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Interviews with Female entrepreneurs, founders, co-founders, business owners, and industry Gurus. These podcasts speak with women (women-identified) across all industries in order to shed light for those just getting into the entrepreneurial game! Histories, current companies, and lessons learned are explored. The series is designed to investigate a female (female identified) perspective in what has largely been a male-dominated industry in the world to date.
Episodes
Tuesday Jul 21, 2020
Speaking with Lindsay Luv; DJ to the Stars & Certified Sommelier
Tuesday Jul 21, 2020
Tuesday Jul 21, 2020
LINDSAY LUV, labeled the “DJ to the Stars”by MTV and a “Turntable Goddess” by Victoria’s Secret, is a celebrity DJ, Music Supervisor, Influencer and WSET Certified Sommelier with a devoted following. Luv made a name for herself by spinning the hottest nightclubs, private events and star-studded parties in NYC before relocating to Los Angeles and becoming one of the most sought-after names across the industry and around the world. Lindsay Luv is favored in fashion, beauty, lifestyle and celebrity circles: some of her top clients include Bentley, Chanel, Twitter, Equinox, Spice Girls, Guess, Valentino, Paramount, Rachel Zoe, Naked Cashmere, CBS, WhoWhatWear, Refinery29, Rodeo Drive, The Emmys, Victoria's Secret, Express, Maybelline, Kim Crawford Wines and Elle to name a few.
@lindsayluv (Instagram) Website: www.lindsayluv.com
This podcast series is hosted by Patricia Kathleen and Wilde Agency Media. This series is a platform for women, female-identified, & non-binary individuals to share their professional stories and personal narrative as it relates to their story. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age, status, or industry.
TRANSCRIPTION
*Please note, this is an automated transcription please excuse any typos or errors
[00:00:00] In this episode, I had the opportunity to speak with DJ, music supervisor, influencer Soma Yei and digital media strategist Lindsay Luv key points addressed where Lindsay's career that has spanned over a decade in the music industry, serving as a DJ to some of the most elite venues around the world. We also looked at Lindsay's roles as a music supervisor, Influencer Somaiya and her most recent endeavor as a digital media strategist or for some of the most famous names in Hollywood. Stay tuned for my chat with Lindsay Luv.
[00:00:37] Hi, my name is Patricia Kathleen, and this podcast series contains interviews I conduct with women. Female identified and non binary individuals regarding their professional stories and personal narrative. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age status. For industry, we aim to contribute to the evolving global dialog surrounding underrepresented figures in all industries across the USA and abroad. If you're enjoying this podcast, be sure to check out our subsequent series that dove deep into specific areas such as Vegan life, fasting and roundtable topics. They can be found via our Web site. Patricia Kathleen .COM, where you can also join our newsletter. You can also subscribe to all of our series on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Pod Bean and YouTube. Thanks for listening. Now let's start the conversation.
[00:01:35] Hi, everyone, and welcome back. I'm your host, Patricia. And today I am sitting down with Lindsay Luv.
[00:01:41] She is a DJ, music supervisor, influencer, suddenly a and a digital media strategy. Sir, you can locate more about her and what she's doing at w w w dot. Lindsay Luv dot com. That is l i n d s a y l u v dot com. Welcome, Lindsay.
[00:02:01] Hi. Nice to. Nice to see you guys.
[00:02:04] Absolutely. I'm excited to have you one. And we were talking pre production and I was telling you that you're a first DJ.
[00:02:10] We've spoken to over 220 women, female identified non binary individuals for the series. And we finally have our first DJ on. So I cannot wait to pepper you with all the questions for everyone listening and who may be new to our series. I mean, first, I'm going to offer you a bio on Lindsay before I start peppering her with questions. But prior to that, a roadmap for today's podcast. You can follow along the trajectory in which we form our inquiry out of. We'll first look at Lindsay's academic and professional background that kind of brought her to her current endeavors of being a DJ, a music supervisor, influencer, and most recently, the digital media strategist, as well as a solmi, a demo unpack what being all of those things means to her and her life. And we'll get into some of the industry specifics, kind of based along what a lot of our audience members have asked in regards to Los Angeles and the New York scenes in music and how it pertains to DJs and kind of just some basic questions as a novice that I have, as well as maybe some music particulars that she read us in on. And then we'll look at goals and plans that Lindsay may have over the next one to three years. They did digital media strategizing and position that she's reaching recently embarked on. We'll wrap everything up with advice that she has for those of you who are looking to contact her, maybe emulate some of her success, things of that nature. So as promised, prior to peppering her with questions, a quick bio on Lindsay Lindsay Luv label the DJ to the stars by MTV and a turntable goddess by Victoria's Secret is a celebrity DJ, music supervisor, influencer and WECT certified Somaiya with a devout and a devout following Luv made a name for herself by spinning the hottest nightclubs, private events and star studded parties in New York City before relocating to Los Angeles and becoming one of the most sought after names across the industry and around the world. Lindsay Luv is favored in fashion, beauty, lifestyle and celebrity circles. Some of her top clients include Bentley, Chanel, Twitter, Equinox, Spice Girls, Gas, Valentino, Paramount, Rachael Zo Naked Cashmere, CBS Who What Where Refinery29, Rodeo Drive, the Emmys, Victoria's Secret Express, Maybelline, Kim Crawford Wines and Elle, to name a few. So that's a massive list. Lindsay, I Luv that. It's so exciting and I expect nothing less. I'm so am so excited to kind of climb into everything that you've done in your past with DJing and stuff. But before we get to that, can you drop everyone that's listening into kind of a brief overview of what your academic background and early professional life was prior to your current endeavors?
[00:04:50] Yes, I grew up in Boston, so I grew up on the East Coast and both my parents were educators. They both worked in the public Boston public schools and then the high schools, you know, suburban high schools and so forth. They actually worked on a Navajo reservation before that. So I spent a lot of time visiting there as well, which is. Yeah, which is really cool. But I grew up in Boston, suburbs of Boston. I went to school there. And then I went to first I went to Miami University of Ohio. I decided I wanted to get out of Boston, try something completely different. So I went for a year to Miami University of Ohio, and then I kind of missed home, which I wasn't expecting. And I ended up transferring to UMass Amherst and I graduated high honors from UMass Anvers. And then I went on to take I finished my last year of college with an internship at Comedy Central in New York City. So I finished I was at Comedy Central because I originally want to work in comedy and sketch comedy. Right. So big transition. But that was where I kind of started out everything.
[00:05:50] It's still a rowdy scene, though. They both feel very rowdy. Rae comedy writing and the ones that I know, the comedy writers that I know are based out of L.A. and stand up comedians alike. Still, it's very comparable to like the music scene as far as things are moving very quickly and nightly, even in the corporate like I was at comedy, such which is a very corporate company.
[00:06:09] But, you know, the disposition of the people coming through all day is definitely really kind of wild. So I was there during the first season of Chappelle's Show and some of the nine one one some of the big show was really a cool time to be calm.
[00:06:21] Yeah. I don't think there's a bad time, but that sounds like an epic time. Chappelle's Show really changed the industry. I'm wondering, so how did you do the transition? How what was the great switch into.
[00:06:34] Yeah. So when I was finishing up my internship at comedy, I kind of I've always been a big music nerd. I mean, growing up, I was. My parents are both super hippies. I went to Woodstock and all that. I grew up with, like, incredible records. My vinyl collection today is everything they've collected through their lives. So I have this, like, unbelievable collection of all the best. You know, the Grateful Dead and the Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young and all that. So I grew up in a music household. So for me, music had always been a threat in my life. And as I was finishing the comedy thing, I kind of did an internal look and was like, what do I really want to be doing? And I realized that music was calling to me. And there was a job posting for a music development director at what? A company that's still around called The Orchard. They do. They basically do all the digital music, you know, on Apple, Apple Music and all that. They do a lot of cataloging for all kinds of artists, independent all the way up. So I went in there and I was this super young girl and I kind of went in and I just said I went in for a secretary job and I kind of sold them on the idea that they really should hire me to be their kind of music development director, going dance festivals and conferences and so on, and connecting with new talent and kind of weeding out some amazing musicians and things to get involved in the catalog.
[00:07:46] And while I was there, the owners of the orchard at the time were also working with the band called The Raven Ettes, which were a huge rock band on Columbia Records. And I said, how can I get involved with you guys helping kind of grow that as well. So then I was kind of putting myself both on the corporate side of my day job and then kind of injecting myself into essentially their management team for this this big growing rock band. And that was kind of where it started. And I actually am still close friends with that band stay. They played at my wedding. And it was just kind of this amazing kind of introduction on both sides, the talent side and then the corporate side of the music industry right away.
[00:08:26] Do you find that you're. I mean, so did a lot of your techniques in which you started offering the industry start to change within, like the natural evolution of what you were doing?
[00:08:35] When I first started at the orchard, it was about seeds still. So that gives you any idea? It was really crazy because right at that time, they were trying to they were just starting to try and get all of the artists, because, remember, a lot of these people are independent artists. So it wasn't like the Lady Gaga of the world. It was like these very kind of artists. So they were trying to get them to get all of their music digital. So they were trying to get them to get their C.D. placed online. And it was right when Apple Music was opening up to letting like a full catalog of anybody get their music on Apple, because remember, originally it was just Apple was choosing which artists kind of could be on Apple. So this is when it was opening up to everybody. So our job went from essentially just getting artists and their C.D. or whatever it was to getting all these people to transition into the new era of digital music. So I really was kind of at the forefront of watching that entire thing unfold. It was it was really interesting trying to get people to understand it's not that you have to give up your C.D. or whatever it is that we have to get you on line two. And what a great world that can be and how it can reach so many more people. And then, you know, it's singles and a whole new world of how music runs kind of.
[00:09:41] Absolutely. And deals for the artists their whole lives change with the different record deals and things like that attached to it. So where did it when did you start becoming a DJ? Like, when did you start getting your feet wet with that?
[00:09:53] So I from that job, I moved into another job where I worked for a big music marketing agency. They had lots of major clients from like liquor brands to Kosofsky, Socky and all these different lifestyle brands. And they wanted to start a music based kind of marketing program. So essentially, I got hired. It was a company based in Chicago. I was in New York armed to kind of create music events throughout New York City, around up and coming artists, not people who have necessarily already completely exploded, but more of the people right under them that we're like right on the cusp of full kind of exclosure or what we thought at the time. Some of those people went on to be huge. Some of that you never heard of again. But I'll I'll take you through just a few quick ones. At the time, I was booking artists that now here are some of the ones, you know, Chromeo Justice Future Islands. You know, there was a bunch of these artists that were just kind of like starting out. So I was essentially reaching out, trying to find cool independent artists to create events around to tie in with these brands. So essentially brand marketing through music in New York City. So it was an epic job. I have to tell you, it was maybe my very favorite job of all time. It went on for a while. And what happened was I connected with some really great DJs while I was doing this, including the late D.J. AM, who was a massive club DJ. He's huge in the L.A. scene. He was he kind of got famous for being engaged to Nicole Richie, but he was like a very revered DJ. He ended up. Plane crash. I'm sure you heard about all the things that happened to him, but he became a friend of mine. And what was happening, and this is how I got started DJing, is I was sending him a lot of music that I was finding all these independent artists. I was. Collecting through my jobs, I would say here, check this band out, check this band out there from Toronto or whatever, and he'd say, this is great. And then one day he turned to me, said, you know, you know a lot about music. Have you ever considered DJ? I said, oh, my gosh, that sounds crazy. I'm such like a business girl. I can't even imagine trying to take on a talent job. And at one point, my company that I have been working for folded. So they ended some major funding situation. And I was looking for a new job in New York City. I was looking for that new corporate job. It was very neat. So it was very hard to find. And I'll never forget, I went into interview advice one day for a job with them doing music marketing. And I stood outside in the snow after the snow was coming down. I said, you know what? Screw it. I'm just going to try it. I'm just going to go get the equipment that my friend D.J. Am said. I'm going to call my friends who own a nightclub. I'm going to ask me if I can go practice during the day when the club is closed. And I'm just going to teach myself how to DJ. I'm going to get to use my Vinals and I'm going to learn the proper way and I'm going to do it. And there was like very few female teachers at this time. It was like this was over 10 years is like 12 years ago. So there was female DJs, but they were like few and far between. And I've always been somebody that likes to take on industries that are not necessarily known for being super female oriented. I'm just that person I like to take, I guess like I like to take a challenge. And so I say, you know, I'm just going to try it. And so I went everyday with my headphones at my stuff and I'd sit there trying to learn how to DJ. And in the middle of this club, with nobody in it, in the middle of the day, while waiting to hear if I got this corporate job, which I didn't end up getting at the time I was interviewing for all these corporate jobs. I started building up kind of momentum around my DJing. The club said, Would you like to take a night? You got to do everything. You've got a DJ. You got your people to come out. And it started to just parrello and poni and snowball from there into where I am today. So we kind of just kind of just took over. And eventually I just said, you know what, I'm paying my bills and I'm making more money doing this than I did in the corporate world. So let's just keep going. My parents said, hey, you'll figure it out, you're gonna be moving home. So I worked my butt off. Really.
[00:13:44] There were times when I want to climb into it now because there's I think there's a lot of misconceptions. And you just alluded to one and I don't know the current climate, but I do know as of like five years ago.
[00:13:54] Well, I think that I do know of a couple in L.A. right now. They're still doing it. But when people hear a DJ, there's first of all that the position has transitioned a great deal just with tech. You know, and what people are employing there is completely different, you know, and a certain individual autonomous tracks, all sorts of things. But before we get into some of the specifics, the actual job, as you just kind of mentioned, of D.J. was supposed to it back in the day, like they did a lot of their own marketing for the club for the night that they were doing DJing on both coasts. Yeah. So you really had to train yourself up in advertising. Word of mouth. How did you start doing that for yourself back in the early days as opposed to how it's done? Now, it seems like social media and a lot of things like that will take place. But back before, social media was like the go to for which club to head, you know, how were you doing that?
[00:14:47] That's so true. So, I mean, social media was still existed. It was probably more like MySpace and Facebook and MySpace was very music oriented. So I actually had a really incredible profile. I probably I would say I was the most quote unquote, you know, MySpace famous in the sense that I had a lot of eyes on them. And I think a lot of that had to do with all my work and music and being such a music friendly profile. You went on it? I had a playlist playing, you know, so it was very conducive to that world. But so that was very helpful. But the big thing was I just injected myself into the scene. I live downtown. I lived in New York, downtown, and I just injected myself. And part of this is just being super young, super single and just kind of going out and talking to people and seeing what was out there. But I essentially just injected myself deep into the scene of getting the word out. I made my own fliers. I would call the clubs and say, I need you to do this, this. And the other thing I was doing everything from start to finish. I was calling all my friends, texting my friends with the fliers. It was like a no holds barred kind of self campaign. I mean, I was barely getting paid any money, but I just kind of kept my head straight. I didn't focus on money, which I think is important. I think when you start out, there's this conception today that you're supposed to go from zero to one hundred overnight and it's OK to just start at zero and kind of just, you know, work your way up. And I mean, I had to do a lot of work to make the money to pay the bills because, you know, it wasn't what it had to move home. But I was working overtime trying to get my little bits of money working, maybe sometimes three gigs in one night. I mean, I would go from one club, play like a two hour set, march over to another club, play a two hour set, because, you know, New York's open so late. So I was, you know, staying up, you know, and drinking Red Bull to stay awake because of. So tired and I never drink what I DJ really sorry. I was very focused and it's a lot of work. It was a lot of work.
[00:16:41] Did you develop a persona early on or is that something that came later? You know, persona is kind of blew up. I feel like in the arts, in the early author, it became like this Daft Punk, even though they're not DJs, this kind of like, you know, full on costume. But I grew into that. Did you have your own persona when you began?
[00:16:58] I feel like I did because I was of the era that there were DJ names. It wasn't just like your classic actual given name. Right. That's why I'm still Lindsay Luv. Sometimes I look at my go, God, this is kind of corny being ones you Luv still, but it's just who I am. You know, I mean, maybe not my personal home, but it's who I am as a as a brand at this point. Yeah. My DJ friend, DJ A.M. actually gave me that name. That was kind of how it worked. Is that another DJ? What kind of name? You know. So I just went with it and it's stock and it just it just made sense. I was just always really friendly and talking to people. And I guess that was kind of what it was. It kind of rhymed. Lindsey Luv. It was L.L.. A lot of people call me L.L. still, so I just went with it.
[00:17:40] Did it correspond at all with the style that you played in? And also, did your style change per venue?
[00:17:46] Did you kind of morph into the venue you were going into or did they expect you to bring the Lindsay Luv style that touch you so well on everything in my career?
[00:17:54] So I would say, like, you know, some DJs are just they're known for one thing, like when you think of TSA or you think of house music. Right. Or you think of like, you know, some people, they're like really known for their technical skills. They scratch like crazy. You know, you going to flash or somebody is like really famous scratchers, OK? For me, it was that would I would still say is my greatest asset as a DJ is my understanding of how to place the right to soundtrack, my set around the room and around an event and around the people there and around the mood and the moment and the time of day. And I still do that today. So it's really for me. I've never used a setlist. So I go into every gig and I just go with I feel it out as I go. So sometimes just to be super focused because I'm trying to think of the next song of what what makes sense, which to me makes it so that it's never stale. Said you never hear the same set over and over and over again. But yeah, I feel like that's been a huge part of my career, why I've gotten such traction with so many different types of clients and clubs.
[00:18:56] Yeah. And that kind of drops into one of the greats ask questions. And according to Google Analytics that I was we were my team was looking at to see kind of what the ethos of the entire Internet was asking DJs.
[00:19:08] And one of them was and if given a choice to play a song that, you know, we'll make the crowd go crazy or play a song that you like, that will get a lukewarm reaction, which would you play? And I'm guessing it's the crowd or would you at some point choose you?
[00:19:24] I feel like I do a little bit of both. I am I have to say that I have never fully. I don't want to say kowtow to just like the mainstream, because I feel like that would just make me feel bored, honestly. I love to interject music that people aren't expecting or I Luv to surprise people by, like, jumping from a song that they Love, like that, that, you know, that Justin Bieber track that's really hot right now would then do a crazy remix of it and mix it into maybe like an old school prince song and then move it back into like AC DC and then bring it back to something current, you know, like Chromeo or whatever. So that's kind of been my thing. So, like, I kind of feel like what I do well is touching on everybody's needs a little bit. And you can't be a complete people pleaser in any job. You know, you're always gonna make somebody want something else and whatnot. But for me, I like to just run the gamut and kind of surprise people and surprise himself. So, yeah, it's cool.
[00:20:25] I would say, well, I'm starting from you know, you mentioned your beginning story. I'm just going to your friends club and getting practice. But I'm curious. Do you have. Did did you have any mentors in the beginning?
[00:20:35] Aside from yourself and in a lonely club? And also, do you have inspirations still that you draw from?
[00:20:42] Yeah. So that was actually and still is one of the hardest parts. So teaching is such a solo career in so many ways. It's not like you have like a squad of I mean, other DJs are there to, like, mentor you. A lot of the time I feel like DJ A.M. was the first person who kind of took a chance on me in the sense of like, you know, really giving me that kind of boost to go after it. And more importantly, he gave me a bunch of like tips and tools, but he lived in California. I lived in New York. So it was kind of a remote mentorship in that way. There were few male DJs that helped me out in the very beginning. I would ask them for advice or things. But I have to tell you, I actually think one of the hardest things was I started getting a lot of gigs, especially ones that other people might have wanted. It's very competitive. And so what happened was, especially with the male DJs. A lot of them chalk it up to, oh, they're just hired her because it's a novelty. Right. Which now, 12 years later, not so novelty anymore. Right. I've been doing it for twelve years. So it was a bit of that feeling of like, you know, there was a lot of like competition. And so what happened was sometimes you feel like as a talent, you almost get stuck. It was like you got to this point where you're getting this work, but you're too scared to then go backwards and ask for help. Is any help that it looks like weakness, like I've got to this point, but I don't know how to do this. So was a lot of like self teaching, self navigating, sometimes even the very beginning, kind of fake it till you make it like just figure out as you go and get better. And it was like people were watching me kind of learn as I went. But if the music's good, that is the most important thing and you can't teach that. So I always had a great ear for great music and I feel like that's why I was able to thrive even when other skills weren't quite there. And even today, I would say there's things I could learn that I never really felt comfortable asking help for. I never went to a DJ school, which might have been helpful. The time it was very like. Novelty, it wasn't something that a lot of people did. So I kind of just got like, all right. I got to teach myself.
[00:22:43] So I just sit there with those listening over and over.
[00:22:46] It's crazy. Plus, those kinds of things change. I mean, that industry has changed so much, Cheena, that education. It seems like everyone, regardless of what's going you have or haven't had and have to educate regularly taken seriously, too.
[00:22:59] That was another really big thing. As a female, I wanted to make sure that I learned properly, properly. So that's why I was really big on using vinyl and then vinyl. What's with the computer programs and all that? I already had like one thing against me almost being like a female DJ that they were gonna say always this a gimmick or whatever. So I was like dead set on. Let me do this the proper way. I'm going to show up to the basketball court with a basketball instead of a tennis ball. I'm going to make sure that I am like, yeah, you know, showing them that I know what I'm doing.
[00:23:27] What's been your greatest whom and what or whom has been your greatest inspiration to date?
[00:23:33] Woo!
[00:23:37] You know, from a personal standpoint, I feel like obviously the artists that I worked with, the DJ and the raven that's watching people that I cared about that and they all really started from humble beginnings. And a lot of ways, you know, they all really put in the work and put in the time. So that was on a personal level, very inspiring on a kind of broader scale. I actually remotely was in the same scene as Lady Gaga. So she kind of ran circles in kind of the same circles as me in New York City. We were not like friends by any means, but I kind of saw her from inception almost all the way through to the point that we actually played together at the Victoria's Secret fashion show in Paris. And we talked and we you know, we connected. I was very friendly with her. She's godmother to a of trumpet players, kids. And we had a lot of like six degrees of separation. And she was also I'm a I'm Italian and she's Italian. She's from Italian American family. And she's just kind of always had this very all guard kind of New York scene, New York kid running around New York vibe to her. And I felt like I really connected on that level. I really understood that. Obviously, she went on to be much bigger than me, but I felt like watching her. She's been so honest about a lot of her struggles personally and professionally. She's been a great voice for the people. She's been such a strong and powerful woman. She keeps reinventing herself. So for me, professionally, I feel like watching Lady Gaga is great. And also she's a Luvly person. She's just a nice person. So I Luv seeing good people thrive.
[00:25:11] Absolutely. Me too. And I feel like the documentary kind of got to some of that that you just never saw even she had. She does have a very authentic air.
[00:25:20] But I do think that that centric. But that's kind of what makes her you know, it makes every artist that right.
[00:25:28] Yeah. And do you have any preparatory mash ups or remakes? Is that you use or do you kind of just function in a realm of other.
[00:25:35] OK. So there was I feel like I kind of drew a line in the sand at one point in my career. I feel like there's different types of DJs. And this is where it got interesting because at the time it seemed like it was just club DJs, right. Club DJs or like people like. Yes. Who produced music. And then they play it like a DJ live. OK. So there's like two types of DJ. DJ A.M. was essentially a club DJ. It's not that he never did any personal productions, but he was famous for playing other people's music, mashed up, mixed up, remixed live in clubs. I was the most interested in that. And at the time, it made sense for me to be in the club scene. And at the time I started trying to do some production of remixes. But to me, production, being a music producer or even just for remixes is a very different world than like live club DJ. Afghan remixes for a few clients, including the Raven Ettes on which was with Colombia, which was a great opportunity. I said to myself, you know, where do I see myself? Down the road. I always knew I wanted a family and I didn't want to be like, you know, doing the festivals when I was older and being on the road all the time, never being with my kids. I kind of drew a line in the sand at some point. I said, you know, there's this great world of corporate DJ gigs, meaning like with brands, fashion brands. And that was kind of who was gravitating to me. And I was gravitating towards. They Luvd that I could dress up. I Luvd what they were balut together. It was kind of interesting marketing for me, bringing back my marketing roots. So at some point I said, where am I? Where am I going? Where do I want to be? And I kind of started to transition out of the club scene, which I felt like was essential to get me kind of the notability as a DJ or what. But I started moving into, you know, more of the corporate DJ world, which became bigger money quality over quantity. I'll put it like that. It was like less gigs throughout. The mother wasn't working every night at a nightclub. I wasn't working till 4:00 in the morning. I'd be working from seven to 10, you know, for like a Chanel or whoever it is. And that kind of became I knew my new normal and that led into music, supervision and all these other kind of behind the scenes work. So I moved away from production.
[00:27:38] OK, where do you get your songs? Where do you get the exposure? Where do you where do you go? What do you listen to?
[00:27:45] I spend hours online reading blogs, music blogs. I'll do the general Apple Music and just see what's like what's hot. And then I'll do the all the intricate music blogs. I will spend a lot of time just downloading like a million remixes of each song I like. And then I literally listen through them and delete all the ones I don't like, so I could raid the best of the best. I know if there's a song like Yummy by Justin Bieber, which sometimes I'm like, oh God, you know, I'll sit there and I'll download all the remixes of that and then I will delete all the ones I don't like until I find these like, perfect remixes to me that make the song that much better. And so that's kind of how I do it. I just kind of sit there and try and find all the best, best new music. And then I obviously have a crazy catalog of all the old stuff. I've been DJ for 12 years, so I don't even want to know. I've had to get like terabytes.
[00:28:34] Yeah. Absolutely.
[00:28:38] For sure. Do you? I'm wondering throughout the past.
[00:28:41] I can't decide which one I think would be more applicable towards having an agent. Have you ever had an agent who has ever been prescribed for you to have an agent? And if so, in which endeavor the club scene or more now the corporate?
[00:28:52] Actually, interesting. So I had a lot of meetings early on with D.J. specific agents in New York City. And sometimes it was like I wasn't enough of whatever they wanted. And sometimes it was like I felt like they were trying to put me in the wrong zone, like I was trying to tell them this is where I want to head. And they were like, well, this is what we do. And the two weren't working. So I was the first to say, like, I'm not interested. The hardest part for me is that I started on the business side and the corporate side. So I really understood the prescription of being kind of a talent management agency, marketing, all of that. So I made it very hard for me to work with certain people and let them kind of push me to the side and run the ship. It was like nobody knows my business better than I do. So one year of my career, I went with an influencer specific agency. They wanted somebody that and their a major agency. They rep huge people. They didn't have anybody that was music oriented. They really wanted a music person. So when I went with them, I was looking to get more things like headphone endorsement deals. I was trying to branch out to this whole new zone and I didn't really need help with the DJ. That was kind of like, I'm doing that. Now help me kind of get in music supervisor jobs and play listing for Spotify. And that's what I wanted to be doing. Being a hotel music supervisor, they didn't quite they didn't quite know how to wrap their head around it. And additionally, they were kind of, I don't say screwing up my DJ flow, but they didn't understand the DJ world. So together, the two were not symbiotic. And I eventually parted ways respectfully. Since then, I've talked to people and each time I feel like, you know what?
