Poppulo Meets...Tara Carraro, Chief Communications Officer at U. S. Steel

Welcome to the second installment of our Poppulo Meets… series. Conversations with senior Communication and HR leaders about their work, their world, and what’s shaped them along the way. It's our great pleasure to introduce... Tara Carraro.

Tara is Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer at U. S. Steel, where she leads communications and branding, non-governmental stakeholder engagement and overall reputation management for one of America’s most iconic industrial companies that’s been around for nearly 125 years.

Tara always knew communications was the path for her. She started out working at Pepsi-Cola International on their groundbreaking celebrity endorsement with Michael Jackson.

From there, she continued to gain deep expertise in all aspects of communications and reputation management, taking on leadership roles at global companies, including Nestlé Waters North America, Heineken USA, WWE, and Altria Group/Philip Morris.

Tara sits on the Board of the PRSA and is a member of the Arthur W. Page Society, Communications 50, and The Seminar.

My first role was working summers at a dry cleaners while in college to help contribute to my education. In making conversation, one of the regular customers found out I majored in communications and offered me an internship at Pepsi.

I worked at Pepsi for four years—and have remained great friends with the man who hired me and jokingly claims he ‘discovered me’ at the dry-cleaning counter. A mentor to this day, he calls me the “Lana Turner of dry cleaning.”

From that experience I learned that first impressions matter! Even working the counter at the dry cleaners, I worked hard and hustled. And that can-do attitude got noticed and landed me the job that brought me to where I am today.

You never know where your next opportunity might turn up, so always show up and bring the best version of yourself to whatever you do. 

My path to corporate communications started when I was 16 years old. I interned at a local radio station and from there, I knew I wanted to work in communications. At first, I was interested in journalism. Then, my work at Pepsi introduced me to corporate communications, and I loved it.

The turning point in my career was when I decided to leave a job I loved. I was working at WWE. I adored the job, the people, the culture, the work—everything about it. And then, I was offered the top Corporate Affairs job at Nestlé Waters North America, reporting directly to the CEO and sitting on the Executive Team.

This opportunity was my dream job—one that I never allowed myself to imagine was possible. I had to prove to myself that I could do it.

The best advice I ever got was from my parents and it was: extra credit isn’t optional. A commitment to hard work is my signature, and my parents instilled that incredibly strong work ethic leading by example.

I consistently watched them work hard, sacrifice, and put their children first. When I look to hire individuals, especially entry level, I look for work ethic. You can teach communications, but work ethic is innate.

And the advice I wish I’d taken sooner was get an MBA or a Masters. Being a communications expert is no longer enough. A chief communications officer needs to know the business—finance, operations, sales, legal, etc.

I did a lot of self-teaching along the way. While that worked, it is a harder road, and if I could do it again, I would have gone to business school. 

If I could speak to my 20-year old self, I’d say have more confidence.

What I love most about my role at U. S. Steel is the relationship between communications and our CEO. Our CEO understands and values communications as a strategic growth driver. He’s open to new ideas, trusts in our expertise, and gives our team the runway to try new things and bring value to the business.

But what can make it tough is parts of the organization don’t recognize the importance of strategic communications, and you need to continuously prove its value. This is nothing new and an ongoing challenge for communicators everywhere. Fortunately, we’ve made tremendous strides by showing up, working hard and delivering results.

One leadership habit I try to model consistently is lead by example. Sometimes, that means getting in the trenches. Last year, my team and I arrived on site the day before a major event, and our third-party planner had let us down.

We had elected officials, community members, and the media all expected to be there the next morning. We rented a U-Haul and headed to Lowes.

My team and I worked hand in hand until 2am—laying carpet, moving plants, rearranging furniture, and setting up the venue. All hands-on deck—and together, we did it. I like to tell my team, “It’s time to GSD–Get ‘Stuff’ Done!”

The main thing I’ve learned about managing reputation at scale is it requires care and feeding. You can’t just rest on your brand laurels, because a good reputation can be lost in the blink of an eye.

To be effective in communications today, you need to be able to be a lifelong learner. When I first started my career, the main forms of communication were print media and mail. Then, email and the Internet came along. Fast forward a few more years, and we entered the age of social media, followed soon by influencers.

And now, AI. You need to be willing to embrace new technologies and innovation and figure out how to deploy them to keep raising the bar on communications. 

Looking ahead, especially in the age of AI, I think the role of communications will grow. Communicators are always being asked to do more, and AI will allow us to do that by handling routine tasks, freeing us up to think more strategically.

If I had to define my personal leadership style in three words, they’d be no prima donnas. For me, the worst thing anyone can say is: “That’s not my job.”

The last time I felt really stretched or challenged as a leader was keeping up team morale during a protracted timeline to finalize our partnership with Nippon Steel.

My team was on the front lines for nearly two years of uncertainty, curve balls, hyper external focus, and ever-changing circumstances.

Everyone was stretched to the maximum. There are only so many times you can tell your team, “This is great professional development.”

One trait I really value in the people I work with is work ethic.

But a trait in others that I find challenging to work with is laziness.

One accomplishment that means a lot to me involved building my team at Nestlé Waters North America. I built the team from the ground up, and we had a high level of trust which fueled high performance deepening our sense of unity as a team.

In another life I could see myself as an event planner. I love planning events and can’t resist a good theme (as my son would tell you from the birthday parties I’ve thrown him over the years).

— In conversation with Tim Vaughan, Poppulo's Editorial Director.

tvaughan@poppulo.com