Lisa Cialfi in Media’s Wild Ride

What does it take to survive a decade in the media game when the rules keep rewriting themselves? Lisa Cialfi, Horizon Media’s Digital VP, sits down with Ben Lambert to unpack her journey—from slinging digital buys in 2015 to steering teams through the streaming explosion and AI’s takeover of ad metrics. She’s seen viewability obsessions give way to attention wars, and she’s got the scars to prove it. Expect tales of mentorship that shaped her, a culture that kept her, and a no-BS take on mental health at work—plus a Super Bowl call so bold it might jinx the Bills.

Inside:

• How media morphed from linear TV to algorithmic chaos.
• The mentorship magic behind her VP rise.
• Why mental health’s the industry’s quiet crisis—and how to fix it.
• A Bills fan’s 2025 prophecy you’ll want to bet on.

This isn’t just shop talk—it’s a front-row seat to media’s madness, perfect for ad nerds, career climbers, and anyone who needs a reminder that mental health matters and taking a break is okay. Hit play.

TRANSCRIPT

Ben Lambert
Hi, everyone. Welcome back to Breaking Through the Mayhem. I'm Ben Lambert, Sightly’s SVP of sales. I'm so excited to be hosting today for the first time. And I'm even more excited about our guest, Lisa Cialfi, somebody that I've worked with for many years in the industry. And I'm super, super excited to have her on today for us to talk about some serious and amazing topics.

Lisa, take things off. Why don't you give the listeners a little bit about you and your history of working at Horizon for almost a decade?

Lisa Cialfi
Yeah, yeah. I can't believe it's been a whole decade. I started in August of 2015, so I guess we're rounding up just a little bit. But, of course, I

Ben Lambert
Always, always have to round up.

Lisa Cialfi
Well, in media, we don't do anything in the past. We do everything in the future. Right?

Ben Lambert
For sure.

Lisa Cialfi
So I started in August of 2015. And it's been. Yeah, it's been a good run. I've worked on a ton of different accounts. I started as a digital supervisor. I'm now a digital VP. It's just been like a lot of great opportunities at Horizon that's kept me around for a long time.

So, I'm excited to talk about it.

Ben Lambert
Yeah, I would love, I, you know, for the listeners to, to learn a little bit more about, you know, when, when you were making that move over to Horizon, what kind of excited you about Horizon at the time? And talk a little bit more about, obviously, that evolution of how it's changed in, you know, almost your ten years there.

Lisa Cialfi
Yeah. So I was at a group M agency, it was called MSC at the time, now better known as Wavemaker. It was a huge agency at the time. I know just like all agencies, it's up to implode over the years. And it was a great way to start my career working at such a big agency and seeing how things work at that scale.

But I was looking for a change. I was looking to kind of see what else was out there in the industry. And Horizon had continued to come up. Some people that I worked with at MEC had left, you know, and the previous months before I left to head over to Horizon. And there was something about every time I talked to HR or somebody who were there, this excitement about working there.

So I interviewed at several different agencies, and I did have another offer, but something about Horizon culture and the people that I was, that I was going to be working with, was very attractive. And I, even just walking into the office too, right, it's so bright and beautiful and just it feels good to be there.

But it was ultimately the independent nature when it came down. I wanted to do something that was different from what I had been doing. Right. And, I found that Horizon for sure.

Ben Lambert
Yeah. I feel like it's, like culture is such an important piece and especially at that point in your in your career or in anyone's career when you know, you've been in, been been in the real world for, you know, 3 or 4 years and still trying to figure it out, I think you have a lot figured out, you know, but as you kind of are making that next step where this is no longer just a job that you got out of college, but it's starting to feel more like a career that that culture and the people really do make a difference in what you're what the rest of your career is going to shape out to be.