[00:30:32] I just at this point, 12 years and I feel like I get what I'm doing, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't. I always think if you don't know how to run your own business really effectively, there's nothing wrong in knowing when to ask for help and to know who's great at that. So I would be the first to say, if you feel like you can't manage it, absolutely reach out to somebody that seems like the right fit the cab.
[00:30:51] Nice. So I'm wondering and with getting into with a music supervisor, I'm hoping you can clarify a little bit of that role. You did just a little bit. You know, Spotify playlists tell music and curation management, things like that.
[00:31:04] But you can you can define that term even more.
[00:31:07] Yeah. So I originally I called a brand music supervision and it kind of morphed into a bunch of different name sounds, styling, sound design, music supervisor. What was happening is beyond just the playing live. There were so many moments. I call it like sound tracking moments. You know, even when my daughter was born, I had a playlist playing when she was born. So when I think of her birth, I think of her coming out to Rumble by Link Wray and then, like, Born to be wild. Like, that's how I see almost the birth. Right. And I feel like life is full of these moments or these these experiences and music the same way smell kind of set the stage in your memory and your sensory memory of what's going on. So what was happening is a lot of brands started reaching out and saying, like, can you help us soundtrack this moment or what?
[00:31:52] What not? I did it for a lot of hotel groups so I would help them with Spotify stations. You know, maybe people were going in their rooms and they wanted a chillout playlist or they're on a work trip. And so there would be in the room there, we would talk about, you know, I did it for the W hotels. Ian Schrager, public hotels. I was doing a bunch of different kind of play listing of different types of like chill out, you know, at the W or whatever for people to listen to when they were in the rooms or whatnot or working out. Then Equinox hired me in 2018, as there are Spotify music director. So I was essentially putting together all types of fitness playlists for them. So if somebody went on a machine, the goal? I don't know if they ever reach this goal because a lot obviously has happened. But was for you could take your phone and you could put it over like a fruit with a barcode and it would pull up the playlist and then there'd be playlists for running or for lifting or what not that I was curating for them in. And I've had a lot of these one off projects. I did it for major trade show in Vegas, all the music that was running through the trade show. So for all these fashion projects in Vegas, I was doing all their music that was running through the trade show and then some of their online marketing and then celebrity clients. I've actually had some celebrity clients where I literally curate music for them, for their fitness workouts. And so when I worked a lot with a Spice Girl, Mel be doing her fitness playlists in the past and other clients like that.
[00:33:18] So nice. Yeah. How did people find you or how do you feel? How do you connect with them without an agent. Is it. I mean, you've been in it so long. I feel like your art of mouth now, like a good, you know, source just happens.
[00:33:29] But in the beginning, did you just kind of search out certain industries or certain areas? Unity.
[00:33:36] I think that it's definitely I have to be honest. I'm like a crazy I would say I'm like a hustler, really. I really hustle my game. You know, I don't come from some of the people you see, like a lot of these celebrity DJs. And it's no fault to them. But they come from these, you know, their kids of famous parents or whatnot. So maybe they're already in the mix. And I come from two teachers from Boston. So there was nobody in my family who was remotely connected to this world. And from a young age, if you look at what it said in my high school yearbook, it's like everybody knew that I was going to go off and try and do something kind of wild. Right. That was always a given with with me. And it was I've always been just a crazy hustler in that way. I've always put myself out there and and tried to go after things. My biggest thing that I've given, and I'm sure this will go in the end advice is that you don't know until you ask. Now, there's a level of asking, but you you have to put ideas into the universe. And I know it's a secret, but you really do have to put stuff out there because a lot of times people just aren't thinking about it. I've literally pitch myself for most of the biggest things I've ever got in my entire career. I've told people you don't have you thought about having me for this? That the other thing and then they like somebody, they just sit with it and it percolates in their brain and they come back to you and they're like, huh? I never thought you'd be like, that's perfect. Yeah, we could be great. You know, that's when, like I would say, 80 percent of my success has been me just putting stuff out there to people because they're just not. People just aren't really thinking about you right now.
[00:35:04] I think that that's true for at least 90 percent of the people I've spoken with that have really not just broken in, but made tracks in their industry. So I think that that's absolutely true. I'm wondering how becoming an influencer and Assoli has kind of played into the influence. Are things kind of organic?
[00:35:21] I feel like, you know, once you become enough of that figure, that's influence that you're at. You're at these massive attended events. It seems natural that people would want you to kind of serve as their ambassador.
[00:35:32] Yeah. Can you speak more to that?
[00:35:35] It's that's been an interesting development because each each media, each platform is so different. So when you have huge success, like I had really big success on MySpace because it was so music oriented. It was actually harder for me to transition it to Instagram. You know, Instagram with this whole new world. And it was about these Flatley photos. And it was a totally different kind of world. So, you know, that took me some time to kind of figure out what how do I connect the dots here? This is now like I'm DJing with then, you know, OK, it's about me taking a photo of. I immediately realized I wanted to capture what I was doing versus making content just for Instagram. Now I do a little of both just to keep up with it, especially during obviously we're in a quarantine.
[00:36:18] So I'm really spending a lot of time creating content. But, you know, a lot of influencers are creating content for Instagram. I was kind of creating content around what I was already doing and trying to make it beautiful to look at and all the things. So, yeah, that that's been it's unfortunately the only part that's hard about it is that there's so much pressure to have your social media kind of be so grand and grandiose and amazing. People are getting gigs on some levels based off that. And, you know, that can be can be challenging. You have to keep up with it even when you're exhausted with it. You're just like, listen, I'm a great DJ, just hired me for my skills or whatever it is. You know, there's such a tie in now and the two are not separate. You have to, like, put so much work into all of the elements. I find that tough.
[00:37:05] It is. I mean, in the advent of the micro influencer being at the nexus of those crossroads, I will say that the word around the kids in Silicon Valley and know and Gen Y and Gen I following up on their heels, is that the kind of polished Cardassian instant moment that was so exhausting for everybody to keep up with is like out.
[00:37:26] It's all about the reality non filter photo, like the real real, which should lessen up on some of it. And also, I don't like what it did for public perception of those generations coming up. It was just as bad as the fashion magazines that had, you know, an anorexic little white girls my whole life. So I don't 100 percent agree there.
[00:37:46] You know, I had an intern that was a lot younger than me. And, you know, you would hear not just from Harvard, just there was this expectation that they had to go from zero to a hundred, that they should be Kylie and Gucci shoes. They should be wearing Gucci shoes when it was complete. They're living at home. It's completely unaffordable or whatever the situation is. You know, there was there was this expectation and not at a fault of theirs. There was this expectation that I have to get these things to match up to what's happening on online. And I felt like that pressure, like I never even was thinking about hoochie shoes, you know, when I was 19, you know, but there was this pressure to kind of like go from zero to a hundred. Career wise, fame wise, appearance wise, everything that pressure, especially as a mom of a daughter, you know, is is just is disturbing. And I try to keep my feet as authentic as. But, you know, it's even for me, it's challenging at times, you know?
[00:38:39] Yeah. I'd like to see a fall of it. It's also just transparency. It's not bringing us closer as humanity. To have a whole bunch of you know, I have plenty of beLuvd friends and colleagues and family members that put up hyper edited photos of reality that I'm like, girl, that's not you.
[00:38:54] I know. It's so it's fine.
[00:38:58] It's it's neither here nor there. I think it's just part of Americana iconography that's now headed in our rear view.
[00:39:03] Thank goodness. I want to turn towards your new digital media strategizing moment. You kind of dropped on me right before we started this, that that came into your life recently. And I'm like, oh, hot tip scoop. So let's climb into whatever you can tell us about that.
[00:39:17] So I I've done some consulting in the back end with clients on their social media. What's happened is because I'm running my own business and I haven't been with an agency, I've had to get up with the program all the time, understanding social media, understanding how to properly, like, manage my feed, went to post social calendars, getting verified on all the different elements of making your social media really fabulous. I've had to kind of understand for myself and what's happened between that and then all the jobs I've done over 12 years with all these major brands, I realized I have relationships so I could write to somebody at Twitter. And you're back in half an hour because of my relationship with them or somebody at Victoria's Secret or Chanel or Maybelline or whatnot. And so I said to myself, wow, you know, this massive Rolodex, I've all these personal relationships that have grown and built. And I said, you know, it's great for me at all, but that might be useful for one gig here and there, whatever I said. What if I took those relationships and found a way to monetize that for myself and also help other people connect and be the connector? And so so a friend of mine who is a big Hollywood publicist, Casey Kitchen, she reps a lot of she actually reps one of our good friends and actor Peter Falcinelli, who was in Twilight. Nurse Jackie and all these great greats, content and great movies and film. He kind of connected us. And then me and her just grew mutual respect. Long before this pandemic hit, we were talking about me helping her clients that she does traditional publicity for. She's doing all the, you know, Daily Mail or People magazine or, you know, the all the red carpet, all that stuff and all the big high end editorials. It was one of those things where she said, you know, why don't we kind of collaborate and help these people with their digital media strategy? A lot of her clients, as you know, as fitting and so and more of a freelance fashion. I have come on board officially her PR agency, she went solo was called Mark PR. It's based out of here in Hollywood. And I've come on board and more of a freelance aspect, but come on board as her digital media strategy director. And I am already I don't know if I can name the clients yet, but I'm working with some very, very top, high and verified clients helping them. I call it like the Ray Donovan of their social media. I'm like a fixer. I kind of come in and I help them. I feel all the things that maybe they're doing right.
[00:41:36] Somebody these people, they have amazing talent, amazing concept, but they don't necessarily know how to apply it to the platform that is Instagram, where that is Pinterest or that is Twitter. And I could put them in there and fix it up for them and help them understand how to better themselves. So it's a very good company.
[00:41:51] I mean, it sounds like there's you know, the clientele is similar to who it's been before. Just more specifics, the Ray Donovan social. So I like epic. I Luv it. That's fantastic. Well, Lindsey, we're running out of time.
[00:42:06] And I want to turn towards quickly a conversation that I've been having with everyone given, as you've mentioned earlier, the current climate of that covered 19 pandemic. And it's kind of allowed everyone to reassess. Even people who have like this virtual enterprise, you have a huge, prolific career based, a large part in this kind of performance oriented things. I know it must have had an impact on you, but I'm wondering if you've had a conversation with time for a conversation with yourself and moving forward as to how you might alter or start to edit what your life's work will be in the future based on what we're doing. Or are you kind of waiting until there's a return to normal and a vaccine and then going back out?
[00:42:45] So this has been such an amazingly interesting experience for me. Very challenging. Being a parent to a toddler during this quarantine is really hard because me and my husband, he has a job and I've kind of taken on this new job, plus all my other stuff that's still kind of existing. So we're bouncing back child care all day long and making sure that she gets the best of the best because we want her to still thrive during, you know, being a little bit more confined. So that's created a massive challenge that and the house and the cooking and all of it. However, like I said, I'm like always five steps ahead and I'm such a Hossler. So of course, I decide to take it on myself to really move forward. These were things, though, that I talked about doing for a while. And this kind of like gave me the push to take that rip the band. Off. And actually, it's I've been, I would say, kind of thriving in that way that I rip the Band-Aid off and I drove straight headfirst into all these new ventures that I've wanted to take on this digital media strategy. I've been studying more about why, and I just Luv wine. And I think there's something interesting there. Wine and music. They go well together. So, you know, there could be some interesting work there. And I'm I've always been the kind of person who I talk about stuff. But I also my husband says you need to pat yourself on the back because there's a lot of people say they want to be a star my age. But you actually signed up for the class and showed up and you took the test and you did it. And for me, it's kind of like that. I try and do that with the things on the most serious about. I get a lot of ideas, but what I'm actually really series on something I put in the work. And during this time I've taken every five minutes I've had to myself when my baby's napping or late at night after she goes to sleep and I sit there trying to, you know, get work done for my clients, for digital media strategy, because D.J. right now in the way we know it is on hold and it's like it's like a bike.
[00:44:37] You know, I can DJ.
[00:44:39] I can DJ any day till I'm 90 if people want me to. You never stop learning how to do a musical instrument or talent or not. Obviously, you have to refresh yourself. But, you know, so why not spend this time where I'm not being requested to DJ to really get the other stuff going and eventually kind of open up to everything again?
[00:44:59] That's awesome. And I want to wrap up with asking you when I ask all of my guests for this series, and it's me, mainly if someone walked up to you tomorrow maintaining a safe social distance and said it's a woman or female identified, non binary individual, pretty much anyone other than a straight man and said, listen, I'm getting ready to get into you.
[00:45:21] I think I'm just gonna take the plunge. I want to get into DJing. I've been in the music industry for a long time. I've kind of come at it from the business background. I think I just want to do this. I'm going to take the leap. What are the top three pieces of advice you would give that person, knowing what you know now?
[00:45:35] OK, number one, I would say don't overthink it. Just do. I think the big thing that holds a lot of people back is I mean, everybody knows this, but somebody you really have to say a lot. I think fear holds people back from trying things. They say when you look at like bloggers, for example, the biggest tendency for bloggers to start a blog and never finish. You have to keep going. You can't just start it and then just fall off because you're not seeing, like, you know, the overnight success. If you really care about it and you really Luv it, even if it's not your full time job, even if it's just something you do for your friends at a barbecue in the beginning, don't give up. Like, if that's something you really want, then just keep going and understand that each of those little things is a success in themselves. You did it. You bought the equipment you're teaching yourself or you're going to was class or whatever it is you played for a bunch of your friends. They liked it. That's enough. That's OK. And and, you know, even if that's as far as you ever take it or as far as it ever goes for you, it's still good to know that you gave it a shot. So that's first and foremost, you got to give it a shot. Secondly, I'd say I am a strong believer if you're gonna do something, do it properly. So whatever that means to you, it may not be the same way I saw DJing with learning with, you know, vinyl and this and that. But if you're gonna do something, give it give it its its purest form. Let yourself really learn what it means to be a DJ.
[00:46:57] Research DJs, watch DJs, listen to music, get get yourself immersed in it and whatever that means to you. It may not be the same to me, but immerse yourself in it and do a proper give it its full go. And then third, I would say don't be afraid to put yourself out there and ask for things you want. There is a proper level to do that. Obviously, if you're not getting the response you want, you have to have some kind of social know how when to pull back and to redirect or to go after something a little bit different or somebody a little different. But don't be scared to put yourself out there. Pete, you're only as good as the ideas that you have. Right. You have to put those ideas out to people and say, hey, I thought about myself in this way. How are you? Do you see it back and let them think about it and sell yourself because you're your own best cheerleader. Nobody's ever going to cheerlead for you the way you are going to, surely for yourself. So do it with a respectful understanding that it won't always get accepted. That's OK. You know, no one to pull back and no one to push.
[00:47:55] Nice. All right. I've got. Don't overthink it and just do it and give it a shot. Number two, if you're going to do it, do it properly, whatever that means to you. But make sure you research it and get it done properly.
[00:48:06] Number three, don't be afraid to ask for what you want. Got to put it out there and make sure you listen to the cues and love those as you're perfect. Very, very. New York. I have to say, it sounds very Pskov. Yeah, I love it.
[00:48:20] Well, Lindsay, thank you so much for giving us your time today. I know you're extremely busy and I appreciate all of your stupendous candor about the music industry and everything that you're doing.
[00:48:28] Thank you so much. And you're such a great leader, too. We love watching your podcast. Thank you for having me. It's a true honor to be on here. Thank you for that.
[00:48:36] Thank you. And for everyone listening, we've been talking with Lindsay Luv. You can find out more about her and all of her services on w w w dot. Lindsay Luv dot com.
[00:48:47] You can find my Instagram. It's just at Lindsay. Luv at Elyon dsa y o u v. And there I am.
[00:48:53] And until we speak again next time. Remember to stay in Luv with the world and always bet on yourself. Slaínte.
Thursday Jul 16, 2020
Speaking with Shahira Marei; Founder of The Dirty Cookie
Thursday Jul 16, 2020
Thursday Jul 16, 2020
Today I speak with Shahira Marei. Shahira is the furthest person from your typical Betty Crocker. In fact, in her past life, she was an aerospace project manager. The Dirty Cookie was born from the desire to turn something small, into something meaningful. It was born from her personal aspiration to change lives.
When she was 10 years old, on vacation in Egypt, she witnessed the devastation of hunger and homelessness first hand. She was shocked that children my age were living on the streets, that they were deprived of basic food and shelter. Shahira begged my father to give them money, and he conceded, but not before engraving the single most important statement she would hear, to date.
“If you really want to help them, give them jobs, not money.”
It was monumental enough for Shahira to decide to build a company. One that she vowed would be centered around the people she employ. Today, you’ll see that aside from a unique and delectable cookie, her business is about personability. From the customization options on their shots to the creative freedom I give to my employees, Shahira has worked to drive home the idea that anything is possible. She's always open to trying new things, and she employs her customers and team to challenge her, as they work together towards a common goal. The Dirty Cookie is more than a dessert haven, it’s a home for those who are searching for themselves and what they love.
This podcast series is hosted by Patricia Kathleen and Wilde Agency Media. This series is a platform for women, female-identified, & non-binary individuals to share their professional stories and personal narrative as it relates to their story. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age, status, or industry.
TRANSCRIPTON
*Please note this is an automated transcription, please excuse any typos or errors
[00:00:00] In this episode, I had the opportunity to speak with founder of the Dirty Cookie Shahira Marei. Key Points addressed were Shahira's is unlikely background as an aerospace engineer. And her plunge following it into the world of cookies. We also discussed Shahira's crucial pivot into e-commerce in 2018 and how that is playing out in the climate of Covid 19 and the pandemic's effect on her business and its future. Stay tuned for my talk and interview with Shahira.
[00:00:34] Hi, my name is Patricia Kathleen, and this podcast series contains interviews I conduct with women. Female identified and non binary individuals regarding their professional stories and personal narrative. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age status. For industry, we aim to contribute to the evolving global dialog surrounding underrepresented figures in all industries across the USA and abroad. If you're enjoying this podcast, be sure to check out our subsequent series that dove deep into specific areas such as Vegan life, fasting and roundtable topics. They can be found via our Web site. Patricia Kathleen dot COM, where you can also join our newsletter. You can also subscribe to all of our series on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, PodBean and YouTube. Thanks for listening. Now let's start the conversation.
[00:01:31] Hi, everyone. Welcome back. I'm your host, Patricia. And today I am elated to be sitting down with Shahira Marei. She is the founder of the Dirty Cookie. You can find it online. W w w dot. Dirty cookie. Dot com. Welcome Shahira
[00:01:47] Patricia, how you doing?
[00:01:48] Good. I'm excited to kind of unpack what you're doing. We talked off the record prior to this.
[00:01:52] But your Web site video I was researching prior to speaking with you and my entire household lit up over. So we will get into every all the goods that you're providing there and particularly the cookie shop. Prior to doing that, though, for everyone listening. I will read a bio on Shahira. But before that, a quick roadmap of today's podcasts for any new listeners will follow the same trajectory as all of them in the series. We will first look at unpacking Shahira's academic and professional background that brought her to launching Dirty Cookie. Then we'll look at unpacking the dirty cookie. We'll get into the logistics for all of you entrepreneurs and founders out there. The who, what, when, where, why, funding growth, all of those early stage things. And then we'll kind of turn our efforts towards the ethos and the philosophy behind it and some of your as motivations there. We'll also look at some of the current and contemporary issues about Covid 19 and how that has impacted everyone's businesses. And then we'll look at goals and plans that she has for the future, for both herself and her business and how those intertwined sometimes and segregating others were up everything up with advice that she has. For those of you who are looking to get involved, purchase some of her gorgeous products or emulate some of her success. So, as promised, a quick bio before I start peppering her with questions on Shahira, Shahira is the furthest person from your typical Betty Crocker. In fact, in her past life, she was an aerospace project manager. The dirty cookie was born from the desire to turn something small into something meaningful. It was born from her personal aspiration to change lives. One year it was 10 years old on a vacation in Egypt. She witnessed the devastation of hunger and homelessness firsthand. She was shocked that children her age were living on the streets, that they were deprived of basic food and shelter. She begged her father to give them money, and he conceded, but not before engraving the single most important statement she would hear to date. If you really want to help them, give them jobs, not money. It was a monumental enough for her to decide to build a company, one that she vowed would be centered around the people that she employs. Today, you'll see that aside from the unique and delectable cookies, her business is about personality from the customization options on their shots to creative freedom that she gives her employees. She has a work group to drive home the idea that anything is possible. She's always open to trying new things, and she employs her customers and team to challenge her as they work together towards a common goal. The dirty cookie is more than a dessert heaven. It's a home for those who are searching for themselves and what they love. Again, you can locate it at dirty cookie dot com.
[00:04:35] And so she heard before we get into unpacking it, which I am super excited to do. I'm hoping you can draw for everyone listening your background of academic and professional life prior to launching the dirty cookie.
[00:04:48] Yeah, so I went to coffee for 10 years in California for my undergrad. I majored in business marketing and then I got my MBA in management while I was working full time at Boeing.
[00:05:03] I was a aerospace project manager for about six years at the Boeing Company. That's my I guess.
[00:05:13] So what is the connection? Draw me the annexation.
[00:05:16] How did it go from Project Interna, an aerospace engineer at Boeing, to launching a cookie company when you're not Betty Crocker?
[00:05:26] Yeah, so I'm definitely not a baker. Do not put me in the kitchen.
[00:05:32] I, I like I said, since I was really young.
[00:05:36] That was in engraved in my mind that I was gonna be an entrepreneur. You know, my father told me, like, if you really want to help people, you're gonna have to give them jobs. And the way to do that is employer, not an employee. So I had that really early on because he was an entrepreneur. He was a retired entrepreneur. So with that being ingrained in my mind, when I had my daughter at twenty twenty six sorry, I started Boeing at twenty three, I had my daughter at twenty six.
[00:06:07] I went to the Slainte panic mode. I was like, OK, I have this awesome corporate job, I have a kid now but like whereas my business. Like how am I going to help people and give people jobs. So that's when I went into this on maternity leave, got five months of maternity leave, just trying to figure out how I'm going to start a business. That's all I did for five months. And I manifested it and I was like, it's coming this year. It's happening. So. Within being backup Boeing within like three weeks, I had met someone who introduced me to a landlord of my future storefront. And I signed a four five year lease to the store. A big jump. Yeah. I had no idea what I was going to do. But I use my experience at Boeing and my friends there to help me design a mold. You get into cookie shop shape. So we got on the mall and I picked a cookie because I wanted something unique and different. And I have the biggest sweet tooth in the world. Like, I just love dessert. I eat dessert first before ordering my meal. That's just who I am. I knew it was going to be in the dessert field. So, yeah, I signed my five year lease and then just kind of work backwards from there, figuring out what I'm going to put in there and what your normal story would like a whole business plan. And here's what we're going to go do.
[00:07:24] No, it sounds like you didn't lack bravery at all because it hit a hit. There is like a lot of empty space in between these sentences, and that's cool. You know, that's kind of what you need. They say in the beginning you have to be, like, brave enough to or short sighted enough to take the leap and then have enough energy to fulfill it. Once you're terrified. So as an entrepreneur, I'm wondering, you love cookies. That's what started you off there. You have. So if you for everyone listening, like getting into unpacking the dirty cookie, because surety kind of drops that little crumb, pun intended, if you will, about the mold she has. So Shira has this cookie shot and it's essentially like it looks like I want to say like a shot glass, a very tiny tumbler that's based out of a cookie. And it looks like it's it's lined with chocolate. And then the video, as you and anyone who sees when you hit her website, is milk being poured inside of it, which is simply, you know, ingenious. I think it's a it's a very clever take. Cookies have had a revitalization. Right. I'm old. I'm forty three. Back in the day, there was Mrs. Fields in the mall, and that was kind of it, you know, and then they went silent for a while. And then then there was this rebirth along with cupcakes, their sister. And I feel like people just kind of started making them again. They didn't start re engineering them. And that is what you've done. And it's clever and it's whimsical and it's cool and it's fun. And that's what dessert usually is. I'm wondering, what was the impetus behind it? Like, how did you come up with the cookie shot?
[00:08:53] Well, I actually was inspired.
[00:08:56] I signed this five year lease and I'm looking at my future store front and I'm like on Pinterest scrolling through like, OK, I have to find something in the dessert world to put in here.
[00:09:06] And I saw this lady molding cookie dough on bowls, you know, like you're trying to pull out of cookie dough. And I'm like, oh, I'm like the biggest, like milk and cookie dough birth in the world. I could put the milk and cookies together as one. And that's when I called my engineer at Boeing. I'm like, hey, help me make this mold. I want to do a cookie cutter basically and fill it with milk. And he's like, sure, no problem.
[00:09:29] We went to his house and, you know, designed it, 3D printed it. And then my best friend from high school had talked to him like ten years. She was one of the best bakers in the country like she is. She went to the top culinary school and pastry chef. You name it. So I went to her with the more than I'm like, hey, can you, like, develop these recipes for me? Because this is what I really want to do. And I signed this five year lease. Yeah. She started coming up with the recipes.
[00:09:54] She was on board for a while and then she got really busy with her own work and just handed me over all our recipes and the whole team of bakers. And then I started learning how to bake. So within two years, I became a baking expert.
[00:10:10] You were broken. You have to become Betty Crocker. Fantastic. And so can you unpack let's get into the logistics for all of our nerdy entrepreneurs out there and founders alike. And first of all, let's talk about when it was founded. You said did you have co-founders? Did you take any funding? And is it brick and mortar or is it solely online?
[00:10:34] Yes. So it was founded in 2015. July 30, 1st, 2015 is when I open the storefront. And I actually started it with my best friend from Boeing. And she ended up leaving after a year because of the entrepreneurship. Life was very challenging.
[00:10:54] No, just some people have this idea of wanting to start a business. But then when you really get into it and you see the challenges, she's like, no, you know what? This is your dream. Go for it on your own.
[00:11:06] So she she left about a year into the business. And then we had the store for four years. I had the store for four years. I closed it in December twenty when I just felt like I didn't want to do this anymore. I didn't want I saw my company as bigger than this little tiny store in a terrible location.
[00:11:28] I wanted to go into, like distribution and I wanted to go into online. So store and decided to shift to e-commerce right away.
[00:11:38] I had no idea how to run an e-commerce business. So that's a whole other story.
[00:11:43] And it changes, right? You're in a very specific thing. It's not a closing a clothing boutique and switching to online, which has its own unique challenges.
[00:11:50] But you're in baked shipping, baked goods or shipping any kind of edible. It's a very different conversation with even the process and what you're making.
[00:12:01] And I think I didn't realize at that time, you know, like Facebook as an Instagram ads are kind of like a pay to play game.
[00:12:07] And we don't have extra money to play with all the big boys online. So it was we and we went from like three or four different ad agencies, couldn't find the right person to help us. So that I think we lost a lot of money online, just trying to understand how online, you know, e-commerce business works. But I'm glad we did all of that homework because that's what's really helping us right now after. Right. And this is really we have all that data from Facebook ads back from twenty nineteen. Early on when we played around with it. And now we're really on the right person to help us really grow that and use it to our benefit.
