Escape Velocity with Tracey Halvorsen: Where Strategy Meets the Unexpected

Jaime Hunt has spent more than two decades inside higher education marketing, including nine years as a chief marketing officer at three very different institutions. Now she is the founder of Solve Higher Ed Marketing, author of  Heart Over Hype: Transforming Higher Ed Marketing with Empathy , instructor at West Virginia University, and host of  Confessions of a Higher Ed CMO .   In this episode o...

Alia Poonawala is the founding executive director of Hire Hopkins at Johns Hopkins University and a Sundance-premiering actor. For years she kept the institutional executive and the artist in separate rooms. Then she raised $50K, hired a production team in Italy, and shot her own short film in two months, running it like the partnership deals she's closed for years at companies like Facebook a...

What does 20 years of leading digital at one of the world's most recognized nonprofits teach you about curiosity, change, and AI? In this episode of Escape Velocity, Tracey Halvorsen, CEO of adeo , sits down with Diane Querey, Vice President of Digital Platforms at World Wildlife Fund . The two first met in 2007 through Foursquare, back when checking in on an app counted as a social act. Nearl...

In this episode of Escape Velocity , Tracey sits down with Adrienne Cooper to explore what it really takes to build organizations where people can do their best work. Adrienne shares her unconventional path from TV news producer to Allstate leader to founder of her own consultancy, and explains how that journey shaped her approach to culture, leadership, and organizational design. They get into mi...

Tracey Halvorsen, CEO of adeo, talks with Dayana "Day" Kibilds, VP of Strategy at Ologie and author of Mailed It, about the language problem hiding in plain sight across higher education. Day has worked in-house in admissions and now leads strategy for dozens of institutions worldwide. Together they dig into why financial aid pages read like legal documents (paste yours into the Hemingway app and...

Your website isn't the thing anymore. Your brand message is. And most companies still have it backwards. Yianni Mathioudakis and Monica Sanchez run DEEO, a two-person design studio that made a gutsy call early on: turn down the wrong clients, say the quiet parts out loud about money, and bet everything on authentic connection over algorithm-chasing content. In this conversation, we get into wh...

In this episode of Escape Velocity Podcast , Tracey Halvorsen sits down with Sabrina Depestre , Senior Director of Enrollment Marketing at Maryland Institute College of Art , to explore how creativity, leadership, and resilience actually develop in the real world. This is a conversation about experience design disguised as a career story. From shaping fan experiences at the Miami Heat to modernizi...

What if fear isn’t an obstacle—but a signal? What if doubt isn’t a flaw—but part of the design? In this episode of Escape Velocity , Tracey Halvorsen sits down with entrepreneur, technologist, and author Kris Land , whose book The Infinity Within explores a radical idea: that human life is less a problem to solve and more a game to consciously play. Drawing from near-death experiences, early child...

What does it mean to hold space for everything—including the hardest parts? Tracey Halvorsen sits down with Jen Dary—leadership coach, founder of Plucky, and author. Jen has spent decades helping people become better leaders and managers, focusing on human-centered leadership, emotional intelligence, and creating sustainable work cultures. Her debut memoir, "I Believe in Everything," was...

Tracey is joined by Second Harvest’s Richard Banfield and Devon Warwick-McDonald for a candid conversation about what happens when the map of your life dissolves beneath your feet. From personal loss to career upheaval to the quiet ache of disconnection so many feel today, the trio travels through the terrain that leads people to seek change, and why traditional self-help rarely offers real transf...

How do you make creativity a strategic tool—not a luxury—when resources are limited and expectations are high? In this conversation, Skidmore College’s VP for Communications and Marketing, Elizabeth Stauderman , joins to unpack how she brought the school’s motto, Creative Thought Matters , to life through a full web and brand transformation. We explore why mission must drive strategy, how beauty c...

In this episode of Escape Velocity , I talk with Sarah Patterson , a Fractional CFO who somehow makes the numbers feel human. Sarah works with creative agencies and consulting firms to bring clarity, confidence, and calm to the financial side of things—the part most of us would rather avoid. We get into what really happens when you stop treating your financials like a necessary evil and start seei...

