the podcast
Between Meetings
with Dr. Maritza
Real conversations about what is actually happening inside your organization. Recorded live with MBA students and executive participants at UC Irvine.
ABOUT THE SHOW
What you will actually hear.
Each episode opens with a 3-5 minute pulse check on a workplace challenge you have probably been sitting with. Then the real conversation begins.
Between Meetings is recorded before a live studio audience of MBA students and executive education participants at UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business. The guests are true operators and organizational catalysts, people who have led through complexity and are willing to talk honestly about what it required. The audience brings questions from inside real organizations.
You leave each episode with a specific insight grounded in how organizations actually work, a practical tool you can use that week, and a clearer read on what to say and do to get through the week.
WHAT WE COVER
Live conversations. One through-line.
What it actually takes to lead in complex organizations.
Team Dynamics Beneath the Surface
Leadership Under Pressure
Culture, Power, and Who Gets to Lead
Toxic Dynamics and How to Navigate Them
The Refill and Reset
Every episode closes here. A short reflection to help you process what you heard and carry something forward into your work week.
SEASON ONE
Recorded live. No scripts. No talking points.
Episode 01
“When the Mission Is the Message”
Communication, Power, and Organizational Storytelling
KENYA FRIEND-DANIEL
Head of Product Communications, Mozilla
Kenya led communications strategy at Mozilla during a period of significant organizational change inside one of tech’s most mission-driven institutions. This conversation goes beyond the press releases: what internal communication actually costs, how leaders manage the organizational narrative when the mission itself is contested, and what it looks like to lead with integrity within a complex power structure.
Episode 02
“Culture at Scale”
What Running City-Wide Events Teaches You About Spreading Joy
TESA THOMAS
Talent Development (Chief Joy Officer!) City of Anaheim
The City of Anaheim hosts some of the largest events in the country. Tessa Thomas has built the culture and operations to pull it off, repeatedly, at scale, under pressure, and always with JOY. This episode is about what you learn about team trust, community building, and leadership accountability when the grind could take the fun out of work.
Episode 03
“What HR Actually Sees”
The Gap Between Policy and What Happens in the Room
ELAINE LEE-PAYNE
Senior Global Director of HR, GALLO
HR leaders have conversations that most of the organization never sees. Elaine Lee-Payne has spent her career in those conversations, observing what works to keep her people performing at their best. This episode is about the gap between people and their potential, what line managers miss because they can’t always see themselves from the outside, and how conversation shapes individual outcomes in ways that feel personal and impactful.
Episode 04
“Values-Driven Operations”
Leading Community, Culture, and Complexity
JOSE AGUAYO
VP of Human Resources Vallarta Supermarkets
Vallarta Supermarkets has built something genuinely rare: a values-driven retail operation with deep community roots and consistent culture across a complex supply chain and workforce. Jose Aguayo leads the operations that make that culture real day-to-day. This conversation is about what values-driven leadership looks like when it has to withstand the demands of scale, pressure, and difference.
Episode 05
“Leading from the Inside Out”
What It Takes to Lead at the C-Suite Level
CLAUDIA MARQUEZ
COO, Hyundai Motor America
Claudia Marquez oversees operations for one of the largest automotive brands in North America. This conversation is about what integration actually looks like at the executive level, how you lead across organizational scale, national borders, and corporate culture in the C-suite, all while building the kind of authority that does not require you to disappear into the role to hold on to it.
Episode 06
“Strategy at Scale”
Leading Global Strategy Across Dozens of Brands and Markets
MAGGIE PURNAWAN JENIAWATI
Corporate Strategy, Bimbo Bakeries
Bimbo Bakeries operates across dozens of brands and markets simultaneously — one of the largest baking companies in the world. Maggie Purnawan Jeniawati works on the strategy that holds that complexity together. This conversation is about what strategic leadership actually requires when the portfolio is global, the culture is not uniform, and the organization is never standing still.
YOUR HOST
Dr. Maritza Salazar Campo
She has spent over a decade studying why teams fail, and what it actually takes to fix them.
Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business. Faculty Director of MBA Programs. Researcher recognized by the National Science Foundation and the National Academies of Sciences for her work on team effectiveness and interdisciplinary collaboration.
She has trained 500+ leaders to apply that science inside their own organizations.
Between Meetings is where that research becomes a conversation you can use.
Tools that go with the work.
Each episode connects to a free resource built from the same frameworks discussed on the show. Reflection guides, team diagnostics, and practical tools grounded in organizational science. No email required.
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Reflection guides and practical tools to help you reset and find your rhythm. Connected to the frameworks discussed on the show.
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Resources to help you develop proposals, secure funding, and build the organizational case for the work. Updated as the season builds.
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Tools connected to individual episodes, added as the season builds. Each one is grounded in the frameworks discussed with that episode’s guest.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
“Maritza does not explain leadership in the abstract. She gives you language for what you have already been experiencing. That is a different thing entirely.”
— SENIOR MANAGER
“I sent this to my entire team. Not because it was motivational. Because it was accurate.”
— RESEARCH DIRECTOR
New episodes drop every two weeks.
Do not miss one.
Ready to bring this work to your organization?
Maritza offers consulting, team intensives, and strategic workshops for leaders who want more than a framework.