Hello, hi, happy last day of the Digital Marketing Internship Programme. I'm just letting everyone filter through. Genuinely, I cannot believe that we are on our last day already of the internship programme. I hope you have all had the most amazing three days and are super excited for our final day as well because we have some really great sessions coming up. So I want to talk you through.
just really quickly about our program partners. Our program partners, they've enabled us to bring this content to you for free. So you're gonna hear about them obviously throughout the next few days. You have heard about SEMrush and Adobe Express and from this session, you'll hear a little bit more from the amazing Riser team as well. But please, please, please give them as much love as possible.
The more love that you give them, the more likely we are to do programs like this again. And it's also a great way just to find out about up and coming new projects, new tools, new things that you can do and how you can best utilize them in your day to day, in your general marketing career and marketing life as well. So shout out to those partners and shout out to everyone for giving them so much love already. I really do appreciate it.
And then next, yeah. So what you need to know about the program portal. I just want to tell you that the program portal will be available until the 30th of September.
Everything is in there that you need, the recordings, the handbook, the agenda, and also the link to the Slack community as well. So please do make use of that. I know you guys definitely have been.
So thank you so much for that. And a little bit about Girls in Marketing. I know by now we're on our third day, so you should know about us. But we are an innovative learning provider and community and we exist to educate, to elevate and to empower women to build a career that they love by creating a safe space for women in marketing. And hopefully by creating these sorts of programs, we show you everything that we are about as well.
In terms of how you can get involved with Girls in Marketing, you can obviously sign up to our membership, which is focused on education and connection in marketing. You can attend our range of in-person and virtual events, and you can listen to our podcast as well. So there are tons of ways that you can get involved with us.
And this is the last part from me for the session. This is a bit of a breakdown on what you can expect from today's sessions. So we're going to start off by having an amazing session with Lamise and Suzanne from Riser. It's going to be all about selling your authentic self.
to progress in your career. Then we're going to have a 15 minute break and then we're going to come back and have a lesson in personal branding and networking with the amazing Kira Penny. Then we're going to have another break and we're going to finalize the day with a little celebration and come together and do our official DMIP 2024 quiz and I will let you know all about the details for post-program as well. So that is all from me.
I'm very excited to be joined with Lamise and Suzanne today and I will let you guys take it away because I know that you guys have tons of great stuff to go through. Thank you so much Olivia and hello everyone really really excited to be speaking to you all. I feel like I've been in the Slack channel for the last couple of days and watching you all chat it's just been so great to see some of those connections being built there and it's really why we're actually here to speak to you today which is all about connection.
It's the root of everything and being able to communicate and connect with others by being your authentic self is really that fast track to success yes of course there's elements of skill set that you need and experience where it really doesn't come into play but actually what supersedes all of that and is most valuable is what people don't see on your cv which is your value your story that you can bring to a business and how you can collaborate and connect with people on that team because business is a team sport. It's really not a solo sport. So apart from choosing your life partner, I would say that your career is probably the second most important choice that you will ever make.
And so we're here to make sure that you feel empowered to make those moves. So let's introduce ourselves. My name is Lamise.
I'm the founder and CEO of Riser. I have been in the tech industry for the last 15 years across both kind of the startup space and the corporate space. It's definitely a bit of a squiggly career. Had my first startup at 19 and then really wanted to dip my toe into the corporate world to really kind of finesse my skill set with companies like Mercedes-Benz and Salesforce.
And having a squiggly career is something I feel incredibly proud of just because I think a linear career is definitely overrated and you want to make sure that you're using your transferable skills in every which way that you can. I then actually went to join an AI startup as employee two, which was an incredible. incredible journey and helped them take that company to what it is today, which is tens of millions of pounds in revenue. And what I will say is that something that I learned throughout my career is that it really wasn't the CV or the interviews that got me to where I am. And I'll let Suze introduce herself and I know she probably feels the same, but it was really about the connections that I had built and the people that I had met that got me to where I am.
Hi everyone. So I'm Suze. I am co-founder and chief creative officer at Riser. I'm thrilled to be talking to fellow marketeers because my whole career is rooted in marketing and communications. I specialized in experiential and brand activation events.
There's a ton of names for that sector, but that's what I did. I was 10 years strong at my last agency, ended up heading up the global side of the business across New York, LA and London, managing budgets of 1 million plus. And I was absolutely fortunate to work with incredible brands. from my time there so anything from Tiffany collection launches um I built Peloton's first studio in the UK um when we launched them to market Coca-Cola many activations um including Kate Moss Diet Coke um the Moet Hennessy group which is part of LVMH any champagne you can think of um and then I moved from there and I founded my own company which is called Creator Maker which um I made to describe what I do which it turns out the industry struggled to understand because I'm a creative director, but I'm also head of production and in the industry that is two people.
So instead of me funneling myself into one of those roles, I owned it and said, I'm actually both of those roles. So move out the way I'm going to carry on doing it. Within my company, again, I've managed to work with brands such as Chanel, Graff Diamonds, most recently the United Nations in New York, and last week, Longchamp launching their new collection. So we're out the other side and catching up on sleep.
