Ashley Faus

Director of Integrated Product Marketing, Atlassian

Marketer, writer, speaker by day... singer, actor, fitness fiend by night!

I've handled all aspects of marketing strategy and execution, from product marketing, to demand-gen, to content and events. I love telling the high-level stories that resonate with an audience and connecting the dots between types of assets and distribution channels.

My writing has been published on TIME, Forbes, The Journal of Brand Strategy, and The Muse, and I've spoken on various marketing topics for INBOUND, Harvard Business Review, and MarketingProfs.

Visit https://ashleyfaus.com/ for more information about my book, "Human-Centered Marketing: How to Connect with Audiences in the Age of AI".

(Views are my own)

Head of Lifecycle Marketing, Portfolio

Hi! My name is pronounced like Micah with an H. For 15 years, my thing has been innovative content that grows brands.

Get in touch with me at young.heike@gmail.com.

I’ve been lucky enough to…

- Manage social media accounts for B2B and B2C brands with millions of followers
- Create written and multimedia content that influenced millions of $$$$ in Salesforce revenue
- Consult brands like Disney, Clorox, and L’Oréal on marketing strategy
- Ghostwrite for top execs in print and digital

My work has been featured in USA Today, CNBC, Forbes, AdWeek, VentureBeat, Entrepreneur, eMarketer, Business Insider, Media Post, and more. 

For two years, I produced and co-hosted an award-winning B2B marketing podcast for Salesforce. It won Best Podcast and Best Content Marketing Multi-Year Program from the Content Marketing Institute.

My team at Salesforce ran our YouTube channel (800k+ subscribers) and branded video content that grew our audience across channels, partnerships (like CNBC and Formula 1), and events (like Dreamforce).

I love B2B marketing — especially when it pushes the status quo and says something that makes the audience say, “I’ve never thought about it like that before.”

So, how'd I end up here? I started my career in book publishing as a development editor for the "For Dummies" series at Wiley. I managed every aspect of a book's creation: editing Tables of Contents, researching competing books, editing all chapters for overall theme and voice, managing art programs (including photo shoots and illustrations), and providing author guidance.

From there, I moved into social media and multimedia content creation in the agency world at BLASTmedia (now PANblast). This role allowed me to polish my content creation skills on a number of digital platforms, including video. I planned and created content for Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and beyond.

I then entered tech and joined ExactTarget's content marketing team as the first official content marketing hire. I subsequently joined Salesforce through ExactTarget's acquisition. I worked in ascending B2B content leadership roles at Salesforce for 11 years.

And then… a new adventure! I joined Microsoft in summer 2024 to lead content, social, and integrated marketing, managing our presence on the ground at global events like Cannes and pioneering an employee-generated (EGC) program.

In winter 2025, I struck out on a new adventure to be a content creator, consultant, and speaker full time.

Heike Young

Great news, I’m releasing a new original research report: “The State of the State of Reports.” It’s all about the role of “state of” reports in B2B marketing!

Stay tuned for my series of webinars driving to the lead form, so I can get your fake email address and add it to my CRM ✌️

Head of content 2x, Microsoft and Salesforce | Creator, LinkedIn and TikTok | Marketing consultant | Speaker

I’m excited to be officially working with Later as a content and social consultant! Perfect timing with their rebrand announced today ❤️‍🔥

Later is announcing a major moment for their entire company and brand identity. The past few weeks have been an amazing time for me to get onboard and support the team, as I've gotten to see all the energy around this rebrand firsthand!

We're now working together across organic content, social, employee-generated content (EGC), events, and beyond, and IMO this partnership is bringing to life exactly what the future of B2B marketing is all about.

Brands 🤝 creators, providing value to the audience.

Big thanks to Tim Clarke for bringing me onboard and collaborating on this vision.

I’m also going to keep working with them as a creator, which has been a fantastic partnership, and you’ll see me making videos with Later’s talented team at SXSW.

Can't wait to keep working with Later for the next couple months. LET’S GO!

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Loved my time speaking at Salesforce on the power of employee-generated content.

I worked there for over a decade, so it felt a little bit like Groundhog Day to enter the Salesforce Tower and make slides in the Salesforce template.

(The Salesforce templates are always elite, btw 🤌)

I led a workshop about amplifying thought leadership through personal, employee-generated content that breaks through the noise.

But the most amazing part of the day really wasn’t anything I did.

It was when I walked around to everyone’s workshop tables and simply listened to how passionate everyone was about their work.

I could tell every person had a unique, well-defined perspective on their industry, and they were beginning to figure out how to share it with the world authentically. The energy was infectious.

That’s the kind of energy you don’t get online. I love leading in-person workshops because you feel so much collective energy that everyone remembers.