[00:12:44] So, yeah, it's auspicious. It's crazy. The timing, given that, you know, it seems like you were kind of this flagship perhaps for different reasons, but switching to e-commerce and having that be your soul moment. I'm curious, when you went, did you take a break at all from closing your brick and mortar in 2018? Was there any kind of a break or did you go straight over to your e-commerce, straight over into e-commerce?
[00:13:07] And then we still had catering like a huge part of our business was catering.
[00:13:11] We did weddings, mitzvahs, corporate events work with like clients like Facebook and Netflix. So we had a ton of catering. I just wanted to grow and have an online presence like a big one.
[00:13:24] Did you take any original funding when you founded the brick and mortar?
[00:13:27] No. That was like fifty thousand from my best friend. Maxed out all my credit cards, pulled my four one kay bootstrapped.
[00:13:37] Yeah. That's old school. Excellent. Okay. So that which is cool too because you retained a lot of autonomy and authority was that right. No investors, fewer voices, which is also kind of draws into. It's interesting the voices that you did kind of want to bring in and listen to within the ethos, behind the philosophy behind you, people who are working with it and things like that. Can you kind of speak to the open creative process that you and your crew have when you're developing products? And also, what kind of products do you offer right now?
[00:14:09] So I do, too. Just doing a little pivot with covered. We just started we just launched our decorating kits like DIY.
[00:14:19] You get a set of cookie shops, you fill them with chocolate, you get them and sprinkles and then decorate them with characters. Like we're really big on the customization part of our quick shots. We brand them for, you know, birthdays, events. So now you can put like a little happy birthday characters and birthday presents and balloons on them, their fondant characters or royal icing characters. So you can just eat them. They're basically sugar. So they're really good and fun activities. I was inspired to do this because primarily I was at home now with my daughter and she's six and I'm just like trying. She's almost six. I'm trying to keep her entertained all the time. We did brownies, we cook, we've done everything, you name it coloring. And I'm just like, OK, how about you just take some cookie shots and decorate them for me? And she love her and her friends, like our neighbors. They were playing with it and they had a blast. So that's what you know.
[00:15:10] So it's a delicious craft that they can do counts as art, exact coloring craft dessert. It's covering bases. I love that. Do you have you have you had people reach out? I feel like you're inches away from some kind of a collaboration or someone saying, like, here's what I want you to mold next. You know, I think that you've, like, hit the tip of an ice. Here. Have you had anyone reach out and try to collaborate? Are you interested in those kind of forward or future motions or are you going to, like, hold tight to where you're at?
[00:15:41] You know, I love collaborations. I love collaborating with other companies. I did one previously. I did a bunch previously.
[00:15:49] I love love. I think the future partnerships and collaboration with brands. I love supporting women owned companies. So I do look to my female entrepreneurs and say, hey, how can we, you know, collaborate and support each other? So I tend to do that. I have a giveaway with a donut company this Friday. I have another one next week with just giving out our products. And then also trying to infuse two brands together, whether it's a flavor or a unique idea.
[00:16:21] So nice. I love that. Well, so looking. We've spoken a little bit about how you you've changed your product a little bit, given the recent Kofod situation to this, you know, the social engineering aspect of what kids should be crafting with this their home.
[00:16:36] And you also have there been other things, other ways that I'm curious with people who had products, you know, there was an onus, if you will, of a responsibility to communicate in some degree as to how Colvard was affecting you or how you wanted to communicate to your audience and your customers that it was affecting them. How did you personally deal with that? Was there anything that you communicated with your clients or customers as it hit and moving forward? Has it changed anything about outside of this new endeavor with the decorating kits? Has it changed anything else?
[00:17:11] Yeah. Excellent question.
[00:17:13] So when I first got the news of social distancing, I think that was like a I had all my clients cancel all our events. We had like 30 events scheduled out for the last few months. So it felt like overnight all my events were canceled that were on the calendar. And then we had just been working so hard and getting until all these really big hotels like Four Seasons and Marea and Cosmopolitan Vegas. And we just you know, we were starting to really pick up with hospitality. The food and beverage structures were going crazy with our products. You know, like trying incorporate it into their events and the weddings and the parties and some of these major hotels. So things were like getting really exciting. And then they also just canceled like overnight, obviously. So I think that week was really, really difficult for me. I I walked in, I remember March 13th, Friday the 13th. I walked into my production facility like you couldn't stop crying and told all my team members, I'm just going to have to let them go right now. I can't I don't know what's on the books for us. I don't have any business. And I got scared, like I mean, to be honest, I got super scared.
[00:18:21] And I just said, I'm so sorry. I'm going to let you guys know if I get any business and bring you back immediately. But right now, I just have to let everybody go.
[00:18:29] And it's a sad day. I cried a lot and cried with my team and it took about a week off and didn't even think about work. It just that a lot of meditation and a lot of praying and just tried to kind of like say, OK, what can't how can we, you know, come out of this and come out of it stronger? Because I'm a very positive person. I'd like to believe, like everything happens for a reason and there's always good and everything. So after that week, I call it my week of mourning, I got the idea for the decorating kits. Actually, during my meditation. So it was Easter, like our cut off for Easter was Monday. I launched the kits on Friday. And within those 48 hours, we sold like 400 Easter cookie kits. Wow. This leg. Oh, my God. This is my direction. This is what I've been praying for the whole week. And this is what we're gonna do. So I brought my team back. I brought four, you know, four people back. And they've just been working on the kids in the kitchen right now. So nice.
[00:19:33] Great. I mean, what a great success with a quick turnaround from, you know, and a moment of pause and reflection. I don't know of anyone who hasn't taken time to reflect.
[00:19:43] And. And it really has pivoted. It's a lot of people have changed. And it seems like there's been a great deal of it that was good, you know. And at least there's that coming from such a tragedy as a pandemic. I'm curious. Moving forward, particularly because you have this recent kind of pivot growth, change, you know, success on your heels. What are your plans for the future? Have you looked. Have you gone back to the board and said, let's look at the next one to three years? Must have changed from what there was before.
[00:20:14] Oh, 100 percent. Definitely, definitely changed. I think we're going in the more DIY direction. The decorating kits have inspired me actually for years like her since I started.
[00:20:28] People have been asking me to buy our molds. Right. And I was always. There's no way I'm ever going to sell my Mon's, but I was like, no. This could be an opportunity to carry a smaller version of my molds.
[00:20:42] A six piece kit.
[00:20:44] Make it at home yourself. With our proprietary cookie mix and all the decorating character, stuff like this one big awesome activity box, you know, with the molds that cookie makes and the decorating stuff. So that's kind of where I'm going. And this could be sold in retail stores. You know, Target, Bed, Bath and Beyond, wherever.
[00:21:05] And I don't have to deal with what I deal with right now, which is a lot of shelf life issues for a big good a major distribution because of the fact that we have a short shelf life. And I'm not really open to putting a kind of preservatives in my product. So I'm like, oh, this could be the perfect solution. You know why people make it themselves and then we can get into a ton of distribution. So. Right. Kind of what I'm working on now.
[00:21:32] That's exciting. Yeah. And it changes. It's interesting. You know, I always find every time I've gone back on something I've said, I will never do that. It's always for a good reason. You know, it's always a happy end. It's not you know, I am selling my hair limus Arab style. It's more like, oh, but it worked out well for me to go back on what I said I thought I didn't want to do. And it's adorable to kind of see those early perceptions of, you know, just, hey, that brings us all the same. Like, I would never. And then being like, wait, this could work out.
[00:21:59] Well, you know, there's everything. And this is like the perfect time to roll this, especially because there is a need for. I've been if I show you how many e-mails and the M's on Instagram asking worldwide, Brazil and Europe, you name it, asking for our molds, every day we get messages about it.
[00:22:18] So I'm like, you know what? This is where we should focus on a little bit now.
[00:22:22] Yeah, absolutely. Well, good on you for being open to it. You know, part of life is just staying open, right? Exactly. Well, we're at the point. Well, first, I actually wanted to ask you I forgot and neglected my other community, but I myself am vegan and gluten free joy. And I know people like what? No. And I'm like, no, I still eat baked goods. I'm still allowed. I still get in there. And and there's a you offer some Vegan. Are you used to some vegan and gluten free? Will you stay along with that characteristic? And did you see an increase in that market over the past year?
[00:22:58] Definitely. We have double chocolate being gluten free right now on our site. We just we had a ton more being gluten free products.
[00:23:07] But just because with the limited stuff right now, we've decided to just get one item that's being equal and free and focus, just trying to streamline the process a little bit more. But my sisters, Vegan, and she told me when I first started, just like you are not launching a store without a Vegan product. So and my other sister, Bree, and I needed to satisfy both of them with one cookie. So that's kind of how that Vegan gluten free cookie shop was born.
[00:23:33] Wonderful. Well done. Two sisters and right mind. That's awesome. I love that they made it about them. That's fantastic. I know. And you listened. It's as you said, the three of you are well suited. I'm wondering. So we've gone to the place, whereas my kind of my favorite part of the podcast and and I'm known for asking this, but I'm curious if you were in a public space, a socially, properly distanced from person who came up to you tomorrow, and it is a woman or a female identified or non binary individual, anyone other than a man for purposes of this podcast endeavor and who said, listen, I'm I've got this history in, you know, some science based areas in business administration. I'm doing quite well. But I've always wanted this is security and intrigue and expression of having my own business. I'm going to launch when I find a place. And that's about all I know. What are the top three pieces of advice you would give that person, knowing what you know now?
[00:24:32] Number one, I wish I would have talked to someone in the industry before launching my store and didn't think I knew at all, but I didn't know that there were people willing to help.
[00:24:45] You know? I think that was a big oversight on my part.
[00:24:50] So I'll go talk to people who are doing it first and get their lessons learned and get their feedback, because when I learn that later on when I it's just helped me so much not make further mistakes or limit them. You know, Biden is open to receiving from the experts. Having a mentor is huge.
[00:25:12] I have like four different mentors in four different areas where I utilize all of them.
[00:25:17] So getting a mentor is really, I think, aligned with that. The second thing would be.
[00:25:26] Don't rush into it. I was very. I didn't want to take my time. You know, I, like, totally rushed into everything. I didn't think twice because I was so eager.
[00:25:37] I was the type like I would just jump. And because of this burning desire I've had for, like, 15 years of just swarming, I.
[00:25:47] I mean, I'm glad it happened because I'm the type that, you know, I would have I needed to get my feet wet to learn, but it cost me a lot of money. A lot of mistakes. So if you can hold onto that desire a little bit and just get the right help along the way, that would be really great.
[00:26:06] And networking, I think networking. I lived in a bubble for the first two years. Business like I don't even like client networking meant just building relationships. You know, I, I was so focused on making a business like successful that I didn't get out to talk to anybody doing anything great. Didn't have a system.
[00:26:25] But when I met these group of amazing entrepreneurs, I just it was just like magic happened between us. So that support system, whether it's entrepreneurs or family. But I like to tend to hang out with more entrepreneurs because they understand choose whether it's payroll or rent or whatever. I convince that and not my family. They're like, OK, we I want to hear another word about your business.
[00:26:49] So you have to be around people who get it for sure. Yeah. And they're scrappy. Other entrepreneurs are going to come up with that like Yanqui know how. Had those exciting like dictate moments.
[00:26:59] OK, so I've got to talk to someone in the industry and there are people that are happy to advise and mentor as you get started. Don't rush into it, preserve your passion, but get some information first. And number three, network, find out people. You're awesome. You're trying. You drive. There you go. I love those three pieces. And I think they're so true. It's a you know, you come across axiomatic like tourism. It's just like that works for every industry. Does it matter what business you're in? Well, thank you. Sure. I appreciate your time today. We're out of time. But I wanted to say I really appreciate your story. I loved hearing all about it. And I'm encouraging everyone to get online and check out your stuff. Thank you, Patricia.
[00:27:41] I had a blast. Absolutely. And for everyone listening, we have been speaking once again with show here, Marietje, as she's the founder of The Dirty Cookie.
[00:27:49] You can find out more online. W w w dot. Dirty cookie, dot com.
[00:27:54] And until we speak again next time, remember to stay in love with the world and always bet on yourself.
Tuesday Jul 14, 2020
Speaking with Annie Scranton; Founder & President of Pace PR
Tuesday Jul 14, 2020
Tuesday Jul 14, 2020
Today I speak with Annie Scranton. Annie is President & Founder of Pace PR. She has 8+ years experience as a TV producer at major networks including CNN, Fox News, CNBC, MSNBC & ABC, where she booked guest appearances for popular shows like Good Morning America. For the past decade, Annie has been leveraging this experience and expertise to grow her own agency, Pace PR, where she focuses on getting her clients regular TV and media coverage to build their brands.
Personal LinkedIn | Personal Twitter | Company Twitter | Company Facebook | Company Instagram
This podcast series is hosted by Patricia Kathleen and Wilde Agency Media. This series is a platform for women, female-identified, & non-binary individuals to share their professional stories and personal narrative as it relates to their story. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age, status, or industry.
TRANSCRIPTION
*Please note this is an automated transcription, please excuse any typos or errors
[00:00:00] In this episode, I had the opportunity to speak with founder and president of Pace PR, Annie Scranton. Key points addressed were Annie's tenure in major news network industries and how this launched and propelled her now decade old PR firm. We also spoke about the importance of relationship maintenance and client education throughout the shifting landscape of the global climate. Stay tuned for my talk with Annie Scranton.
[00:00:31] Hi, my name is Patricia Kathleen, and this podcast series contains interviews I conduct with women. Female identified and non binary individuals regarding their professional stories and personal narrative. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age status for industry. We aim to contribute to the evolving global dialog surrounding underrepresented figures in all industries across the USA and abroad. If you're enjoying this podcast, be sure to check out our subsequent series that dove deep into specific areas such as Vegan life, fasting and roundtable topics. They can be found via our Web site. Patricia Kathleen dot COM, where you can also join our newsletter. You can also subscribe to all of our series on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, PodBean and YouTube. Thanks for listening. Now let's start the conversation.
[00:01:28] Hi, everyone, and welcome back. I'm your host, Patricia. And today I'm excited to be sitting down with Annie Scranton. She's the founder and president of Paice P r.
[00:01:36] You can find it online at W W W Dot Pace Public Relations dot com. Welcome annie.
[00:01:42] Thank you. Thanks for having me. Definitely. I'm excited to climb in to what you're doing. Your company has a lot of unique characteristics that I can't wait to unpack with you and for everyone listening.
[00:01:53] I will read a brief bio on annie to give you a preview. However, prior to that, here's a roadmap for today's podcast that you can follow along in its trajectory. We'll first look at Annie's academic and professional background and history to kind of garner a sense of her platform. And then we'll turn our efforts towards unpacking Pace PR and some of its logistics. The Who, What, when, where, why of founder ship the growth since then. And then we'll look at unpacking the ethos and the full philosophy behind the endeavor of the company. And then we'll look towards Miach Industries and other areas that pays PR might be servicing. Then we'll look at goals that Annie and Pace PR separately or together have for the next one to three years. Those are changing rapidly in today's landscape. We'll wrap everything up with advice that you may have for those of you who are looking to work with her, get involved on some of her levels or emulate some of her success. As promised, a brief bio. Any Scranton is president and founder of Pace PR. She has eight plus years experience as a TV producer at major networks including CNN, Fox News, CNBC, MSNBC and ABC, where she booked guest appearances for popular shows like Good Morning America for the past decade. And he has been leveraging this experience and expertize to grow her own agency, Pace PR, where she focuses on getting her clients regular TV and media coverage to build their brands. So any I love that because it's very succinct. It feels very much so. Like you indeed own a PR firm. It's like the exact tincture of the axiomatic truth of your bio is like right there. But before we get into space PR, which I have a litany of questions for, I want to ask you to describe for us what you find to be the pertinent points about your academic and professional history that led you to the development of Paice PR.
[00:03:48] Well, I started undergrad when I went to Smith College. And so I studied English there as this small liberal arts school. There wasn't a journalism or a PR major which they do offer at a lot of universities now. But back then, I don't think it was as prevalent and it wouldn't have been an option anyway because it was a liberal arts school. So I think that really just started the foundation for me with critical thinking, my writing skills and communication. When I was there my senior year, I was the editor in chief of the SOFYAN, the college newspaper. So that kind of got my first taste of sort of, you know, the journalism world. And along the way, when I was in college, I had different internships at Condé Nast and I w ABC in New York. So I pretty much knew from early on I wanted to be in the media, I should say, even before that, when I was a little girl, my parents and I would always watch Katie Couric every morning on the Today Show. And, you know, I was like, I want to be her.
[00:04:55] I want to I want to work on the Today Show.
[00:04:58] So when I left Smith, it took me five separate interviews for five different jobs.
[00:05:06] But I finally got my first job at MSNBC as a production assistant. So that was sort of my launchpad for working in TV news. And then from there, as you read in the bio. I you know, I bopped around to a lot of different networks. I did that for eight years. And then I started my firm at the age of 30. We just celebrated our 10 year anniversary in business.
[00:05:34] I just turned 40 in quarantine, which was interesting. And and then along the way, about two years ago, I finished my masters at NYU. And there I did get my masters in PR, which everyone was like, why did you get your Masters NPR? You run a successful agency. But I did it with the intention in mind of hopefully in the next chapter of my career teaching and actually being able to go to the professorial route and to let people know more about PR or what I do.
[00:06:13] Absolutely. And I think some of the best professors in academia, I come from a long line of stuffy academics and, you know, I returned to it is an incredible retirement plan and my favorite professors were returning from the field.
[00:06:27] You know, we're coming back in from from abroad, if you will. So I think that's an awesome plan. And it's weird that anyone would ever ask you, like, why go back to school? Like, why aren't you my dad?
[00:06:38] To learn to think just to hang out.
[00:06:41] Yeah, it's. Well, as you were saying before, it's such a privilege to be able to learn, you know, and to get that education. So, yeah, absolutely.
[00:06:53] So looking at unpacking it a little bit further, let's get into some of the logistics for all of our little founder, entrepreneurial audience members listening. Let's start off with. It sounds like it was founded around 2010.
[00:07:05] And did you have co-founders? Did you take funding? Was it bootstrapped? How did all of it begin?
[00:07:11] No co-founders. Just me from from then until now, I'm 100 percent owner. No funding. Good.
[00:07:19] The good thing about PR is that it's a service industry, so you don't really need a lot of startup capital. I worked for the first year from my studio apartment where all I needed was my laptop, my phone and Wi-Fi.
[00:07:33] And that was that was. That was my startup. Those were my costs. So. And yeah. And then over the years. No, we haven't had to go to funding router or anything like that.
[00:07:46] So. Yeah. OK. And here's here's where here's the rub.
[00:07:49] So while you don't have funding, Pyar requires a lot of cachet. Right. And this is where the growth of PR firms is always astonishing to me because it's about relationships. It's built into the title is Plenty People Forget. But what you're providing your clients is only as so far as your relationships extend. Otherwise, you're cold calling people to get them more PR. You know, there's this duality that you have. I'm wondering, do you feel like your work with with all of your networks before helped establish your PR, or was that something you independently did after you launched Paice PR as we know it at Cisco?
[00:08:26] No, I mean it absolutely 100 percent. If I hadn't spent those first eight years working at all of so many different networks and building so many relationships with producers and bookers and journalists who many of whom are my friends, you know. And then there would have been zero chance that I would have been as successful. As we are today, because you're absolutely right. You know, as a former producer, I would get in one single day, hundreds of pitch e-mails, hundreds of e-mails from people. Put me on your show. I have something to talk about. Book me. And I deleted ninety nine of 100 every single day because if I didn't know the person, you know, it's just it's too much. There's just too much to keep up with. You can't get your work done. So having relationships is absolutely. I think it's a critical part for any business to be successful because you're only as good as your reputation, you know, and the people who will kind of go to bat for you. But NPR, it's it's even more critical, obviously, because of the, you know, the nature of being facing an external fee saying. But, you know, especially for a broadcast television, which is a big part of what my firm does. It's a very challenging you to get yourself booked on a TV news show if you don't really have an in with the right people.
[00:09:50] Yeah, absolutely. And I think that it appears as such, especially if you if you Google these things, you know, it's not getting published on Huff Post. It's a different beast unto itself is still remains, I think, kind of the unknown and misdefined.
[00:10:03] I think it's due to those old school relationships, which are very similar in Hollywood as well. I'm wondering the growth from the time, you know, you have these early relationships that definitely impacted, I'm assuming, the success for the first year. But did you have a spike at some point over the past decade of growth that you significantly remember? And if so, what do you think it was attributable to?
[00:10:30] There was a period of rapid growth. Yes, there were. It was probably about four or five years into my business where we went from four employees to like twelve employees and about maybe a year, year and a half. So it was just big. Get a big job then. And doubling our revenue. You know, in a three years doubling doubling our revenue. And what was it attributed to? I think it was just I think like in in the early days, you know, it was just me. So it's a little slower to kind of keep it moving and me or to keep it growing, I should say. And I'm a very risk averse person. So it took me a while to hire my first employee. And then it took me even longer to hire my second employee. And kind of so on until I got to there was four of us. And then I. I don't know. Something just clicked where I said to myself that if we were really going to continue to grow, I had to have faith in myself that the new business was going to keep coming and that the clients were going to say and that, you know, I had to just believe that the trajectory was going to keep going because there was no way with the current staff that we could keep up with with the workload.
[00:11:57] So I'm wondering, you you just mentioned that you have, you know, kind of a niche in obviously television, you know, representation and things like that.
[00:12:08] Does that kind of form what profile of client or industry that you work best with over 10 years? You must have at least ranged a small gamut. But do you have a niche that you prefer to pull your clients from?
[00:12:25] Yes and no. I mean, if we're talking cable news, then the best types of clients for me to have are print journalists and political pundits and lawyers. You know, people with past government, you know, or national security expertize so. Or, of course, I'm wealth managers and different financial experts for like the CNBC is and Bloomberg's of the world. So that's a very, like, linear, you know, sort of path. But our firm represents all different types of clients from lifestyle brands and products, you know, all the way to a you know, wealth managers managing a billion assets under management. So it's a very two tech startups, you know, so it's a very wide ranging base of clients. And, you know, it's I I think what makes us really good at what we do is it's a lot easier to get a wealth manager on CNBC or a political pundit on Fox News, but it's a lot harder to get, you know, a tech startup CEO or, you know, somebody with a rising product or brand, a prominent TV placement. And I think that that's that is an area where we excel. It could take a little more time, you know, to achieve. But that's where I think, you know, our connections and relationships with the different producers. But also just really, you know, feeling as though we are an extension of the media. And, you know, with that, watching all the shows, understanding what kind of content they want. You know, I just I say this all the time is just like you want to be on a certain show. You have to, like, watch the show and know what kind of stuff they do every day. So you run and present yourself with the, you know, in the right manner.
[00:14:14] Well, and into that same vein. I'm curious if you.
[00:14:16] I always feel like PR specialists educate their clients a great deal when they're doing a good job, you know, and they're they're kind of honing and refining the client's knowledge of what pieces of them need to be put in, which areas of the market to get the best price possible. But in what you just mentioned, I also wonder, knowing this show and seeing, you know, a natural progression that happens, you ever pitch networks on why they should kind of, you know, there are naturally heading somewhere. Is there an education to the other outlet as well, the news sources?
[00:14:52] Has that ever been or do you just try and fit the holes that they're developing? Well, it's easier to just sort of plug and play with what they're doing. But at the same time, we've certainly pitched ideas for like a recurring segment, you know, a once a week or something like that type of idea. And and we've we've certainly also pitched counterintuitive ideas, but we obviously make that connection, you know, at it to make it seem relevant for their audience. But, you know. Yeah, like if we. Having a good idea is is proper, is having the relationships is the most important part, but having a good ideas is very, very close second. So if you have a good idea and it's kind of interesting and they haven't done it yet. Yeah. Like, we've definitely had success with that in the past.
[00:15:44] Yeah. And that that being said, I kind of want to get into over the past decade that it's been around actually.
[00:15:53] You know, there's been this this behemoth called social media that turned marketing, PR branding, everything kind of inside out twice over again. And it allowed people to become creative in ways that weren't creative. It turned a lot of old ideas on its head and it actually allowed some, I think, of the pillars of non change, you know, to rise within our media structure.
[00:16:17] I'm wondering, can you speak to what was the biggest change regarding social media that you shifted or used creatively in regards to the process of pace PR? Where did you implement strategies that were interesting? Was it just the advent of all of them?
[00:16:35] Well, I mean, yes. I mean, when social media happened, I mean, it was you know, obviously it became sort of life life changing. You know, and kind of all consuming. Four for me. One of the best parts has been able to follow journalists and producers and show hosts on Twitter or Instagram or whatever, because it gives you a really personal look into who they are and what their interests are. And so that's such a critical component, because if you see that an anchor at MSNBC was just tweeting about some story and what their point of view is, and you represent a client who can speak exactly to that same sentiment or has the complete opposite sentiment, then that's a very that's a great in you know, to present that to the producer that you're going that you're reaching out to to make the case for, you know, well, the anchor feels this way. You know, she should really interview my client who will, you know, kind of go one on one with her about, you know, about the topic. So that's definitely been been one of the major ones. But for me as a business owner and being active on LinkedIn has been absolutely the number one besides a CEO, which is exactly social media, but sort of related has been the number one way that we've grown our business in terms of just cold outreach, you know, from percent perspective clients, because I'm very active and I post a lot. And so we've gotten a lot of inbound leads from that.
[00:18:18] So that was leading into my next question, which is new business development.
[00:18:22] Do you feel like it's what percentage of it do you think is is from your own marketing and PR efforts on behalf of yourself or happy good business clients referrals?
[00:18:35] 10 percent. What I do on my own 90 percent referrals and being a beautiful life. That's fantastic. It's yassa. Knock wood. That that it always stays that way. But. I mean, you know, we work hard. We we we pretty much always get results for our clients. You know, when you were talking about, like educating the clients, that's also, I think, like one of the reasons why even if we have an account that doesn't go exactly as well as we had hoped prior before I sent any client, I, I just try to be as honest and forthright and explain the process as as much as I can, because many clients, some have a good understanding of the media, but some have like no idea, you know, what goes into it and what to expect. And then what it's going to do for their business. You know, a lot of people may hear PR and they say we need PR because we're going to get, you know, so many new customers, you know, after we hire this PR agency. And you might. And we hope so. And and maybe but it's also the way that we look at it. It's really about getting these great placements in really well respected publications or TV shows or podcasts. So that way, your brand, your CEO, your company can have an elevated level of credibility, you know, and legitimacy among any others in in the field. So, yeah, you know, I think I think that's why, you know, but I. But I will say that. But being active on social media and making an an investment in FCO has absolutely paid off in terms of getting inbound inquiries.
[00:20:16] Yeah. What happened to a CEO? Everyone stop talking about her. Everyone is used to the buzz word, you know, for about five minutes, five years ago, social media took it away. I'm wondering when you mention the different clients that you work with.