And I'm excited to be talking with you guys. all about Riser because now I'm bringing my experience to Riser making sure that whilst we're speaking in a digital realm we're living it IRL and you'll will explain to you how we're showing up in the live space because we know it is human to human it's real life careers don't just exist in an app we're merely using that to connect all of you brilliant people um together so that there is ambition and opportunity all in one place um and I'm passionate about not buckling to judgment I really love people being self-confident and being who they are because I believe your individuality is your superpower and there's no way of communicating your individuality through a boxed-in CV. You know, me doing that here on camera will not communicate if I write that on a page. I could try on a portfolio with lots of pictures but it still doesn't tell you who I am.
So we are creating Riser which we are hoping to be an all-empowering movement that gets rid of the CV and we'll explain why. On that note, really, really interesting. And I'm going to ask you guys to communicate with us via the Slack channel. But does anyone know what year the term CV was coined? Noting that it is Latin.
It is curriculum vitae. This is something we love rolling out because it is shocking to know that we still utilize this format. But I'm going to keep on talking a little bit so that you guys can chat just the year that you think this. Don't Google it either.
but communicate when you believe the term CV was coined and interestingly by who. So it is used on a day-to-day basis without us even thinking about it but the person who coined it and then we carried on following was from many moons ago. All right we'll give you the answer.
1482 by Leonardo da Vinci. I'm imagining everyone going what right now because that's exactly it. what we did. What we've done is continued using a format from 1482 to help communicate who we are, which if it worked, brilliant. But the fact is, it's not working because it isn't communicating who we are and what we do and what we stand for as much as we would like it to.
So I think that we strongly believe that it is time for us to evolve. And why do we need to evolve? Because we're all struggling. And by that, I don't mean...
just you guys looking for roles. It's the hirers who are struggling as well. There's too many barriers in the way for us to go human to human connection and understand who the person is either behind the opportunity or behind the person looking for that opportunity to communicate what it is that each of those people are looking for. Currently, the process is time consuming.
It's frustrating as hell. And it's expensive, both for the hirer recruitment fees. For the person traveling in and out for many interviews, different layers of the process to try and pitch yourself as best as you possibly can. And what's wild is that we have all evolved over time, but this process is broken and it's stuck.
It's stuck in the mud. We're using different formats of communicating and getting ourselves from A to B. And we're being, we're in a culture of convenience.
So some examples, it's like us still using a travel agent instead of Airbnb, or it's like us, God forbid, walking to get our takeaway rather than just getting it on Deliveroo. or even booking a cab or flagging one versus just getting an Uber. Or lastly, eHarmony, which for all the millennials out there was a thing, rather than using Humble.
So in the career space, there are people, of course, who are trying to make waves in it. You know, LinkedIn, we're all communicating through there. We're absolutely not naysaying that. We're just saying that the career space and specifically the recruitment process is stuck in analog.
And we are a generation and... the generations to come are digitally native their mother tongue is video and we're communicating via static bullet points on a page and a applied process that we don't know where it's going into the ether why aren't we talking like this which we're doing every day via video to people to communicate who we are and what we want so we have to evolve and to that end i think that we've got you right i think you know If you haven't downloaded the app already, we put the QR code there for you to just grab that on screen and download the app now. But Riser is really that video first career matchmaking platform. It's something that we're both incredibly proud of that we are video first because we want to cut through that noise. We want to remove any of these text job descriptions or application processes, which, quite frankly, a lot are created with ChatGPT nowadays.
And all that that does is. add layers of complexity from your authentic self. So we want to remove all of that and put you at the front of it so that you're seen and you're heard. And that's the most important thing.
So if you haven't downloaded it, please grab it now and download because we're going to really get into it today. And the goal of this session, I would say three things. What you're going to walk away with, number one is understanding the power of network and what it can do for you.
The second is really creating... your elevator pitch. People are familiar with elevator pitches for businesses or startup ideas. But here in this session, we're going to be creating your elevator pitch that tells your story. And then third, and I would say one of the most important is the confidence to go and make it happen.
So let's get started with the power of network. And I think that networking and you're probably all familiar with this, right? It feels like such an icky word. It feels very transactional, quite clinical.
But actually the power of it, and we know that it unlocks opportunities to success. But let's get kind of clear on what we think success is. Because I think that most people see success on Instagram or they see successful people on TikTok. And they just think it's this linear process.
You know, I read something, I, you know, I do a bit of networking, I have an idea. And then it's an overnight success. But actually, it's a lot harder than that. And, you know, there's a reason that it's called squiggly careers.
And there's a... reason that that image on the right does exist because I'm sure that even Olivia could agree with us here that this is what real success looks like there's a ton of failures there's a ton of pulling back um you know Susan I know that you've had a career that probably looks more like the right side tell us a bit about that I do I do well I I was adamant I was going to be a TV producer I was like it's my made for this I can't believe it and then when I tried it out it turns out I didn't really like it because I couldn't be creative so instead of um telling people that I shifted into video, tried that one out to see if I could be creative, couldn't be as creative, in my opinion, because I didn't want to be a director or an editor. And then I heard about marketing on the grapevine and thought, that sounds quite exciting. And I can try out my skills in that space.
So I started there, where I discovered experiential, which in my terms, was a place where I could be creative and also be in production, which was the creative side of TV production in my mind. So... I didn't even know about that when I started my career.