You know,I joined Sightly, similarly timeframe, you know, nine, coming up on nine years now. And, you know, the culture aspect is definitely a big piece of what's kept me here at Sightly but also what led me to Sightly at the beginning. And I think, you know, looking back now on nine, ten years later in our lives of how important that was of a decision and that small, independent type company to really shape and mold your career and my career, you know, and how impactful that decision is.

But at that root, that really crucial point in your in our careers, you know, and just how having that that small vibe, you know, really matters and I, you know, I know we've talked about this a lot of just the growth that we've been able to have personally and professionally being in that roles. And I would love to kind of have you talk about, you know, some of the mentors that you've worked with, but what that culture when you first started was and how as you've moved up, you've made sure that as Horizon has grown, as you've moved up, you've made sure to kind of continue to embody what what Horizon’s culture was when you were a little smaller there, and how you've kind of leaned on some of your, coworkers and mentors to kind of continue down that path and grow together?

Lisa Cialfi
Definitely. I think we could spend about five hours talking about this because I've had so many experiences in my time. But, another thing that I wanted to mention that really threw me towards Horizon was the way the digital team was structured.

There was a lot of opportunity to both participate in the strategy building and the buying, and I am a digital buyer, like in my heart, and that having access to both, right, both influence that strategy. And then also go out into the marketplace and figure out how to fulfill that strategy was really important to me in my next role.

And so when I was interviewing Horizon and meeting with, you know, the potential team that I was going to work on, there was an opportunity to work on several different accounts. It was sort of a growth group that we called it, and that was exciting because it was not only was there potential to help and influence a brand, lean into digital, you know, and create and build strategy for them, but also sort of touch a lot of different categories.

And yeah, I mean, the mentors that I've had at Horizon have been incredible. And I think what you said about continuing that, I feel a big responsibility for that. Right. Because people at Horizon have, you know, boosted me up giving me leadership opportunities from the very beginning, even as a supervisor, you know, and at the time, in the back half of my 20s, the supervisors an extremely important position in the agency, because you have to be able to manage down and manage up.

But yeah, I mean, I could shout out all my mentors and we'd be here for a while, but, you know, when I moved on to an account as an associate director, I was working for McEnery, and I got to work with Alex Stone and even working on you know, David Camp and Allie's team through a lot of it.

All of them were so invested. And this is true of the leadership at Horizon in general, so invested in the ethos of Horizon. Right. The businesses personal, but also, you know, helping the next person get to where they were and putting that hand back and guiding people. Right. Even the amount of feedback I got in reviews changed when I moved agencies and that was during it first, but so helpful.

Right? Like, that's such an important part of being a manager is providing feedback even when it can be uncomfortable. Right? Like, it's not the most fun part, but it's one of the most important parts.

Ben Lambert
Yeah, I think it's great. And I think it's one of the things to like, you talk about that supervisor role and how it's that liaison between the upper management and the junior employees, and how as a junior employee, you know, you're just really not that any of us have to figure it out, but you're really trying to just figure out this, you know, post-college first career type role.

And, you know, seeing those leaders be so invested in the business in the company and following those footsteps and being able to apply that to, you know, the more junior employees, I think is a really challenging role in that supervisor role, but one that's that's crucial. And then and then as you start to embody it, you then now like you said, are wanting to continue passing the torch as you've moved up now to, you know, the VP title.

Lisa Cialfi
Yeah, it's a good feeling to to want to pass that on, to be invested in a company. Yeah. I feel like just that all this time that I've been at Horizon, it's just been there's been so many distinct, unique experiences. And some of that's the growth of Horizon, which has been exponential in my time there. Some of it is also just the change in the agency world and the industry and media.

Right. Because ten years ago that was a such a long time ago when I was leaving group M, I remember it was the era when everything was going to be guaranteed on viewability. That was one of the hottest topics. And how many things have changed since then. Right? I mean, it's not it's like night and day.

Ben Lambert
Well, yeah, especially I mean, I think you said that you, you were a digital buyer when you moved over there and Horizon ten years ago, talk about your role, how it's become more integrated. Because of that, with Horizon's growth as you've grown there to be this kind of this leader in in, in at a Horizon that covers both traditional and digital first.

