Communicator Spotlight: Nairi Hourdajian of Figma

Catch up quick: Hourdajian got her start working on Capitol Hill and for political campaigns before joining Uber in 2013 as head of global communications.

• She then ran marketing and communications for early-stage venture capital firm Canaan before joining Figma in 2020.

What she's saying: "I love working for founder-led companies because it reminds me a lot of working for political campaigns," she told Axios.

• "The politician's brand and the message of the campaign are inexorably linked. And that passion and care that a politician has for every detail of their campaign is very similar to how a founder cares for every detail of how their company is run."

Plus, both rely on finding and engaging with the most dedicated user bases, she added.

• "One of the things that I really believe, that I learned from politics, is that the intensity of sentiment is the most important thing that you can have," Hourdajian said. "So when you're doing that first poll about a potential candidate, all you need to see is that there is a really passionate sentiment about that person, even if the number of people who know them is small, because then you know that once they get to know the candidate, that that can potentially spread."
• "The same is true for products or for any brand or company. When you're building a brand, you need to inspire that kind of passion."

State of play: Hourdajian sits on the senior leadership team and reports to Figma chief marketing officer Sheila Vashee.

• She oversees the team responsible for communications, corporate affairs, brand marketing and community and experiential marketing.
• "I think of comms as a brand strategy function," she said. "You're essentially showing the world who you are through your actions. And so, how are you advising the business? How are you driving ideas, messages, stories and tactical executions that tell the story that is important to tell for your business?"

Zoom in: Her team just executed their sixth Config — an annual conference for Figma users and community members — and supported the launch of four new products.

• The company is also focused on growing internationally, Hourdajian says, with offices now in Berlin, London, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.

What to watch: Communicating with a consumer lens.

• "We're a brand that mostly makes money B2B but we have a very strong consumer patina to our brand [because] enterprise buyers are people too," she said.
• "There's no reason that the language, the tactics, the execution, the visuals need to be worse or archaic or boring just because you happen to be a B2B company versus a consumer brand. And bringing a consumer lens to every company, no matter what space you're in, is something I'm really passionate about."
• She's also paying close attention to the marketing and comms strategies coming out of Oatly, Nike and Peloton.

Best career advice: Do not have a five-year plan.

• "You will limit your option space by accident. Wherever you are, in whatever role, if you're learning, being challenged and enjoying the role then stick with it. If those things start to not feel true anymore, pick up your head. Look around, but be open. You don't know where you could end up."

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