What does it mean to be a Gen-Z professional? It's about bringing your authentic self to the table in new ways and unapologetically searching for transparency and truth. In this episode, four Gen-Z Edelman colleagues chat about how they show up as their authentic selves—at home, at work and when interacting with brands.    TRANSCRIPT Dani Jackson Smith [00:00:01] It's who you are at work after hours and back at home exploring every layer, finding out what makes you uniquely you and letting that shine back out into the world. It's authentic 365, a podcast that takes a glimpse into how some of the most inspiring people among us express themselves and make magic happen. I'm your host, Dani Jackson Smith, VP at Edelman by day, community enthusiast and lover of the people Always Edelman released the power of Gen Z Trust and the Future Consumer Report. The data identifies Gen Z as the generation of sensibility, breaking through myths and assumptions that Gen Z is simply the influencer generation cancel generation or TikTok generation. On this episode of Authentic 365, our London co-host Jermaine Dallas will be leading a conversation on Gen Z and authenticity from time spent at home and work to interacting with brands and finding truth in a sea of opinions. You will hear personal stories direct from people that identify as Gen Z. Jermaine Dallas [00:01:09] My full Gen-Z guests are from four different countries, and they have their own experiences to share with us. So first of all is Ali Al, ultimately who is an associate research analyst from Edelman's research DXI, Ali is based in our Chicago office. Next up is Asha Jani. Asha is an Account Executive from Edelman's Brand team in London. Then we have Kristen Bettencourt's, who is an account executive and influencer marketing based in Toronto. Finally, we have Sebastian Nicholas Schifrin, who is a senior account executive in the Paris brand team. So thanks everyone for joining us on the show today. What do you expect from brands--going to come to you first, Kristen, what you expect from brands and what will influence the purchase decisions that you make, how you sort of like an activist when it comes to choosing the brands that you buy from? Or are you more driven by price? Kristen Bettencourt [00:02:10] Yeah, I think when brands create relatable content, I'm someone that's very into fashion and lifestyle content, and I make a lot of my influence based on like, let's say, I follow an influencer. I see something come up on my for you page that I really like, like, for example, like those in North Face jackets are really popular, really kind of all around the world and everyone's wearing them and you see everyone kind of build different outfits with them. So that's kind of what drives my purchase. And even though it is a little bit more pricey, but you can see it's very diverse and you can wear them with a lot of different outfits. So when I see brands create relatable content, I know that definitely drives it. I know when we work with influencers and we work with like a specific type of influencer for a campaign, and they're creating that content that really relates to their brand, for example, and are working with HP and we work with the tech influencer them just like really getting into detail and spitting the facts and reviewing all the details of the product. You can really see how engaged their audience is because they really want to see every detail and that you're hitting all the questions. Jermaine Dallas [00:03:22] So I know you do work with influencers a lot anyway, Kristen. But do you think the influencers really do matter then when it comes to two Gen-Z and making the purchases they make? Kristen Bettencourt [00:03:34] I definitely do think they have a big influence because I know it works on me. Sometimes I know sometimes I'll be very rash on my decisions, so I'll see something come up and I know it's going to maybe sell out right away because the specific infl