Jennifer Sokolowsky

For Sarah Watson, marketing has an important role to play in business success. Marketing teams should partner with the business and customers to drive meaningful outcomes—and, most importantly—revenue.

Lumen is having a big year. The company was born in September 2020, when telecommunications company CenturyLink announced a rebrand to Lumen Technologies and brought to the forefront a focus on furthering human progress through technology. Transform spoke with Paul Savill, senior vice president of Product Portfolio Strategy and Alliances for Lumen Technologies, about the alliance between Lumen and Microsoft, and what it means for the enterprise world.

Sharon Michie’s family has been in the vacation rental industry for 38 years. In that time, they have experienced hurricanes, 9/11, the BP oil spill, red tide, recessions, and now, the COVID-19 pandemic. She learned a crucial lesson from these catastrophes: Be prepared.

Danielle Dirks, a short-term rental host in Detroit, operates several downtown units near major hospitals through her business, CozyHaus. Traveling nurses and other medical professionals have long been a regular part of her clientele. So when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she decided to use her resources to help medical staff battling the disease.

Two years ago, Christina Thoreson gave her husband, Christian, an unusual Christmas present: paperwork to form a nonprofit. The couple wanted to create a foundation that could help fund personal and professional development for employees at their short-term rental management company, Chattanooga Vacation Rentals. It sat on a shelf as they tended to their growing business, which manages properties in Tennessee and Georgia. Then came COVID-19. So they dusted off their nonprofit paperwork and relaunched the Fly Foundation, funding it with their personal savings, with a new mission: to supplement what unemployment does not cover so their laid-off staff could receive their normal level of income even while the business is down.