What does it take to go from manager to leader? Kristelle Siarza Moon, MBA, APR, CEO of Siarza, built a thriving agency but didn’t see herself as a leader until she stepped away and it kept running. She shares how accountability, tough decisions, and public vulnerability shaped her leadership on our Taking the Lead podcast.

Here are excerpts from the full video interview:

Who are three executives inside and outside the PR industry executives you admire as truly effective leaders, who have engaged, inspired followers, and whom you would follow?

I’ve always looked up to Richard Branson. It might seem like an unexpected choice for a Filipina like me, but I admire his ambition, his branding, and his ability to create meaningful experiences. He’s been both successful and unsuccessful, and he owns it. I love how he lives life to the fullest while building companies that serve others.

I also really admire Mark Cuban. He’s unapologetic, bold, and direct. He may not be perfect, but he stands out as someone who leads with confidence and authenticity.

The third person I admire deeply is my late mentor, Dr. Dely Alcántara. She wasn’t a widely known executive, but she was a powerful leader. She founded the New Mexico Asian Family Center in the early 2000s after identifying a gap in the community. She was also a professor at UNM and someone who truly lived her best life. When I was starting Siarza, she and my mom were two of the first people I told. Dr. Alcántara told me, “People will leave you alone. Just go and do your thing—you’ll be great.” I carry that with me and try to be that same kind of light and encouragement for others in our industry.

How do you hold yourself accountable to be the best leader you can be, for all your followers, five days a week?

For me, it starts with checking my ego. I constantly ask for honest feedback from people I trust. I never want to lead from a place of self-importance. I want to lead selflessly, not selfishly.

I ask myself often: Was I being fair? Do I owe someone an apology? How did I make that person feel? Even when I’m frustrated, I reflect on whether I need to express love and leadership at the same time.

I also rely on close friends to help keep me in check. On a recent trip to San Diego, I asked a longtime friend to tell me if my ego ever gets in the way. He said I’ve never had a problem, but I know I can count on him to tell me the truth. Having people like that is how I stay grounded.

You’ve been public about the fact that you beat a gambling addiction How did you have the courage to do so? What leadership skills did you tap, or what did you learn about leadership from that experience.

I’m open about it because it was humiliating, humbling, and a huge growth moment. It was something I had to own publicly, and it forced me to persevere.

A leader I admired once told me his own story of addiction, and that helped me feel less alone. That honesty gave me the courage to be public with mine. My gambling addiction eventually led to tax issues, and I had no choice but to tell my team what was going on. I stood in front of them, cried, apologized, and told them I was going to fix it. Some walked away, and I understood. But I made a promise to get through it.

My last bet was September 1, 2019. Every day since, I’ve reminded myself not to gamble. I talk about it because someone else might be going through addiction—gambling, alcohol, drugs—and I want them to know it’s possible to choose differently. It’s not easy, but it’s possible. Vulnerability isn’t weakness. That’s leadership.

What was your toughest leadership moment, and how did you get through it?

One of my toughest leadership moments was laying off people, especially the first time I had to terminate someone. They say the hardest person to fire is your first, and it’s true. It wasn’t just about financial pressures; it was realizing that I can’t be everyone’s favorite person. I can’t take care of everyone.

That was a rude awakening. Letting someone go for their own good, not just for the company’s benefit, is an incredibly difficult call. It’s depressing. It sucks. But it’s part of leadership. You learn to weigh the pros and cons, and you grow from those decisions. That experience taught me that leadership isn’t always easy. It can be lonely and heavy, but it’s necessary.

In 2023 Siarza became one of the newest members of The Change Agencies, the first and only national network of independently-owned public relations firms focused on inclusive and authentic communications to multicultural and LGBTQ communities. What’s your feeling by government, higher education and the private sector to eliminate DE&I programs?

I think it’s a huge mistake. There is real ROI in investing in communities of color, people from different backgrounds, and people who live and love differently. Equity and inclusion are about creating equal opportunities—and that’s supposed to be a core American value.

If a company is even considering cutting DE&I, they probably never truly had it in the first place. It was likely just a box-checking exercise. True DE&I is cultural—it’s built in. The companies that embrace it from the start are already seeing its value.

At Siarza, diversity has been a core value since our founding in 2014. We didn’t need to reinvent or over-engineer anything. We just embraced and appreciated each other. That authenticity is what makes the difference.

When did you know you had truly made the leap from manager or even agency owner, to leader?

I realized I had made the shift after I got married and took a two-week break from the business. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and to be honest, I didn’t want to come back. But when I did, everything was still standing. The team had executed our plans. Things weren’t perfect, but they worked.

That’s when I knew I was leading, not just managing. The systems, the trust, the processes—they were in place. Now my role is about building other leaders. I still struggle with where I fit, and I still want to be involved, but watching others take the lead is one of the most rewarding parts of my job.

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Ken Jacobs is the principal of Jacobs Consulting & Executive Coaching, which empowers PR and communications leaders and executives to breakthrough results via executive coaching, and helps communications agencies achieve their business development, profitability, and client service goals, via consulting and training. You can find him at www.jacobscomm.com, [email protected] @KensViews, or on LinkedIn. You can also subscribe to the Jacobs Consulting and Executive Coaching YouTube channel.