Communicator Spotlight: Liz Jarvis-Shean of DoorDash
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Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo courtesy DoorDash
Liz Jarvis-Shean is one of the most experienced startup communicators in the game, and currently serves as vice president of communications and policy at DoorDash.
Why it matters: Jarvis-Shean has a track record of thriving in intense, high-pressure environments — first at the White House, followed by Tesla, Airbnb and now DoorDash.
🏗 How it’s structured: She reports directly to DoorDash CEO Tony Xu and manages the comms and policy teams — which grew from 9 people to 65 people in just three years.
- They oversee functions like government relations, public engagement, policy development and research, corporate communication, internal communications and social impact.
- "One of the reasons I joined DoorDash was because of Xu's expectations. He believes communications and policy play a major role in business, and he wants my team to come to the table with ideas and input," Jarvis-Shean told Axios.
📈Trend spot: The evolution of public relations and what constitutes as media.
- "We have been pushing everybody to stop thinking about it as outlet-specific and instead think of media as audience-specific ... And that is going to be very different generationally and graphically."
- "It is important to meet your audiences where they are — whether it's on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram or Snap — and treat that channel with the same level of respect and resourcing as you would treat a more traditional media channel."
🌅 Morning routine: She wakes up around 6am and spends 45 minutes drinking coffee and scanning the news.
- "That's how I like to anchor myself in the day and get a sense of what's going on in the world."
🚨 News Alerts: To do that, she reads all the newsletters she can get her hands on.
- "I find newsletters to be the easiest and most efficient way to get the news that I need in the morning."
☮️ De-stress routine: Fresh air, exercise and light content.
- "In moments of intense stress, I cut back on my media diet and spend more time consuming content that is different from what I'm doing at work — like reading fiction and poetry, or watching Brooklyn 99."
📱Most used app: Slack
🧠 Best advice: Do your research. "To be an effective and impactful communicator, you have to know your stuff."
