🔥 Kill the noise: In Community #94

Your weekly boost of positive energy centering leaders, creators, and culture-makers from the rising majority

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🙌🏽 Welcome to In Community.

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“When we tell our truths, we are not alone.” – Jose Antonio Vargas

🎙️ Signal or silence?

That’s the choice we’re facing now. 

Last week, I wrote about how we can remix, not rebrand. The reality is it’s not just about disruption anymore – it’s about what endures.

Welcome to the era of resonance. ✨

This isn’t about the big launch or the trending moment. It’s about building work – and cultures – that echo. That move through teams, communities, and live long after the initial push ends. That can be felt when you’re not even speaking.

We’ve talked about breaking the system. But now, we ask: Can you build something that lasts without rebuilding the same thing?

👥 You’re here because you care about work that means something. You know culture doesn’t start in the creative – it starts in how we live, lead, and collaborate.

If that’s the work you’re doing (or want to do), consider becoming a paying subscriber.

You’ll unlock tools, frameworks, and conversations that go deeper than buzzwords – and you’ll join a community that holds each other to the real work of impact that sticks.

Why resonance matters now

We’re in a culture that rewards the new and forgets the real. Quick pivots. Shiny brands. Loud gestures.

But resonance doesn’t chase relevance – it builds trust. It takes root. And if your work isn’t built for resonance, it’ll be forgotten – no matter how loud it starts.

Right now, many of us feel the exhaustion of constant noise – the pressure to perform, to pivot, to keep up. This environment can leave us isolated, disconnected from deeper purpose. But resonance offers a way out: to root ourselves in truth, community, and enduring impact – and to feel less alone in the work and the world.

Resonance means:

  • 👉🏽 Culture that co-authors, not just campaigns

  • 👉🏽 Messages that live in behavior, not decks

  • 👉🏽 Values that survive strategy changes

  • 👉🏽 Feedback that shapes – not silences – the future

More than that, resonance happens when truth is shared – because as Jose Antonio Vargas reminds us, truth-telling creates connection. It builds community. It invites others into the conversation, making your work not just heard but felt, owned, and carried forward by many.

3 frameworks for building resonance — with real-world examples

1. Reverb Mapping 📡

Track who and where your message will bounce – inside your team, across your partners, through your communities. Where will it amplify? Where will it distort?

Example: Before launching a new Latine-focused campaign, a global brand ran deep sessions with internal ERG groups and external community partners. That early alignment helped the campaign land locally – with power and credibility – not just globally.

2. Participatory Narratives 📖

Don’t just tell stories – open them. Let your communities co-create, edit, reshape, and evolve the story with you.

Example: A beauty brand shifted from featuring “diverse talent” to building a platform where differently abled and nonbinary creators shared unfiltered stories of visibility and joy. The content didn’t just reflect a different perspective – it was born from it.

3. Resilience Loops 🔄

Design for feedback early. Don’t wait for backlash – invite critique. Let the tension surface before it becomes regret.

Example: An agency building new brand guidelines invited junior, and increasingly diverse team members into the process, surfacing power dynamics and blind spots. The result? A stronger, more aligned brand system – built in truth, not fear.

👉🏽 The truth is: Resonance starts with us.

Ask yourself: Is the way I lead resonating with the world I say I believe in? Am I building alignment – or just performing it? 

We can’t call for cultural change while staying silent in our own teams. Or loud in our decks but quiet in our actions.

Resonance isn’t about perfection – it’s about presence. Again and again.

ICYMI: I’m hosting an event next week

Join me for an evening of community, connection, bites, and bevs with brand marketing and media leaders during Advertising Week in New York City.

​Make sure to register your interest - space is limited for this curated event.

📊 Poll: In building true cultural resonance, where does your team get stuck?

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Thanks for reading and continuing to be here every week. I really appreciate it.

Know someone who’d appreciate this newsletter and should help usher in the era of resonance? Make sure to share this with them and let them know they can subscribe here for more to come 🔁.

In community,

Fahad