“As we’re all witnessing right now, especially with AI, it all comes back down to: are you an exceptional storyteller?” In this episode, Lauren Everitt shares how Okta stood up a lean newsroom inside comms, why the team favors second‑day analysis over breaking news, how C‑suite video replaces hard‑to‑ship case studies, and where AI meaningfully shortens prep without diluting judgment or voice.
Okta moved core editorial work from marketing to comms and launched a six‑person newsroom in April. The mandate: authoritative storytelling that earns attention and helps CISOs/CIOs act. The team partners closely with Okta Threat Intelligence, executives, and customers to publish:
AI supports research, outlining, and personalization; humans do the final 30–40%: voice, nuance, judgment. An AI governance council and mandatory Okta University training enforce voice, tone, and usage rules across the company.
Lauren Everitt is Director of the Newsroom at Okta, where she leads a lean editorial team inside the comms org. Her team partners with executives, customer marketing, and Okta Threat Intelligence to publish timely analysis, short‑form video, and flagship reports (including Businesses at Work).
Previously, Lauren helped launch thought leadership at Slack during its high‑growth years and Salesforce acquisition. She began her career in journalism (including stints in South and East Africa), a background that informs her focus on sourcing, interviewing, and story craft.
A look inside Okta’s newsroom, from editorial stance to operating model. Here are the highlights:
For Lauren, their competitive edge iis taste. She hires ex-journalists because they bring a nose for the story: they source better, ask sharper questions, and know the “money quote” when they hear it.
Six people, new mandate, and a simple rule: show impact fast or stop asking for more budget. That P&L mindset shows up in the work: clear priorities, sharp measurement, and deliverables tied to outcomes.
Rather than competing with trade publications on breaking news, Okta's newsroom has carved out a different editorial niche: "second-day coverage." Others might rush to publish first reports of security incidents, but Lauren's team focuses on analysis, context, and actionable insights that help CISOs and CIOs make better decisions.
Okta's Executive Exchange video series emerged from a practical problem: traditional case studies kept getting bogged down in legal approvals and never saw the light of day. These videos are less “what we shipped,” more “how leaders think.” Executive Exchange puts decision logic on camera — how a CISO frames a risk, how a CTO evaluates AI — which audiences find far more valuable than product demonstrations.
AI handles the grunt work for Lauren’s team: pulling background, shaping outlines, surfacing the best quotes. Humans handle the last 30–40%: voice, judgment, and the edits that make a piece feel alive. It’s a pragmatic split that speeds things up without flattening everything into the same tone.
Okta’s team uses AI to handle initial drafts and derivative content (ads, emails, social posts), then hand off to product marketers, campaign leads, or agencies for final refinement. This model keeps velocity up across teams without letting quality slide.
With 6,000 employees potentially creating content, Okta has built brand governance with real enforcement mechanisms. Okta University makes voice-and-tone training mandatory, and it escalates if you’re late: first to your manager, then up the chain. Pair that with an AI council that sets usage rules, and you get consistency at scale without routing every last asset through brand for approval.
This season on the Animalz Podcast, we’re pulling back the corporate curtain to show you how the largest, most complex B2B SaaS teams actually get content out the door. Our mission: demystify these hidden machines and reveal what it really takes to run content at scale.
Hear from content leaders of some of the biggest names in SaaS sharing the systems they've built, the battles they've fought, and the lessons they've learned along the way.
Check out other episodes in the season here
The Reeder (Devin Reed) (01:58): A go‑to newsletter for audience empathy and voice inspiration.
Content Marketing Institute (02:19): Consistently strong editorial Lauren reads.
Minuscule (02:34): A personal media pick: short, dialogue-free animated stories about insects.
Tim’s Africa Documentary Project (10:58): An early-2000s web series filmed and edited in Africa, capturing a first-time visitor’s perspective through weekly on-the-spot storytelling.
Businesses at Work Report (15:02): Okta’s decade-long flagship data report, now managed by the newsroom team.
Okta Secure Identity Commitment (16:05): Company‑wide initiative informing newsroom themes.
Executive Exchange (17:16): Short‑form C‑suite video interviews with customers and Okta leaders.
Oktane (23:14): Annual flagship event; this year’s plan includes broadcast‑style video recaps.
Jasper (27:28): AI assistant used for drafts, personalization, and derivatives.
Okta University (30:54): Internal training enforcing voice/tone and AI usage policies.
Wickstrom Dairies video (32:51): Slack customer story filmed on a Northern California dairy farm, showing how the farm coordinates milking and operations entirely through Slack.
Follow Lauren Everitt on LinkedIn.
