Spotify’s Dustee Jenkins: ‘Always let them know you’re there’

Music carries us through the best of times and worst of times. For the past year, arguably the latter role applied. Amid the pandemic, an escape into a favorite song or creation of a new playlist has been a balm for the soul.

Dustee Jenkins, head of global communications and public relations at audio streaming company Spotify, embraces this responsibility with verve. More than 345 million people worldwide stream Spotify’s music and podcasts every month.

“Music has given people some relief during this difficult time,” says Jenkins, “We leverage music to respond to uncertainty, challenges and even bright spots.”

The experience of the pandemic is in many ways reflected in the playlists created by listeners over the past year. To wit, there were playlists created for baking bread, cutting hair at home, working from home and spring cleaning.

Jenkins spoke to us from her home in New York City, where she has been managing a global team of almost 70 communicators, helping to keep 7,000+ employees engaged and informed, and counseling Spotify on its efforts to support the millions of musical artists and podcast creators and their teams financially impacted by the pandemic.