Lisa Cialfi
Yeah. That's such a good topic because how we consume media is not how we consume media.

Ten years ago, right. The explosion of streaming video is unbelievable. And there's so many different ways to buy. But a lot of the viewership, of course, like this isn't new news. That was watching TV on linear has gone to streaming and it's just a complete habit change. So the skill set right in that streaming video is it's digital video, and the skill sets are merging between different types of investment teams.

So I've gotten the opportunity to be part of what does that look like in the future. Right. How do we cross-train skills? From a traditional quote unquote video buyer to a traditional digital person? If that's not an oxymoron, traditional digital. But yeah, I mean, and allowed the, you know, even VP, but also junior employees to change their career path and be able to follow the trends versus maybe being stuck in just the spots and linear by, I think that's essential.

And I just think it's smart. But just like anything with change, there's, there's experiments and failure. How how do we make this work or how does this not work? And okay, let's try something else. And, I've enjoyed being a part of that. And, you know, I think it's still something that probably every agency is working to figure out.

Ben Lambert
Yeah, I think it's, it's a great point on, you know, the ever changing world that we live in as well as, you know, the industry that we're in and, you know, I was a traditional linear TV buyer. Yes. You know, my first role and a lot of times I get asked how, how did I go from that to being at this tech for forward AI driven company.

And part of it was just natural evolution and curiosity. And, you know, as you know, somebody that now, you know, you guys are in the forefront of working with AI platforms and, you know, industry trends that have gone from viewability to other metrics, you know, and you do have, you know, so many different team members on your team.

How are you empowering your team to continuously be curious, to be able to learn so much more, meet with vendors that, you know, have these maybe nontraditional ways about thinking about things that maybe are three, four, two years ahead of the curve. But, you know, making sure that they are getting the necessary information. So that way their career doesn't have to stay on this linear to use the word linear path.

From what their first, you know, first role was at, at Horizon or somewhere else.

Lisa Cialfi
Yeah. Because whatever they started doing is not going to be where they are in ten years. That's just the reality of it. You know, for example, moving video heavily into programmatic was not something we were doing ten years ago. And the thing with being a digital buyer, you know, anywhere in the media industry, really, because it's all about convergence, right?

Is that constant education, constant meeting with vendors and asking a lot of questions and seeing how things fit for whatever brand you're working on, or if you were an ad agency led initiative, you know, what is the POV? How do we fit this in? And I think, yeah, a lot of things that I've learned in media, especially when I was more junior as a planner, I would take a lots of meetings with vendors and ask lots of questions.

Lisa Cialfi
Some of this curiosity. Then I realized this is where it's at, because I'm getting the information, and then I can filter it through the strategy of whatever client or project I'm working on. But yeah, it's essential to keep doing that. Right? Because I think it's easy to get complacent sometimes. Right. Like, okay, I've been working in the industry for 14 years and now I know everything.

And that's just that's not true obviously. I was meeting with a vendor in the fall, and it was, it's nice to feel that excitement still right about this, the new topic, and I was talking to them about,

Attention matrix. Attention. And what that actually means. Right. And it's like the 2025, 2024 version of mobility has way more touch points. It has the ability to understand if somebody's really paying attention to this or do we capture them for, you know, three seconds or a quarter of the ad and they move on. Right. It's really to me about making sure we're actually gauging and educating the consumer on what we're trying to say.

And that goes way past somebody just saying something, right? I can look at an ad but be thinking about something else and, you know, didn't get absorbed.