I didn't even know about marketing, if I'm being honest. You know, it's like when you say to perhaps younger people, do you know about PR? It's kind of the hidden secret behind brands and the industry.
So I started in experiential and I never thought in a thousand years that I would stay in a job for 10 years. But I stayed because I was always progressing. I was building a team.
I was going global. If I wasn't in that position, I probably would have shifted around a lot more. But. That even in comparison to a squiggly career, I think is something that people might judge. They might think, oh, you've been in there too long or you've been in there too little.
And that's why Lamise and I are always talking about lifelong jobs. to portfolio careers. Now it's incredible to be able to jump around a bit more nimbly rather than stay in a job forever. So in retrospect, that looks like a great path for me. But at the time, I was kind of judging myself that it wasn't the way to go about a career.
But that's what we're here to make you guys feel better about as well, because it doesn't matter what everyone else is doing. We'll do it in our own way anyway, because we are individuals. And I think it's, you know, people seem to think that, okay, well, I'll get the qualifications, I'll go to university, and I'll get all the right skills, and then boom, I'll just land the job.
But actually, you know, what we love to talk about as well is kind of being able to consistently and continuously network. And what does networking actually mean? I think, you know, there's a lot of, you know, come and stand in a room, put a badge on and have a bit of an awkward conversation, don't get me wrong, events and IRL or something we're incredibly passionate about that Suze is going to touch on a bit later but I think that networking if you're doing it in the right way is really about great connection and conversations and how do you build really great conversations I think is a really key topic because if you could think of anyone in your life right now someone who you feel really drawn to who has just got great energy and you just want to gravitate towards them that's somebody who can you know perhaps hold a good conversation or hold a room And what we want to be able to help you guys to do is the same thing. But what is a great conversation and what does that look like? So there's something called the communication journey.
And what you're seeing here is how you would start a conversation and take it all the way to the pinnacle of this pyramid, which is ultimately rapport. And that's the goal of where you want to get to with somebody when you're having a conversation. And so you start with a ritual, which is very much kind of that hello.
thank you type tagline. And then you move on to a fact. And it could be something that's happened in that day or something that you're calling up or something that you both know. And then you want to really start to tap into their belief system. So it's a thought, it's an opinion, which typically unlocks a conversation around emotion.
And the moment that you start to tap into emotion, you're in rapport phase. So I thought maybe today, we could just do a bit of a back and forth. um so maybe I'll kind of just start the conversation with you and we can take it from there but you know Suze thank you so much for doing this presentation with me you're so welcome I feel like it's going really well I feel like it went really well and it's such an incredible group of people who are all just so eager to learn right yeah I feel that too doesn't it make you feel like when we were younger how hard it was for us to build develop a career and even a network What I would have given to have something like this and have been a part of a program like this back then, my God. I could not agree more.
I feel like I don't mind the graft of my career, but I would have loved it if somebody helped maybe gain access to people so that I could maybe discover a little bit more what's out there or what I should be asking for within my role. Just open up more doors for me rather than me having to. go and sound them out, making that process easier. Oh my God, I wish I had that.
And boom, we have rapport. So I've taken Suze from quite short responses, which is totally normal in a conversation. Sometimes it takes people a bit of a minute to warm up. So don't feel that you have to back off if somebody's only giving you a couple of responses back.
Use that opportunity to lean in more and perhaps ask deeper questions to really help them open up and unlock. But so now that you kind of know what those key components are of communication, you're probably thinking, well, who do I have these conversations with? This is where your network comes in.
So the importance of this circle is to show that your network is cyclical. So we're all starting out at the same point. We're all moving up or through our career together. So there are always people along the way who are. on the same path as you and are probably looking to speak to people as well.
But there's this kind of awkwardness around opening up those conversations or approaching people, sort of forward thinking perhaps what they might think or say or do, which is an error. That's something we need to learn or unlearn ourselves. Because if you think about it, in your career infancy, say you're looking for your first job, your first question to yourself is, do I know anyone? Is there anyone who could introduce me to someone? And actually, if you carried on traveling through that thought and asked people, even if it was friends and family network, perhaps I'm looking for this role.
Do you know the one that I should speak to? Even if it's like I know somebody in business and I know that's what you want you to get into, but they might have a very good connection beyond them. So it's kind of the next person along might be the person. Then you move into your junior level.
You know, you're kind of early to mid of your career. You're starting out your network. And I remember at the beginning.
beginning of my career, I always thought, how do my peers know all of these people in incredible jobs? I don't really get it. I don't know these people. I'm out here struggling to buy myself a beer after I managed. But how do I get to know these people?
And what I didn't realize was at the time, I knew those people because we were all moving together through our careers. And now I'm very fortunate that the career I have led, I do know people who have moved on to amazing opportunities and roles. And we will... all be, we all have each other's back, because we were in it, in the thick of it, together in the weeds. And as we grew mid-career, we started doing it together.
You ask those questions more, you kind of learn that it's not asking for a favour. It's never a favour to network. You're just asking somebody, do you have any introductions you think it might be mutually beneficial to me or them?
And then when you get to senior level, and that doesn't necessarily mean older, that just means in leadership roles. That's when you start getting opportunities or perhaps your next role through referrals. So I might not apply for a job. It might be that my friend gives me a call and says, there's this company looking for this role and I think you're the perfect fit.