[00:20:33] You know, you spend a lot of industries really quickly. And I'm curious, there's always a tenants of commonality, you know, that you run into. And and I like that unifying factor. I try to talk a lot about unifying factors because diversification is easy. And I'm wondering, over the past, while we don't have to go back 10 years, but we can. What are like the top three misperceptions or issues that most of your clients have regarding PR or what they should or should not be doing when they come to meet with you?
[00:21:08] I think a lot of people think that when they hire a PR firm or a publicist, it's it's they're going to very quickly be on the Today show or be featured in The New York Times or, you know, whatever insert dream media outlet is and end it. And they don't understand that. How I see PR and hiring a firm is that if you try to do your own PR, there's like maybe a one one to five percent chance that you're going to be successful. But like you're you're probably not going to see the level of success, you know, but hiring a PR firm, it's not only about pitching and using the right connections and relationships that we have, but it's also like taking a look at how you present your brand and the messaging that you're using and the the sort of a holistic approach of your of your company and saying, you know, I think that if we go and promote this one singular area of your firm, we're not going to have this success as opposed to us, you know, building it out in a way that's a little more attractive and also not even just attractive to producers. But I find a lot of times when clients come to me because we work with a lot of startups and smaller to midsize companies. It's really hard for them to actually describe what they do, you know, succinctly and in a way that's going to get someone interested, you know, because it's like no one really cares. Like everyone's so busy. There's a pandemic. Like, it's just, you know, there's there's so much noise. And so even though you think what you do is the most important thing ever, and maybe it is like me as a person listening, I want to know what's in it for me, you know, and what am I going to get out of it. And so, you know, the misconception is that, you know, a lot of clients think that we're gonna be able to get in an article in Forbes that's going to be just all about their company. And so we have to explain, no, that's advertising or that's sponsored content. You know, that's not editorial earned media. And so educating them that it's it's also just as valuable to have placements and interviews where you are seen as a thought leader in your industry and maybe you're talking about different trends in this space or, you know, you're weighing in on a current news cycle news story that's related to your field. And and also, can you provide me with happy customers, with people that you've worked with and you've helped them in their business because, you know, any any self respecting journalist is going to say, well, that company sounds great, but can you actually prove it to me? Can you put me in touch with somebody that they've worked with in that they've helped? And, you know, so without all of that sort of understanding and those factors. It's it's pretty much impossible. You know, it's, again, the PR that you're looking for. And so, you know, I said that in like 60 seconds, but it takes a long time to kind of get that in in a person's brain, you know, to really just make them understand everything that goes into it.
[00:24:25] Yeah.
[00:24:25] And with what you just explained, a core tenet of what you, you know, impart or educate your clients with has just ultimately changed due to what you just said. You know, you see, we're all in the middle of a pandemic. And I immediately think of when I think of PR is how many of your clients you need to go back in and say you need to embrace this dialog, you know, to alienate people by not speaking about it. I don't know of one commercial that I've seen and I try very hard not to see them. So I've only seen a few. And they've all incorporated the dialog of some type of of nod or acknowledgment or how it's playing into their customers. And I imagine is it is it like that for you or you? Are you going through and helping your clients are advising them to revamp and include this dialog of the Kovin 19 pandemic?
[00:25:13] Of course. I mean, for literally every single one. I mean, even if there's not a tie in or even if they don't need to address it, you know, like one of our clients is a direct to consumer 24 karat gold jewelry company. There is no there's no, you know, tie in really to the IRS. But we did advise them that when they were getting ready to send out there their newsletter with their latest collection, that it would be beneficial for them to address the pandemic even in just a very short way to their customers and say, we're thinking of you, we're here for you. If, you know, if if you know, just to kind of acknowledge it. Because if you don't, then I think that's where the reputational issue can come into play. But for every single one of our clients. Who stayed on as a client because we definitely lost some clients when this all hit. Like in the travel or luxury or real estate space. But for all of our other clients. You know, yeah. Their businesses changed as much as mine did where it became about that and about how how can we do we have a way to add value to the conversation? Meaning can we help? Is there a way that we can offer assistance in some way, whether that's financial expertize or in remote learning or in psychology or whatever? You know? And, you know, there is not. Then you have to just continue to find the journalists and the media who are not covering the pandemic. And just really be extra super careful that they are still writing about their previous topic and not incorporating the new news cycle.
[00:27:00] Yeah, absolutely. I want to turn now. I do a quick pivot into some of the demographics, and I'm not sure if this is dated because my research comes strictly from your Web site.
[00:27:11] But I got on and it looks like you have a crew of female or female identified individuals working for you. Nary a male or male identified face to be found. And I'm wondering if that statistic is true and if you can speak to whether or not I have to believe that that was a conscious thought at very least. And I was wondering if you can kind of open up that story.
[00:27:33] Sure. So it's so it it it wasn't it wasn't a conscious decision when I first started out. I actually had two different male employees on and they were great like but it was just when it was two people, me and them, you know, so. But then really what happened was once we started growing and then it became, you know, two female employees, three, four and so on and so forth. It just felt like it was a comfortable dynamic in the office. And also PR is a very heavily female dominated field. So, you know, the 80 percent of the resumes I was getting were women, you know, and not and not men. And then and then it just honestly, like, I kind of got to the point where it felt like it might be like weird if we were in, like, one office with nine women and one and one guy. But but now it's become something that's, you know, not not that is more serious and more intentional because now we are a female led company. And, you know, I'm I'm open to hiring men. I mean, I want great talent and great employees. But I think it's I think it's powerful. And I think it's it's been really inspiring to work with other working moms, to work with, you know, other really impressive women and to be in it in a situation where we actually are all, I believe, supportive of one another. And there's just kind of like that understanding, you know, woman to woman.
[00:29:16] Yeah, there's a camaraderie for sure. There's plenty of sociologists that have made their pitches on nothing else. So absolutely.
[00:29:23] I'm wondering, do you have you certified with any of the women and minority certification firms?
[00:29:31] And not only that for you, that question to you, but do you advise any of your clients to go and get certified with? I mean, a few are the WNBA or the WB e WB and see like all of these female and minority certification processes. Do you think it's a good source of PR? A lot of the processes are very lengthy and can be expensive, but there are a lot of companies now, particularly on the West Coast where I am, that are directly hunting these these companies out in order to make an impact.
[00:30:04] So I, I, I actually really pains me to say that I'm not part of any of these organizations because it's Dom and I should be and I have started the W MBT application like five times, and it is very lengthy. And you need a lot a lot of documents that go back a long way. And it's it's just been nothing but lack of time or interns who can help me to do it. So. So no, but it is on my list. It is on my to do list, although it's been there for a long time. I have to say admit. But yes, we do actually bring up those types of organizations to our relevant clients. And it's a common question that clients are asking us because they want to see and are a why from what we're doing and from the media heads that we're getting to them. But a lot of times, by being able to share a media clip in different organizations like that, that's a really impactful way than to build up your client base and to get new Kofman new customers.
[00:31:14] Absolutely. Yeah. And it's it's a new shift. And it's it's always interesting to see. I know that a lot of the companies that I've spoken to, the founders that are involved in them, take it really seriously.
[00:31:25] It's it's one of their greeting cards. You know, it's it's right there on the landing page. It's right there on the business card. And I think it's it used to be seen as kind of a fraternity status, kind of this, like nobody cares unless you've been in it. And then and now it's actually being sought out. I've hung out with a lot of venture capitalists and angel investors, probably too many over the past year. And. But it is this especially female which are largely underrepresented. And it's a part of fulfilling that economics and that environment of female founders turning into female investors in the lifecycle continuing. And there's a lot of talk about these certifications being necessary and important so that, you know, women investors, minority investors can turn around and do and fund firms that are doing it. You know, there's not a shortage of people to invest in. I've seen in the states as much as, you know, finding the right people that represent what you want.
[00:32:19] Now, you're right. And like, I'm going to as soon as we end this, I'm going to like e-mail myself a reminder that I need to actually do this and like, it has to get done. Yeah, you're going to everybody do it.
[00:32:29] You're like, that woman gave me homework. I cannot stand her. Yeah. Fantastic. Well, I think it's interesting and I appreciate your candor on that subject. I'm wondering, everyone's dialog has changed.
[00:32:40] I know that your workload increased with the pandemic, with your clients and things of that nature, even with losing some of them, having everyone had to go back and kind of rebound their message and consider what their message even was anymore.
[00:32:52] How you personally with pace PR, how has your dialog changed, if at all, considering the pandemic? And what do you see your goals for the next one to three years being?
[00:33:07] Well, you know, I think the dialog has become it hasn't changed, but it has become more even more intentional or even more pointed where, you know, we're we're trying to to make an impact and we're trying to work with clients and put out messaging that is going to be helpful and useful. And and and even if it's a a brand or a product or something that isn't directly related to, you know, these big global issues, making sure that we that we do it even more thoughtfully and even more carefully. And and so that way, we're we're always being proud of the work that we're putting forth for our clients and leading them in the best possible direction for their reputation as possible for me in terms of how what my goals have, my goals have changed. I don't I don't know. To be honest with you, because we're still sort of in the middle of all of this. But, you know, I have had to clear both sides of the spectrum of, like, you know, wanting to get back to work so bad full time and wanting to keep growing the business and go, go, go. You know, as far as we can go. And then on the other hand, you know, I'm I'm home now with my daughter, who's almost two. And it's been really nice, you know, on some days, not all days, but on some days it's been really nice. And so I'm not sure I think I think, like, you know, for me, as as a working mom trying to find that balance is, you know, who can who can find the balance like it's impossible, you know, ta ta ta perfected. Even though I always strive to perfected. But I think now. I don't know, I think I think I'm I think that things are shifting for me a little bit. So we'll have to have to see.
[00:35:04] Yeah. Well, and therein is the gift. Right? Just even the reflection and the privilege of being well enough to reflect and things of that nature.
[00:35:13] I'm wondering. So this is my favorite part of this podcast. Series is known for it.
[00:35:17] And so you'll have to indulge some of the joy, venality of the question. I am wondering if you were, you know, walking up within a safe social distance of someone tomorrow and they said, hey, listen, Annie, I need to ask you a couple of questions. I know you through so and so. You're in the PR game. You probably know everyone in Manhattan. So they walk up to you and they say, listen, it's a young female female identified, non binary individual, anyone other than like a standard white male. And they said, listen, I am I'm getting ready to launch into my own PR firm. I've had this great, you know, buffer of almost a decade in news and media and stuff like that. And I'm just looking to hit the ground running. What are the top three pieces of advice you would give the individual knowing what you know now?
[00:36:05] Make sure you have a safety net, a financial safety net, if at all possible, lay the groundwork while you are still gainfully employed. And don't undervalue yourself. You know, I think that getting to a point where I'm really proud of and comfortable with the rates that clients pay for our services has has has taken many years. And so, you know, I think it's maybe even more true for women out there. I don't know.
[00:36:40] Yeah, I hear that a lot. And I've spoken to over 200 over the past two years. And one of the top five things I hear from women who are in much more advanced and seasoned positions as a founder such as yourself.
[00:36:54] The number one thing they say is that life got a lot easier when they charged more and were available less, you know. And that's not some weird, twisted, dynamic of psychology. I think it was that they were saying that they just underwhelmed themselves. I had a lot of stories about people saying the first year and they were like on call 24/7 with their clients. People could text them at 3:00 in the morning. They would respond, Oh, yeah.
[00:37:17] Like, sometimes I would be on my computer like literally 16 hours a day. You know, I mean, little breaks here and there. I mean, is crazy. I mean, I was blessed because I loved it and I still love it. So it didn't feel like so much work. But I do actually think there's a little bit of psychology there because you're if you're not available 24/7, that means that you're respecting yourself and that you're setting boundaries for yourself and making family or whatever else a priority. And I think once you start to carry yourself in and live with that intention, other people pick up on it. And, you know, that's when things get a little easier in some ways. All right. So I have guys.
[00:37:59] So I've got a safety net. Lay the groundwork while you still got your day job, if possible. And don't under underestimate or undervalue yourself.
[00:38:09] That's awesome. Those are fantastic. We're out of time today, Andy, but I want to say thank you. I know you're busy. I've got a little one.
[00:38:15] You've got a massive company and you're sitting in New York, which is, you know, it's it's own hot pocket of issues, as we all have. But I just want to say thank you for your candor and your story and all of your information. I appreciate it. I know my audience does as well.
[00:38:29] Thank you. Thank you for having me.
[00:38:31] Absolutely. And for everyone listening, we've been speaking with Andy Scranton. She's the founder and president of Paice PR. You can find it online at W W W Dot Pace public relations dot com.
[00:38:43] And until we speak again next time. Remember to stay in love with the world and always bet on yourself.
Thursday Jul 09, 2020
Thursday Jul 09, 2020
Today I talk with Jennifer Longmore, Leading Authority on Soul Purpose, and Elite Business Coach to enlightened entrepreneurs, is a sought-after media personality, 3-time best selling author, is world-renowned for her laser-like clarity in seeing into the depths of your soul and bridging your connection to universal consciousness.
This podcast series is hosted by Patricia Kathleen and Wilde Agency Media. This series is a platform for women, female-identified, & non-binary individuals to share their professional stories and personal narrative as it relates to their story. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age, status, or industry.
TRANSCRIPTION
*Please note this is an automated transcription, please excuse any typos or errors
[00:00:00] In this episode, I had the opportunity to speak with media personality, best selling author and elite business coach Jennifer Longmore. Key points addressed were Jennifer's books regarding her rhetoric and knowledge on identifying and realigning one's to one's purpose professionally, personally and spiritually. We also discussed some of the reflections and thoughts Jennifer's had as she has launched a massive effort to help individuals traverse the Kovik 19 pandemic and begin future visioning again. Stay tuned for my fascinating talk with Jennifer. Long more.
[00:00:38] Hi, my name is Patricia Kathleen, and this podcast series contains interviews I conduct with women. Female identified and non binary individuals regarding their professional stories and personal narrative. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age status for industry. We aim to contribute to the evolving global dialog surrounding underrepresented figures in all industries across the USA and abroad. If you're enjoying this podcast, be sure to check out our subsequent series that dove deep into specific areas such as Vegan life, fasting and roundtable topics. They can be found via our Web site. Patricia Kathleen dot COM, where you can also join our newsletter. You can also subscribe to all of our series on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Pod Bean and YouTube. Thanks for listening. Now let's start the conversation. Hi, everyone, and welcome back. I'm your host, Patricia.
[00:01:38] And today I am sitting down with Jennifer Longmore. She is a media personality, best selling author and elite business coach. You can find out more about her endeavors and all of the work that she's involved in in w w w dot soul journeys dot ca.
[00:01:54] Welcome, Jennifer.
[00:01:56] Thank you. I'm excited to be here. We're going to have a great chat today. We are. I can't wait. I've really climbed through a lot of what you've done, and I'm excited to ask you so many questions regarding your work and your future endeavors.
[00:02:09] For everyone listening, I will read a quick bio on Jennifer. But before I get to that, a roadmap for today's podcast. For those of you are longtime listeners, it will follow the trajectory that we always follow for this series. Namely, we will look at Jennifer's academic background and early professional history leading to right now. Then we'll look at unpacking soul journeys. We'll get into the logistics of who, what, when, where, funding growth, client base. And then we're get to some of the more specifics of the ethos and the philosophy behind the work that she's doing there. And we'll also address some of the at least a few of the plethora of books that she has written over the past decade. And we'll then turn our efforts towards asking Jennifer about any goals that she may have for her businesses and her her own personage for the next one to three years. That's an area that's changing for a lot of us given the recent Cauvin 19 pandemic. And we'll wrap everything up with advice that she has for those of you who are possibly looking to get involved with what she's doing. Ask her for some of her services or maybe emulate some of her success. A quick bio on Jennifer before I pepper her with questions. Jennifer Longmore and leading authority on sole purpose in elite business coach to enlighten entrepreneurs is a sought after media personality. Three time bestselling author is world renowned for her laser like clarity in seeing into the depths of your soul and bridging your connection to universal consciousness. For more than 15 years, she has served clients in permanently shifting the limiting beliefs and patterns that prevent them from being who they really are so that they can live their most abundant, aligned and accelerated soul's journey with over thirty thousand sole purpose sessions, including the Who's Who of actors, professional athletes, CEOs of leading companies and other influential influential luminaries. Jennifer continues to offer these high level sessions to souls who are really committed to shine their light. And again, her website is w w w dot. Soul Journeys Dossier.
[00:04:11] Now, Jennifer, it's this three time bestselling author. But I think I saw five somewhere on another one of your bios lost your beloved author.
[00:04:21] And I love that because I think it somehow it becomes it's more than just a body of work and something that you've you've clearly honed the skill of. But it also becomes very relatable to the way you communicate your information. It's not just this business coach, one on one person to person verbal. It becomes written. And it's a different form of, you know, a pedagogical lens of an instructional lens, which I, I adore. And I kind of get into the minutia of a little bit too much. But before we get to all of that, I was hoping that you could dress like a narrative of your academic background and early professional life prior to starting the soul journeys.
[00:04:59] Yeah, I'd love to. I love that you point that out about the books, because when I did my master's thesis, I just dillydally on that thing like my my professor contacted me and she said, you realize that you've got about six months to write this and hand it in before you have to redo your entire masters. Like, I really it's OK if you don't want to do your thesis, but you're going to have to pick a lane now. Right. Because it just felt so daunting to me having so much material. And it's so funny to me that I've published 10 books. Now, like, that's just because I really thought I was done with writing. After I finished my thesis, I was like, I am never writing another book again. That was, you know, like total birthing process. Here I am.
[00:05:41] So when I was younger, my parents decided that my mom would stay home with me because they would actually was more financially advantageous for them, for her to stay home than go to work and pay a babysitter. So she stayed at home with me and my mom, I think secretly always wanted to be a teacher. So she taught me and I was reading and writing and, you know, basically at a grade five level, by the time I got to kindergarten and I was asked to constantly sit in front of a class and read to the class, which as a shy kid was actually really painful, to sit on a chair above my other peers and read a story to them, like a teacher would read and people would come in and gawk at me and they would bring in people from the school board. And let's look at this. This girl, they wanted to skip me ahead to grade for my mom was like, no, that's not going to happen because she's going to miss all of those social things that she needs. So I was in gifted classes for a long time and I didn't view myself that way. In fact, it was really embarrassing and it made me other. And I really because I was already very spiritual and wew and very intuitive, I already felt like an outsider and I was doing my best to fit in. So every time I got taken out of a class to go to a special class, it just was it was super uncomfortable for me. So I feel like I spent a great chunk of my time in school trying to figure out who people needed me to be so I could fit in because I felt like a really old school. I got along way better with adults and I felt like kids. My own age groups were kind of annoying. It was refreshing to me when I would finally find a kid that could have deep conversations with me. So I ended up in grade 11 having a call up and I went into a class for developmental services and all of these parents asked me to be their private worker for their kids. So these kids had Down's syndrome or autism or, you know, various things. And so I, I got hired by all these parents and I ended up working like forty hours a week doing these one to one contracts after school. And then I got approached by other agencies who want me to come and work in group homes and stuff.
[00:07:50] So then they all wanted me to go and get a developmental service worker diploma at college and my parents had a meltdown there, like, you know, you're going to university.
[00:08:01] You're the first kid in our family that's gonna go to university. That's how it's going to be. But up until then, I always thought I'd be a teacher. And then I ended up going through social work and I specialized in forensic social work and went into forensics for many years investigating crimes against children, which I know you've you've read about my history. Yeah. And so that was an intense job. And fast forward to what's going on in the world right now. I was a crisis worker. I just responded to crises all the time. I got promoted into management positions, director positions, and and then I knew how to lead other leaders through crises. And I never thought I'd repeat that. Right. It's just funny how life has these ideas of throwing things at us. And in hindsight, how our skills for Paris for this. So. So I worked in that for many years. And then I just couldn't my adrenals just couldn't handle that anymore. So I went to work in corporate for two years and did sexual harassment investigations and I ran. Or maybe not. Ironically, that's probably not the right word. But to my surprise, I was shocked that textbook sexual harassment cases were still happening at that time. It was really shocking to me. Yeah. And I know they still happened to this day, but comparatively, the stress that I had in forensics was far different. You know, I maybe got one case every six months of sexual harassment, which was too many, of course. Right. But like from a scale perspective, I was used to investigating hundreds of cases a week of child abuse, too. You know, once every six months. Sexual harassment. That gave me the gift of working a true nine to five. So every night I can or not every night, but most nights I can go to business networking events because I kept feeling that I needed to start my own business. But I thought that everyone was speaking alien. I really didn't understand this language of entrepreneurs. It freaked me out. I. I didn't even know it was a possibility for me. But I knew I needed to get into more of the woo side of things, which is what I do now. And. And so sure enough, I would go at night and I realized, oh, I do have I do have what it takes. And that was a great gift for me to still be getting a paycheck while determining whether I really could do this thing. And so after about two years of working in corporate, I left that. I took the leap and trusted that that would catch me. And it did. And I was busy pretty much right away and became I was referral based and I had a waiting list because all of the same things people were dealing with when I worked in forensics, I was now dealing with them as adults, all of the long term effects of sexual abuse and and gaslighting and, you know, cycles of violence and being parenticide and all the things that were happening that I was seeing. So actually is I'm way more prepared than I realize. And but then I thought, well, I'm gonna go get my masters and I'm going to be able to claim my services under extended health benefits. OK. So I only wanted my masters because I wanted to appease the insurance companies. I was interested. Don't get me wrong, I, I liked academics to a certain degree. But like anything, you know, there's kind of pros and cons, in my opinion and always at academics and. So I went off and did my master's in education because I just needed something, I was already registered with my body, like my associations. So I just needed to have a masters really in anything. But by the time I got my masters, I realized I didn't actually like to work with clients that only wanted to come and do the work when their insurance would cover it. And when their insurance would run out. And sometimes it would be nine months they would instead of just, you know, continually investing in themselves, they only wanted to come if someone else was paying for it. And it's not that there's anything wrong with that. It's just that for me, I like to work with people that are constantly moving forward and not finding obstacles to do that. So anyway, so I did my Masters and realized that I didn't need it after all. But still great. Oh, that I did it. And now, 16 years later, here I got that book.
[00:12:10] That was your Everest. Yeah.
[00:12:16] I'm curious, do you believe that the.
[00:12:18] I'm wondering if you, in hindsight, do attribute your immediate success and waiting list and things like that from your you kind of quickly dropped that you had done this business networking and, you know, in nights and weekends when you went corporate. Do you attribute some of the success to that or have you passed any of those pieces out as to why it's so very fluidly took up for you?
[00:12:42] That's a great question.
[00:12:44] I think that job, probably an aspect of that, eliminated some of my learning curve because when we first start a business, there's such a steep learning curve and people will always say, well, I don't know what I'm doing. And I say, well, that's amazing. None of us know what we're doing, which is part of the exciting journey that we get to split test and we get to throw spaghetti against the wall. I'm not saying that that's a long term strategy, but if we go into the energy of on wonder in our first year of business and say, OK, well, I wonder what's going to happen if I join that networking group for a year. And I wonder what's going to happen if I knock on these doors that I don't think we're going to open for me. And I wonder what's going to happen if I take a leap in this way. I kind of call it business yoga. Right. We're really stretching ourselves and kind of developing these muscles and getting more comfortable. But I think that because I really could empathize with people and have a understanding of the psychology of abuse and why they'd be experiencing what they did and people feeling safe enough to come to me and now that I could hold space for them and I wasn't going to make it about me and my discomfort in hearing their story, that I had the actual capacity to hold space for them and let them talk about anything without being judged or without making them feel like they needed to tend to my emotions from like Chris trauma or any of those things that might have happened. They were able to talk about anything. And believe me, I I heard a lot of stuff. I had seen a lot of things. And I still see it. And of course, to this day now, I just know that nothing really surprises me.
[00:14:22] But I I think to the other thing that happened then, which is also happening right now for me in my business in light of the pandemic, is that I didn't focus on the money at all.
[00:14:32] I just focused on. On serving people. And I was so grateful that I got to make my own living.
[00:14:39] I didn't know what I was doing, but I was so grateful that I got to create life on my terms and just help people. And that's all I focused on, was getting myself out there and helping people. And that's what I've been focusing on the last several weeks. And I didn't do it for this reason. But I I've generated a lot of income, unexpectedly, generated a lot of income over these last few months, because my focus really has been on all. My goodness. I've got to get into crisis mode again. I'm going to help people not freeze. And the trauma helped them work through the trauma that was already there before this and then all the trauma buttons that are being pressed through this. And let's get you to the other side. We don't know what the other side's going to look like, but let's find a way to have you feel a semblance of being able to be in the moment or the moment being. So panic and anxiety. Rhythm.
[00:15:29] Yeah. At which it can ebb and flow. I don't think it was just in the beginning. There's a lot of different societal trends with that. And I've been to that end. I want to kind of start unpacking for people.
[00:15:39] And I'm not certain about this current work that you've done because I haven't been able to research any of that. But I do want to start our audience off with them once you approach your Web site. One of the first taglines that I was struck with as a researcher was it's the number one training school for Akashic Records. And I don't know if I'm saying that word right, but I defined I looked up that word in the dictionary and a very general and accepted definition for that is a supposed universal spiric field in which a record of past events is imprinted.
[00:16:13] And that's Akasha.
[00:16:15] So and you and you have this tagline of the number one training school for Akashic Records. So my assumption in looking into it and then going forward with your books is that you're you're kind of engaging this philosophy and this this paradigm in order to help your clients heal on different levels. And indeed, your books envelop everything from spiritual, emotional, financial, you know, in this very they're all interconnected moment. But you kind of pass out each of these things and speak to those through the feminine, you know, energies and things to all the way up to the financial discord and how we have financial DNA and things of that nature within us. And I'm hoping you can break some of it down. I may have just murky at all of it. And I do apologize, but that was kind of my my bird's eye view with all of it. And I wanted to bring that particular term forward because you put it right out there for your audience to hit right when you get to your landing page on your Web site. So I'm hoping you can break some of that down. Pass it out, make it bite sized for people listening and then talk about how you're implementing it.
[00:17:22] Yeah, I love that. And I forgot that was on my Web site because, you know, Web sites change every few years.
[00:17:30] So I sometime I should, you know, go back in and see what's on there because. Yeah, we change all the time and I change my business. I don't just kind of stay in one niche or like have one central offer that I have consistently through the years, although Akashic Records are one of them. I actually follow the pulse of my clients and then say, OK, well, do I feel qualified to offer this? I just have a firm belief that I don't want to offer anything that I don't have a semblance of mastery over. I'm not talking about being a master of or being perfect at.