What does it take to break free from the gravitational pull of “business as usual” in higher ed marketing? In this episode of Escape Velocity , Tracey Halvorsen sits down with Mallory Willsea—B2B media consultant, AI strategist, and award-winning host of Higher Ed Pulse . Mallory shares how she built and scaled media brands like Higher Ed Live and Enrollify, why she believes leaders should stop wa...

What does it really mean to lead creative work in a world being reshaped by AI, complexity, and constant change? In this episode, Tracey Halvorsen sits down with Christina Melito, Creative Director at Fifteen4, for an honest, funny, and deeply insightful conversation about what creative leadership actually requires today — from managing stakeholders in regulated industries to operationalizing AI t...

In this episode of Escape Velocity , Tracey Halvorsen is joined by Traci Barrett—founder of Navigate the Journey, executive coach, former HGTV founding team member, and author of What If There’s More? . Together, they explore what it means to lead with clarity, navigate burnout, and make brave choices in business and life. From surviving betrayal and recalibrating after setbacks to building teams...

In this episode of Escape Velocity , Tracey Halvorsen sits down with Brigid Lawler, a seasoned enrollment strategist with decades of experience navigating the shifting landscape of higher education. From small liberal arts colleges to state institutions, Brigid shares candid insights on what’s broken in traditional recruitment, how schools can tap into their true identity, and why the admissions f...

In this episode, Tracey sits down with her 17-year-old niece Romy, a rising senior deep in the college search process. From TikTok dorm tours to admissions anxiety, Romy offers a refreshingly honest Gen Z perspective on what matters (and what doesn’t) when evaluating colleges. If you work in higher ed—or just want to understand how this generation thinks—you’ll want to hear this.

In this episode of Escape Velocity , I’m joined by someone I’ve had the privilege of collaborating with on some of the most meaningful projects of my career—Pete Mackey. Pete is the founder of Mackey Strategies, where he helps colleges, universities, and nonprofits find their voice, sharpen their story, and face the future with clarity and confidence. With more than 30 years of experience leading...

In this deeply personal and philosophical conversation, Tracey Halvorsen is joined by Richard Banfield—artist, writer, former CEO, widower, parent, and all-around human compass—for a wide-ranging discussion about identity, agency, grief, creativity, and what it means to truly be present in our lives. From confronting midlife reinvention and letting go of society’s need to label and define, to embr...

Before she was a stage 4 ovarian cancer survivor, Tracy Gosson was already a force. As the founding executive director of Live Baltimore , Tracy helped rebrand city living and sparked a movement to bring people back into Baltimore neighborhoods. She later launched Sagesse, Inc. , a boutique consultancy that’s helped cities and developers across the country reimagine how place, story, and investmen...

Carl Smith is more than a leader—he’s a community builder, a mentor, and, as I call him, the “daddy of digital agencies.” In this episode, we dig into everything from the evolution of agency life to the promise and peril of AI, the value (and curse) of ego, and why trust and human connection matter more than ever. Carl shares candid stories from his time running an agency, building the Bureau of D...

In this episode of Escape Velocity , host Tracey Halvorsen sits down with Ashley Budd, higher education marketing expert and co-author of Mailed It! , to discuss how email remains one of the most powerful communication tools—when done right. Ashley shares insights from her book, offering practical strategies and “hacks” for making email more effective in an era of overwhelming digital noise. From...

In this special episode of Escape Velocity , Tracey Halvorsen sits down with her 10-year-old to dive deep into what it means to be part of Gen Alpha. From rapid-fire fun questions to an in-depth breakdown of Gen Alpha slang, Fin offers an unfiltered, hilarious, and surprisingly insightful take on his generation. With plenty of laughs, wild tangents, and deep Gen Alpha wisdom, this episode is an en...

In this episode of Escape Velocity , I sit down with Elizabeth Bawol , Creative Director at Wide Eye, for a deep dive into the high-stakes world of political branding. We explore her experience leading creative efforts for the Harris campaign , her previous work with Planned Parenthood , and the challenges of branding within the constraints of political strategy and high-profile personalities. Eli...

Tracey is joined by Nancy Lyons , CEO and co-founder of Clockwork , a digital transformation consultancy, and author of Work Like a Boss: A Kick-in-the-Pants Guide to Finding (and Using) Your Power at Work . Nancy is known for her bold leadership style, no-BS approach to business, and commitment to transforming workplace culture . She and Tracey dive into the future of work, the power of personal...