And I knew those people from my career infancy or I've come across them in my career or they were an old client. And then at that point, you start to feel like you want to give back. You also want to give referrals to people. So I love it when I have younger people or people my age or whoever approach me and ask me if.
They're looking for this role. Do I know anyone? Or can you give me any advice on what I want to do? And then it comes back around. And the main learning here is that network really is your network.
And what we mean by that is that your career is human to human. It is not to do with the skills on the page. Of course, you will gain experience through your career.
But it is the people who will pull you along the way and you will be doing that for other people. So that means that everybody in your network. is a mentor.
I always pride myself on knowing that I will get advice from senior people, but actually the junior people on my team through my career, I could also learn from. They gave me insight to certain cultures or perhaps backgrounds that I wouldn't have had before. So it would be very naive of me to believe that I'm a mentor to younger people and that is it.
Younger people are mentor to older people or to themselves or each other. It's... it's a whole it's a whole lot of love in one melting pot and it is humans at the core of it so just remember there is no shame in asking somebody if there is an introduction to be had or perhaps somebody who's just interesting to speak to about their career and it is absolutely not a favor you're asking because it might be mutually beneficial and then we have our elevator pitch So elevate the pitch.
Again, I feel like this term sounds a bit corporate, don't you, Limey? I kind of feel like, yeah, it's a bit. But we've come up with another term for it because it's very us to do that.
So Riser, as we've explained, is video led and it's a career matchmaking app. So it is person to person via video. The best way for us to explain this is think of how you hear about movies and get a snapshot into it and then want to know more. you watch the trailer.
It's the trailer of the movie that pulls you into the movie itself. It might be the celebrities, but also the trailer is going to give you a little bit of insight to that narrative and then you'll want to know more. So think of your video on Riser as your trailer for yourself.
It would be crazy, it is crazy, that we allow CVs to tell our story when we are best positioned ourselves to tell the story about us. And I don't mean we need to sit there and give a monologue as long as your arm. We mean it's a 30 to 60 second snapshot of you saying who you are, what you stand for and what you're looking for. And it doesn't need to be perfect. It's human.
You're going to end up in the room at some point with these people anyway. You can't filter yourself because you'll end up there not on a filter and they'll suss you out. So a few do's and don'ts to help you with the process of creating this video.
For example. You want to communicate unique things or skills or moments that bring your story to life and stand out. What you don't want to do is repeat the facts you can write on your page or on your CV. An example of this, I might want to tell people that knowing my career, I am still based in Cornwall and London and New York. I travel between the three and I am a big hero of remote working.
the amount of times I hear people still say, oh, but you're not in the city. We didn't notice actually because I've still done my job and I still show up. It doesn't matter to you where I am based.
If I need to be in the office, I'll be there. If I'm on site, I'll be on site. If I'm meetings, I'll be in the meetings. But if remote is an option, I will carry on doing that. And I actually want people to know that about me.
That's what I would love to share in the video because I've actually found that it's given me headspace to be a bit more creative. Nobody's bothering me. So I can think quietly by myself, which is brilliant.
Another one is be authentic. I know we keep saying individuality, but we really mean it. We want you to be you and be real because like I said, you'll end up meeting in real life.
So just know that you are enough. You are a human and you're talking to a human. You're not trying to create a polished trailer that shows you in the best light without you fumbling over words and get the hairs out of your face.
You want to say to people, this is who I am. This is what I stand for. And this is what I hope to do. Lastly, be honest about what you're looking for, knowing that it's okay not to be specific if what you're looking for is ambiguous. And definitely don't fib about your experience or level of expertise.
I think the saying jack of all trades has got a bit of a negative connotation or generalist. But again, I see that as a superpower to be able to say, do you know what, I came out of video and TV, but actually What I learned from producing there, I can apply that to experiential. And I was born and bred out of a family of interior designers. So I have the creative eye for spatial design, although I don't do 3D renders. I bring in those people to do that for me based on my concept.
It's a superpower for me to say, I'm not this one thing. My video might be, I've got these traits. I'm a... I'm...
I'm a creative, I'm a strategist, I'm an illustrator, I'm a copywriter. I would love to put those into play in a role. And I would love to hear from people who think that those might be applicable to their role rather than me saying, although I could say, I'm looking for a PR manager role and I am very good at this, this and this.
So there's two ways of going about it. And I think that's really important for everybody to know on this call is not to be afraid if you are. what I would call multi-talented. So that was awesome. And why don't we give it a go?
I think, you know, if you've downloaded the app, perfect, come and join our risers that are already on the app. A couple of tips that I think could be helpful in addition to the incredible stuff that Sue's just said there is when you're actually filming this, and Sue's actually said this to me before, and I think it's a really good point, which is you're not scared of video if you have this feeling of like being scared of the camera or putting yourself in front of that camera you're not actually scared of it um because we're doing it right now we are on video and we're here and this is great but actually uh it's that pre-recording piece that creates a bit of nerves and so to kind of dispel those nerves all you need to just remember is that we're all human exactly like Sue said so as you're practicing this the best thing to do you is write down three key things that you want to get across in the video. And you can either record it in app on Riser, so you can actually just power the video and record it and edit it within the app. Or I'm sure most of you will be very familiar with CapCut. It's also a great place that some of our Risers have created their videos, edited, added a few captions, added maybe a bit of a flavor to it to bring their personality out, and then uploaded that video to Riser for people to see.