[00:18:04] But I do feel that my knowledge of certain areas needs to be beyond satisfactory for me to feel good and feel and integrity about, you know, giving people information or holding space for people in a certain way. So, for example, I didn't talk about money until I felt that I'd done enough internal work and done enough outer staff with money to feel like I can guide people. Of course, I'm not a billionaire and I don't pretend to be a billionaire. And a billionaire is probably not going to hire me to help them with their money story. But I can help people that, you know, are still navigating that. And the reason I focused on money was because in doing all the sole purpose work, which is ultimately what I'm doing right, it's all about consciousness, the consciousness of our soul, the consciousness of money, the consciousness of our business. All of these things have an energy or an intelligence to them. And I'm helping people tap into these different areas to live their life with. So many people were saying to me time and time again, I don't know what my purpose is like after eight sessions with me when we keep talking or your purpose. I know there's a question behind the question, which is why are you living your purpose? You know what your purpose is? And people were throwing money, money under the bus all the time. And I say that obviously you don't play by play, but people with money becomes an easy thing to hold us back. And there's a lot of things we don't do in the future because we decide we're already not going to have the money. Well, what I've learned is money is just a neutral energy and it becomes whatever we project onto it based on what we've been taught about money, based on what society tells us, vote money, based on what happens when we have money and how other people respond to us when we don't have money or how they respond to us when we don't have money. There's so much that influences that. And if we can untangle ourselves from all the projections and just see money as a clean source, as a tool that helps fuel our dreams, then we actually have more freedom. Doesn't matter how much money we have, as long as we have peace of mind and freedom around money, that actually is true financial freedom.
[00:20:01] Yeah, and that's interesting. So one of my questions was going to be your diagnostic tool set.
[00:20:07] And I don't know if it's a questionnaire or when you have a new client intake. Let's say one on one, because I know you offer a few different services on your Web site. And I always wonder when someone like you with this this vast array of education and this growing tool kit, if you will, knowledge base, how you correctly ascertain which prognosis and implementation or activities or techniques is appropriate per each client. Do you have a set kind of rule list or intake thing that you do with every client or does it sounds like it varies. You said you follow the pulse of your clients. And so what does that mean in reality, like realistic, tangible terms?
[00:20:55] Well, I'm glad you asked that because I think it is important understand our process. I am very intuitive so I can always tell whether someone is asking me the things that they really want to know. And it's not because they're trying to mislead me. It's just because we have so much wrapped end around even asking. Right. You've been told to be seen and not heard or we get in trouble when we ask questions or we're afraid of looking stupid. There's all kinds of reasons why we don't just directly ask for support or directly ask questions. So I can tell whether someone's question is really in service to them or whether there's something underneath that. And I'll always reflect it back. I'm not going to decide for them. You know, here's here's the truth and you're going to receive it. But we have a conversation. And what I'm looking for is synergy and I'm looking for a dissonance. So when someone tells me that they want to create certain things, I'm I'm checking into the pulse of that to see if that's actually in alignment with what they truly want with their soul truly wants. And I'm also looking for a dissonance that they may or may not be telling me meaning, whereas their incongruence between what they say they want or what they're telling me they want versus what they're actually doing in their life. And then I kind of work probably counterintuitively to what maybe people would think I should do. But I want to know what what's the worst case scenario? You want to have a seven figure business or you want to, you know, find a soul mate or you want to do whatever it is people are telling me they want. Tell me what the worst case scenario is of you having that and it stops people and it snaps them out of whatever neural pathways they're into, open them up to what the actual fear is. Because the reason why we don't do things in life is because we have fears. Usually they're unconscious. So once we eliminate what that actually with that fear actually is, then we can heal and reframe and create perspective and also receive perhaps intuitive guidance around.
[00:22:49] OK, well, how do we help you create that? So that fear is no longer an obstacle, though?
[00:22:55] A common fear would be, you know, fear of being attacked. Right. If I have it all, then I'm hot.
[00:23:03] PICKENS Basically for other people to criticize me and take me down. So people are already expecting to be taken down. When they succeed, they're going to respond as though they're already being taken down. They're going to dramatically slow down their progress with their goals because they're just trying to keep themselves safe. So we find a way to help people see that they're safe in being successful, for example, then they can take that path more easily. Because what happens is when people don't know why they're responding in fear, they then beat themselves up. Oh, I'm stupid. I'm not capable. I'm not enough of X or I'm too much of Y. And they instantly make themselves wrong because we learn that at a very young age that when in doubt it must be my fault. So if we're not moving forward in whatever goal we have, we instantly start beating ourselves up. And then that's a that's a vicious cycle. We just are on a hamster on a wheel. Then we just have our time moving forward because it's really hard to get motivated when we're also telling ourselves that we're stupid or incapable or unqualified or whatever, you know, things we're telling ourselves.
[00:24:07] Yeah. And you talk a lot. Not a lot in the book that I did read.
[00:24:12] And I should clarify for everyone listening, I read Quantum Leap for the Soul Manifesting Miracles Through the Power of Concretion, which was written a number of years ago, I believe, two thousand fourteen thousand fifteen, maybe earlier, I can't remember. And then I also had to look at Helier money story, but not incompletion. And so I'm speaking, namely about quantum leap for the soul. You start off in this introduction of the feminine divine, you know, and this this feminine power. And I'm kind of defining it. And even for myself, who had heard the term and indeed done some studying around it, it clarified and demystified some attributes that I had wrongly associated with it. And. And then you talk it, you pass it out through all of the different metrics that it's represented in our life and different areas. You give examples of things like that, and it's in order to apply it to this. This manifestation process, you know, of of miracles in this creation of one's own path and destiny. And I'm wondering how much of that looking at your library of books that you've produced that I haven't had the privilege yet of reading. How much of those kinds of principles are applied and intertwined with one another as someone who's coming into your work and really trying to apply some of your core tenants? Is there a similarity or do you feel like everything is kind of a separate journey, a stepping stone, if you will, into the path?
[00:25:38] That's a great question.
[00:25:40] I think it's important to look at feminine energy. But I would say that overall my general philosophy is around oneness. And I recognize that as humans, we have this innate need to get it. Get out our label maker, 3000 thousand. And I know you'll appreciate this because we both grew up in the same time frame.
[00:25:59] Right. We just are so attached to putting labels on everything.
[00:26:04] And I remember being young and. Really just thinking, why can't we all just be one? Not that we have to be the same. But why do we have to use. He, she, B, B and all kinds of things like why do we have to identify? There's nothing wrong with identifying that. But every time we create separation by way of labels, we.
[00:26:28] We know how we do one thing is how we do others, and so we start to see separate. I mean, we're seeing it right now in the pandemic. Holy cow. Week by week, it changes that. There's a lot of polarity and there's a benefit to polarity for sure. But I think that the ultimate goal is to have unity conscious as where we're really just all operating from our heart center and our hearts are what speaks truth as opposed to all of the other things. And of course, intellect is important and our physicality is important and so on. It shapes who we are. But I want to help people understand how. How does all this stuff shape who you are? And then who are you beyond that? At the core of who you really are? Yes, of course. You know, I am white. I was born in North America. I had working middle class parents. Of course, my my viewpoint of the world and my experience in the world and how other people treat me is predicated on all of that stuff that shaped who I am as I'm not rejecting it. But I also want to move beyond that at some point. And so that is part of, I think, the work that I do. And the soul's journey with folks is is allowing ourselves to constantly evolve and releasing attachment to who we were or who we thought we were. And being in the moment of who we are now and that I would say to with what's going on the world is it is a gift. I know that the way it's being delivered, it doesn't feel like a gift. But if we're going to look at silver linings in this, it's that we have an awareness and we're coming to various degrees of this awareness that who we were before just isn't coming back. And there's a level of almost ceremony that we need to have around saying goodbye to the aspects of us that were just we can grace and bless them. Thank you for bringing me to this point in my life. But what matters now in a lot of ways is so different than what was mattering twelve weeks ago, for example. And and so how do we live beyond labels and and connect to the truth of our identity on a soul level, which is that we're infinite and expansive and creative beings that are here to string together a bunch of moments and make every moment count?
[00:28:47] Yeah, absolutely.
[00:28:48] And I think that the reminder of our return to humanity. I have a personal belief that we are all born with an infinite capacity to love. And these types of situations bring about a lot of fear that can manifest in both negative and positive ways, depending on the person who is experiencing it. But I do believe that a reminder of our camaraderie as a civilization, you know, is at the epicenter of every good thing that ever happened. And so I think there's a key moment to be done with that. I'm wondering, given the Cauvin 19 and you talked about briefly earlier on, you mentioned working with people and things of that nature. Can you kind of speak to some of your observations when you've I don't know what work you've endeavored in recently, but since the pandemic hit? Can you kind of speak to some of your observations in what's happening or what's potentially possible to happen that could be of benefit or the ways that you're helping people during this particular crisis?
[00:29:55] Yeah, I've noticed that people overall are having an existential crisis. So people like me are busier right now because people want to know what's the meaning of life. Did my sense of the meaning of life actually match up with what the meaning of life is? What is my purpose? Now how can I express my purpose more? Part of the reason why I got into business coaching years ago was not because I want to be a business coach. I never envisioned that. It still kind of shocking to me today. But it's a way of me helping people get out of their own way and spread more light and help more people. So I had a massive deepening of conviction of purpose when this all went down. When I really when we had that moment, because I don't know what it's like in other parts of the world. But here in Canada, it was kind of this thing that was happening somewhere else. It was really, really downplayed it. And we went from literally one day it was being downplayed to the next day. You're all in lockdown and we're like, what's happening? Right. And it was in that moment that I had a lot of the things happen. One of them was what's called almost like a solar feminin rising where we just get this like fire in us. Right. And I thought, oh, I instantly thought, you know, I could see it all playing out almost in like a 30 second movie of the decimation of small and medium sized businesses. What it was the amount of people that were going to be without jobs, the massive financial hit. We had no we still had no idea that time with the virus was going to be or not be. But just the follow it. I could see it. And I had this feeling of I need to help humanity this deep, like primal mother energy almost come over me. And I've talked to a lot of women who had a similar feeling. So I've been busier than ever because everyone is initially it was presented as, hey, everyone now at your home for two weeks, why don't you learn some things? But that was never the angle I took, because I can see that the long term cause and effect was already bigger than what we were being told.
[00:31:59] And and so I really started promoting much more of the spiritual trainings that I had creating spiritual community, finding affordable ways for people to have access to me so that they could take the edge off and have some clarity, because I'm well known for speaking truth. And a lot of people came back from years ago saying I needed the truth and I knew I knew exactly who I needed to come to. So I always tried to deliver it with love, of course. But the truth, there's nothing really convenient about the truth, you know, uncomfortable.
[00:32:31] But a lot of times we're not ready to hear it.
[00:32:33] So people still know they needed it. So I've been spending a lot of time guiding people. Towards what their purpose is and what their purpose is now, and like I said, having almost like a ceremony of greeting the aspects of our lives and the aspects of ourselves that are not they're just not going to be able to come with us. But also really celebrating and honoring and honing the aspects of ourselves and our skills that are needed more now than ever. I think one of the things people are noticing, especially in my community, is that they were made for this time. They really have gone to see with 20/20 vision that, oh, my goodness, my whole life has prepared me for this moment. And that's certainly how I felt when you know what I shared with you about all the crisis work that I used to do. So that's a piece of it, the existential piece. And then the other piece is really keep, you know, people live from trauma anyways. They don't know they are.
[00:33:30] But something like this that really pokes a lot of trauma buttons and there's so many layers of trauma. If we don't deal with that, we just freeze. And there's a lot of people that are frozen and then they're making themselves wrong because they're frozen and they know they need to move, but they just can't move. I think we've all had that experience when we wake up in bed and we're just lying there and we like we're sinking deeper and deeper into the bed. A lot of people are feeling that they're living life that way right now. And so they feel guilty that they're not out there helping, but they can't bring themselves to. Everything feels like an effort because they got adrenal fatigue, brushing their teeth feels like an effort. Getting groceries feels like an effort, right? That's all. Those are all signs of adrenal fatigue. And so how do we keep folks out of their own way so that they can get to do the things that they know they're feeling called to do? So there is no playbook for this. It's it's complex and flavored. It's it's profound. And there's a lot of GIFs on this and there's a lot of suffering and tragedy in this, too. And. It's and then you put social media on top about. Yeah, and the fact that Freddie Prekop, that we had fake accounts and A.I. that were purposely yeary information to us, people that run Vickki accounts to try and guide the narrative and get us for leadings things. And so we're seeing that now with just the ways that. And then you've got people that are scrolling or hypnotized and they're scrolling. They're highly susceptible because they're in a more have not state. And they're reading headlines on one camera. The other does even matter. And they're taking it as truth because they're not at that level of a sermon because they're in their theater brainwaves. Right. Essentially being hypnotized by the alone. So they're taking and things to be true. That may not be true. I'm not saying they're not true. And then if they're getting news from there scrolling that would suggest that they should be more afraid, then the fear is giving more and more magnified. Which means the adrenals are getting more and more burnt out, which means that they're more and more frozen and then making themselves more and more wrong for not getting out and doing the work. So it's there's a lot of getting off. Like I said, that there's there's a lot of fallout. And I decided last week. When talking with my guides that this conversation isn't coming to an end. You know, we we know that although we'll go through stages of this beyond the virus, even when the virus finally runs its course. All of the aftermath, we'll be we'll be going through stages with that, just like organizational change. Right. Having worked in corporations, I know that changes really slow. And there's many layers of it or phases of it. And so we can probably expect to be dealing with the fallout of this for at least two years. Like the immediate fallout. Right. And trying to recalibrate to some semblance of life as we knew it, although most people are saying we won't ever see that changing economies, that actual currency is going to change. There's a ton of people that are gonna be jobless. And then they have to decide what they're going to do or are they gonna start a business or are they going to farm what you know, what are they going to do with their lives and knowing that this conversation isn't going away. But we don't want to be living and immersed in this conversation. What do we do? So I decided last week this will be the week and I need the announcement to my community that we're going to start future visioning again. Well, you know, gas is going to look different. Yes, our marketing message needs to look different. Yes. The way we serve people and how we present our services to people needs to be different. And we can't be tone deaf. But we do have to get back into visioning the future instead of literally being in a holding pattern waiting for more news. I remember in 9/11. Being so addicted to the news for weeks because we kept waiting for when's the next attack and when is anthrax going to be on my doorstep, and it just became very consuming for a long period of time. And then I eventually had to pull myself out about and I know many other people did, because otherwise you just kind of drive yourself crazy, right?
[00:37:46] I just. Of what's going on. Yeah. And it's a state of suspended animation.
[00:37:51] You know, there's a moment to car calmly sit, reflect, marinate in the potential outcomes, you know, as as every good, you know, wonderfully logic or imaginative mind should and ought to. But after that, you need to maintain that sense of suspended, you know, outcome is it's treacherous on the human mind. Right. It's it's a form of torture. It's the best way to brainwash someone to never let them know when or what something is coming. So and I agree with what you're saying. I'm really interested in talking about the future visioning again and that you're pushing people to do. But before we get to that, I was dying to know, after all of my research, I always ask myself, what is the number one thing that you yourself, Patricia, just cannot reach? Ask Jennifer.
[00:38:37] And one of them was and I had about five. I never get justice done. But now my top one was.
[00:38:44] Do you yourself have a mentor or a guide? I'm very fascinated with these prophetic symbols in people in our life, people who are coaches, guides, presidents, mothers, fathers who they look to for advice. And I'm wondering you yourself, do you have guide or mentors or teachers that you draw upon still?
[00:39:09] Absolutely, I. I never want to be in a position where I think I know it all or I've come to realize at all. And I feel that being a student and a teacher at the same time, although it may look different, is important for our growth. That's just my perspective. And so, yes, just before all of this happened, I hired one of my long term friends who's a financial adviser. He's very woo like me.
[00:39:35] And we were building the company to sell it and. And creating a plan and getting ready to buy some apartment buildings and turn them into affordable housing. And we had all these big plans. And then this hit. And I know that happened to many people, by the way, where it's almost like the universe gave us the nudge to make the move. And we thought the move was about one thing, but it was really about another thing. Yeah. And like, I was guided to sell all my rental properties. And I thought it was because I was retiring my husband. It's really because I need to get out of the rental market right now. Right. With everything that's happening and the government telling people they don't have to pay rent and that kind of stuff. Right. Like, it's it ends up being costly.
[00:40:17] But that's a story for another day.
[00:40:20] Anyways, I am I a pretty discerning now about who I let into my life, because I think that even the most clean energy and people, they still will bring their own filters to us. Right. Just as I do with my clients. I don't mean to it's just going to happen. And so I have to get really clear myself. What do I want to be creating? And then who is the best person to help me create that? Sometimes I know, sometimes I don't. But I can. I think to all the people I've listened to over the years, I'm so grateful for people like Oprah. You know, she was a huge part of my journey. I don't know what it was twenty five years ago or so when she was introducing us to all those self-help worker, her authors, I should say, and that and even just who she was and what she stood for, the energy that she held. Right. Showing us what's possible as women. And so that's just an example. There's all kinds of people I haven't personally hired that I look to. I appreciate someone like Shirley MacLaine, who took a lot of leaps of faith by talking about some pretty loose stuff in an environment and at the time in an era where was very much on the down low. And boy, Louise Hay starting her own publishing house. Think about how much energy and what a mountain she had declined to create that type of a publishing house at a time that she did. So there's a lot of people I admire. There's a lot of people I'm grateful for anything. Aside from being grateful for my parents, for Amy onto this planet, regardless of what our relationship was, I think I'm most grateful to myself, honestly. And I and I would invite people to look at that for themselves because. We've all been through some stuff, but in hindsight, you know, we got to look at it differently. But at the time we've been Coleco. Like what? You know, why am I going through this?
[00:42:17] And and so I'm grateful that I have dedicated myself to grow so that I can move more and more towards the person that I want to meet when I'm not in a body anymore. When I when I greet that version of me, when I'm out of a body, I want to look at her in the eyes and I want her to look at me in the eyes and say, Good job, champ.
[00:42:40] You did a good job. You did what you came there to do.
[00:42:42] I love that. I love that analogy. I can see it like dancing before me. You know, that that example is so epic to talk about who you want to be when you're no longer in a body anymore and run into. So normally I talk about goals that you have for your future business endeavors and things, but because you dropped a little nugget, I'd like to pick it up and ask you just a little bit with whatever little time we have left. And you said you wanted to start future visioning again. And and you wanted to start putting that out there and implementing this kind of what sounds to be action item based or at least this cohesive vision of the future. Can you explain to the audience what that means and how that that will take like implementation or even theoretical form?
[00:43:29] I'm I'm grateful that you asked that and I kind of have to hold myself accountable by saying this out loud.
[00:43:35] So it was an early you said you just decided and I was like, oh, hot off the press.
[00:43:42] Yeah. You know, I am I've moved towards having my own TV show for a while and things happen and it interrupts it. And I was I was on course to do that this year. And again, Koban hit. So I know I'm meant to be visible in the hilarity of that is I'm actually a very quiet kind of private person. I was very shy as a kid. If you told me that, I'd be on stage speaking to people or beyond podcasts or anything like that, I would have probably cried myself to sleep like the thought of that would have been so horrendous for me. And yet here I am. But I. In light of what's going on in the world and in light of how important I think it is to have. Have certain people's work showcased. I was already looking at this, but I'm going to be creating a platform for Lightworkers than censorship free platform for people to speak the truth. And that'll include more of these collaborative books. My clients will often say to me all I totally some of that. Were you having your own publishing house? I did. Well, it's kind of more than that.
[00:44:49] I want to be able to have a platform for people to have podcasts. And when we can finally get back to being in person stages for people to speak on and just find a variety of ways for people to use their voice in a way where they don't have to be censored. No, I'm not talking about inviting in rude and crude and violating the sort of things I'm talking about a platform for Lightworkers where they can speak truth and not worry about, you know, coming back to Facebook, for example, and seeing their video taken down or, you know, having to to pray to the YouTube gods and things like that. We hear about this. So don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for those platforms.
[00:45:26] But I do think where we're going in society, we need to have, you know, just safe places for people that speak their truth and help build.
[00:45:37] So I've always wanted to be a resource for people. And so I really like collaborating. I like having I'm.
[00:45:46] I have this in my Facebook group. I'll transition this onto my Web site, where I have an astrologer that provides weekly forecasts for people and a tarot card reader. And I'm numerologist and shway expert and these kind of folks just to add some light into people's life.
[00:45:59] I don't feel like I have to be the source of everyone's information. And, you know, I like introducing my community to other people. So it'll be kind of like bad not a psychic hotline by any means, but something where people can also have sessions with people that they resonate with. It makes sense, you know, for what they're wanting to create. And and then I will be buying up some companies, you know, to sort of recreate the wheel, just buying companies that can kind of come under that umbrella of overall helping people evolve their soul. And instead, again, instead of me spending a ton of time creating something that someone else Saari created for those people that are ready to step out of it, they're just not interested in having it anymore. But I can renumerated them for their sweat equity, basically. Then I'll bring those those companies into the fall this fall.
[00:46:49] And that's exciting. That's a powerful umbrella, you know, of like. It sounds like in a collaborative effort, the voices sound like they'll be fascinating. And it's a really exciting goal. And it's so it's I just got it first. I scooped and talked to him. That's exciting. I'm wondering as we wrap up today. I always ask and I've kind of changed this scenario a little bit because of the pandemic.
[00:47:17] But I'm curious if you yourself were advising yourself back after you had just left corporate and you were beginning this entire journey. Not one book was written.
[00:47:29] You were just starting everything out. What are the top three pieces of advice you would give that person knowing what you know now?
[00:47:39] I love that you ask that there's very little I would change about that, but I would definitely hire a mentor. I was five years into my business before I then hired a mentor. And anyone I talked to that successful says that that's their biggest regret. There has yet to be a single person I've spoken to that didn't. Because mentors really, first of all, remind you what your goals are and hold you accountable to them. But they also they they shorten your learning curve because presumably you're hiring people that have already created what you want to create. So I. I would have done that. There was a point in the beginning where I was kind of swimming in fear and fear became like Groundhog Day. I got so bored with it that I eventually just said, okay, well, fear is boring me now. So I'm just going to put myself out there. What do I have to lose? So I guess I wouldn't say it's a regret that I. I couldn't easily. Allowed myself more speed, and I also, as I mentioned, went into a place of all I'm wondering the beginning. So instead of deciding people were going to say yes or no, I just decided I was in control of the doors. So I decided that I was in the driver's seat rather than other people were inviting me to their table. I had my table that I was going to invite people to. That makes any sense. Yeah. So I, I, I definitely knocked on doors and some doors flew open up that surprised me and other doors that I thought would open didn't open. And so I needed to learn how to be unattached to the whether the door is open or not. But I definitely could have been way more relentless about the doors that I knocked on and really just created an abundance of opportunities. And then I also would have hired someone more quickly, meaning like an assistant. I got really bottlenecked and it stagnated my growth and I just didn't know how to hire an extension of me.
[00:49:26] And then I realized I don't need an extension of me, I need to be me, and I need to hire someone that knows what to take off my plate. It wasn't my job to know what they could take off. My my it was they worked out what they could take off my plate.
[00:49:40] So my my growth definitely slowed down because like I said, I was the admin and the janitor and the bathroom cleaner and the chance of something wrong with those things.
[00:49:52] But at some point I became problematic because I was too busy, so.
[00:49:57] All right. That's it sounds.
[00:49:59] And to that last point, I find it I speak primarily for those who are familiar with my work. I speak largely with women, female identified, non binary individuals and children. So I can't speak with great authority to this end. But what I do know about women is that they are bred to do that. They are bred not to outsource. You know, you are mother, breadwinner, wife. All of us, daughter, caregiver, all of those things. And I've never spoken to a woman from any culture that I've visited and I globe trot regularly that isn't brought up with that idea and also takes great pleasure in it. It's not always this, you know, horrible cross to bear. But I will say that most female entrepreneurs and founders of the highest echelon are still saying, I really should have hired someone long before I did. And as it's a common theme. But just you realist's what I heard is hire a mentor. And number two, allow more speed. Don't let fear roadblock you let off and wonder. Open the doors, invite people to the table and hire an assistant quickly.
[00:51:08] I love those. That's like a that's an incredible outline. There's your next book.
[00:51:12] From Me to Get an Assignment.
[00:51:17] I really appreciate your time today, Jennifer. We are out of time, but I could talk forever. And I just want to say I really, really appreciate you sharing your voice and your wisdom with us.
[00:51:27] Well, thank you. It was a great honor to be here. I really appreciate you inviting me on today.
[00:51:32] Absolutely. And for everyone listening, we've been talking with Jennifer long more. You can hear more about what she's doing and contact her on w w w dot soul journeys, dot CAA. And thank you for listening to our show today.
[00:51:47] I hope you all stay well, stay in love, stay in peace and remember to always bet on yourself.
Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
Speaking with Tina Brown; Founder & CEO
Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
Today I speak with Tina Brown. Tina began to provide financial wealth, empowerment, and health wellness resources for women through My Sister’s Keeper Expo created in 2015. Tina’s life has been a display of strength and courage mixed with compassion and love. Tina has always dreamed of being able to help teenagers reach their dreams.
This podcast series is hosted by Patricia Kathleen and Wilde Agency Media. This series is a platform for women, female-identified, & non-binary individuals to share their professional stories and personal narrative as it relates to their story. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age, status, or industry.
TRANSCRIPTION
*Please note this is an automated transcription, please excuse any typos or errors
[00:00:00] In this episode, I had the opportunity to sit down with founder and CEO Tina Brown. Key points addressed where Tinas convention called My Sister's Keeper Expo, which was launched in 2015. It was providing a yearly expo filled with financial wealth, empowerment and health wellness resources for women. We also discussed Tinas nonprofit Starbound Inc, which is an endeavor that reflects her passion for helping teenagers at risk. Stay tuned for my fascinating talk with Tina Brown.
[00:00:36] Hi, my name is Patricia Kathleen, and this podcast series contains interviews I conduct with women. Female identified and non binary individuals regarding their professional stories and personal narrative. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age status for industry. We aim to contribute to the evolving global dialog surrounding underrepresented figures in all industries across the USA and abroad. If you're enjoying this podcast, be sure to check out our subsequent series that dove deep into specific areas such as Vegan life, fasting and roundtable topics. They can be found via our Web site. Patricia Kathleen dot COM, where you can also join our newsletter. You can also subscribe to all of our series on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Pod Being and YouTube. Thanks for listening. Now let's start the conversation. Hi, everyone, and welcome back. I am your host, Patricia.
[00:01:36] And today I'm excited to be sitting down with Tina Brown. She's the founder and CEO of a couple of different companies. You can find out more about her companies and her nonprofit on w w w dot. My Sister's Keeper Expo. Dot com. Welcome, Tina.
[00:01:51] Thank you. Thank you for having me.