Ben Lambert
Yeah. And I think it's, you know, I think it's what's been cool, like even thinking back, you know, ten years ago to your point of view ability being the main you know, the new KPI, if you will, that we are always trying to better our measurement and be and just continue to improve and be better and it's where it is great to continuously meet with new partners, like we meet with, you know, vendors as well from a measurement standpoint to continuously help and support the brands and clients that we work with to to evolve as platforms evolve, as regulations change. And it's just like it's constant changing and constant learning, which, is isn't something that I ever thought, you know, looking back ten years ago in my career that I thought it was gonna be like, all right, I've been doing this long enough. I understand, I understand it, I'm good.

You know, school wasn't my favorite subject. So learning isn't something that I want to continuously do, but now it's, you know, constantly part of learning. And I think that's something that, you know, is, is challenging at times to make sure we're, we're teaching the, the newer members of the industry of continuously to learn and be educated. And it's okay to not know everything but but acting like you do and making sure that you can learn is essential.

Lisa Cialfi
Yeah. If you want to be on the forefront of a new trend or push a vendor to do something they haven't done before, the skill set is not about the knowledge. The skill set is about being able to innovate and being able to potentially point out something, you know. Oh, they mentioned this wait what if we did it this way?

Or would you be willing to build something brand new for the client? And I think that skill set is just as important as teaching them how to calculate an impression or whatever when somebody first starts in media, right? Yeah.

Ben Lambert
Good.’ol media math one on one is crucial, but so is understanding. Understanding how AI works.

Lisa Cialfi
Yeah. Exactly. So I don't know, I think it's like that. Stay curious or like evolving or die like mentality. You know, I don't know the things that I know now ten years ago because they weren't relevant, you know, they weren't even something that was being talked about for the most part.

Ben Lambert
Yeah I think it's cool to also because like AI, for example, is something that we've, you know, been doing for years here.

It's at using for years here at Sightly, we, you know, we have built large language models since 2019. And when ChatGPT, you know, rolled out into, you know, the mainstream a year or two ago, everybody started asking questions about AI and being curious about AI. You know, my mom reaching out to me about AI and using AI and, and, you know, things that I knew.

And it was like, wow. Like this is kind of a really cool moment that my career and what I understand and what my company does is actually helping in my day to day life and being able to translate it to, you know, have that work, work life balance that everybody talks about, where work is now starting to merge into my life and become my life, which I think goes to what we were talking about.

Once you reach that supervisor level role and start to elevate where you, you embody the culture of the company or work with, you know, is is a really cool moment. I think that might have been scary ten years ago to get to that point. But now that, you know, we're at this point, it is pretty exciting and pretty fun.

Lisa Cialfi
I think so too. I think people always joke that AI is going to take your job no matter what industry you work in, but I think done right and used correctly, I can actually make processes more efficient. It can take some of that busywork so that the human minds that are being employed by the company can be used in smarter ways, right, than just, you know, tasks that are very repetitive.
Right. And I know that that's how Horizon is looking at it. Right? Like, how do we build something unique for us? How do we build it for the future? And that's exciting to me, too, you know, getting a little bit of exposure to that kind of thinking as it gets brought into new business and, you know, existing clients.

Ben Lambert
Yeah. Do you use AI in your personal life at all?

Lisa Cialfi
Well, I think everybody uses AI, right? Because it just ends up naturally happening. It's built into social media. It's built into a lot of our tools. I am not a ChatGPT user. But I recently let a friend use it for me to figure out what I should name my Super Bowl party.

Okay, I have a lot of good options.

Ben Lambert
What, what are we thinking?

Lisa Cialfi
So we didn't end up using any of them, but we we. It's cool because it's like you put in. Okay, what are we trying to do? And then. Nope, those aren't exactly hitting the mark. So how do we tweak it. And we just continuing to make it more.

And you still need to put the human element into AI in order for it to deliver what you want. Right? I mean, I haven't, I haven't really leaned into ChatGPT. How about you?

Ben Lambert
Yeah. I mean, obviously I use AI quite frequently, daily for Sightly and for Brand Mentality and being able to, you know, support brands, you know, through our platform.

