About Maliha

I’ve spent my career asking why things work the way they do.

Sometimes the answer is obvious.

Often, it isn’t.

For more than twenty years, I’ve worked inside organizations leading communication, brand, reputation and executive advisory work. That experience gave me a front-row seat to how decisions get made, how stakeholder expectations shape behavior, how reputation is built or eroded, and how often the visible problem is only part of the story.

It also made me curious about what sits underneath.

Why do smart organizations keep solving the wrong problem?

Why do some ideas gain authority while others disappear into the noise?

Why does purpose sometimes shape decisions — and sometimes stop at the statement?

What changes when technology can generate the output but not own the judgment?

Those questions now sit at the center of my speaking, research and writing.

Practice came first.

My career has spanned communication, brand, reputation, executive advisory and organizational change across global organizations, professional bodies and complex stakeholder environments.

I’ve built communication functions, advised senior leaders, supported organizations through periods of change, and worked across strategy and execution rather than treating them as separate worlds.

That practitioner experience is still the foundation of how I think. It is where the questions come from.

Research gave me another way to examine them.

I’m currently completing a Doctor of Business Administration at Royal Roads University.

My research explores social purpose, stakeholder engagement and organizational accountability, alongside a broader interest in responsible communication and governance in AI-mediated systems. I’m particularly interested in what happens when organizational intent meets practice: how purpose shapes decisions, how stakeholders experience it, how communication can support accountability, and where human judgment remains essential as technology becomes more deeply embedded in organizational life.

Research does not replace practice for me. It gives me another way to challenge assumptions, test ideas and understand complexity more rigorously.

I’ve also spent time helping shape the profession.

Alongside my organizational work, I’ve held leadership and governance roles across the communication profession, including serving as chair of IABC’s international executive board and contributing to global work on responsible AI.

I’m a founding signatory of the Venice Pledge and co-developed its principle on human-centered AI.

Those experiences reinforced something I had already learned in practice: communication is not simply about messages. It is tied to trust, accountability, leadership, relationships and the way organizations behave.

I build around ideas.

I’ve never been particularly interested in keeping ideas in one lane.

That instinct led me to create The Ideas Collective, my strategic advisory practice, and later to build platforms focused on thought leadership, visibility and the changing nature of work.

Each started from a different problem. All came from the same habit: notice what is not working, ask why, and build something that responds to it.

The through-line

Practice gave me the questions. Research deepens the thinking. Speaking brings the ideas into the room.

And curiosity keeps the questions moving.

That is the thread connecting the work I’ve done, the work I’m researching now, and the conversations I want to keep having.

Recognition

IABC Canada Master Communicator

Multiple IABC Gold Quill Awards, including Best of the Best

Doctoral candidate, Royal Roads University

Founding signatory, the Venice Pledge

Published author and contributor on social purpose, stakeholder engagement, responsible communication and AI-mediated systems

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