an option with busy schedules, we ensure that we offer opportunities to give back by holding donation drives and in office events that support great causes.
Q: Why do you think it’s important for brands to have a corporate social responsibility plan in the world we live in?
NS: Showing support and helping spread awareness of social good should be at the core of every corporate culture. It is important to leverage all avenues to help make the world a better place for everyone. As an individual, we are finite but having a corporation as large as Amazon supporting and encouraging their workforce to give back plays a part in providing infinite social good. It sets a great example not only for company workforces but throughout their web of touchpoints and the communities that companies touch globally.
Q: What was the greatest piece of advice someone gave you, and how did it end up helping you?
NS: The greatest piece of advice I got early in my career is that challenges and promotions most often will not find you, instead you need to work hard and make your goals known. Learning to be vocal about your goals is important, as is being self-aware to do so at the right time while knowing you’ve earned that ask is crucial to driving your career forward.
Promotions will not find you, instead work hard and make your goals known.
Q: If you were giving a commencement speech to this year’s college graduates, what would you want them to know?
NS: Patience, self-awareness, determination and most surprisingly, failure are going to be your keys to success. Patience to put hard work in as you begin to build your career. Self-awareness to always put your best foot forward but also recognize when you have not. Determination to challenge yourself and always strive to learn and be curious is important to better yourself both within your day-to-day role and beyond. Most importantly, you are going to encounter failure – embrace it and let it help you fail forward.
Q: What value(s) of your organization are you most proud of?
NS: Our leadership principles help drive Amazonians forward and consistently raise the bar. It is amazing to have a backbone of principles that I feel truly embodies who I am in my career, and the person I am outside of work, which also push me to be better. Another value is the diversity of talent that is hired and our ability as Amazon employees to challenge ourselves in roles outside of our career experience. I feel it is an extremely unique culture that provides endless opportunities to grow your career, find new challenges and learn new things.
Q: What can we look forward to from your organization this year?
NS: One of the reasons I love being at Amazon is the consistency of innovation and the notion that disruption is the new norm. It is an extremely exciting culture to be a part of. I am just as excited to see what’s next as you are!
Q: Tell us what you hope to see more of or experience more of in the next year, using only emojis.
NS: ❤️️✈️👨👩👧👦💆🤗🤓🐾🏈🍪
Love, Travel, Family, Relaxation, Fun, Learning, A Furry Friend, A NY Giants’ Superbowl Win and Cookies, because who doesn’t want cookies?