So it's a really, really versatile experience that you'll be able to do and you can download it for free. So it's a challenge that we're posting to you right now, which is we'd love to see you on Riser. Both Susan and I would love to see you on Riser. Come and wave at us.
But even more exciting, we've actually just had some incredible opportunities put onto the app. So I know you're all eager marketers. We've had some incredible social opportunities put on there by.
I can give you a couple of details. One, she's a three-time gold Olympic medalist. She created a company called Unthink and they are looking for somebody to come and join their company. So come onto the app and have a look and see if you match with that person. And also a company called TBH Talent.
The founder and CEO of that company used to work for Gleam, which managed Grace Beverly, Olivia Neal, some incredible names. And she is also looking for somebody in her social team and they're all doing this through riser so make sure you join create your video and hopefully you'll get to match and unlock your opportunities there should we give them an example of what those videos could be sure i'm happy to do mine go for it. So I would say my elevator pitch is here we go. My name is Lamise.
My favourite quote is be the change that you want to see in the world. I'm a builder at heart and I love to create and develop ideas that really solve problems to make our world a better place. I'm committed to helping talent, you know, leverage their story. and actually showcase their value to organizations because I believe that the future of work looks incredibly different to what it is today and I'm really excited to connect with like-minded people talent and SMEs who are looking to perhaps change the way that they operate and become more video led to gorgeous I don't know I feel like I should stretch like give mine a go yeah let's do it okay so um hi My name's Suze.
I am a creative at heart and by nature. I'm a creator and a maker of ideas and experiences. And I get joy from bringing people and businesses together through innovative methods.
It's something my career is full of examples of. And I'm passionate about nurturing people, especially their confidence in themselves and being the little whisper in their ear when they need that bit of confidence to go after it. So I'm looking to connect with like-minded creatives who are looking to shift the needle and do great work with great purpose and I'm leaving that as open as possible because I wouldn't want to miss out on anyone brilliant out there love it I would wave at you thank you so much okay so let me tell you guys a little bit about Sunriser sessions so um we love to meet people in real life like we said um of course Riser is an app but we understand that everybody exists in real life. So we want to make sure we show up there as well.
So Sunriser Sessions, it was born out of the idea of giving people access to incredible brands and the people behind it to have conversations with them, get advice from them, listen to their stories and get inspired by it and perhaps by proxy inspire how you may approach your career. And if they are hiring those brands, then that's the forum for them to announce that as well. So we kickstarted our first Sunriser with...
Papier, our favorite stationery brand. A few weeks back, we had a full room filled with stationery goodies, incredible people, the creative director, head of communications, head of brand, and everybody got to interact with those people directly. And this is purely coming from Lamise and I wishing we had this at the infancy of our career. It's an opportunity for people to To be able to speak with those people at that stage in your career, I think would be invaluable. So we're trying to bring that to people.
Currently, we're in London. We have worldwide domination in mind. So look out for us globally in the coming months.
But our second one on the 24th, so not too far away, is with Piglet in Bed. Gorgeous. I was going to summarize it as best as I could, but I think I might hash that one up.
Bed linen, PJs. Bed linen, yeah. And then we have three more coming up, but we're not going to announce that just here, but please know that they're incredible brands and even more opportunity for you guys to come in and meet them. So there are actually still spaces for Piglet in bed.
So if you did want to come along to our London one with them, the information is on our Instagram page, but we will share it in the Slack now as well. And then over to Lamaze. Thank you so much, everybody. It's been so wonderful just being able to speak with you.
And as I said right at the beginning, just seeing you all chat on the Slack channel has been incredible. And just know that we're in this together and together we do Riser. So we'd love to see you kind of over on the app, over on our LinkedIn. Please do come and follow us and we'll look forward to following your journeys, too.
Thank you. Thank you. We have some time for some questions. And I've actually seen some really nice questions in the chat that I think it'd be good to cover. And if you guys have any other questions, as we're asking them, feel free to pop them into the Slack or into the Q&A on Zoom as well.
So the first question that I thought was a really great one to ask was, how do you conquer networking as an introvert? So I don't know who wants to take that one. You want to take that, Suze? Yeah, I'll go for it. As an introvert, I would say start small, actually, is what I would say.
I'm an extrovert, so I feel a little bit silly answering it. But I would say start small and start with friends and family and try and work your way. through the people that you know to feel the friendliness and know that the people that you do eventually approach through your networking um will most likely meet you with kindness so if you feel that little nervousness in your belly that makes you feel slightly nauseous at the idea of going to speak with strangers just don't do that just yet speak with people you do know and then they will slowly introduce you to people that they know and they won't be strangers along that journey i would say one of my like what kind of exactly on that thread but if you're going to something or you're about to meet somebody I would I sometimes do this because I I'm probably not as extroverted as Sue's I'm probably a little bit more introverted um but I can appear to be an extrovert which is a really interesting dynamic but I get my reset from being alone and with with my thoughts but what I do when I'm going to these type events or I'm going to speak to people where I know I'm not going to know anybody I actually use the 10 minutes before I get to the venue or half an hour before I do anything.