[00:01:53] Absolutely. I can't wait to kind of climb through. You have a production company and you have this nonprofit, Starbound, and then you have my Sister's Keeper Expo and they all kind of have this beautiful narrative between the three of them. And I want to dove into each of those. But before we get to that, I want to tell everyone listening. I have a bio that I'll be reading on TNA to give everyone this kind of platform of her professional history. But before we get to that, a roadmap of today's podcast. We'll follow the same trajectory as all of those in this podcast series. Namely, we'll start by looking at Tinas academic background, early professional life and personal narrative that kind of draws as to where she is now. And then we'll start look towards unpacking her nonprofit, Starbound Inc, her production company, Tina Brown Productions, and her My Sister's Keeper Expo. And we'll get into some of the logistics of who, what, when, where, why, how, with funding, founders, co-founders, all of those things, growth that all of those endeavors have received since they've been launched. And then we'll turn our efforts towards looking at goals that she has for the next one to three years for herself and her business endeavors. And then we'll wrap everything up with advice that Tina and I have. For those of you who are looking to get involved or contact her or emulate some of what she has done. A quick bio on Tina. Before I start peppering her with questions, Tina Brown was born in San Francisco, California. Three days after her birth, she was abandoned by her biological mother and left on the doorstep of of couple Mr. and Mrs. Walker, who raised her as their own. Later, a runaway teenage mother, Tina, still continued her education, taking up criminal justice at San Francisco City College. She has been employed with the city and county of San Francisco for 25 years. Tinas nonprofit organization Starbound Inc is a true reflection of the passion she has for helping teenagers. And her love of music made her dream come true come true. When she founded her own production company, Tina Brown Productions, where she serves as CEO after receiving a vision from God, Tina began to provide financial wealth, empowerment and health wellness resources for women through My Sister's Keeper Expo created in 2015. Tina hosted her third annual expo in October of 2018 and offered women the resources and support needed for their success. In spite of her busy schedule, Tina always places her Christian life first. She's an active member of her church as a servant leader for the women's ministry. Tinas life has been a display of strength and courage mixed with compassion and love. Tina has always dreamed of being able to help teenagers reach their dreams.
[00:04:33] So it's, you know, I think it's such a powerful bio that you have. It's it's such a mixture of the endeavors that you're currently involved in and your pursuit, an ethos that you run your life by. But before we get to all of that, I'm hoping that you can draw a numeral a little bit further on what I spoke about in reading your bio. If you can tell everyone listening about your academic background and early professional life that brought you to launching your first business endeavor.
[00:04:58] OK. I will start off by saying that I was a young girl 10, 10 and a half turning eleven. I end up being homeless in the streets. I didn't have many.
[00:05:14] I didn't have I didn't go to school at that time. And when I type there was like a two and a half year time period. I became a teenage mom. I had my children. And at that time I started to pursue going back to school. I went to teen pregnancy school and then I would finish high school. And then I attended city college. And that's where I got my criminal justice information, my classes. I didn't I didn't graduate from there because it became the fact that I had to work and take care of my my children at that time. So I wasn't able to finish that. And of course, life goes on.
[00:05:52] Say it's never too late. So that's life. Just calm down a little bit when it calms down.
[00:05:58] That's something that I will entertain pursuing to go back.
[00:06:01] Absolutely. It never is. And for me and the older I get, the more, you know, I get out of my educational training returning. I kind of feel like we do it backwards in this country. I've had a lot of professors speak to this as well, but saying, you know, you should work when you're young and go to school when you're older and can handle it. And all of those thoughts I'm wondering about. So which you've had three endeavors that I want to impact here today. I'm sure you've had a gazillion more than that. But a Starbound Inc, I want to know. Did your nonprofit. Come first, did the production company or My Sister's Keeper Expo?
[00:06:38] Nonprofit was first, actually. And when I listened to you read the bio, I'm like, Oh wow, this, you know, three different companies. But each one represented a piece of me where I was at at that particular time and how I developed that particular company.
[00:06:55] So what was the impetus for starting it? I mean, it's it's obvious that it was connected to your own pursuit in your own life as as a young teenager undergoing more than the average stressors. And did you have a directional goal when you launched that nonprofit as to how you were going to implement it and which communities or groups you were going to address?
[00:07:14] Actually, no. It was actually suggested to me. I've always wanted to help young girls because I was that young girl that didn't have anyone to feed into me or, you know, to talk to. So with that, I always worked with young girls and I was talking to her name was Jamila, actually one day. And just like you should start a nonprofit online. What's a nonprofit? Yes. And to explain. And so she offered to help me do that. And that's how Starbound each was incorporated. And even though it wasn't corporate, I still didn't have the knowledge or didn't use it to its full capacity at that time because it started in 2012. I just continue to help the girls on my own funding because I know how important it was. And with that, Starbound starts to, you know, take effect and get donations for, you know, like Tripps going to a game or just that type of thing.
[00:08:09] It's a major undertaking. Did you go through any type of an accelerator or how did you garner all of the knowledge? Nonprofits are such a different beast, right?
[00:08:17] They're like their own form of business. They have their own set of laws and rules. Did you have an advisor or a mentor that advised you or just kind of figured out as you went?
[00:08:26] No, I figured it along the way. She Djamila set up the whole nonprofit. So when I received my paperwork, I was already a nonprofit. So it was just at that time where I had to, you know, get a duns number and get it. Yeah, no. Oh. Type of things. But I learned as I go everything I must say that everything in my whole life, unfortunately, was like self-taught.
[00:08:51] Yeah.
[00:08:52] That's amazing. I mean, it's the information and the utility of knowledge when self-taught is usually much more deep, much more deep. It runs deeper. You know, it has a different effect on the person in the way that they run the business. In my humble opinion, I'm wondering. And so have. Has there been kind of a growth with it since you launched in 2012? And it's a nonprofit which has some flexibility. Has it changed and manifested over the years? Have there been some quieter years and some heavier years? And also, do you ally with other nonprofits who have similar goals and motives?
[00:09:29] Actually, I did not. I didn't network at that time.
[00:09:34] I'm just starting to really take advantage of the nonprofit and collaborate with different nonprofits. As I've gotten older and seen how it really works and how much more it could thrive more with the collaboration's like Larkin Street Youth that's in San Francisco, where, you know, they have their teeth. They have their youth programs focus on housing. But it also focused on speakers coming in and those type of things. So I've been able to collaborate a little bit with them. And then we have Huckleberry House, which is a house for runaways, which was right down the street from where I reside. Where I grew up. That and so I'm able to talk to young kids from there as well.
[00:10:16] That's awesome. So when did the production company. Tina Brown Productions come along that came along in the in?
[00:10:25] Actually, it twenty's 2014 because as I was homeless out there in the streets, I've always had music.
[00:10:35] So I have a great love for music. So I will listen to particular artists and things like that. And I wanted to see how I can make that happen and bring it to the Bay Area. So I started off with my church, like doing a church prayer breakfast, and I will bring in certain artists to come in and perform. And then it became like that was just like second hand. I just knew how to do that again. It's crazy. I was blessed to have that skill set. I worked at a B.F. F. as a volunteer. So I've had different people that were able to pour into me to where I was like, I think I want to have my own production company. I think I want to, you know, do that. I wanted to do film, but it's just I still haven't graduated, so I got to tell my story and to tell other stories that people encounter in their life span.
[00:11:25] Absolutely. So that's storytelling. The production company, does it have like a specialty or an area population, a group that it centers more towards? Or is this is it kind of anything that lands in your lap or any projects that you find interesting?
[00:11:41] It's really RB music and Christian.
[00:11:45] OK. Yeah. Sounds like that from the basis of launching within the church. I'm wondering, when did it when do you feel like that production company launched if you don't have a specific date. Do you have a year that you kind of felt like it was founded? And how long before was it before My Sister's Keeper Expo came along that launched in twenty.
[00:12:08] Fourteen. I was the summer was the summer because my first show was in November, November 4th in twenty fourteen. So.
[00:12:20] Yeah. Okay. And then my Sisters Keeper Expo. When did the idea for this come along and what was the impetus or the story behind developing it in 2014.
[00:12:33] Once I launched launched Tina Brown Productions.
[00:12:37] I found out I started to really get to know myself because in life you're just dealing with hunches that come along along the way.
[00:12:45] So that's when I start to realize that I was really a broken person and my self-esteem was really shocked to extent so because it got to a point with the shows, I wanted to do more. But then I would hear that little voice that says you could do it. You know, all my past failures came to creep up behind me. So with that, I realized when I realized that I was broken. I started to go out and get help. I started to go to workshops and listen to different people speak. And I went to Dallas for T.D. Jakes. He has a woman that are not loose a bit mega fest every year. And that's where I went there. And I had a vision that night from God. There was a room full of women. And I was like, well, I do that with my prayer book. So I really, you know, she did off. However, later on I went to a symposium and the girl there needs to be show Warner. She talked about how drain's impact us, how they're from, you know, God has things that he wants us to do. And afterwards, I connected with her and she had just shared little pieces of me and how I was fearful and how I didn't feel good enough. I felt less than and we talked a lot. And then there formed My Sister's Keeper because I had a conversation with a young girl and she was pregnant and she didn't think she was going to make it. She did that life. There was no life ahead of her. She just thought it was over. And I began to share my story with her and she ended up saying, I wish I had a sister. And when she said that, that resonated so well with me because I did so there was my sister's keeper. And it's really to build women up where I'm at. Like, I, you know, in the 40s, you think your souls have it all together. Some people wife showed up, though, and I didn't have it all together so as to help get our finances going. I care about money. It was as I was doing money given, you know, doing my girls programs and my production company. I really didn't have the solid knowledge of how I'm supposed to save or what stops a lot. So what is stocks about things like that? So when my sister's keeper up on that message to the Bay Area, for them to to hear the different speakers speak about things that was relatable to us and how it affects our community.
[00:15:06] That's exciting. And I think it's it's so crucial that people think that everyone's connected to all pieces of knowledge. You know, with the advent of social media and there is. Clearly, you know, in the industries and the people that I work with, which are women, female identified, non binary individuals, there are huge pockets, still completely mystifying. You mentioned the stock market and things like that. I have very seasoned sage colleagues, you know, who are female or female identified that are still terrified of those systems, don't understand them and claim that they don't want to get involved with them, you know. And so I think that breaking open those systems that have been largely dominated by, you know, a different gender or group is is really important. I'm wondering, can you kind of unpack or at least give us, like, a bird's eye view of what an expo event would have been like? Did it change from, you know, the first one to the last one that you had and was the last one in 2018 or 2019?
[00:16:02] Well, I actually was in two thousand eighteen. I didn't do one last year. I was working on the one for me, twenty twenty within Corona of it. And we, I say can work over 19.
[00:16:15] Absolutely. So what was the bird's eye view for the last one in 2018? Was it multiday?
[00:16:20] Was it one day don't breakout sessions. One day breakout sessions, different speakers come in and talk about different topics. Lunch was provided. We had we honored that that year. We are on it.
[00:16:35] Renel, she's a local deejay in the Bay Area. We we honored her. We honor Carolyn Tyler and wanted to rent was our keynote speaker for that year.
[00:16:47] Nice. So how does has the structure changed since you created it in 2015? I mean, you had this three year stint, but I hear frequently from people who host festivals or founders of events and things of this nature. You kind of massage it to the you know, to the industry and to the needs of the attendees and things like that. What changes existed over the three years that it was going up?
[00:17:12] Actually, the interest really grew. It grew probably because of the the not the topics that were discussed. My first one, you know, was like all day and I had M.S. like I keynote speaker and I massage it, too, because I always want it more. So I'm always reaching a high bar, reaching high. So I always wanted to be better than the last year. And I focus on whatever topic we're going whatever is going well in this particular season.
[00:17:43] Those are the speakers that I want to come speak and share with us today.
[00:17:47] Give us that knowledge and that insight to make us feel better is the hard part was is getting sponsors and stuff on board, because there again, I spent all my money on on into the program itself, but eventually that'll come.
[00:18:04] Do you think that moving forward you'll move some of it into a virtual space or do you think that you're far enough out from the next one? There will be a vaccine. People will return to nonsocial. This isn't saying. Also, do you think that the format could be conveyed as powerfully if it wasn't in person? I've spoken to a lot of people that say even if I can employ this Zoome aspect, the point of it was being in this group of people.
[00:18:27] I totally agree. I totally agree. That's why I haven't done it. I had the option to deliver Virtual for this year, but I declined because it's the atmosphere at the buildings. It's not as real. I mean, it's not as authentic as it's being there in person.
[00:18:43] Yeah, absolutely. So will you postpone the lineup that you were getting ready for in 2020 or will you completely revamp the entire thing for twenty, twenty one?
[00:18:53] I'm going to revamp it for twenty, twenty one because I think this year is pretty much halfway gone. And I want to focus on getting, you know, a fresh start. So Angela Davis was our keynote speaker this year. Hopefully she'll still be able to be on board for next year, but it'll be May 1st, 20, 21. Best to date scheduled May 1st, 2021.
[00:19:15] Excellence. And I'm sure you'll update it on My Sister's Keeper, Ex Baucom, everyone listening information from the vendor.
[00:19:23] But best that that data's available at that space. But as soon as I get the green light and that's the Tenzer.
[00:19:29] OK. And do you have other social handles that people can kind of follow some of this across with you?
[00:19:35] I have my Sister's Keeper XPO on Instagram, my sister's keeper on Facebook and link in my schools.
[00:19:43] Yes, yes. Everyone can kind of connect on their favorite and then follow it. Yeah. It sounds like a dynamite, at least Keano. So is everyone who's in the area should look into attending. I'm wondering. I've spoken with a lot of founders and over the past couple of months with the Koven 19 epidemic pandemic. And it's given people, in addition to the sorrow and the sadness, a lot of people have taken the time to reflect and and even reassess business, personal re. Conversation wise, their life with itself, with the outside world, and I'm wondering if you have done that with some of your endeavors and any changes that have come up for you over the past couple of months or any goals that have surfaced as a result of this kind of forced meditation that people have been having?
[00:20:36] Actually, I haven't had much time to sit because I'm a central worker. So they I'm out there front line. I work for the city and county homeless department. So I've been out there every day.
[00:20:51] Yeah. That's. So you are a unicorn in the people I've been speaking to. And I first want to just say thank you for your service and for being, you know, brave and and helping us all out and being an essential worker has its own incredible bag of baggage. I can't even imagine. So I do kind of want to dove into that because you're the first person that I've spoken to that is frontlines thus far since the pandemic hit. Has the how has the rhetoric within your department ban regarding the safety and the way that the city of San Francisco is handling it?
[00:21:33] I think I think the city of San Francisco's handled it very well. I'm really, really supportive of our mayor. When Mayor Brait, our department, actually is focused on homelessness. So, of course, it has like tripled as far as because our main goal is to get the people off the street and into hotels. So we're setting that up. And that takes a lot of time and it takes a lot of patience. But in the end, we'll get through. It probably will hit everyone at Nesto Reality part of it, but we'll hit majority.
[00:22:06] Has there been any talk about post? I live in San Diego and likewise we have these efforts to help individuals who are in homelessness. Reconvene right now to our International Conference Center and a couple of other places that they've loosened up. But there have been a lot of grassroots movements to give these individuals an opportunity not to return to the streets or start implementing mental health systems. Now that, you know, we've done this move. There's been a lot of talk about not having a return to prior moments. Has there been any of that in the city of San Francisco?
[00:22:41] Yes. Yes, there is. There's talks about it as far as because it would be ridiculous to house all these people. And then once the Cold War is over, we release them back to the street where we worked and basically in vain. So they are working on programs to keep them house. It's just a matter of budgeting and all the federal and all of these other Congress in votes. And it's beyond my control. But it is there. There are plans in place.
[00:23:11] Interesting. So you haven't had time to sit and reflect, as I very naively asked. I'm wondering, as you've gone in day in and day out with the kind of scarcity of people on the streets and things like that. Have you ruminated to yourself? Have there been thoughts that came over you about. Anything that's uplifting, things that you've noticed, you know, during this this incredible time of hardship for people, particularly people who are homeless, the idea of sheltering in place when you don't have a shelter is abusive and mean, you know, and having those thoughts you must have had early on. I'm wondering if you can share any nuggets of hopefulness or even lessons that you kind of washed over you or that you had with yourself.
[00:23:57] Well, for me, being homeless on the Akesson and a homeless community, my community, I could take that real personal because I walked those streets that they walk. I lived on some of those streets that they sleep on. So I get that part of it. And quite as a kid, we have our own community.
[00:24:14] So the hopefulness comes out of, you know, well, we're going to be OK. We're you know, we're going to survive this. Whether you have your your your people that are in addictions, your street walkers, still, there's a sense of that community sticking together and trying to go whichever way is beneficial to them and how we can stick it like I know people that want to stay right here in this area. So I take it back to my office where, you know, we've got to find hotels. We have to find a spot where you could just stay right here because this is their comfort zone. We can't move people out of their comfort zones. It's it becomes a that's a whole nother beast. So I see people on the street. Yes.
[00:24:54] But they're still hopeful.
[00:24:55] They're there. They're they're hopeful that things will get better.
[00:25:00] Yeah.
[00:25:01] Absolutely, and everyone needs hope, you know. And I think to be able to be hopeful is is crucial. I'm wondering, where do you see the production company? You said you were heading into film. Do you see any? Like, I feel like there's an opportunity for cross pollination between some of your companies. Have you ever thought about bringing your production company into the expo and utilizing some of that there in your future? Or is it still kind of disparate, separate measures?
[00:25:32] I've thought about it, but I would be wearing too many hats at one time.
[00:25:36] So I have to reach I'll have to learn to delegate and pick different people that those are in their field. I right now, my mindset is focused. I want to do a best me housing. I want to provide housing for young women. I'm trying to get capital to to purchase a building or you're going to lease a building for five years because I want to start that process because again, that's the walk that I come from. So at the end of the day, that's that's something that I didn't think I could do. Essential work were being put in a position where now I'm a project manager for starting up a hotel and putting people in it almost like I could do this. And I could help. I could give back. I always, always, always want to just give back because I know that I know that journey.
[00:26:22] So that's all that's on my pipeline now. And as far as Tina Brown Productions, I'm trying to work on Skilling starting my own podcast.
[00:26:29] I just have to figure out a day at a time. And yeah. And talk about things that go on in the community and how how we're affected by that and what change to take place for us all to be able to thrive, not just thrive.
[00:26:41] Yeah. Yeah. And that's it. It's a powerful topic that was never ending for a podcast. I would tune in immediately. Do you. So would you do it? This kind of dream that's formulating right now because of all the access that you have in implementing these structures for your current work with the city of Sandy at San Francisco? Would it be under Starbound? Would you do that under your nonprofit? Yes.
[00:27:07] Yes, definitely. And I would actually have to quit my job. So there goes that fear again, because I would be a topic of interest right now. There goes a fear again, because I'm like, I can't just do it because I don't have a funding to get a bill or to finance ability. So, you know, that kind of makes me kind of nervous. But, you know, people told me to do fundraisers and, you know, I probably will, but it just takes me a while longer. But that's that's that's a goal that I would love to accomplish. Yeah, absolutely.
[00:27:36] And for everyone listening, if you're interested in getting involved in any of those activities, reach out and, you know, throw some some lifelines into the water with Tina. I think that there's a lot of collaboration that can happen when someone's you've got a lot of the wisdom and stuff like that. And you need some of the energy that there are a lot of people out there with energy and resources that you can collaborate on partnering up. I think as good as a forty three year old woman, I haven't done half the collaborating and partnering that I ought to have done that a lot of my male colleagues have done because I was too busy working twice as hard as them, you know, and doing different things. And as women coming together as well, there's unity there, you know. And so. Yep, reach out to Tina. I'm wondering I want to wrap everything up with I always ask this in the end, and I don't know if this doesn't resonate with you. I can come up with a different analogy. You. But you'll bear with me. I am wondering if someone came up to you tomorrow without the covered concerns, they were actually able to speak with you without being concerned within a six foot radius. And it was a woman or a female identified non binary, pretty much anyone other than a cis gendered male man. And they said, listen, I am you know, I've had this this very interesting past and it's been riddled by a lot of struggle, but a lot of lessons and a lot of accumulation of knowledge. And I've been gifted with this faith and all of these things that I have. And I now I'm looking to launch like a nonprofit and maybe another company. What are the top three pieces of advice you would give that individual knowing what you know now?
[00:29:15] My first one was the to plan A.. I just did everything just off a thought process vision, just I think I will say plan. I would say you have to put on.
[00:29:30] Let's see your armor because you have to be strong because everything doesn't happen just like that.
[00:29:35] It doesn't. And focus on finances so that you won't be in the struggle and. The business will take such hard hits and so, so many hits to keep it going.
[00:29:53] So those are finance strengths. You definitely need strength to get through whatever journey you're trying to start. I mean, and faith, you've got to believe if it's something that's on you, you've got to believe, then you'll get through it and then we'll have nice.
[00:30:08] I like that form of armor being strength. That's both internal and external. Yeah. And I mean financial knowledge. And to be able to alleviate early stage struggle with any endeavor is another form of armor. That's a really great visual. Well, you know, we are out of time, but I just want to thank you so much. I really appreciate everything that you're doing. Your goals in all of your endeavors.
[00:30:32] My Sister's Keeper Expo, your nonprofit, Starbound Inc and your production company, they all align really great deal with what a focus of Patricia Kesling podcast and my film company do. And I really appreciate the work that you're putting into humanity. We need it.
[00:30:49] Oh, thank you. And I thank you for having me, Miss Patricia. Thank you.
[00:30:53] I appreciate that. Absolutely. And for everyone listening, we've been speaking with Miss Tina Brown. She's the founder and CEO of My Sister's Keeper Expo dot com. You can find her online at that Web site as well as across her social media handles.
[00:31:09] Thank you for giving us your time. And until we speak again next time, remember to always bet on yourself
Thursday Jul 02, 2020
Chatting with Chana Ginelle Ewing; Founder, Entrepreneur, and author
Thursday Jul 02, 2020
Thursday Jul 02, 2020
Today I am chatting with Chana Ginelle Ewing. Chana is cultural entrepreneur, marketer, and author working across film, books, retail and tech. She is the author of the bestselling book, An ABC of Equality (with illustration by Paulina Morgan; published by Quarto, 2019), introducing identity and social justice concepts to children. She believes that identity is a lever to pull to unlock human potential. And entrepreneurship is an opportunity to make dents that move culture forward. She’s currently pivoting GEENIE to maximize value for diverse consumers and small business owners.
This podcast series is hosted by Patricia Kathleen and Wilde Agency Media. This series is a platform for women, female-identified, & non-binary individuals to share their professional stories and personal narrative as it relates to their story. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age, status, or industry.
TRANSCRIPTION
*Please note this is an automated transcription, please excuse any typos or errors
[00:00:40] Hi, my name is Patricia Kathleen, and this podcast series contains interviews I conduct with women. Female identified and non binary individuals regarding their professional stories and personal narrative. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age status. For industry, we aim to contribute to the evolving global dialog surrounding underrepresented figures in all industries across the USA and abroad. If you're enjoying this podcast, be sure to check out our subsequent series that dove deep into specific areas such as Vegan life, fasting and roundtable topics. They can be found via our Web site. Patricia Kathleen dot COM, where you can also join our newsletter. You can also subscribe to all of our series on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Pod Bean and YouTube. Thanks for listening. Now let's start the conversation.
[00:01:38] Hi, everyone, and welcome back. I am your host, Patricia. Today I am sitting down with Chana, Ginelle Ewing. She is a founder, entrepreneur and author. You can find out more on her website. Chana Ewing dot com. That is C h a n a e w i n g dot com. Welcome, Chana.
[00:01:57] Thank you for having me, Patricia.
[00:01:59] Absolutely. I'm excited to unpack everything that you do. I know you've got a like of several different areas that you work within. And I also look forward to unpacking your book, which was a very unexpected surprise when I was doing research on you for everyone listening. A quick roadmap of today's podcast. I will read a quick bio on Chana. But before I do that, we will first look at unpacking and looking at her academic history, as well as early professional career that brought her to where she is now. And then we will look at unpacking her different endeavors, namely Chana's book an ABC of equality. Then we will look at her company titled Gini. And the interesting pivoting point that is at now and then, we will also look towards another endeavor that I will have her explain and enumerate on called Little Big Girl and Company, which is based out of New York City. Then we'll turn our efforts towards looking at goals that China has for all of her endeavors, as well as personally for the next one to three years. This is an area that has been changing for every business owner globally. We'll wrap everything up with advice that China may have for those of you who are looking to get involved in some of her endeavors or perhaps emulate some of her amazing success. A quick bio on Chana. Before I start peppering her with questions. Chana Ginelle Ewing is cultural entrepreneur, marketer and author, working across films, books, retail and tech. She is the author of the bestselling book an ABC of Equality with illustrations by Pollina Morgan, published by Quarto in 2019, introducing identity and social justice concepts to children. She believes that identity is a lever to pull to unlock human potential and entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is an opportunity to make dents that move culture forward. She's currently pivoting GENI to maximize value for diverse cust consumers and small business owners. I kind of dropped that a little a little bait for everyone to listen in the beginning because I love companies that are in transition and pivoting moments.
[00:04:02] I think it's so fun and I want to go into that.
[00:04:05] But before we get there, I'm hoping you can draw just a quick description of your academic background and early professional life that brought you to the launching of Little Big Girl and Jenie and writing your book. Yeah. So I'm going to start earlier in my academic background because I think the sort of weaves together nicely around like my professional interests over the letter. It has since graduated anthologies over the last 50 or so. But very early in life, like I think third or fourth grade, I've learned about this word called screenwriters likes screenwriting without my mother, like, you know, who are the people? And I don't know what how well, what was it or the people writing the movies, you know, like I was whatever reason. I realized that I was watching something that was constructive and that fascinated me. And I wanted to figure out how I could become a screenwriter. So that was kind of like from being a very young child in elementary school.
[00:05:13] I got just. Got onto that cap of like, you want to create content, you know, like that was my goal. And so that was sort of the driving force throughout, like, you know, middle school and high school and then eventually college, where I majored in African-American studies and media studies at the University of Virginia. So and then, you know, while I was at you, B.A., it was like really like a focus on developing my storytelling craft. And I thought that I was going to become a director of a writer director.
[00:05:56] And that was that was going to be my professional career. And so the other pieces that I knew that I wanted to live in New York, because if you want to, you know, want to work in the film and television industry, it's like either two spaces, New York or L.A.. And I just knew that I was a New York girl. You know, Slainte L.A. was not going to be for me. I'm from the East Coast. I'm from Boston. I love big cities. I love being in a city. So, you know, New York is going to be west, establish my career. So I came to New York on about two thousand five. And this is before. And the reason why this is important, because I think the today's landscape around filmmaking is a lot different. Bulik, right. Right. Then it was still more the traditional filmmaking trajectory, like where you would be become a P.A. and then, you know, work your way up that, you know, pick a production supervisor or manager, you know, like you kind of work up the production track, like professionally and then somehow figure out how to create your, you know, become a director or a writer on the side because it wasn't a real, like, clear professional through line for writing directing where you could get paid for it. Right. It's always like prete Kickstarter and priede like. Yeah, indigo go and pre like like let's let's do it yourself. You know, it was right when that when, where people were still figuring how do they you know, if you weren't independently wealthy and you didn't have huge connections. Like how does a 20 something year old, you know, make our first film. And so without going to school. So I did a lot of that. That production work in New York realized very quickly that I did not like being a producer.
[00:07:47] And like at all, like I described no desire for work.
