Hala Habal has spent the majority of her career in print and digital media. After nearly two decades working at various daily newspapers, city, national, and digital magazines, she held a variety of editorial positions, from staff reporter, to managing editor to online editorial director, where she got a taste for the exciting, fast-paced world of online journalism and promoting that content via social media.
After transitioning from traditional media, Hala honed her expertise in corporate communications and public relations at Which Wich®Superior Sandwiches. As Vice President of Corporate Communications, she is integral in creating the brand’s voice, and making that personality relevant to fans.
How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
I’ve said this a million times over the years: I truly believe that every single employable adult should be forced to work at a daily newspaper (or digital news site these days!). The reason is that working a daily beat in a fast paced, deadline-oriented, aggressive environment culls every single skill you need as a leader down the road in your career. You are taught to respect the almighty deadline. You never shake that sense of urgency with every task you take on. Anybody who has been subjected to a salty old-school copy desk chief has developed a thick skin and appreciation for criticism that makes your work better. It teaches you not to be a prima donna about your writing and to understand it can always be better. You have to find and develop sources and stories every single day, and prove yourself trustworthy to those sources. You learn how to ask direct questions, not be afraid of intimidating people or situations, and extract the information you need. You learn not to take the first no (or 10th) for an answer. You learn to be meticulous, check and double check your facts. You have to be organized and confident. You have to juggle multiple sources on multiple stories, frequently simultaneously, and still keep your eye on delivering a thoughtful, clever, vetted piece – ON TIME. And you have to be self-driven and multi-talented. You have to be curious, ask questions, and make yourself an expert on topics every single day that you woke up knowing nothing about.
How has your previous employment experience aided your position as the Vice President of Communications for Which Wich?
My entire career was built on a foundation that began in the field of journalism so I spent years polishing that trade. In order to succeed in corporate communications, you have to know how to write and how to write well. You have to be able to use your words economically, wisely and effectively. I developed an appreciation that turned into a love of language and the power of words. I was able to take those skills and apply them in the corporate world to shaping the voice of a company and building a brand’s personality by carefully selecting the words and the impact that they have on guests. I’ve been able to help create a voice that is unique to the Which Wich brand and one that resonates with those we serve and those within the company.
Also, when I’m communicating with members of the media, I’m able to speak their language since I’ve been there and I know what’s important to them. I approach my position at Which Wich as a writer who has been cast in the role of communicator and public relations professional. I approach it with a reporter’s mentality. Not the other way around.
How do you maintain a work/life balance?
I am fortunate enough to work for a progressive and forward-thinking company like Which Wich that understands that you don’t need to always be physically present at a desk in order to be effective at your job. So, I’m afforded the flexibility to leave earlier and craft my schedule to allow time to spend with my family and focus on being a mother to my incredible daughters. Some of my best work is done after midnight at my kitchen table! Today, mobility and connectivity are a given, so there are many more options of how to structure a work day to be able to focus on both career and family – and not sacrifice one for the other. And employers need to realize the loyalty you get from giving that flexibility is priceless.
What have the highlights and challenges been during your tenure at Which Wich?
The biggest highlight has also been a challenge. It is, and has been, my great fortune to participate in building a brand in the early stages. When I came to Which Wich in the company’s 5th year, the brand was working toward a well-defined and honed voice. It was finding itself. So, as a writer, I was able to take some ownership in building that brand’s voice and fundamentally build the personality of the brand in a way that we’re still using today. There is copy that I crafted five years ago that I still go back to. I was able to help create the brand standards, social media voice, and the various other areas of communication. However, the challenge in doing that is that there are no walls or guard rails in place when you start. There are no clearly defined paths to walk. So, you’re starting from scratch. You have a lot of input at an early stage that you wouldn’t normally get at most international companies. But arriving at the point of feeling that the voice is clear and defined takes a lot of reigning in and fine-tuning.
What advice can you offer women seeking a career in your industry?
You need to master the language – if you can’t speak and write properly, you won’t succeed. It’s that simple. Read as much as possible. Learn to write and continue learning. Learn to elicit emotion from your words; to build excitement; garner loyalty; make your brand a welcome friend. Videos have to be six seconds and attention spans of most adults are shorter than that of an average goldfish. You have such a limited space to communicate, so the words you choose better be good.
What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?
In America, we are shamefully far behind other developed countries in creating programs that afford women the ability to contribute in the workplace and still raise a family. It’s a very difficult choice that so many women face, even more so in the current economic climate where the reality is that most households need to be dual-income or are led by a single parent. Until legislation changes, it’s going to continue to be a hardship for women and they’ll be faced with the stark choice of family or career. It shouldn’t be like that. No woman should have to choose whether or not to walk away from all the years of education and experience she’s worked so hard to achieve, just to stay with her infant a few more weeks or months. No woman should have to calculate whether going back to work means she’s barely going to break even on daycare. It’s an absurdity in this digital age where, with some flexibility, all women could have the opportunity to be both a good employee and a physically present parent. It’s a proven model in most other industrialized nations, where there is guaranteed minimum paid maternity leave, subsidized childcare, on-site childcare, flex hours, job sharing, and more. They’re making it work and their economies are benefiting from not losing those valuable contributing minds. Women are leaving the workplace in droves in the U.S. which is a shame. If we are willing to broaden the choices available to balance work and home life, we would see improved businesses and more balanced lifestyles.
What are your thoughts on Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In book and movement?
I agree with her assertion that there should be a more equitable split in parental duties in American households. The reality is most women have two full time jobs. They get home from a full day at an office and begin a second shift. The mentality is still that the onus of childrearing is still very much in the lap of the mother, regardless of what she contributes to the household income or time spent at work. That’s got to change.
I do believe, above all else, that each woman should have the right to choose what makes the most sense for her and her family. Having a blanket directive for all women doesn’t work. The onus to correct this dichotomy can’t be solely on women’s backs. It places too little responsibility on fathers, on government and employers to provide better child care, more flexible jobs, etc.
Which other female leaders do you admire and why?
It’s quite impossible not to respect the unbelievable accomplishments of Sheryl WuDunn. To pick just a few highlights: she’s a business executive, writer, lecturer, and Pulitzer Prize winner. Her reporting and writing with husband Nicholas Kristof in Half the Sky and A Path Appears demands attention. The on-the-ground reporting she is doing is helping to shed light on struggles faced by women and girls around the globe. She is giving these women a voice and using their stories to illustrate what a bare minimum of education and opportunity can do to transform entire cultures.
And you have to admire Malala Yousafzai. This brave girl has taken her personal horror and turned it into a society-changing campaign for the right to education. I share her story with my own young daughters to impart on them that they should take nothing for granted. The education and support and right to be free, to be heard, to self-express… those things come at such an extremely dear price for so many millions of young girls around the world.
What are your hopes for the future of Which Wich?
It’s been an incredible journey to see the brand grow as much as it has since I started 6 years ago, so my hope is that we keep growing and bringing the Which Wich experience to more areas around the country and around the world. It’s great to meet our franchisees who were unhappy with their corporate job and invested in Which Wich to realize their dream of business ownership, and I hope to see more people achieve that lifestyle. We have also made it a goal to improve any community where we open and are dedicated to making differences in the lives of those people. I just want to keep being a positive force to those we serve…and of course continue providing the most delicious wiches that money can buy.