(Because when was the last time you heard someone say, wow, the energy in that webinar was incredible…) 

Thank you so much to Ashley (Grabill) Young for welcoming me and teeing up the workshop perfectly, it was a blast!

Now I need to go home and hug my kids before I cry. Traveling mom life is full of highs and lows, y’all.

I haven’t seen anyone else say this, in all the commentary around the McDonald’s CEO video:

It’s *hard* to put yourself out there on video.

And I actually applaud him and his team for understanding the importance of social video, even at the leadership level.

If you’re not Gen Z or Gen Alpha, and you didn’t grow up whipping out your phone to film it whenever a clever thought popped into your head, this stuff can be near-paralyzing.

Many execs are totally comfortable presenting a keynote to a room of thousands of people, but filming a direct-to-camera video feels impossibly cringe and awkward.

Unfortunately, some stilted vibes came off in this video, so in my own video, I’m offering ❇️ three suggestions ❇️ for the McDonald’s CEO, based on the video he uploaded.

I’ve helped a lot of execs, including C-level ones, with their on-camera presence and social-first script development, so this advice is rooted in my personal experience.

What I really wanna underline is… I hope this experience doesn’t scare him or other execs off from making social videos forever!

(And I can see it’s not. He’s already uploaded another video since then, which is back to his normal average view count… around 100-500K instead of SEVEN MILLION for the Big Arch video).

It just takes a slightly different approach to scripting, delivery, and overall shot setup to make a video land on social media.

This is 100% a muscle that’s trained, and I can see he’s been putting in the reps even becofe this, so I appreciate the effort. Nobody is Mr. Beast on their first, second, or even three-hundredth try.

What obstacles do you normally find execs run into when they’re trying to shoot more social-first video?

I don’t know who needs to hear this but… You’re probably not terrible on camera.

You’re just comparing yourself to people who’ve made hundreds of videos. When you’ve made, like, two.

If creating social-first video is in your EGC and content distribution plan this year (and it should be), you have to practice before you definitively say you’re bad at it.

I made more than 300 videos last year and got incrementally better and faster every time. 

A video that used to take me two hours in 2024 now takes me a few minutes in 2026.

Keep going 👏

TFW your little neighborhood taco spot makes a cameo in the halftime show! 🌮 👏

I made 300+ videos for social media in 2025. A few mistakes I won't be making again:

NOT testing hooks. I gave up on videos way too quickly instead of testing them again with new hooks.

NOT collabing enough with other creators. Every time I worked with someone else, the video did great! I want to create in less of a silo this year. It won’t be so lonely.

Getting upset if a video didn't perform. I've been doing social media for 10+ years, and I still can't predict what works. I'm vowing to stop beating myself up over it.

And NOT batch-filming. Seriously... Filming one video at a time is a recipe for burnout. This year, I'm upping my batch-filming game in a big way with Riverside.

Check out this video for how I'm partnering with Riverside to get my content engine functioning in a more efficient, strategic way as a founder this year.

As a team of one, I can't be trying to do everything myself, and I need video technology that supports more than one use case at a time (and keeps me from losing my mind).

I'm super thankful Riverside exists for all the reasons you'll see in this video. If you're thinking about creating a better content engine this year, check out Riverside Pro for FREE for a month with my code HEIKE: https://lnkd.in/gdBqBTw3 

#RiversidePartner

Brand partnership • Head of content 2x, Microsoft and Salesforce | Creator, LinkedIn and TikTok | Marketing consultant | Speaker

“I’m terrible on camera. I’ll leave the video to people who are good at it. I’ll stick to just text.”

I hear this from people sometimes, and it makes me want to scream into a pillow!

No, I’m not saying everybody needs to make videos if they’re not comfortable with it.

What I am saying is that you can take simple steps to be more comfortable doing it. And give us the privilege of hearing your voice.

Im so glad I taught myself video skills a couple years ago. I felt super cringe doing it, but now I can create videos like this and make myself laugh on a Friday morning.

Being able to create videos independently, fast, and with essentially a $0 budget has opened up career opportunities I never saw coming.

Video is THE currency of social nowadays. And social is one of the primary organic marketing levers we have.

We need to be able to create videos as founders, CEOs, marketers, SMEs… or simply anybody looking to build their personal brand.

You don’t need to be in your 20s and look a certain way to be “camera-ready.” 

We need to hear from as many different voices as humanly possible these days. That means people who look different, are different ages, live in different types of environments, and much more.

