A Learning Mindset: The Pam Edstrom Scholarship

Pam Edstrom was insatiably curious, a connoisseur of questions and an exceptional listener, hungry to get to the core of an issue. Frank X. Shaw, a former colleague, and now the corporate vice president of communications for Microsoft, once said of her, “Ideas dripped behind her where she walked.” She loved to work with people to look at situations from every angle and build creative solutions together.

She was also a woman of action. Pam mentored countless communicators at WE and inspired her colleagues to take chances and lead fearlessly. She saw value in everyone she met.

A learning culture

Pam’s hunger to learn helped define our company culture. After her passing last year, we wanted to find a way to bring her passion to a new generation of communicators. The Pam Edstrom WE Communications Student Support Fund supports communications undergraduate students — because this generation of students will pick up where Pam left off.        

The first two scholarship recipients are Hannah Gavin and Marleny Monterrozo, students at the University of Washington. Earlier this month they visited the WE offices in Seattle to talk communications with Dawn Beauparlant, WE’s chief client officer.

The willingness to learn is a passport to getting ahead, embracing change, and ensuring a place in the future of communications. At WE, we try to create places and occasions for learning, whether that’s on-the-job, learning-by-doing, coaching and mentorships, or peer learning circles.

As Pam once said, “If you have a learning mindset, then there is no utter and complete failure. Because in the afterglow of success or the aftermath of failure, the one answer that matters is this — I learned something.”

Congratulations to Hannah and Marleny — we hope you keep learning!