And then from a personal level, there are times where I use it, I feel like I was anti for a while, just because it was one of those where I'm like, I use it so much elsewhere. Yeah. And then recently I've started to use it for other things. I was on a golf trip recently with some friends and we were playing, you know, four rounds of golf for the weekend.

And so I typed in like, you know, what game should we play? What structure, how should we do it? And it was pretty cool, where it's like, here are the games to play each day. Here's how to break down the teams. Here's how to gamble on it. Here's how to do all of the different things we ended up, back to your point, not fully following it, but it was really cool.

It's definitely yeah, it was pretty impressive. Then there are other things where I go to use it. I'm like, no, this, this isn't what I needed it for, but I have the prompts. It really does teach you that the prompts are so the most important when using the AI tool, which is where the human element comes in.

AI is really helpful and in speeding up processes and making more efficient versus, you know, the robots aren't taking over the world.

Lisa Cialfi
Yeah. No, it's just another tool, just like any of the Microsoft tools that we use. But it does make media executions much smaller. Right. And bidding algorithms or aligning with the right content that's Sightly uses AI for right.

It's just it's beyond what we were doing before and the ability to reach the consumer and drive the efficiency. I think it's going to be essential for that. It already is essential that. Right. There's art that those tools are already deployed. That I think sometimes you think, I'll speak for myself sometimes when the words AI, that word AI is thrown around our acronym for AI, it seems like it's something far in the future and scary, but it's here.

Ben Lambert
Yeah I agree I mean I think it's and it's only going to get better. Yeah. You know we're definitely in the the boom or starting the boom if you will.

Lisa Cialfi
Yup.

Ben Lambert
But it's only going to get better, more valuable, more insightful. Yeah. And it is it is definitely there's so much value because there's so much data and information out there and so much content out there today that it's not just, you know, the few the few linear network TVs out there, you know exactly the content. You know what's happening in each episode where now there's there's so much out there and being able to use AI to analyze the content, tie it back to where the brand actually wants to run is, is is crucial.

Obviously, it's what you know we truly believe in. But using AI to to support and bid modifications and everything to just make us smarter to support the brands that we support.

Lisa Cialfi
Yeah. And personalization, that's a great use case for it because there is just so much content to your point, being relevant to the person, you know, if possible, a one on one basis is going to drive better outcomes.

Ben Lambert
Yeah. I mean, from a consumer standpoint, like I would rather see something that is super relevant to me and I'll be more engaged to it than if it's if it's not. And that's why I like, I, you know, joke out like the TSA pre and the Global entry. Like they have my fingers, they have my eye. Like I want to like know who I am.

Fine. Go for it. Like I'd rather have everything be personalized. I'd rather board my flight and then know me and my Netflix be logged in onto the screen on the on the headrest so that way, like, it's easier on me and then it's more custom to me. They know me and and targeted me with with things of that nature.
Now, the flip side could be, well, how am I going to find, you know, something new if I'm constantly just scanning what's super relevant to me? But, so I do think there's going to be there's, you know, oversaturation of that. But the customization personalization is, is is very valuable. And AI is, is a key component to it.

Lisa Cialfi
Yeah I agree, I it's funny that you brought that up because there's a space specifically that I actually find some of the algorithms unhelpful. And that's music, streaming music, streaming platforms. I of course love what I love and want to hear what I love. And I listen to an insane amount of music, but something about being passionate about music is that I want to find new music.

I want to find new music to fuel my never ending amount of listening time. And sometimes I think the algorithms can get in a little bit of a way of that. To your point. But then it's on me to to go seek it out myself. Right. Go find a playlist that's not AI generated, you know, help influence my algorithm to add new stuff.

And that's been something I've actually been spending a lot of time doing because I, you know, I want I want the comfort. I want the ease. But I also still, you know, want to explore like, different things. And especially when it comes to music.

Ben Lambert
Yeah. I think it's, you know, it's it's to the learning. We want to continue to learn and take in new information and find new.