I'm right on my phone, two or three conversation topics or starters that I want to talk about. Because I think that if you can already in your mind have almost like cue cards, things that you want to talk about, maybe something happened in the day that was really great and funny that you could talk about, or something happened in the news that you want to actually, maybe not news, we don't talk about politics in those rooms, but maybe just something culturally that happened that is of interest to that event. That is always something that's such a great conversation starter.
Actually, I do have something else to add to that, that you've just figured in my head. I was lucky to attend a talk with Roxy Nafusi last week, who has a book called Manifest, if none of you have heard of it. She explained to everybody in the room, obviously she is very confident, but she's worked on it.
And her tactic is every time prior to her going on stage, she will give herself a moment, a few minutes. And she will explain to herself in her mind what she wants to achieve by going into that space, which means that she goes in with a destination in mind. And it doesn't leave her kind of going, oh, I'll just figure it out in the room.
She goes in and goes, I want to share a manifestation with people and help them understand how beneficial it can be to their lives. And then she might. I mean, if you're into affirmations, they work as well.
But some people find them a bit cheesy, but you could say them in your head. you know I've got this I can be confident for a minute and people I should not assume what people are going to think or say about me in their response because I'm likely incorrect they're not going to laugh at my question they'll welcome it I love them I love these tips for sure and I think something I know no one asked for my opinion but something that I would also say off the back of what you guys just said um doing the podcast makes me just have opinions on things um is about potentially connecting with a few people before like an event especially as an introvert I feel like I identify both as an introvert and an extrovert and whenever I do those quizzes I'm always kind of 49 51 or 51 49 um so connecting with a few people before and the likelihood is that they will potentially recognize you at the event Even if it's only, you know, two or three people. So rather than you having to go up to people, people will come up to you.
Because I think sometimes that's the biggest thing, isn't it? Is going to an event, maybe on your own and having to actually go into a conversation with people. So if it's possible that you can get, you know, potentially a list of people who are going or even if there's some sort of like community group before or something, it's always really great to...
I would say just connect with a few people and start a conversation maybe on LinkedIn and it'll kind of build confidence a little bit as well. There's a really nice question on imposter syndrome. How do you guys tackle imposter syndrome? I feel really passionate about this one, but maybe let me see. Go on.
Okay, I'll kick off and then you can take it. So it's a, God, I, imposter syndrome, I think everybody has it. And I think if you say you don't have it, then it's manifesting in a different way. We all have insecurities.
We're all human, but it's how we deal with it. And I think that no one is perfect and we're all a work in progress. And so for me, every day is a school day.
I'm always learning. And I actually think it goes back to that piece that slide around network, being your network, that everyone is a mentor and learning from everybody. Never think that you're too, you're higher up than somebody else or never think that you're too junior to pass. information. And when you treat every day as a school day, and when you're open to learning, you don't see it as imposter syndrome, because actually, we're all just on a journey to to somewhere.
And I found that's really helped me in my career. There was moments where I didn't feel that I was worthy enough or qualified enough to be managing a team of 22 people. But I was thrown in at the deep end. And I actually flipped it to be almost like a servant leader to my team.
And actually, that allowed them to have more respect for me. And likewise, and we developed that relationship together. So I think my one piece on kind of imposter syndrome is treat every day as a school day and you're always learning totally agree and to add to that the the best thing somebody ever said to me and I still say it to myself to this day I almost wish I had it on a print on my painted on my wall everyone is making it up yeah I'm going to repeat it everybody is making it up I went through my career kind of jokingly saying, oh, I'm just blagging it.
I worked hard and I worked kind and I worked with purpose, but I didn't know what I was doing. I was just learning it along the way. But at any level, every single person to an extent is making it up.
So for us to sit there and think, God, I don't belong here. I'm not experienced enough or I'm not senior enough or the people around me are better than me. They might be in some elements, but not in other elements.
And actually, it doesn't even matter because that's your judgment creeping in. And judgment is your worst enemy in your career. I dealt with that myself throughout my career.
I sound likely very confident now about how I convey my career to you. But during my career, I kept questioning myself if I should be moving faster, moving differently, moving with other people. But I wouldn't change a thing. And I'm annoyed.
I'm annoyed in retrospect, but I wouldn't have changed it. Like I said, that judgment managed to get a hold of me at times because. that is just a distraction that will stop you from progressing how you want to and will stop you from being you and that's exactly what we're teaching you to do here is to be you so say it loud say it clear everybody is making it up and judgment can get in the bin everyone is is loving the advice in the the slack channel um no i i definitely agree with with all of those points and i think imposter syndrome is definitely One of these things, I should say, Lemmy's that everyone kind of goes through.
So it's really nice to hear that you guys have as well. I think we've got time for a few more questions and there's quite a few coming in. So I'm just trying to choose the best ones. But something that a few people have said that I think it's good to acknowledge is some people have said that Rise is not available in their country. So obviously you guys mentioned world global domination earlier.
So I don't know what you guys want to say. But what I would probably say is probably follow you guys on socials for the latest stuff. Yeah, come and follow us on socials.
