In this episode of Perspectives, we sit down with Kristen Berke, whose path into brand storytelling began in musical theater, moved through journalism and scrappy early branded content in 2009, and ultimately led to a leadership role inside LA Times Studios.

Kristen reflects on the formative conversation that redirected her career, the early days of pitching documentary-style ideas to Fortune 500 brands before “branded content” was a mainstream term, and how working inside a legacy newsroom environment shaped her philosophy around credibility, emotion, and risk. From separating editorial integrity from studio operations to building programs that align brands with award-winning documentary work, she shares how institutional trust and creative experimentation can coexist.

At the core of Kristen’s approach is a simple but demanding principle: eliminate ego. The strongest brand stories, she argues, emerge when storytellers dig beneath product messaging to uncover universal human emotion—aligning brand values with lived experience in ways that resonate long after a campaign ends.

This conversation explores:

• Why removing ego is essential to building great brand stories

• How to find the emotional “sweet spot” inside brand DNA

• What newsroom rigor brings to branded content strategy

• How credibility and association drive long-term ROI

• Why format should follow purpose—not the other way around