
Meet Grace Stansbery, PCM, the Senior Marketing Manager for Quality Outcomes, Research, and Analytics at the American Heart Association. Grace’s journey is a testament to the power of mission-driven work, beginning with her passion for meaningful impact and leading her to a role where she influences healthcare programs that touch 80% of patients across the U.S. In this conversation, Grace shares her inspiring path, the leadership principles that guide her, and the lessons she’s learned along the way—all while balancing a love for adventure, whether it’s hiking with her dog or soaring through the skies as a paraglider pilot.
What inspired you to pursue your current role, and what path led you to where you are today?
I always knew that I wanted to work for organizations that benefitted society, rather than profited from it. My current role works to support healthcare programs from the AHA that help providers measure and adhere to guideline-directed medical standards to improve patient outcomes. Having real influence on life-saving outcomes makes a very rewarding day job. I started my career supporting a small but mighty organizational and leadership development firm, where I learned the value of interpersonal communication and leadership skills. After that, I moved onto a role with a children's toy company. Since I was a writer, I began that role on the creative side and slowly moved into the marketing and analytics space. After that, I took an internship with a boutique marketing and strategy consultancy-- It was there that I was able learn many marketing skills and was exposed more directly to strategic planning. My role grew as the company grew. I worked with many clients across industries, exposing me to all types of tactics and objectives, but my favorite were the nonprofit endeavors. Eventually I gained the experience to shift my focus full time into the nonprofit space when I started as a marketing manager at the American Heart Association. I knew that I wanted to work at the national-level and focus on strategic marketing. After a few years I was promoted to senior marketing manager, where I lead a small team responsible for healthcare programs that influence 80% of patients across the United States.

Is there a defining moment that solidified your passion for mission-driven work?
I always knew I didn't want to spend my time and efforts simply generating shareholder wealth, but one moment really helped me define what I did want: Or marketing agency was working with The Synapsory, an organization that supports families whose children have physical and developmental disabilities. The organization leaders knew they couldn't solve every difficulty in the lives of their clients-- instead they focused on just making life a little bit easier through respite and play. A small film crew and I were on site to record video testimonials from some of the parents-- it was my first experience doing interviews. I was so moved hearing people describe just how much this one organization had done for them, and how much a just moment of respite can mean to families like theirs. I was struck both by the impact we could support, and by our team's ability to connect and create space for the interviewees. At the end of the day, I'd cried together with our interviewees several times. The end result was a very powerful video that I was so proud of. That really sold me on working for causes I could believe in.

What does a typical day look like for you?
I work from home, so I take lots of meetings over MS Teams. I try to keep meetings scheduled in clusters, to make room for work time. I also have most of my 1-1 meeting scheduled on the same day, so that I can really be present with my team and make space to solve any problems that they're dealing with.
How do you balance your daily work?
Project timelines are critical working within an organization as large as the AHA. Since there are often many stakeholders and permissions on any given project, it's always important to lay out each phase of a project. My favorite projects involve customer and market insights gathering. I love being able to parse out or untangle a dynamic or issue, based on what real people are experiencing in the market. That's the type of thinking that really guides decision-making and helps point everyone in the right (or at least informed) direction.
What leadership principles guide you in your work?
I've been so fortunate to have great role models and leaders throughout my career. I try my best to model the behaviors that I appreciate in my own leaders and superiors. A few principles I try to live by: Trust your team. Create a space where it is safe to fail. Ask why rather than criticizing work without understanding. Have a plan and share it. And the guiding principle from Kim Scott's book, Radical Candor: Care Deeply, challenge directly. At the end of the day, the best leaders are those who really care about their people as people.

Who has been the most influential mentor in your career?
Without a doubt, Lindsay Matush, the founder of Vario Consulting. Nearly everything I learned from marketing to leadership, I gleaned under her guidance. Sometimes the takeaways were as nuanced as the way she would deliver tough news to the team, or challenge a client's ineffective, but closely held approach to marketing. And sometimes it was understanding how to leverage a systematic framework to solve a problem. Both in the quality of work I learned how to accomplish and in the quality of relationships that I learned how to build, I came to understand that interpersonal stuff is business stuff.
But if I had to boil down everything to one critical step: Keep the end-goal in mind at all times.
People can understand and respect anything if they can see how it delivers on the aligned objectives. That goes a long way to maintain relationships and drive effective work.
What advice would you give to someone looking to make a difference in a mission-driven career?
Stick to what you believe in. It can be easy to be tempted by larger paychecks or "greener grass" from less mission-oriented organizations. At the end of the day, work is where we spend the majority of our time: it should feed your soul as well as your paycheck.
What’s your favorite way to spend a weekend or unwind after a busy week?
I love a nice hike with my dog, Francis and my partner, Davey.
What’s a fun fact about you that most people don’t know?
I'm an avid paraglider pilot-- recently I've been flying less since I've been involved with online MBA classes, but I still try to get in the air on occasion!


Grace’s story reminds us of the profound rewards that come from aligning our work with our values. From her early experiences at a small organizational development firm to her pivotal role at the American Heart Association, she exemplifies the power of leadership, empathy, and purpose. Whether it’s gathering market insights or mentoring her team, Grace is a force for positive change. As she says, “Stick to what you believe in,” a guiding principle that fuels her commitment to making a difference. Thank you, Grace, for sharing your inspiring journey and passion for mission-driven work!
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