The Talent Brand Alliance is pleased to announce that Rita VanderWaal has joined us as Community Operations Leader!

Rita will be supporting the TBA board members and initiatives, including facilitating member connections and value as the alliance launches formal membership levels, the production of new Summit events, and the migration of all member activity into the new community platform. Our favorite part of the news? She’s been a talent brand practitioner and active community member for years, and understands the complexities and challenges of our growing profession.

We weren’t the only ones excited about Rita’s new role. Tom Wilson, (Biff from the Back to the Future movies) had a special message for her as well as a job title um, recommendation.

Don’t just take our (or Tom’s) word for it, here’s Rita’s personal reasons and some background for joining the Talent Brand Alliance:

An evolving career

I have spent my entire career connecting people to work. When I worked in casting, there was no more incredible thrill than the actor you've been championing for months lands the part. After my career shift which landed me in Talent Branding, I continued the aspects I loved about film and TV casting; the storytelling, trend spotting, connecting and wooing in a more traditional sense. I now apply those skills to creating brands and experiences which get people excited to work for an organization. I use my connection skills to unite the right prospects to the right organizations to help them make their employment decision. I've worked in staffing, as a consultant, and directly for an organization. I built various successful campaigns (and some that failed...I mean, who hasn't, right?)

Connecting people for good

I've always loved to connect with others doing similar work and celebrating their successes throughout my recruitment and employer branding career. I'm old enough to remember doing this via the phone, and now I rejoice that I can do it on social media on a much broader scale. I have loved watching talent branding evolve. Within social media, there are several top-notch communities in which it's become cool to celebrate creative work, geek out on other's successes, and openly share the strategy that drove that achievement. These communities are informal ways to collaborate and share knowledge, and they aren't just limited to our world; they exist across every topic imaginable. (Trust me, I just joined three to learn more about my Monstera plant). While these sharing communities are great, I find them lacking a bit because, as a Connector (hopefully you've read The Tipping Point), I am driven by a genuine interest in creating purposeful engagement to support and assist people.

A collaborative community

So, I was excited last fall when I sat down with Will Staney, and our conversation turned to the Talent Brand Alliance's future. I know from being a member of the TBA Facebook group since 2015 that it is a fantastic community and one of my favorite go-to places for opinions and facts. He shared more about his & Bryan Chaney's vision for an open-source forum off Facebook, which will offer a more collaborative arena and engagement amongst members. The new platform will allow for more purposeful connection by industry, mentorship, and location. It will be an excellent opportunity to share honest dialog about the issues we face, uplifting the profession, and building our industry standards.

Talking shop

Our conversations led to being offered the opportunity to support the Alliance and function as their Community Operations Manager. After many years of doing the work, it's exciting to have a place in all this, facilitating the very talented board members' work and assisting in developing a member-led community. Instead of a success story, there will be success. The TBA will grow and evolve as talent branding will in the future. The best part? This association will provide unparalleled connections across the globe, allowing others the same thrill I still get when "talking shop" with other practitioners like me.

TBA will serve the needs of its members

What will differentiate the TBA from other member benefit professional associations? I believe it is the founder's drive to serve the specific needs of members. They want to provide tools and resources they wish they had access to during their talent branding careers. The TBA will also highlight a member-led philosophy with no hidden agenda to sell or support products or vendors who want to market to this audience. They are excited to showcase the creativity we see across talent attraction and engagement, offer a place where mentors can share ideas that ignite great work. The entire community can help set each other up for success, which gets me excited.

Taking the road less traveled

I will continue to cheer everyone on and empower you from the sidelines, and as the employer branding profession evolves. I'll leave you with this quote from Bette Davis,

"Without wonder and insight, acting is just a business. With it, it becomes creation."

The same is true of talent branding!

About Rita VanderWaal

Rita is the Community Operations Manager for Talent Brand Alliance (pronounced Cahm-T-Bahh), residing in Chicago, IL. Throughout her career she has worked with internal teams and clients to educate them on innovative employer brand, recruitment trends and digital offerings to develop custom strategies for recruiting and retention challenges. It is her passion to understand and convey the importance of the ever-changing landscape of recruiting and talent engagement as a competitive differentiator for the organizations she supports.

In her free time, she is an avid reader and traveler and has recently discovered a passion for disc golf. Her goal in 2021 is to travel to at least five new disc golf courses in the Midwest.