But we also do seek comfort in, in. Oh yeah. And what's comfortable for us.

Lisa Cialfi
Oh definitely I so I recently have you seen the ads for Masterclass.

Ben Lambert
Yes.

Lisa Cialfi
Okay. So I've been so intrigued about this for a long time. So I finally signed up for a subscription and I watched a series on brain health, and it was so fascinating because, you know, talked about long term brain health and some of the stuff is exactly what you would think it would be.

Sleep. We need sleep, but other pieces are more about continuing to challenge your brain. Right. And it's like creating those new receptors. Obviously I didn't go to medical school and cannot speak to it as eloquently, but it was so fascinating about continuing to engage with new things because then it almost upsets the balance in your brain a little bit.

Right Our brains are always trying to predict what's next based on what we've already experienced in life. But challenging that a little bit is actually really good for us. So who knows AI could help with that there.

Ben Lambert
Yeah. How much of things like that that you learn, whether it be through AI or just passions that you have outside of work, do you then bring into work to to your team?

You know, no, I, I think, you know, obviously we went through Covid where we are remote now, you guys are back in office with a hybrid model. So you're back to kind of being around your coworkers a lot more that the personal element of getting to know each other definitely comes back. So how much of that of your passion for music, your passion for learning and other passions that you have?

Do you instill in your team but also vice versa? Take from your team?

Lisa Cialfi
Yeah, I love hearing what my team does outside of work and vice versa. What are you passionate about? What are your hobbies? I definitely share that stuff with my team. I've always been like that. I've always been the person who has, like the story from the concert I went to, like, a couple of nights ago, and, I don't know, I, I remember like, very early in my career, I took, it was a training and I think I don't remember the title of it, but it was, it was essentially about emotional intelligence and something about building that trust with a coworker or coworkers or your team and sharing a bit about yourself.

Right. Who are you as a human? What makes you excited? What's the book you read last week but show are you watching? It doesn't have to be, you know, this huge thing, but just sharing a little bit of yourself, I think makes people more comfortable, right?

Because we're all human. We're not robots that, not to you know, make fun of AI, but we're not robots sitting at our desks every day and not, you know, we have other things going on in our lives. And, you know, I think it's important to share a little bit about what you are and what you like to do when you're not, you know, a media buyer.

And it's important. What about you? Do you share that with your team?

Ben Lambert
Yeah, it definitely is. And you know, we're fully remote and it's something that as we've grown and you know, to your point on culture earlier, it's you know, when we when I first started Sightly we were five people in New York. And we've grown quite a bit in my nine years.

And so we're constantly trying to figure out ways. We did a, you know, Secret Santa this year to, you know, help engage in our inner department communication. But something that we've done specifically on the sales team is we've started to share. People have created custom brand mentality profiles based on their individual. And so you're filling out what matters most to me, what I care about, how I look at sports versus entertainment, and then what trends and moments I'm trying to pay attention to.

And so it's a great way to introduce ourselves to each other and show what we care about and show that we, you know, prefer this type of cooking to that type of cooking or go to these restaurants and things of that nature to to start that. So then when you know, other things happen in the world or times, times of struggle or happiness, whatever it may be, you have this kind of baseline of who the person is and what they care about.

And, you know, I think it's been it's been crucial to to have those conversations about who you are, because then, when there are things outside of work that happen that, you know, we've got the California wildfires happening right now and being able to connect with people and share struggles, I think is really valuable and makes the workplace better.

You know, especially knowing how, you know, mental health has become such a proponent and component of work these days and more outspoken, and that I think being able to have those understandings of who the individuals are, what they like the most and what they dislike, being able to navigate that and being able to check in on each other, I think is really important.

Lisa Cialfi
Definitely. It's like having people in your corner and, and I just, I, I hope my teams that I've managed to feel this way, but I feel like I'm managing human beings and I'm a human being.

