When you meet Gino Gemignani, you immediately sense how his creative upbringing has shaped his unique approach to corporate communications. With a 15+ year career spanning product marketing, executive comms, internal comms, and employee storytelling, Gino brings a distinctive perspective to connecting with audiences in an authentic, human way. Gino sat down with Colleen and shared his thoughts on corporate communications.
“I think the biggest challenge is cutting through the noise and distance to truly connect with audiences. We can’t just broadcast messages, we have to foster collaboration and communities. We need stories that resonate on a human level.“
Gino Gemignani
Colleen: Tell me a bit about your background and what sparked your interest in communications.
Gino: Creativity has always been a part of me. Growing up, my father was a chef and my mother an entrepreneur behind her own Christmas ornament and humorous greeting card businesses. I think that creative spirit is just in my DNA.
My path to communications really started when I was doing product marketing for a media and entertainment platform at Cisco. Since it was a small business unit, my boss was managing both marketing and executive communications for our SVP. He began delegating some of the executive communications responsibilities to me, such as creating executive presentations. I found I had a knack for absorbing details and crafting an engaging, visual story. That experience opened my eyes to how much I enjoyed communications and working closely with executives.
Colleen: You pioneered an innovative community at NetApp bringing together 3,000 people managers. What did you learn from that experience?
Gino: That people manager community aka The Leaders Edge, was one of my proudest achievements and a first of its kind at the company. In Internal Communications, we identified several communication challenges across functions and from leadership to managers. Organizational “siloing” was a significant issue, which is often typical in large companies. We wanted to create a unified channel for managers to not just hear top-down messages, but to collaborate and learn from each other.
I partnered with HR to build an editorial calendar around topics that mattered to the community – things like building the business, career development, and management skills. Instead of just broadcasting information, I focused on generating discussions and thought-provoking questions to get people sharing.
It took a lot of creativity and stakeholder management to get it off the ground. I had to make participation as easy as possible for busy executives by developing templates and scheduling dedicated time. I kept it meticulously organized and infused it with energy week after week.
Through that experience, I learned the power of fostering community and dialogue in a company. I discovered a lot about myself – how much I believe in my ideas and my ability to bring them to life, even in uncharted territory. It taught me to trust my creativity and problem-solving skills.
Colleen: Speaking of communities, you and I are both very involved in the Connexting group for communications professionals and you started several Success Teams for us. What motivates you to help others in their job searches?
Gino: Being part of the Connexting community has been so rewarding. As communicators, we’re usually focused on crafting messages to engage others. But supporting and learning from each other is equally important.
When I was going through job transitions myself, I experienced firsthand how isolating and challenging it can be. So I wanted to give back and be a resource for others. Leading success teams, I get to bring communicators together to share leads, provide feedback on resumes and interview skills, and be a sounding board.
It’s all about creating connection. Communications is such a dynamic, rapidly evolving field, and it’s easy to feel alone in navigating it. But when we come together to share our experiences, challenges, and advice, it’s really powerful.
There’s a lot of alignment between the community-building I’ve done within companies and what I strive to do within the Connexting group. It’s about creating supportive spaces for people to interact, grow, and help each other. That’s what really energizes me.
Colleen: How else have you drawn upon creativity in your communications career?
Gino: At Cloudera, I launched a blog series profiling employees and their inspiring journeys. Among just a few of the stories I uncovered was that of an Iraqi immigrant who fled Saddam Hussein’s regime to become a top salesperson at the company. I also highlighted a support engineer for top-tier customers who grew up in a migrant family working in California’s agricultural Central Valley and a woman who successfully transitioned from fashion design to software engineering. Sharing these authentic narratives was both meaningful and incredibly gratifying.
I’ve also tapped into my visual storytelling skills, like developing my own motion graphic video resume, and over the holidays I painted a portrait for my girlfriend of her dog Scout and made this video about it. Embracing my full creative self has shown me the power of authentic expression, enabling deeper and more meaningful connections with others.
Colleen: I really enjoyed that video about painting Scout! So, what do you see as the biggest challenge and opportunity in corporate communications today?
Gino: With the rapid shift to digital over the past few years, I think the biggest challenge is cutting through the noise and distance to truly connect with audiences. We can’t just broadcast messages, we have to foster collaboration and communities. We need stories that resonate on a human level.
I’m particularly passionate about building online employee communities and crafting compelling stories that go beyond announcing initiatives to making people care. I see so much potential for communicators to tap into their own creativity to engage employees and customers in authentic ways.
I’m excited to keep growing in internal communications, flexing muscles like project management, executive engagement, and community building, while bringing my natural creativity to the forefront. I want to leverage my talents and passions to have real impact.
Colleen: What’s your key advice for communicators looking to advance their careers?
Gino: Recognize and cultivate what makes you unique. For me, that’s always been my creative spirit. Growing up surrounded by that energy helped me see the world, and my work, through that lens.
I used to think I had to compartmentalize my creativity from my corporate identity. But I’ve learned that bringing all of myself – my imagination, my visual expression, my storytelling – is my greatest asset as a communicator. It’s what allows me to engage audiences in a memorable, authentic way.
My advice is to lean into what genuinely excites and inspires you, even if it seems separate from your day job. Nurture it and find ways to infuse it into your work. That’s how you’ll make your most meaningful impact.
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