And, you know, it may not be available in your country yet, but please know we are working incredibly hard to make it available in your country. And it will be very, very soon. We have got developers working day and night to make this happen.
And so we're so excited to roll out across Europe and the US in the coming months. Yeah, amazing. Yeah, I just wanted you guys to say that because we've had a lot of people saying they're from various different countries around the world um and also it's not available on android right now as well correct it's on the app store right now for apple but we are we're in final stages with android and so it will be there very soon to the android lovers yeah i just wanted everyone to know that it is happening and it is coming um so yeah definitely give riser a follow on socials and you'll see any updates and stuff like that another question around um kind of being in the early stages of your career someone said that they're in the early stages of their career right now and they're not really sure how they should go about navigating and kind of building confidence and building that self-assurance in your skills and also how do you kind of find your authentic voice as well do you want to start yeah it's a big question isn't it big question i like it though yeah i'm here for it okay how do you I'm gonna think on this for a second all right so the I wanted to break it down into two parts so the first piece of the question was um early in your career how do you how do you navigate and build skill set right so for me when I was early in my career and I was thinking about um okay I'll give you an example I studied a law degree. So I went to university to study Kingston and I dropped out after a year.
It was not for me. I could not do it. Both my parents are lawyers and they kind of navigated me in that direction. So I dropped out, which was incredibly hard for them to also deal with. But I just knew that I needed something different.
Back then, I also just needed a job and I really, really enjoyed fashion. I had no business being in fashion. I did not go to London College of Fashion, but I really enjoyed style and how it made you feel and how clothes gave you confidence. And so I started to write a blog.
I put my opinions that nobody asked for onto a blogger website and just started posting about capsule items that would be in for that season. And it gained some traction, which was great. It eventually led to my first startup.
But actually in between that point, I remember applying for a job. at, I'm going to show my age here, a company called Topshop, which is still around, but they're not as big as they used to be. And they were advertising for a visual merchandiser. And if you don't know what a visual merchandiser is, they're somebody who dresses the fronts of the stores, the mannequins, and they kind of show off the style of the new season. And I was like, that's the job I want.
I know I could do that job, but I do not have the qualifications to do it. I did not study at the right university for this. I do not have some kind of fashion degree, but how do I get into it?
And so I used my blog as my portfolio. And so I started to build myself as a thought leader in a space by using my own voice. Yes, it was text back then, but I really created it in a gorgeous visual way. And then what I actually did was I found out who the hiring manager was.
And I created a portfolio, like an actual printed portfolio of all of the items that they had in season at Topshop at that time and pieced them together of how I would dress the store. It was coming up to Christmas. I wrapped it up in a Christmas wrapping, put a bow on it and sent it to his office.
And I got an email saying that was the most incredible thing that he'd ever received. And could I come in for an interview? And so it just shows that you have to put yourself outside of the box to get. noticed and to be seen so I my advice for being early in your career is don't worry about not having the experience or not having the right degree or not having the right skill set find a way so if it is in fashion learn about it write about it put yourself out there and make sure that you become kind of a leader in that space in your own right you don't need somebody else to validate that for you and if it is something a bit more technical where you feel like you need a skill set do take a course on it I did that in project management I wanted to finesse my skill set and I did a course in project management I do think there's absolute benefit in that so that would be my advice for early in your career put yourself out there to become a thought leader in the space and also try and activate courses where they make sense to kind of marry up um to become more of a power person in that space on the that was great I'm glad you answered that bit on the authentic voice part um I also wanted to offer up a story that might help with that one because it's hard and actually it just comes with time and doing and being you and just getting involved.
But my advice would be to perhaps notice your your key character traits, things about you that perhaps your friends notice or might get brought up at work or in your review or from. college, school, university, something that somebody might describe you as. So for example, when I was mid-ish career, and before I was leading the experiential side of my last agency, my boss at the time, who was in the role that I moved into, in my review said to me, you need to dial down the humor. You need to come across a bit more serious if you want to progress.
And not to naysay, but I completely disagree with that feedback. Because what he missed there was a skill that I have to communicate. That is my way of connecting with people.
And all he should have fed back was hone that skill. Use that in your career to connect and engage with people. Because what I find now, I ignored that because I'm stubborn as hell. And he left the company. I moved into that spot and I was there for seven years.
And when I presented to... major companies around the world, I use that humor to break the ice while I'm presenting, you probably noticed me do it in and out of the presentation today. I can't stop doing that, because that's what I do and what I know. But know that I, I definitely refined that skill, because you get it, you get things wrong in your early career, and you're meant to.
I I'm very proud of the fact that the team that I nurtured and I had under my parenthood in my last agency, I never once told them off because if they made a mistake, it was because I hadn't led them correctly. And I helped them fix it rather than tell them that they had done that. And that's what he should have done with me.
He should have said, let me work with you. so that you can utilize this in your career because that's what's going to make you stand out it's clearly something that is different to other people so um whether you're hilarious like me or whether you just have other skills that you just think do you know what that is my little something notice it and just keep noticing it and then start to utilize it and then hero it and be it because you're already being it because that's who you are i love that something that people have just said um which I think is very relevant is that you guys should have a podcast actually have a podcast I don't know if you want to give that a shout out we do have a podcast and I do I do hear you and I agree with you that the dynamic duo does have something to it um so we have a podcast called in her shoes And we discover the women behind their titles. So we want to understand how women got a seat at the table.
