Women’s History Month: Meet Navanian Kelly Soderlund Who Runs Global PR
Samantha Shankman
Navan is committed to uplifting women, embracing equity through company values, and being involved with nonprofit and community impact causes. As March is Women’s History Month in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, we’re profiling innovative women throughout the organization.
Today, we spotlight Navan Senior Director of Global Public Relations Kelly Soderlund — the driving force behind the organization’s presence in the public eye. An invaluable member of the Navan team, Kelly has led Navan through multiple funding rounds and a rebrand, driving more than 3,600 press hits and 13,700 impressions in 2022 alone.
Kelly joined Navan in March 2021 and strongly believed that COVID-19 presented an incredible opportunity for Navan, and history has proved her correct. Her keen sense of the market pierced through the noise of the pandemic, and she accurately predicted the return of business travel, which she wrote about based on Navan’s booking data. Kelly also predicted the rise of team travel, which the Navan team built an innovative solution for seven months after she joined.
Kelly doesn’t come from a traditional PR background, which has formed her creative, scrappy, and successful approach to the job. She’s the definition of a “roll up your sleeves” leader and doesn’t rest until a project reaches the point of perfection. With a journalism background in data storytelling, Kelly is known for her ability to source, analyze, and package data to tell compelling stories.
While Kelly is known as an industry veteran and trusted source on data-driven travel trends, she started her career working for the innovative travel startup Hipmunk. There, she built a reputation for digging through the company’s search and booking data to find nuggets of information rarely reported in the media. She continued to grow and build Hipmunk’s content, social, and press strategy before the company was acquired. Kelly learned firsthand how legacy corporate travel operates and was excited when the chance came to join Navan and help craft a new way of traveling for business.
As a well-known thought leader in the comms-tech space, Kelly often speaks on PR, business, travel, and finance panels. She also shares her knowledge online to support up-and-comers as well as communications veterans.
Outside of the office, Kelly is a dedicated mom to two boys and loves chasing a good adventure on the slopes or the sea when the opportunity arises.