[00:07:53] And then also, like, coincidently like as I was doing the, like, full time job piece. So, you know, you could do production work over the weekend. And then I had a full time job. And one of the last full time jobs there has was at McKinsey and Co., which is the largest global management consulting firm in the world. Let me even though I went to UBS. Like I was a creative at heart. I didn't know anything about McKinsey until I got there, like what a big deal was to be there. Right. And I was an executive assistant and their media entertainment practice. So it was like, just by coincidence, I'm in the media entertainment practice. I want to be a media entertainment, but I want to be in media and saying it from the creative end. But I'm in the I'm now working for folks who are thinking about the business. Right. And they're thinking large clients like Viacom and Disney. And you're thinking about, you know, media and entertainment from a global perspective. And I'm serving the partners who are doing this work. So I'm going to look fantastic. Lives on like what the industry that I want to be in. But as a creator. And so I'm like, this is really like this is really interesting. And another thing that was interesting to me was that, like the partners maybe a few years older than me, you know, like they were like, you know, my eight needs. You know, I was like, OK, this is interesting. These talks are like, you know, using their brains. You've met creativity. And so with this man's results, there is some creativity there. And, you know, they're they're basically getting paid to use their minds. And I thought that that was like who had not even he didn't even know that was even a possibility as a career, you know? So when the like, recession happened in 2009, he got laid off. And I always tell people this is really interesting because we're in the middle of another recession right now. Like laid off. And I mean, this is this is a very privileged perspective to have. But being laid off was a game changer for me because things happened as a result of me being laid off. I got a severance package, severance package. I was I had unemployment. So for the first time in my life, I had a little. Money that I didn't necessarily have to like Ryan for, you know. So that meant that I had some space to think about what it is I want to do. Right. And so that. So that's what I'm usually like with you. You grew up working class. You grew up without, like, you know, someone being able to just, like, pay for you to explore. You know, it was like that was my moment to actually explore what are my true interests. And so in that year, after being laid off, I spent it really learning about entrepreneurship, learning about basaltic, because I had got like that entrepreneurial, even those in a company, you know, the way that that company is shaped. It's like, you know, there's a small teams that are going out and supporting other businesses. So I was like I was like that that was bit by that. Like, I got that book. It was like, OK. What is it that I know that I could serve other people with? And what I know really well is storytelling. And so I that's where I decided to develop Little Big Girl. And it was like our first initial piece was we were going to use the hero's journey like this, really simple. We were going to utilize the hero's journey to help small businesses tell their stories online. And that was it. Like, you know, we were this was like 2009, 2010. Everyone felt like I need to be on social media. How do I being social. Yeah. All right. Well, you can create a narrative around your business and connect with your consumers using the hero's journey as a as a kind of for the day.
[00:11:57] Let me grab you really quickly right there just to get some logistics out of the way for our nerdy listeners. So 2009, 2010, a little big girl launches.
[00:12:06] Were you the sole founder? Did you get any funding or did you bootstrap with that severance package? And and who were some of your first clients?
[00:12:17] Yes. So much of no funding. It was a services company. I think, you know, I don't think it does not a lot of like a funny resources for a service based company. Right. But I bootstrap with the money that I that I had from my severance and a portal to get out of my for one care. Pretty good. Hey, I was like, I don't know, late 20s at the time. Feels like, oh, I don't make up for this at some point, you know, like of like, you know, just thinking about like how I can get going. You know. Yeah. And I your first client.
[00:12:56] It was the was this entrepreneurial program that I was in. So I was in this program called Ladies Who Lunch. And I don't know they're familiar with them, but they are. I don't know. They're as active anymore. But essentially they were at that time, there was like a global organization that taught women how to become entrepreneurs. And they had like this membership community online. And so we like seeing the opportunity. I was like, well, you all have this great community. The social media doesn't seem to be as tight between the online community, the offline events and those social media handles like, you know, would you what would you be open to me? You know, coming you guys coming on board as like your digital marketing strategist? You know, these guys would be my first client. I'll give you a huge discount in order to come on and come on board as my first client. And they said, yes, they went for it. And I mean, the insight is that like which I feel like I don't take a lot of credit for it now, but like, I maybe I kind of knew it organically. But that was a really good move, because starting with a organization that has a bunch of other entrepreneurs that they serve meant that that was an embedded customer pipeline. Right. So if I did a good job with the organization, obviously they would recommend me to go with an entrepreneurs that would are attending their programs. And that's actually what happened.
[00:14:38] A lot of my first clients were women that were coming out of that program. It's genius. I mean, and it's it's built in. It's baked in right there, you know, and to be able to turn on it and pitch them and then have that index of clients that are already coming through.
[00:14:54] You know, and I'm not intimately I have heard about ladies who launch from previous times. I'm not sure what the current statute looks like, but it was almost the earliest forms of like the current day. I want to say, like accelerators and incubator programs, you know, where they kind of draw you through these this these techniques. But it was more of an earlier format, as I understand it, from. But your take on it and your approach to just re pitching it is just it's so astronomically powerful and also to catch people in their infancy, there's something about people that grab companies while they're young. It's a dynamic space. There's usually more room for creativity because they haven't locked into certain things. And also seeing that growth, those, you know, those lifetime colleagues and customers and things of that nature, it's it's one of the most rare forms, you know, to kind of bump into your company. And I love it. I love that you started there. You didn't tell us why yet. I'm going to ask you a little big girl. Tap the name.
[00:15:52] Where? That company. Yeah. So, I mean, I guess, like, I have this picture. I don't know. We got to eat bitches. Look at the logo. But that picture is like the logo is a picture of like the top of my head and like I'll throw but it's my baby picture of me actually that's illustrated. And the picture is like it was taken on my kindergarten graduation day. And I like sitting there with my hands on my head. And for whatever reason, it just made me whenever I look at that picture, it makes me feel strong in line. It makes me feel like, hey, you already know what you're doing, because when you're an entrepreneur, you're always second guessing yourself.
[00:16:36] And so, you know, having the like North Star of my business baked in to the title like that, you know, this I'm this little person, like this little business, this little person, you know.
[00:16:50] But I'm big. I'm a girl. And like, this is it. It was like it enabled me to like Bill to feel playful about the work and to also, like feel like I could do it, you know. So it was really just like a it was a nod to my own inner child and like in given her permission to do the work that I was doing.
[00:17:14] That's awesome. And it's a constant reminder. You know, you have the logo. I do like it. I like your art. Which is rare because I've been around way too long. And I do like I like the art. I like the name. It verges. It's like it's it's right on that line of like I'm going to love it or hate it.
[00:17:30] And I love it. It's like the dividing line, which is brave. Right off the bat, which I am.
[00:17:37] And I'm wondering. So the growth.
[00:17:39] Can you speak just kind of generally to the bro with the growth of a little bit girl from its soft launch from 2009, 2010 until now or right in 2020, pre covered 19 pandemic. Let's take that chunk.
[00:17:52] Yeah. So it's always been a fairly small business. I mean, I think we've never had over like five or six kinds at a time. You know, what we've done is like we we do projects. So residents like one of our recent projects were like around Afro punk when they launch their podcasts. So we will do a rollout like that or will be with a film from it's like festival premiere too. It's even Oscar can't be. So that could be like an 18 month window that a will on a project. And we also had some theaters like where we're worked with with a nonprofit like the Andrew Goodman Foundation. We work with them for a number of years around how their messaging to millennials and building internal capacity and programs within that organization that directly targeted millennial audiences. So it really, because of the nature of the work, you know, we we can be sustained by like several kind of ongoing contracts. And then, you know, some spurts, like some splits with projects that have a defined beginning and end. I would say. I mean, people use this word pejoratively, but I think, you know, it's.
[00:19:17] It's been like a lifestyle business, if you will, like, it hasn't been like on a huge growth trajectory or anything like that, but it's enabled me to sustain my my life and then it's enabled us to have folks, contractors and other folks who work with us. So that's nice.
[00:19:34] Yeah. It sounds like you can you can grow and shrink to clients needs with, like you mentioned, contractors and things of that nature. What would you say? The bulk of a large part of what you do for the majority of your clients is with the branding and the marketing and such a massive field. Are you handling social media campaigns? Are you developing imagery? Like what areas do you find yourself working most in?
[00:19:55] Sure. So the bulk of our work is actually around marketing. And what we're doing here. We're doing Web sites. We're joined on social media campaigns with jewelry, social media management.
[00:20:08] We also do an influence on marketing. We're just thinking about what typically will work in collaboration with an impact producer who is thinking about how to get that film out to different partners. And we're thinking about a while they're thinking about how to like how that film is a gauge in partners and communities and building community. We're thinking about how the how the film is engaging general audiences. What's the messaging or general audience?
[00:20:41] How do we target them on social? What sort of revenge should we do? Or the different influences that we should bring to the table? You know, what might we do with your partners? That could be a little bit more like audience specific and like talking about the film itself. So just really shaping the film or consumer already hoping to shape the film. What consumer audience in partnership with Impact Producers and Impress? Yeah, there's a lot of moving parts there. It's got to be really customizable, right? Depends on the project as to which area you push harder on to understand the film.
[00:21:19] I want to pivot right here since we're talking about, you know, film and cultural changes really quickly and talk about your book, which at first at first blush, when I went to buy it and look at it, I thought it was gonna be an adult book. I just didn't have any reference or anything else because the name for me, knowing that you were an entrepreneur and this founder, I had assumed it was almost going to be this How to Woman's Guide. I don't know, something like that. And so I was shocked to find a children's board book. And and I love it because I think it's so necessary and it's just beginning. What I see to be a new wave of children's books coming out, and I don't think we can get enough to them. And because it's not that long, I'm going to ask you to kind of walk us through. But it's called an ABC of equality. And it starts out with very it's very, very friendly, appropriate across all. Even the youngest children's ages. And it goes through the ABC and it starts to assign a value to each letter, a word value. And then it kind of enumerates on that. And it brings it into this societal like environment within a paragraph. And then it goes to the next letter.
[00:22:33] Is that correct, like observation of your description? I'm actually quite a description. I love that look. I love the idea. It's like I've never heard anyone describe it quite that way, that it assigns of value to each word and then enumerates and then like and it draws to society like I think is really a perfect description.
[00:22:55] Well, it's genius for me. That's exactly how young brains and audience members who have been listening to me for a couple of years now know I have four children and I knew nothing about educating children.
[00:23:11] But when I started having them, there were no classes taken. But what you learn very quickly is that you have to place things in a value in an environment. You can't just hold something up and say orange and drop it, because the next thing you pick up, they'll be like orange. There's no way you need to kind of describe what you're saying. And that's what this does. It takes very philosophical concepts about, you know, important terms that are difficult citizenship or something like that, you know, where you can kind of like those are deep terms and empathy or those kinds of words. And you have to put them in an environment and really relate them back in. And that's exactly what the book does. It's everything that the exact pedagogical lens, if you will, about teaching children about global citizenship and responsibility and empathy and compassion and diversity and all of these transparency and all of these things that we look at and dida of describing this to a six year old brain. And it really does that beautifully. I think it's so remarkable. And I'm wondering, what was the impetus for that for you? What was the philosophy?
[00:24:12] I'm just I'm truly honored. I just to say I'm truly honored and. That you've really, really got it. I like I'm just like, honestly, I'm like taking a moment that is like really, really gone. And so thank you so much for spending time with it. So to the first thing I like to tell people is that it actually was an opportunity that came to me. So I'm a I'm not a religious person, but I am I have just to give you a sense of like how woo woo I could be I have a Monday sessions that I do right now with a group of friends that it's called Let's Get Metaphysical. Like like how would you like to be meaning that like there's work that you do but there's also you need to leave space for the universe. Leave a leave space for just magic to happen. Right. And the this book was literally one of those open spaces that just dropped in my lap. I literally looked in my own my in my inbox one day in twenty eighteen and there was a note from a publisher that said, hey, are you interested in writing a children's book. And I was like, like, OK. I had to look them up to see if this was real. I actually thought it was what it is like spam emails. And I looked him up. They were real prolific publisher of children's content. So then it became like, well, why me? You know, because, you know, you have to the whole, like, insecurity around like why I didn't write it positioned myself as an author. But actually, I've been calling myself a storyteller my entire life. So it it it makes sense. But I was it because I didn't actually actively pursue it. It felt like. Can I step into this moment? Can I do this? And so they have the idea. They were like, you know, we want to do a children's book about equality and we want to know if you would like. This is something that you'd be interested in. And so we had some conversations. And it was like, yes, I will do this. Like, let's do it. And so in terms of the construction of the book, it is for children. But like, if you can, I think that it's. My idea when writing it was that it was going to be a book that parents were going to read to their children. So for me, I was always thinking about that first audience, which is the parent. You know, I was thinking about not necessarily. It was like, how does a parent think about how to talk about these times in the simplest way possible? And so that is the way I approach the book. And I think about it as a bit of like cultural instigation, cultural intervention, you know, cultural inspiration. You know, like I want parents to look at the book and be like, wow, I can do this. I can think about how I am thinking about belief and race and xenophobia. You know, it's a lot of the words or words that you may not even like.
[00:27:31] But before writing the book, I might have known all these terms just intuitively because as an adult.
[00:27:37] But I didn't know if you had asked me before, like how to quickly describe xenophobia, like I would, you know, like I would have kind of told you this large, you know, big conversational piece, but I wouldn't be able to drill down.
[00:27:53] And so it's like, how do you drill down on the term, on the conversation and then be in conversation with yourself?
[00:28:01] But also do children around these ideas was and that's delivered.
[00:28:05] You know, it's awesome because that's how I received it. And when I when I read it to my child, that was exactly it. And it was such a sigh of relief, because even when you do have those conversations, you know, about my seven year old said, what's the stock market?
[00:28:21] And I was like, oh, my, breaking this down.
[00:28:25] Like, there's so many turns and systems we live under in this society. And even then, the more theoretical, you know, what is what is honesty, what is valiante like, those types of things you go to to find them. And it's very interpersonal and it changes throughout life. And you end up having this dialog with their eyes spinning. And so it's just so nice to see someone that's had that conversation and written down this various distinct narrative about some of those terms, especially the negative ones, you know, and having like a very honest rhetoric without getting too brutal. It's it's tricky. It just is. You know, I'm find much more comfort in those subject matters in higher academia where you can kind of just let it go, you know, and just throw everything at the wall. But with young minds, that is the true annexation, you know, between those concepts in that Terramin honesty and gentility being provided even in the explanation. So I love it. I want to pivot now and look at Geni, and I know it's in a transitional moment for you, and I love that. And so I want you to first describe for everyone what Jenie is the company and when it was launched and what it originally did.
[00:29:34] Yeah. So just another word about the book. Oh, yes. No, look, just because earlier you were like the expectation as an entrepreneur is that you do like a business book. Right. But I've now started to see this book as a foundational text for entry for entering my world, you know, and that like, you know, the way I'm the way I've set up my life, the little the way I have set up the work that I do. And my interests are all around this idea as of like being a cultural adds, cultural instigation and of like difference being something that should be embraced and as a point of connection versus as a point of Dubai. Right. And so I think that book does a good job of kind of laying out the way in which I see, like, that lens that, like identity and difference are literally saves that you as a human being, you should lean into and utilize for your own personal growth.
[00:30:44] And utilize your own personal curiosity, you know, and as a means of connecting with others. It's not something that, you know, we should run away from. It's like we should totally embrace. Expanding our lens are vocabulary around how we describe ourselves. Our vocabulary around how we engage each other. You know, we should totally embrace that. There's enough space for all of us, you know, and that if we create equitable, you know, equal and equitable spaces, that doesn't mean that I lose, but that there's actually a lot of space, you know.
[00:31:25] And so that's you know, I wanted to kind of like clarify that a bit because lots of.
[00:31:30] They love that. They get that take. I wish that was mine. You're like, here's my intro. It's not an entrepreneurial guide. It's a children's book. It's so easy and it ties beautifully.
[00:31:39] And with your logo. Like, it's all a theme about you. This return to identifying as, you know, this strong young child and things like that. I love all of that. The wisdom within children. You've got this this environment going that's very copacetic to itself. You know, I really do love that. I mean, I'm going to say it a ton and a ton.
[00:32:00] I can't wait for people to write. It's going to be the right time for your book. Yeah.
[00:32:05] Unpacking, Jeannie. Yeah. Yep. So aware that you do use a lot with genius. Right.
[00:32:12] So Jeannie is like about the.
[00:32:15] It started off with the idea of the genius and genius, the like magic of black women. That was like, you know, the play on that. Right. And the idea is that, like, you know how to be the original hypothesis was like there are all these like small businesses that exist, like, you know, think about the Etsy business or think about like the e-commerce business. They don't really have that many platforms for sharing their products. Like, what would be how could you do that? I was really interested in that piece. And then the other piece of ground celebrating the stories of black women before. I started doing this thing called Michelle a brunch for fun. We started that, like, literally. That was I think. Yeah. That was 2009. And it was really when Michelle Obama and Kate Lightstone round her inauguration.
[00:33:17] When she got into the white White House right now, I was so excited about her and her new sort of model that was on the public stage.
[00:33:27] You know what a black woman could be like a new black shoe starting a new mythology. Really? And so I developed this brunch series. Just kind of celebrating her. But also, we would have different women like, you know, little Oprah is a little Michelle's, you know, would cure rate the brunches and tell their stories, share their leadership techniques. And we did that in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania did for a number of years, about five or six years. And it was just for fun. Like, literally, we're not even we would never make any money off of it, would we? Would pay to whatever you paid to attend the brunch was what would cover expenses. So we got about like 2014. So while I think five or six years and I was like, you know, could this be something like. Is there clearly you're interested in this, you know, women's entrepreneurship piece like ladies who launch it is just this other narrative that you see strand in your life. Could this be a thing? And I looked at the subscription box model and I was like, well, what if we package that branch? Like, we gave you the inspiration, the product recommendations, the storytelling, and we could ship it to you, you know? And so that's that's the that was the genesis behind Cheaney box. And it's always a subscription box company that we launched in 2016.
[00:34:51] The idea was that we'd have little Oprah's little Michel's in there.
[00:34:55] Everything would have a different woman curate the blogs featuring our favorite products. So we'll do two things. One, you know, increased the visibility of these influential women and their stories and the way to increase the sales capacity of small businesses by diverse, by diverse founders. And so we did that until like our last box shipped just last year. So just about three years.
[00:35:23] I'm not uninterrupted. Mind you, like, there was plenty of challenges in that business, you know, ship monthly, like I would have loved to. It was, again, another self-funded endeavor. I was using the money from Little Big Girl to support Cheaney box. And, you know, we we didn't really go out for funding until last year because, you know, one of the things that we realized early on. Hey, people would consider this to be a niche audience. So they're not going to necessarily want to back this company based on the fact that we're dealing with a niche audience. And so we didn't get a little bit of angel funding last year through a pipeline. Angels, who is a you know, I can't recommend them enough for anyone who is thinking about doing, you know, doing an unofficial raise for their for their startup pipeline. Angels is a group of women, of women and non binary folks who invest in women, a non binary folks. And they invest in. Scalable companies. But they also invested in like say like a food and beverage or fashion business. It doesn't have to always be bigger. Hi, Wolf. Tech company. So people should look into pipelining deals. But all that to say is, you know, we got to the end of last year and we thought about, OK, you know, where do we go from here?
[00:36:52] So this is even before albeit, you know, we're like, no, we're doing this for a little bit. Our margins have been really small. You know, there are so few opportunities here that we see in the business model. One was we noticed this big it became an advertising channel for larger companies who were interested in doing multicultural marketing. They wanted to do advertising. We noticed that. We also noticed that we were, you know, providing a discovery vehicle where consumers who wanted to shop their values, who wanted to shop from women, diverse folks who wanted to be able to have an easy way of doing that. So we knew that it was kind of serving those two needs in the marketplace. And so we just kind of like, could there be a bigger business model, you know, such that our margins, our margins would be healthier? And also, there were you know, we could develop a hardware company. And so we've been on that Kivett journey for about six months now. And we are near ready to release our of NBP version of the new model. But I can't say exactly what that will look like. But I think you could tell from the two problems that we're trying to solve, which is, you know, creating an opportunity for diverse business owners to reach consumers and also create an opportunity for larger brands to connect with multicultural consumers.
[00:38:33] So, you know, it you know, we're building a marketplace around those two ideas and you'll see more in the coming months.
[00:38:42] Yeah, that's a good teaser. That's exciting anyway. I like that. And anyone who is who is wanting to follow that, like we should definitely. Do you have a favorite social media platform that people who are Twitter.
[00:38:53] Yeah, Twitter. Instagram. I've been a little quiet or both.
[00:38:56] But like Twitter. Instagram. What are your handles?
[00:38:59] Also at China, you go so that CIJ and EWR energy.
[00:39:05] Cool. Yeah. That's awesome. I can't wait for a good launch, especially right now because nobody is launching when they said they would. So anyone who is going to I'm like, no problem. I'll wait.
[00:39:15] I'm wondering where I'm going to pivot now and kind of wrap everything up. I know that everyone's dialog has changed and some for better and some for worse in some. Just because you know, but this time for reflection that you had your first, you know, layoff in 2009 and people have kind of globally experienced or that's where the people I've spoken to that women female identified non binary individuals over the past three months have kind of said, I've taken the time with this forced isolation to really have a dialog with myself about my company, about my happiness level, things that they just weren't taking the space and holding the platform to do. And so I find this next question to be fascinating because it changed for a lot of people. It changed back. It never stayed the same. So I'm wondering, can you tell us anything about your goals for the next one to three years, given your endeavors and what change has taken place over the past couple of months with those goals?
[00:40:11] Yeah, so I think the biggest change is taking place for me during this pandemic has really been around centering myself first and foremost to my life in a way that I have not done ever like literally like I am for the first time in my life.
[00:40:29] Cookie lets you out there like, you know, like I just think it's the like biggies.
[00:40:37] I'm just so you know, I'm so. Excited by the fact that I'm finally cooking like this. So this is a major step in the right direction around like how I want to and I'm not doing it every day. Like, you know, there's some type like maybe once or twice a week or a really bad week. I might order out. But I, I have developed a new habit around cooking and shoveling a shadow. Hello, Fresh. They're not giving me any money, but like, hello fresh has been fantastic because they send you meals and then they send you all the ingredients and then you cook the food. Right. And they give you recipes is a really great way for novice cookers. But I guess the reason why I say that is because my my large goal is now to operate concentrically like I am, like I want to operate from the inside of me outwardly and before. I think my entire career I've been and I think this happens to most people, most entrepreneurs, most like every all of us. I was just so like caught up in what people think about me. How am I coming off to the general public comic, coming off to my friends, to clients, to investors like so invested in, you know, and what that might mean for my business. Right. And now I'm like. It doesn't matter. It starts with me. Right. And I truly believe that and I truly have seen that in a way that I haven't seen before. So my biggest goal is to hold that hold on to keeping myself centered and central in my own life and listening to my own wisdom and my own advice around how to take care of myself. So that's my first and foremost goal. Second to that is continuing to build and grow the communities that I have nurtured before the pandemic, but definitely within this space. So one one one such example is that like I created on a peer group of other entrepreneurs and we meet every Saturday around developing our business such that we continue their survive and also thrive post pandemic.
[00:43:04] And so I think that, you know, creating community creating team for my businesses are like my kind of.
[00:43:16] My money like immediate goals, you know, like. And then in terms of like, well, you know, I would love to see Cheaney skill to like, you know, hundreds of thousands of customers survey, you know, tons of, like, entrepreneurs.
[00:43:35] So but really, it is about like this operate a concentrically it's more like a value-based school level. Yeah. Well done. Materializes too.
[00:43:45] That's so great. Such a visual for me. For some reason as well. I picture all of those the maps that you start off of with a problem or meditation maps and kind of go out. Do you know at the end you figured yourself out or even the other way.
[00:43:59] But you're always trying to reach the center of one's self in that work. It's a great it's a great goal. I love it. And it's it's so, so different from those that I've heard recently. And I'm a wrap everything up today with a question about advice that I pose to every person I speak with. And I'm curious if a young woman or female identified or non binary individual, essentially anyone other than a white man walked up to you tomorrow and said, listen, I know I've had this history, had this dream. I wanted to get into writing. I was going to do film work. I came to New York and I wanted to get all of these things done. I'm keeping my mind open. I'm looking at it from every different angle. I'm doing different things and think I'm going to start my first company right now. What are the top three pieces of advice you would give that individual knowing what you know now?
[00:44:54] So the concrete piece of it is get a bookkeeper and accountant early on. So so, again, the peace around that is basically get people on your team that you know, that are not your skill sets. So even if you can't necessarily hire it, you can't necessarily bring on folks as employees, figure out a way to get folks around you that are not your core skill set.
[00:45:30] So if that's like, you know, trying to find a friend's mother who's also a bookkeeper or it's like, you know, trying to find an intern who can who's an MBA, who's a CFO, you know, working that way to be a big guy.
[00:45:46] I don't know. Find a way to surround yourself with people who who have disciplines that are not at all. So that would be one. If you're about to start a business and the disciplines that are not your own, that really impact your business could be like five years we go, you know. Yeah. Like any of those sort of domains, they may not be your, quote, core competencies. So that's one. Two is. Follow your your inspirations, you know, like really follow them. I love Toby was the founder of Shopify story is like, you know, he was into snowboarding and gaming. You know, the gaming taught him how to become a coder. And then snowboarding was like, oh, I want to go to snowboard shop. So in those two things, he then built, like his shop was e-commerce platform that he, for Guilford's own shop, was so good that it was like, OK, well, maybe we can build this for, you know, millions of shops, you know. And that became Shopify. So I was like, how do you not like if you had not followed his interests, he would it be Amazon's competitor today? You know, to me. Yes. So it's like, so follow your interest.
[00:47:05] Even if they don't seem like they make a lot of sense or they don't necessarily or they're not traditional just following interests. And the third thing is build a community, stay connected to community, you know, at all levels. So you know what you want visors. So people who are a few head few years ahead of you or have some who've done what it is that you're that you're doing or think that you might want to do, you want peers, you know, so you want people who are right in the trenches, trenches with you. You want friends who don't have anything to do with what you're doing, maybe. And you want mentees. So you want like you want to grill 360 degree community around you as you build out your vision.
[00:48:02] Yeah, I love those. It's true. And you kind of cover every aspect that I think is really important when you are starting out.
[00:48:08] So I've got, number one, get a good bookkeeper or an accountant, meaning get people on your team that have skill sets other than your own that you're going to need never to follow your inspiration. And number three, build and stay connected to your community because those are the people you're gonna be functioning in. I love that. And I think it's so true. And those approaches, everything from all angles. And Chana, we are out of time today. But I want to say thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time. I know that everybody's firing on all cylinders right now, and I really appreciate your candor and your time and all of your rhetoric and story today. This is a complete pleasure, Patricia.
[00:48:51] I really appreciate your thoughtful questions and the time you spent with me today. Absolutely. It was my pleasure. And for everyone listening, we've been speaking with China, Janelle Ewing. You can find out more about her and all of her endeavors on her Web site.