These are incredibly powerful women. And they share their blueprint. They share their story so that you guys can have more women to look up to.
Because I know when I was younger, and I know Suze is the same, I had Karen Brady. And that was literally the only woman that I had to look at. And that was my blueprint.
But we should have many more Karen Bradys. And we do, but we just don't tell their stories. So...
yeah come and have a look at the podcast and we'll definitely take the feedback about the dynamic duo we'll create career bloopers it'll just be the talking about the goods and the bad for sure and before we finish up there was actually a question about you two and I think that this would be a really nice question to end and I think and this this is so true is is when you are creating something or doing something amazing it's really hard to find people who you vibe off of or you've got that good energy with you How did you two meet each other? And also, how did you come about kind of working together and building what you guys are building? Someone's actually asked this question and said, it's really hard to find such good energy with a business partner and find that kind of similar vision. And I think so many people would love to find someone that they just really have that good energy with.
So any advice and also tell us the story of how you guys met. I'll answer two pieces and then I want Suze to give her side as well because I feel like there's always two sides to a story um so firstly we we met because I uh like any good date story um the podcast that we had uh obviously Gabe and Olivia I know that you feel the exact same way gives you a ton of exposure to people right um and you get to meet lots of new people Please also let me just caveat that like relationships, I've kissed a lot of frogs and I've gone through a number of horrific situations with previous business partners, previous experiences. And it's taken a long time to get to this place. But I feel like I've been very intentional about the energy that I want to be around and the people that I want to surround myself with. And I actually came across Suze's profile of creator maker and she had recently done a pop up.
that was all about, you know, doing it because it's fun. That's why. And I absolutely loved it.
And I looked at some of her stuff. And I just thought, I mean, I found myself stalking her page for a little while. And I was like, I really love this girl.
She's great. Like, I'd love to connect with her and chat with her. And so I just reached out to her and said, hey, love what you're doing. Like, would love to have a conversation.
I've got some stuff going on, but I think that we could collaborate. And it was really just an open intro call, the first conversation that we had. And I remember I was stuck in the car because I was running around like a mad woman. I thought she's probably going to think I'm an absolute nutter.
I'm not even on camera. She was perfectly placed on camera. And I was like, I'm really sorry. I'm at the wheel. I can't have a proper conversation.
But it was one of the most wonderful conversations that I'd had. And you just know when you meet someone good that you want to keep them around. And actually, that's what happened.
We very organically stayed in each other's lives as Risa was really kind of coming up from the ground. And it was coming up to launch day. Sue so kindly said, look, let me lean in, let me help you.
You know, I get paid from the big brands. I don't necessarily want to take cash away from a small company, but let me help. And so we very organically started working together.
And it just felt right after a few months to make it official. So yeah, that's actually how we met. I'm gonna say what everyone else heard.
let me slid into my dms that that's that is what yeah that can't happen yeah yeah it was it was all a bit serendipitous because um my friend asked me if i'd heard this podcast basically we met because we both did the things that we we wanted to do as passion projects which is brilliant advice to you guys so i my friend said have you heard this podcast i said no added her on instagram a space that I hadn't used Instagram for my whole career because I thought I don't want to brag about this to people. I didn't think of the inspiring angle. I just thought I don't want to brag about it.
So I won't. But actually in my Creator Maker time, now I've been using it. So I added Lamise, then we connected as she said.
But it was because I chose to do a pop-up shop in Covent Garden for cancer research, inspired by the loss of my mum last year. And I partnered with the graphic artist Anthony Burrell. He does work hard and be nice to people as a print, if you guys have seen that.
And I created a platform, Advice for Joyful Living, It's Fun, That's Why, fully inspired by my mum because she's me times 10. And I just thought, I want to continue that message because it's so brilliant and inspiring. And that is what started to fill my feed. And that is what caught Lamisa's eye. And both the podcast, which was created out of Lamisa's frustration of... um the corporate hierarchy and industry that she was living in um and mine through loss the kind of buddying up of the two of them you could it was just obvious that we were purpose-driven humans and the fact that Lamise is a tech background so has got product nailed and I am a brand background and can bring that product to the people in cool ways is kind of the perfect match so we're very lucky that we've found each other in this but I want to be clear that it did start with Lamise calling into my DMs.
Well, yeah, I loved hearing that story from you both. And it's definitely super inspiring. I mean, the Slack channel has definitely popped off this season. Lots of people saying how amazing you both are and how excited they are for Risa as well.
So definitely, as they both said, make sure that you go ahead and sign up for Risa. If it's not available where you are. just yet then give them a follow on socials as well and but thank you so much to both of you for joining us we are going to head over to our next session which is going to be all about personal branding and networking with the amazing kira penny so thank you thank you both guys and feel free to hop into the slack and see all of the amazing feedback that you guys have had over the past hour or so and if you need an ego boost then it's definitely gonna happen um so and lots of really great suggestions as well including the podcast um so for sure head over and say that but thank you so much for joining us guys and everyone i will see you in 50 minutes after our break with our next session thank you so much thank you bye