Podcast Episode 3: Building a Purposeful Career
The Career Design Lab at Columbia’s School of Professional Studies recently launched a new podcast, “Rising to the Top: Lessons in Leadership.” The CDL team interviews senior industry leaders, including SPS alumni, who share the secrets of their success and reveal pivotal moments that impacted their career paths. Listen as they shed light on obstacles they overcame as well as wins they achieved.
In the third episode of Rising to the Top; Lessons in Leadership, we welcome communication leader Hayley Berlent, founder and CEO of The Additive Agency. In a thoughtful conversation, Hayley explains how she managed to build a meaningful career, the obstacles she faced and how it shaped her leadership.
Listen to the third episode of Rising to the Top on your favorite platform, and subscribe to the podcast to ensure you don’t miss future episodes.
Listen on 
Hayley Berlent
Growing up in South Africa, Hayley saw the effects of social injustice firsthand — and the power that a fierce passion and shared purpose can have in bringing about positive social change. It was this discovery early in life that inspired her to pursue her passion for telling stories and driving action, ultimately founding the Additive Agency.
Under the banner of Additive, Hayley and team have developed brand strategies, stories and experiences for clients as diverse as the City of Memphis, Columbia University, Harlem Children’s Zone, Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, Mount Sinai, Mercy Corps, Syracuse University, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and World Wildlife Fund, among others.
Prior to founding Additive, Hayley led large-scale brand transformation efforts at Siegel+Gale for clients such as the Y (YMCA), Aetna, Rotary International and Memorial Sloan Kettering. She also developed corporate social responsibility programming benefitting social enterprises in Africa and Asia. Hayley currently teaches a graduate class, “Purpose Driven Communications,” at Columbia University and serves on the
boards of Democracy Works and the Tyler Clementi Foundation.