[00:49:06] Chana Ewing, that is C, h a n a e w i n g dot com. Thank you for giving us your time today. Thank you for listening.
[00:49:16] And please stay safe. Stay well. And until we speak again next time, remember to always bet on yourself. It's lunch.
Tuesday Jun 30, 2020
Chatting with Beth Noymer Levine; Founder Principal, SmartMouth Communications
Tuesday Jun 30, 2020
Tuesday Jun 30, 2020
Today I am chatting with Beth Noymer Levine. Coaching people to use their brains before their mouths is the sole focus of Beth’s work at SmartMouth Communications. After more than a decade in PR, IR, and Corporate Communications in New York and Atlanta, Beth established SmartMouth in Salt Lake City in 2005 to offer Speaker Coaching, Presentation Skills Training, Media Readiness™ Training, and related services.
This podcast series is hosted by Patricia Kathleen and Wilde Agency Media. This series is a platform for women, female-identified, & non-binary individuals to share their professional stories and personal narrative as it relates to their story. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age, status, or industry.
TRANSCRIPTION
*Please note, this is an automated transcription please excuse any typos or errors
[00:00:06] Hi, my name is Patricia Kathleen, and this podcast series contains interviews I conduct with women. Female identified and non binary individuals regarding their professional stories and personal narrative. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age status for industry. We aim to contribute to the evolving global dialog surrounding underrepresented figures in all industries across the USA and abroad. If you're enjoying this podcast, be sure to check out our subsequent series that dove deep into specific areas such as Vegan life, fasting and roundtable topics. They can be found via our Web site. Patricia Kathleen .COM, where you can also join our newsletter. You can also subscribe to all of our series on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Pod Bean and YouTube. Thanks for listening. Now let's start the conversation. Hi, everyone, and welcome back. I am your host, Patricia.
[00:01:07] And today I am sitting down with best Beth Noymer Levine. She is the founder and principal at Smart Mouth Communications. You can find out more online at w w w dot smart mouth communications dot com. Welcome Beth.
[00:01:22] Thank you, Patricia. It's good to be there.
[00:01:24] Yes, absolutely. I'm excited to kind of climb through what you've done. I just discovered that both of us have had a tenure in Salt Lake City, Utah. So I'm excited to get into that for everyone listening. I will read a bio on Beth. But before doing that, a quick trajectory of today's podcast, the roadmap, if you will. It's going to follow the same as all of us in this series. Namely, we will look at unpacking Beth's academic background and early professional life before turning our efforts towards and packing smart mouth communications and other current endeavors that Beth has going on. She's got an IOS and Android app I'd like to look at, as well as a suite of communications and presentation skill courses offered. And then we'll turn our efforts towards looking at goals that best may have for the next one to three years regarding her companies and work endeavors. And we'll wrap everything up with advice that Beth has for those of you who are either looking to get involved in what she's doing or perhaps emulate some of her career success. A quick bio on Beth before I start peppering her with questions. Coaching people to use their brains before their mouth is the sole focus of Beth Levine's work as smart mouth communications. After more than a decade in P.I. and PR I. R and corporate communications in New York and Atlanta. Beth established Smart Mouth in Salt Lake City in 2005 to offer speaker coaching, presentation, skills training, media readiness training and related services. Beth is the author of the award winning book Jock Talk Five Communication Principles for Leaders, as exemplified by Legends of the Sports World. She is also the creator of the IOS app, as well as the now Android app Smart Mouth Community, Smart Mouth, public speaking tool kit and a suite of communication and presentation skills courses offered online through open sesame, dot com and g o one dot com. Beth has lectured and taught at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and the University of Utah and New York University in 2015. Beth was one of Utah Business magazine's 30 women to watch. She has been featured in Forbes Harvard Business Review, the BBC, The Wall Street Journal and is a regular contributor to Forbes.com. So, Beth, that's fantastic. I know you join a huge legendary list of people we've actually spoken to that contributes regularly to Forbes.com. And I love that. I love everything that you're doing right now, too. But before we get into unpacking some of that, I'm wondering if you can draw us just a quick platform of what your academic life and early professional life that brought you to smart mouth communications was like.
[00:04:03] OK, thanks for Tricia. Yeah. So I actually have a degree in economics with a minor in German, and I got that at Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania and went to work in New York right after college. And a little known story is that my very first colleague in New York was a guy named Barack Obama. And we shared an office and went over Wang Computer Terminal and the telephone, the Wang computer terminal actually dates us. Wait a minute. Because they they owned the market and then just faded out quickly. And at the time, I thought I wanted to be a writer and editor. And that's what Barack and I were doing. We were working for a company called Business International, but was a research publishing and consulting firm for multinational corporations. You know, it's a sort of something I don't share often, but it's sort of a fun little tidbit. And it allowed me to have a real life lesson for my kids when I was raising them to say, you really need to be nice to everyone because you never know who's gonna be the leader of the free world. Right. So and then I eventually worked my way in New York to different communications roles on Wall Street. So I did public relations for financial institutions and I did investor relations also for financial institutions and other publicly traded companies. And it was during those years when I was very young and. Pairing investment bankers, their corporate clients and people who are very smart and successful for interviews with the media, presentations in front of investors. And I remember feeling like it was second nature to me. But it seemed to be so appreciated by them and they couldn't figure out find their way through a paper bag to a clear and concise message. And I remember making a note to self that this by itself could be a business someday. So that's sort of the. Germ of where the idea for Smart Mouth came from was those guys on Wall Street, which were very exciting days because it was the 80s and there were deals galore and initial public offerings and hostile takeovers and all kinds of mergers and acquisitions and things going on. It was quite, quite a time.
[00:07:04] Yeah, very changing time. Lot of lawsuits coming up. Lot of interesting things happening, particularly on Wall Street.
[00:07:12] I'm interested in this idea of like refining one's message, because I do think that that started to take off, particularly as people started to re understand the idea of branding, which is a term I don't feel like was really heavily discussed outside of the, you know, Madison Avenue moment in the mainstream until about the early 90s and then not even heavily until the early aughts. It sounds like you were there as this concept of branding and, you know, refining one's message and kind of really honing in on the clarity and that reaching into branding was right when you were there. Do you feel like you were on the beginning of understanding what is now perceived as branding, even as personal branding or things like that, as you were doing these kinds of techniques and systems of helping people train their media professionals?
[00:08:05] That's such an interesting question and why we could go into a very deep dove. One of the interesting things that I want to share is that when I first started Smart Mouth. Fifteen years ago, I and I would train either professional athletes or Olympians. It was always a media training and it was geared toward training them to speak to the traditional media report. Television reporters, newspaper reporters in the last. I'm going to say it's been at least six years or more since I've done that with athletes. I worked with a lot of Olympic athletes. I have a ton of corporate clients also. But with the athletes in particular who are, you know, young and ambitious, I've turned that traditional media training session into a personal branding session because they are responsible for most of their own media coverage through social media. And so, you know, I've I've I've sort of come to the two thousand tens plus to answer your question that. Yes, very much so. It is a branding thing. If I were to look back at the messaging we did in the 80s and the early 90s, I would say that, you know, it's funny. Branding was a term on Madison Avenue at the time. And the the political arena version of that was spin. And I can't remember the guy's name, but he was a press secretary for Bill Clinton. And he called spin a self-interested selection of facts. And so to that extent, we were engaging in spin on Wall Street for sure. And then, yes, I think all of that morphed into branding. And for a very long time, I've been telling clients these messages that we're creating for you. These are your verbal. This is your verbal branding. So the simple answer to your question is yes, but it's been a morphing and an evolution over time and to the point where I don't bother with media training anymore. I just work on personal branding with one on one clients.
[00:10:42] Yeah. Well, and that's I mean, that's was trained into the industry. I'm not sure the industry had had a say in that.
[00:10:49] You know, the advent of social media exaggerates, trumped every part of it. Doesn't matter what, you know, damage control campaign you were putting out there. So I think something we all engaged in and I'm wondering. So you launched in 2005. You kind of mentioned the beginning of smart mouth communications. I'm wondering if you can walk us through some of the nuts and bolts of the beginning times. Were you the sole founder? Did you take investment? Did you bootstrap? How was the first year of growth? I know that the the platforms that you changed on, as you just described, took on this think life and change. But in the beginning times, what were the logistics like?
[00:11:28] So the beginning of Smart Mouth was what I thought was just my latest harebrained idea in a long string of hair brained ideas. I was it was 2005. I had moved from the East Coast where I had established myself personally and career wise for my entire life. I had moved from Atlanta to Salt Lake City in nineteen ninety eight. So 2005 was seven ish years later. And I had been at at home with my children for about. I'm going to say 10 years, give or take a year or so, so smart mouth was actually my career reentry strategy from motherhood.
[00:12:23] And it worked.
[00:12:25] And I was doing it in a city where I had no network, no relationships professionally, no relationships from school or college or anything. I knew some parents through Little League brat preschool classes and things like that. So in that regard, it was incredibly challenging. And I you know, I have never forgotten that there were a couple of dads that I knew through Little League and basketball for my son, who is my oldest, who heard that I had started this business and gave me a shot. And one of them was the president of the Utah Jazz, the NBA team at the time.
[00:13:22] And I you know, we've often talked.
[00:13:26] I've often said to him, I don't know why or how you gave me a chance. I was just a mom in the stands with little kids running around. And. And another guy was in advertising and had a lot of clients. And they were two of my earliest clients. So this pardon me, a big fish for our first client. Yes. Well, my actually my very first big client was the U.S. ski team. And right when I started the smart mouth, I saw that they had put out an RFP for somebody to do media training for the athletes. And but I don't think these other guys knew that I had done that. But I was competing. I was invited to make a presentation to the executive committee and the board to get this bid. And I was competing with a worldwide public relations firm and a woman in North Carolina who had decades of media training experience with athletes alone. And I knew that I couldn't bring in PowerPoint that showed anything because I had nothing. So what I did instead to pitch the business and myself to the executive committee and board was I decided to go in there and give them the training that I would give to the athletes. So I sold myself by offering them the experience that they would be buying. And I got the business. So they were actually my first big client.
[00:15:18] That's excellent. It's a clever take on it as well. You know, kind of shaking things up like that. I remember in my youth, prior to photography and film, working for a billion dollar architectural firm in San Francisco. And going into pitches that, you know, for basic city scaping, essentially these Australian dollar projects. And. And my boss would say flip off or flip on the lights because everyone was running these power points. Right. Exactly. And he would say, turn on the lights. And I would turn on the lights. And it was just this this kind of you know, you had this kind of look at me moment and it shocked everyone else. But I, I tell you, it worked so many times. It's ridiculous to get tunes of billions of dollars. And so I like this kind of leg, you know. Quick attention getting devices that kind of flip people into thinking like that's clever in the consideration that it does, it takes a lot of uniqueness.
[00:16:16] Well, at the time, it was sort of more out of desperation, but it turned out to be a stroke of genius. And I continued to do it after that because it they were just floored, right. That the lights were on and they were being asked to do things. Yeah. And so I have used it since. And it. Yeah. So it turned out to be you know, one of those necessity is the mother of invention type of moments.
[00:16:43] Absolutely. That in bravery. I'm wondering when you so you started out you've had this growth with how you advise your clients as trends to shift mainly into this personal branding, which takes place largely in social media as it does the world over, I think, for a lot of that majority of clients anyway. People in different industries and wondering the ethos of the company, did that change the philosophy behind it? I'm always interested in people in communications companies because the advent of the social media platform and things like that did not really no one really saw it coming, certainly not the utility and the impact that it would happen so quickly within the five years from the aughts to 2005 to 2010. But I'm wondering if your company and the ethos behind it changed or did you have a really you fine tune? That's what you do for your clients, right? You funnel out and siphon out these very tinctures, moments of brand and things like that. You yourself for smart mouth communications. Did you have a very crystallized brand and did that have to change with the change of your platform?
[00:17:48] So I would say if this is an interesting question, because I've reflected on it especially lately, when I think I for my business and most people for their businesses are considering pivoting. Right. Because we've got such a an unusual set of circumstances in front of us. I would say that for the first five years of smart mouth. I was probably 70 doing 70 percent media training, and then that morphed into personal branding and 30 percent presentation skills training or public speaking coaching, and the coaching is usually done one on one. And the presentation skills training is usually done in groups and. After the first five years, and I think this does coincide with exactly what you were saying about the onset of social media and how it literally swooped in and took over, there were far fewer requests for media training. Far fewer at all. Or personal branding and way more requests for. Please help our people be concise. Please help them stay on point. Please help them know what a mess, how to use it. And so the evolution became that the presentation skills training I was doing became about 70 percent of the business and media training became more 30 percent, with adding still sandwiched in the middle. When branding is always part of it, because even when a client, an individual client and I coach on the C suite level and then presentation skills training for the groups is done at a usually a medium to high level within the company. But they'll come to me with what they think are their messaging platforms or or a series of messages. And I do challenge that. You know that as a as just an anecdote to digress for a second, when I have worked with a nonprofit executive who says one of their messages is we make a difference. I literally go berserk on them. If you have a nonprofit and that's the best you can say and the best you can do, which is the most trite commonly and I would say overused statement if they don't have something better to describe their work and the difference their work makes than, you know, we've got all we've really got to dig in and do better. But so I do I poke and prod a lot. I don't let people get away with trite Kofman or really used phrases and message points.
[00:21:05] Yeah, well, and hence their clarity of message, hopefully yielding in something to their bottom line.
[00:21:12] I'm wondering, with the IRS and Android app, Smart Mouth public speaking tool kit, can you kind of unpack that or enumerate the utility of it or what it is for everyone listening? And also, when did it come to be in existence with your company?
[00:21:27] OK. I would love to unpack it because I think it's probably for a and I do still charge for it. It's a dollar ninety nine in the Google Play store. And also I saw the app is a combination of lessons, kind of like how there's a how to section but and various tips and strategies and ideas, everything from how you want to organize your thoughts on your content to how to manage your nerves. But it's the functionality of the app that really is a standout. And believe it or not, it was built about seven or eight years ago. I mean, this is actually an old app. But a couple of highlights of the functionality are that you can go in to what's called the speech builder section and. Using the prompts and dropdown buttons, you fill in the blanks to answer this series of questions, and it produces the outline for a presentation. And the outline is based on some proprietary methodology that we've developed at Smart Mouth Communications. And it's how to organize your thoughts and your material in a way that work for people's attention spans and their ability to retain and which is, I think, something that is all too often forgotten by speakers, presenters. They you know, they're told what the topic is. They're invited into the room. They're the subject matter expert. And yay! They just go about sharing their expertize without really thinking about the audience. It could be the 10 millionth time the speaker has gone over this material, but it's usually the first time the audience is hearing it. And so this idea of really knowing how to shape and present your material in a way that works for the audience is absolutely key. And that's the smart mouth methodology. And so this speech builder inside the app, like literally prompts the user to create an outline that they can then email to themselves. They can duplicate it. And so that they can adapt it for a different audience. There are all kinds of functions within that. And the outline just sets them on their way to a great speech or great presentation.
[00:24:22] Yeah, it's amazing. I think that there are a lot of this doesn't get discussed in us. Everyone talks about in communications and at building in particular, how it's burned and dead and gone in two years. However, like good code or good theory and evergreen content sticks around. And it sounds like that's what this is. Because even though the platforms have advanced and things have come out and the new darlings of the platforms, those change daily. Don't get me started on the new trends. Instagram's out. Pinterest is in like everybody's got. These continue to do. And within that kind of hyper frenetic community. You still have these evergreen content truth, which is you still need concise, accurate, eloquent speech building and things like that. And so things like this would make sense to stay around. It sounds fascinating to I can't wait to get on and buy it.
[00:25:11] Blowing is something that I know it actually sort of is. You know, it's funny because I so I built it about I'm going to say it was seven or eight years ago it came out and I was thinking it would be great. I used it with client groups. I had them loaded on their phones. And and then eventually I had to build the Google wanted to my developers at the time when we first started, said to me, oh, gosh, no one's going to no one uses an ad for it. Well, that's not entirely true. So we build out the Google version. But the interesting thing was I sort of just let it do its thing. You know, I would occasionally recommend it to a client group to buy if they wanted to do there. We do a lot of interactive exercises if they want us to do it. Me up. And then one day, about a year, year and a half ago, I realized, oh, my gosh, I get money deposited into the Smart Money account monthly from Apple and Google. This is this thing has legs. This has been years. This has legs.
[00:26:28] So there have been a variety of kind of startups that I've.
[00:26:36] Sort of explored whether or not they could use the intellectual property and build it out further, and that's an that's an exploration.
[00:26:45] I'm still in no way will everyone. You heard it here. Beth is exploring acquisition of some sort.
[00:26:50] So, um, you know, allow me to be the matchmaker that facilitates that contact. Smart mouth communications, if you're looking for that tech, which everybody should be. That's such a beautiful addition to anyone in that space, in branding and in personal branding development or even higher level, you know, corporate branding development. It could be modified towards so many different sectors.
[00:27:15] I'm not one of the ideas. What started it for me was I thought, you know, in something like Slack or teams, they should have a presentation collaboration tool and this would be the intellectual property for that. So I went to a good client of mine. That's a very large West Coast venture capital firm. And I said, what do you think? And he said to me. I think you're not even a rounding error and you're better off looking for something that's newer starting out that really could use the, you know, the head start on your intellectual property. So gentle attached to it. I. I know. I love honesty, though. So it was OK.
[00:28:06] I do too. Yeah, I do too. Well, honesty can be laced with fire or bunnies, as my grandmother always said. You know, it depends on how you want to package it. I'm wondering the suite of communications and presentation skills and the courses that you offer. I'm assuming those are online. And then I wonder if they were kind of born out of the app because it sounds like it's kind of an extension of that. It's kind of getting into these, like, courses that drag you through this process, just like it kind of extracts the speech out of you with the app. You know, and you have described the course is a little bit more and the things that come of it.
[00:28:43] Yeah, some of those I developed in 2016, which now seems like a really long time ago. And the idea behind those was to expand on the app and merge in the. What I tend to deliver in a training when I'm in the room with a group of people. And it was an idea to scale my ability to reach people and give them the presentation, skills training and the tools they needed without people having to put seats and butt butts in seats. Excuse me.
[00:29:22] And so I used to host the courses on my own on my Web site.
[00:29:30] But to be honest, we found with my small staff, we found that we were providing an awful lot of tech support. So we put it on open sesame go one dot com, which is a fast growing platform for professional development and personal development courses. And we had a few months before the pandemic were loading them onto you, Timmy's business site. And they are on there. They're really behind right now in their review and approval process. So we're waiting to get onto you to me as well.
[00:30:11] Well, they exploded, you know as well. I thought I was like fringe when I was, like, having my 10 year old son learn how to program his first program on you to me. And all of the sudden, I think I heard it like cast upon like it at a coffee shop right before the pandemic. It was like, let's I'm no longer leading that wave. But, yeah, it's those platforms. I mean, and Facebook started to compete with that. You know, they're really trying to get everyone to host their courses and things through there, which is a monopoly unto itself. But there's a lot of opportunity out there and different platforms that kind of cater to, I think, different industries and utility of depending on the populations you're trying to serve with what you're doing. So that's interesting. And yeah, you too. Me, I can't wait to find out what you think about that after you if you do the over. I'm wondering it sounds like we're kind of already dodging or slipping into the goals, which is my very next question. What are your goals for Smart Mouth Communications and its apps and all of its services for the next one, two, three years in taking into consideration the Cauvin 19 pandemic that swept over the world? Have you shifted things for the entire company or just some of the immediate goals?
[00:31:24] So I would answer that by saying that I am going to gauge that based on what my client's goals are. So I have a lot of clients in tech. And there's a huge tech and very active, successful, robust tech quarter in Utah that not a lot of people know about, but have a lot of clients there and a lot of other corporate clients. I have clients on the East Coast as well. And to be honest, Patricia, I feel like it would be arrogant for me, too, or presumptuous for me to set goals before I finish sort of surveying them. And I've been talking to. Last week I had conversations with two of them. This week, I'm going to have another two conversations. And these are with the larger clients who consistently, you know, we renew over and over. What I'm hearing from a few people is that there will be an indefinite moratorium on gathering in conference rooms. Which is interesting. So my own thought process is that I'm going to need to go virtual. I love being in a room with people. I love feeding off the energy of the groups and the individuals I meet and talk with. But I think that I'm going to need to shift it to more of a virtual delivery, which is easy to do with one on one clients. Obviously, Zoom's is an incredible platform for that. And I you know, it's funny, I've been using Zoom's for probably two or three years and used to be clients would say to me, well, I have Skype, can't we Skype? And I would say, well, Zoom's better if you just don't mind getting on zoom. Zoom is a household word and a verb and all of that that I. I am looking at different options and different platforms for delivering trainings, virtually live trainings virtually. So we'll see. It's challenging, but I'm waiting to hear more from my clients before I decide exactly what the pivot will look like if there is a pivot.
[00:33:52] Absolutely. Is there any works in the apps? Are you are you can just keep that evergreen content as it. Have you ever thought of developing another app?
[00:34:00] No, I'm going to keep that as is for now. I hope that's how it works. The methodology really works for people. And I you know, I sometimes run in to former clients five years later and they'll say, oh, my gosh, you have totally changed the way I communicate in business. And, you know, I'm still using map Avrum, still using your approach to, you know. So that's very rewarding and gratifying.
[00:34:29] Absolutely. It sounds like I'd like an outline concept that, you know, stays with one's brain even when they're not using it anymore. I'm wondering I'm going to wrap everything up today with asking about advice. And I like this piece most because it should always be changing. And given the current climate and everything that's going on for everyone, I think it changes a great deal daily. But I'm curious if you did this podcast was developed for female female identified non binary individuals, pretty much everyone other than white men. And not because I don't adore everyone on this Earth, but because we've done a lot of effort towards that area. So I'm wondering if an individual of a female form identified or non binary origin came up to you tomorrow and said, listen, Beth, I've had this career that took place on the East Coast, Wall Street communications and things of that nature. I went off. I had a family. It took some time, took a breather, getting ready to launch my company and get my feet wet. And I'm just gonna see how it goes. It's a reentry moment for me. What are the top three pieces of advice you would give that individual?
[00:35:35] Knowing what you know now, that's a good one. I would say that, you know, an idea I haven't very often talked about the fact that Smart Mouth was my career reentry strategy after taking time off for motherhood. But I think it's something I should talk about more, because I think a lot of women write themselves off after they've had a long break. And what I did at the time was I just read a lot. I went back to school. I went to the Tuck School at Dartmouth for a host MBA certification, which means that it's a mini MBA program based for people who either had an MBA and hadn't used it in a while or had MBA level experience. And that's where I qualified. So then that refreshed my vocabulary and perspective and gave me new ideas and new ways of thinking to help sort of dust off the cobwebs. So I would tell women if they've taken a break or a break has been foisted upon them for family reasons, that you're never out of the game. You can always get back in the game. That's one thing, I think, for people who are starting their own business. I had a great piece of advice X that accidentally came to me when I was talking to an acquaintance when I first started Smart Mouth and I was telling him what I was doing and I said, and I really, really need to get out there and market it. I know I need to do that. And he said, you know, at the beginning. Why don't you just let it happen organically and until you're really comfortable with what you've got and what you're offering. Let it market itself organically. And that's probably the single best piece of advice I got because the business did morph and evolve and it did grow organically. And he was 100 percent right. I don't think that I would want to market. I would not have wanted to market what it was in the very beginning, because now it's so much more and it became so much more pretty quickly. So I think that rut, that rush to market yourself or market what you've got can actually be limiting. So the organic growth was great and. Then finally, I would say remain open. We'll learn to be vulnerable, you know, put yourself out there, fall down, learn from it. Get back up. Try something different. Nobody ever grows, expands, moves forward or succeeds without, like, multiple failures and embarrassments and cringing moments. And, my goodness, I have had my share.
[00:39:00] As have we all. And they become more fun. The older you get. You know, I sit around with my female colleagues and ruminate over our failures far more than our success. Because they're funnier. Yeah, absolutely. And they humanize us. Yes. Yes. So I have just to recapture number one. You're never out of the game and always get back in number two. Let it happen organically in the beginning until you've got a solid identity developed. Let the building and the unraveling of it. Number three remain open. Learn expansion requires failures.
[00:39:39] Absolutely. I love those. Yeah, I do too. Those are fantastic.
[00:39:43] That's that's got to go in your your immediate memoirs. That's the first three chapters. I love it. From me to you. That's what we're out of time today, Beth. But I wanted to say thank you so much for giving us all of your time. Everyone is immediately and at once busy and available right now. It's a very odd turn of events. And I really appreciate you giving us your time.
[00:40:08] Thanks for having me, Patricia. It's fun.
[00:40:10] Absolutely and for everyone listening. We've been speaking with Beth Noymer Levine. She's the founder and principal at Smart Mouth Communications. You can find out more again on w w w dot smart mouth communications dot com. Thank you for giving me your time today. And until we speak again next time, please stay safe. And remember to always bet on yourself. Slainte.
Thursday Jun 25, 2020
Speaking With Eva Chan; Founder of Launch Pop
Thursday Jun 25, 2020
Thursday Jun 25, 2020
Today I speak with Eva Chan, the founder of Launch Pop. Eva and her team at Launch Pop help high potential founders launch brands that change our lives - From new categories to disrupting them, founders can find themselves partnering with Launch Pop to build a company that is not only backed by science but also fuelled by passion and community.
This podcast series is hosted by Patricia Kathleen and Wilde Agency Media. This series is a platform for women, female-identified, & non-binary individuals to share their professional stories and personal narrative as it relates to their story. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age, status, or industry.
Tuesday Jun 23, 2020
Chatting with Mariela Katz; Founder/CEO @FRENZR Social Media Agency
Tuesday Jun 23, 2020
Tuesday Jun 23, 2020
Today I am chatting with Mariela Katz. Mariela is the founder of Montreal's leading social media agency Frenzr. She also teaches a variety of professional workshops on social media, content creation, personal branding and influencer marketing hosting over 1500 unique students.
www.instagram.com/ellakatzz www.instagram.com/frenzr www.facebook.com/frenzr
This podcast series is hosted by Patricia Kathleen and Wilde Agency Media. This series is a platform for women, female-identified, & non-binary individuals to share their professional stories and personal narrative as it relates to their story. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age, status, or industry.
Thursday Jun 18, 2020
Speaking With Makini Smith: Founder of A Walk In My Stilettos
Thursday Jun 18, 2020
Thursday Jun 18, 2020
Today I am speaking with Makini Smith. Founder of A Walk In My Stilettos, Makini, is an award-winning entrepreneur. She has successfully crafted a business in personal development as a mindset coach helping women reach their goals, a certified Proctor Gallagher consultant for her mentor Bob Proctor, and 4-time published author.
This podcast series is hosted by Patricia Kathleen and Wilde Agency Media. This series is a platform for women, female-identified, & non-binary individuals to share their professional stories and personal narrative as it relates to their story. This podcast is designed to hold a space for all individuals to learn from their counterparts regardless of age, status, or industry.