We were talking about this recently, but I, I, I fell in the office and sprained my ankle and, so, you know, part of that has been getting physical therapy and that's been huge.

But nobody it's it doesn't feel uncomfortable for me to tell somebody I'm going to get physical therapy. That's, you know, quote unquote normal thing in society, right? You hurt an ankle. You go to physical therapy. Of course.

Ben Lambert
Yes, falling and hurting your ankle is very normal. And going to physical therapy.

Lisa Cialfi
Yeah. Okay. Well, apparently it's normal for me, but it's not it's not sort of just have sort of this taboo around.

Right. And for me, in my journey and growing up and learning how to be like a human in this world, I've had to deal with mental health struggles. And I think in the way our society is structured and I don't know, sometimes our brain chemistry is just a little wonky. And that's the case for me. I've had to seek out the help with that.

And there's nothing wrong with that. And I, I think, you know, when we first discussed me doing this, that was something I was like, whatever we talk about industry wise, I want to spend a few minutes talking about mental health because if if people don't speak about it and say like this is okay to like, you know, mention out loud in the world, it's never going to change.

I think that's uncomfortable. Right. But it's a passion point for me. Right. Because, if somebody shares their experience and says, hey, like, I have been in a place where, like, I needed to go get help, maybe the next person can say it too, you know, and I've gotten support from that Horizon that was, you know, a couple of years ago, I wasn't really feeling that great.

I had been through, you know, the past. We've been through the pandemic. And, you know, I lost a grandparent. And just, like, things life stuff, you know, and of course, the fact that we live in a time where, like, unprecedented times are like, actually precedented.

And I shared that with my manager that I wasn't feeling good and I needed to, you know, I took a very, like a week off and, you know, rethought how I wanted to move forward. And it felt good to share that even though that was kind of scary. And, you know, I think that's one of the things about Horizon.

I've always felt like there has been a wellness culture. And I think that extends to, you know, taking care of ourselves, whether that's going to physical therapy for my sprained ankle or blocking my calendar for an hour to go to therapy. Like, that's like a beautiful thing. And so, yeah, it was important for me to include this topic because like I said, nothing changes.

Nothing changes, right?

Ben Lambert
Yeah. And I, I think the biggest piece to it too, is the it being at the leadership level, that leaders speaking about it. And it doesn't mean that all leaders have struggled. That you don't have to, but just being able to show that you're supportive of it and makes it so that other people feel comfortable.

And I know, you know, something that, you know, we've done a lot safely is like when pandemic happened, when all of these, you know, social injustice, when all of these traumatic times have happened and we've made it a point to talk about them in open forums and allow people to talk about it and allow people to say, hey, if you need to take time, if you need to, you know, talk to somebody, whether it be just a coworker, whether it be a friend, whether it be a professional, like we're here to support that because everybody is human and does handle situations and feels differently about situations.

But it's been, you know, one that I think is important to talk about, and it comes from the leaders saying it's okay and it's okay to feel this way. And even if we have a different opinion on something, it's okay to have that difference of opinion.

Lisa Cialfi
Yes.

Ben Lambert
Just let's have a human conversation about it or have the right people to talk to.

Because I think, you know, that's where it's not that way. And, you know, the old school work is work and, you know, you don’t bring your feelings, you know, to work type of thing. But there's so much that goes on outside of work that it's impossible not to bring outside stuff into work these days.

Lisa Cialfi
Definitely. And something I've learned for myself is that if I'm not taking care of myself, whether that's getting a good night's sleep, you know, eating right, exercising or, you know, obviously that stuff ties into taking care of my mental health, but, like, doing what I need to take care of myself and, and set the boundaries.

I need to take care of myself. I'm not showing up as my the best version myself as an employee, as a friend, you know, and I think doing those things to take care of me, I hope anyways makes me a better manager. And a better coworker and a better worker among workers. If you will. So-

Ben Lambert
Yeah, I know, I agree.