On Tuesday at 9 AM Pacific, I’m doing a LinkedIn Live with Rachel Elsts Downey✨ about this very topic. We’ll be giving you proven advice to film videos of yourself you don’t hate… and maybe even like. Join us: https://lnkd.in/gAcXCrCu

Regardless of if you wanna learn video or not… this video goes out to all my Ladies in Business 2026, good job doing a business! 👏

In January 2024, I decided I wanted a new job. It took me until August to actually start that job, and that was fast by some standards.

So I’ll hold your hand while I say this. But yeah. It’s probably going to take a while to land that new job in 2026.

Thousands of applicants… Most of them qualified.

Picky hiring managers… Because they can be.

That’s why I created this short, medium, and long-term roadmap with my brand partners Teal. 

I’ve been using their job search tools for years, including on my last job search a couple years ago.

If you set a goal for yourself to get a new job this year, you need a plan that’s strategic and focused on long-term results, not mass-applying to every job imaginable.

Teal’s Resume Builder made my resume editing process way easier, especially as a working parent who doesn’t have a bunch of time to waste editing every word of my resume!

Check out Teal for your job search. It’s free to get started: https://tealhq.co/4tn0AJU 

A couple pro tips from me, a seasoned Teal user...

✅ I highly recommend *regularly* compiling your wins and performance data in Teal. So even if you unexpectedly no longer have your role, you’ll have all the data about the impact you drove at hand.

Hiring managers want to see data about your impact, not just stories. So make this a regular thing.

✅ Another thing you should be consistently doing: Asking your colleagues and managers for quotes on what it’s like to work with you. 

You want to ask for this when you recently finished an outstanding project, so it’s easy for folks to give you great feedback.

What other advice would you give to folks looking for a new role in 2026? Leave a comment and let me know!

#TealPartner #sponsored

In a previous job, I was asked for a list of YouTubers we could do sponsored videos with. I opened YouTube and just… stared at it for 5 minutes.

I genuinely had no idea how to pull a list like that, organize our budget, or really, manage any other details about the campaign.

It turns out I’m not alone!

I’ve talked to a lot of influencer marketing managers lately, and many are building the plane while flying…

and also getting absolutely *buried in requests,* as more teams understand the power of partnering with industry creators.

Check out this video I made in partnership with Later, for my dramatic reenactment of what it’s like to be in this role 💀

The good news is, influencer marketing technology has come a LONG way since I first was asked to compile a list of creators in a niche.

Later helps you streamline and run your entire program, so you can easily find creators, manage your campaigns, and scale your program to truly expand your influence.

If you’re an influencer marketing manager getting swamped and pulled in a million different directions this year, check out Later!

Not only do they have a fantastic platform for influencer teams, but their strategic services arm will guide and support you through the entire process.

Whether you lead a social team that dabbles in influencer work, you are a solo influencer marketing manager, or you’re an agency, Later is a critical partner to scale your influencer programs with expert tech and coaching.

Book a free strategy session with them, and stop getting buried in campaigns and tasks: https://lnkd.in/gF4UNqBq

When the last time you were asked to do something at work you had no idea how to do?!

Leave me a comment, I’d love to hear.

PS I did figure out how to make the list of YouTubers. Classic marketers… we always figure it out.

#expandyourinfluence #sponsored

I read a lot of marketing research. Most of it repeats what we already know. But I had one thought when I read Typeform's new report:

We are actually experiencing a pretty historic moment in marketing.

The kind of stuff history books will talk about one day.

Maybe they’ll call it “the great generative AI transition of 2024-2027.” Or “the post-digital marketing era.”

I’m a little bit obsessed with historical reenactments, museums, and animatronics.

So when I agreed to do a sponsored post with Typeform, and I actually read their findings, my mind immediately went to the historical.

I pulled out four thought-provoking stats for this video and made up marketing animatronic characters for each one. 

I’d love to know what animatronic you’d be if your job was in a historical reenactment?!

Check out the new Typeform “Get Real” report: https://lnkd.in/g3FH6vZY

And let me know what you think. This report was everywhere the last time they published it, and I expect this to be no different. #sponsored #ad #TypeformPartner

My kids keep scouring our driveway for “crystals.” Which are really rocks.

Plain landscaping rocks from Home Depot.

But every time we get in the car, they tell me to wait a minute so they can choose a special crystal to hold on the drive.

They look all over for the white sparkly rocks with soft edges.

It annoyed me at first, and then I started thinking about how crystals vs. rocks is just a mindset.

You can choose to look at your responsibilities and possessions as plain, dirty landscaping rocks, or you can choose the mindset of finding the crystals. ♥️

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Ashley Faus

Heike Young

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taplio

The Battle

Ashley Faus

Heike Young

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Heike Young's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreHeike Young's LinkedIn Performance