I mean, I think I, I notice a difference. What you know, my routine when I'm, you know, sleeping and eating and going to the gym and that to me is, is my mental health. And when I'm doing those things, I'm much better to my team, to the team and and to the company than I am when you know, I'm out of whack, if you will, and being and being able to share that with people like, hey, you've got to like everyone talks work life balance.

And I think it's a very hard thing today when we've got our phones were fully connected. If there really isn't much separation and there has to be some way for people to separate, and get that mental break at times. And it's super important as a leader to be able to set that stage for people of, hey, it's okay to feel this way, it's okay to take time when you need it.

But when you're here, you're here and like, it's time. Like, we're definitely at work.

Lisa Cialfi
Yeah. And, I'm this reminded me of a conversation I had when I first started working, with a new leader at Horizon. I had been a Horizon five years, maybe a little less. And I just started working for them, and I shared with them. I was like, you know, I, I really love and feel so much better when I leave the office at a reasonable time and get to a workout class. And I'm more than happy to log back on and finish that work. And they were like, of course, if that works for you, that's great.

And even though I was like, kind of scared to like ask for that, it helped me so much because it's like, okay, I'm going to power my brain down for a little bit, and maybe there's still work that needs to be done, but I'm doing what I need to do for me while still also showing up and being a hard working employee. You know, I think two things can be true. It just kind of takes a little bit of an angle and to figure out what works for you.

Ben Lambert
Yeah, absolutely. I love that. I guess to that lens, if you have one piece of advice to anybody listening within the mental health space of how to stay, stay your best self, what would it be?

Lisa Cialfi
Oh, that's a good question. So I like this theme that we're on of finding what works for you because what works for me might not work for you. But I think for me, what stood in my way sometimes is that it's like I'm comfortable with what I know, even though I don't feel good. So what's it going to be like on the other side of seeking and getting help?

And there is discomfort. I think sometimes when you work through things and you're challenging your way of thinking and you're being open and honest with someone if it's a therapist or friend or whoever. But on the other side of that can be such a beautiful new place. I guess my suggestion would be, if that's you, if you're feeling that way, give it a chance and see what's on the other side.

As it could be exactly what you need.

Ben Lambert
I love that. That's amazing. Well, one final question here as we wrap up this episode. We're recording this in early January of 2025. One bold prediction about anything can be the industry can be about your favorite sports team. One bold prediction that you think will happen in 2025.

And maybe it doesn't have to be bold. Just one prediction.

Lisa Cialfi
Okay, so anybody that knows me knows that I'm a Bills fan. It's like the number one fact people know about me. So you know it's January 16th and it's 430 in the afternoon. I haven't said this out loud, but I've been feeling this way all season is our year.

We are taking that trophy. Josh Allen is going to be MVP. And you know it'll be our very first Super Bowl. We'll see though of course. Maybe we shouldn't air this until after in case I jinx thit at. Another bold prediction.

Ben Lambert
I love that one. I'm on board with it and I'm rooting for that one with you.

Lisa Cialfi
I mean, how can you not root for the bills.

Ben Lambert
They are a very fun team to root for. Josh Allen is awesome. That's coming from a Patriots fan division rival.

Lisa Cialfi
Well can you really be a rival when you don't really have a coach or a quarterback.

Ben Lambert
I mean, do we want to talk about the last 25 years?

Lisa Cialfi
What was it a rivalry in the present that yeah.

Ben Lambert
This will be the only the last year that I will say I'm, I'm rooting for the bills now that we have Vrabel back and Craig May is the real deal. We are no longer supporting our friend are frenemies.

Lisa Cialfi
He could be your new franchise quarterback.

Ben Lambery
It could be. Well, thank you so much, Lisa. It's been a pleasure to have you on this episode of Breaking Through the Mayhem. And, congrats on being an incredible leader and an incredible, valued member of the Horizon family.

Lisa Cialfi
Thank you. Thanks for having me. This is great. I really enjoyed talking to you.