November 3, 2020 • 50 mins
It’s here! November 3, 2020. Election Day.
On today's episode we catch up with Christian Tom, Head of Digital Partnerships for Biden for President, to learn about his experience on the campaign. Christian shares examples and insights about creating minimum viable products (MVPs), the balance of data versus gut, how the campaign leveraged digital partnerships (Cameo, TikTok, Animal Crossing) to reach consumers where they are, and more.
Plus, we spend time with Kristin Mitchell, Founder of Nourish the People, and take a deep breath as she shares wellness tips to transform busy into being.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
What's up. I'm Laura Creni and I'm Alexa Kristen. Welcome
back to one of the most important Atlantias election day.
So it's November. If you haven't already dropped your ballot off,
if you're not currently standing in line to vote, we
ask you to please consider finding your local polling place
to make your voice heard. If you need more information,
(00:33):
go to vote for your Life dot com for more
information on where you can vote today. And speaking of
we have a very contextually relevant show today, Alexa. Christian
Tom is in the Atlantia House with us today. He
came off the campaign trail with Biden. He's the head
of Digital Partnerships for Biden for President. Amazing conversation with
(00:54):
him in a crazy crazy time on a crazy crazy day.
And so we also paired Christian in with Kristin Mitchell.
So Kristin Mitchell is founder of Nourish the People. We're
gonna be hanging with Kristen on the back half of
this episode to talk about her experience and working with
executives in the advertising marketing media space who are working
(01:14):
under tight timelines and talking about what it means to
take a break, to take a pause to look inward
and really create boundaries and space to really focus on
our mental health and well being. And so with that,
I hope everybody has the opportunity wherever you are listening
to Atlantia today to join us and taking a collective
(01:35):
breath as an ad community. On election day. We'll be
right back and we're back in the studio with Christian Tom,
head of Digital Partnerships for Biden for President. Christian, welcome
to at Landia. Welcome, Thank you so much for having me.
(01:57):
It's so we are so excited that you said yes,
I will do a few minutes with you. Guys hot
from the campaign trail, and we want to get a
hot take from you on what's happening. So we're recording
this a week before the election. And Christian, when we
were talking earlier, you were saying, yes, obviously the elections
the major deadline, but in the media and campaign world,
(02:21):
there's another major deadline happening tonight. Can you tell us
what that is? Yeah, So for this audience, it will
be something that probably is closer to people's hearts or
something that that maybe is more interesting. We're eight days
out from election day and tonight at midnight. We actually
do have a big advertising and digital advertising deadline. Anything
(02:45):
that's political in nature needs to go into Facebook and
be approved by midnight tonight. Facebook is not disallowing ads
running up to election day, but they aren't allowing any
new pieces of creative which adds an interesting, uh challenge
for people who are running again as you can imagine
huge numbers of add ad units and add groups at scale. Um,
(03:07):
this is the this is the last chance to get
stuff in I mean for fresh messaging. That's a real
challenge totally. I mean yeah, it absolutely is. And and
Facebook is allowing and again they obviously owned um, Instagram,
so on Facebook and Instagram, we and all all political
campaigns can continue to put out organic messaging with fresh
creative and messaging through election day and beyond. But the
(03:31):
paid boosting uh component, Yeah, it's um, this is the
this is the deadline tonight. And anyone in the media
side of the world understands it like paid is the game, right,
Paid is the game for any brand anybody who have
this conversation internally my company, Paid is the game. So
(03:51):
it poses like big challenges and I think that this
is the ongoing conversation way past the election that we're
all going to have to have. UM so interested to
have you come back post election uh and talk about
that and talk about what you're seeing in terms of
even kind of broader impact of of a decision like that,
(04:11):
if you would be amazing, I would love to. Yeah.
Prior to joining the Biden for President campaign, you were
working in a sales and partnership's capacity with Group nine.
Can you talk to us about your decision to move
from working in advertising sales over to a political campaign. Yeah. So.
My my background most directly right is having spent five
(04:34):
years at now This, which was in kind of our
start up phase, and and the Dono, which together joined
up to create Group nine with a bunch of other
media properties. So I was on the publisher side, and
before that I was at the platforms. I worked at
Twitter for four years. UM was one of the first
kind of handful of employees at Twitter in the New
York office, And I worked at Google on YouTube before that.
(04:55):
So for me, the interesting kind of intersection was always
UM uh video and social platforms UH, and then and
then Group nine. Being a publisher who has really been
some of the leaders about thinking about UM publishing in
a digital and social first way to come to a
campaign where there are, um not always a lot of
(05:19):
people who come from industry, meaning who have a background
similar to what I've described. There are a few people
who've worked at other big publishing companies and or platforms, etcetera.
But a lot of people, and I think this is
true in most industries, come from the industry. These are
people who maybe serial agency people or serial entrepreneurs. I
think a lot of the people who are my colleagues
(05:40):
now are serial campaign people. This is what they do, um,
and they know the political world inside out. Um. And
I think what is nice is I hope what I
bring is a little bit of it. Therefore, an outside perspective,
meaning outside of politics, but a media industry first perspective.
So was there a moment, Christian and where you decided
(06:00):
to say, I'm going to get into the political marketing
arena and bring this perspective over to the campaign. Yeah,
I mean I I was motivated enormously by, uh, the
motivation I think a lot of people have, which is
to get Donald Trump out of office. Um. For me,
this has actually always been a bit more than merely
I think Donald Trump is a terrible president and a
(06:23):
bad person actually at his at his core um, which
I do think, um. It is to me this has
always been also affirmatively the respect I've had for Joe
Biden as a public servant um and as someone who
at his core isn't fundamentally decent human um. And I've
always admired him in politics. So the opportunity as the field,
(06:43):
meaning the Democratic primary winnowed um was one that I
couldn't pass up. And this is, I think, as Joe
Biden has said, truly a battle for the soul of
our nation. This is a referendum on who we are
as Americans. And maybe that's you know, me bighest working
on the Biden campaign, coming with somewhat kind of like
flowery language, but I sincerely deeply believe that um. And
(07:06):
so it's an honor, And it was something that I've
always had a great interest in terms of politics and
leveraging some of the skills that I can bring to
any organization, uh and and doing it here. How did
you kind of take your experience working in the marketing
media industry and translate it into really creating great digital partnerships,
(07:28):
which is your role at the Biden campaign. Well, I
guess for for me, I got introduced to Rob Flaherty,
who runs all the digital efforts here at the at
the Biden campaign UM, and as he was building out
this team, because this was when I started at the
campaign JEW which feels like simultaneously super recent but also
(07:49):
a lifetime ago. Uh. And we were talking earlier, just
as we were getting set up about how this is
a uh seven job and and so it's been like
a lifetime of of work experience. UM. But I got
introduced to Rob, and the idea of a partnerships team
is actually not a team that from what he has
(08:09):
shared with me, UM is kind of like on a
presidential campaign digital uh, normal organization or previous work. And
the example he gave to me was a little bit
of UM kind of like looking one cycle ago. So
on Hillary Clinton's campaign, the idea of audience development was
(08:32):
this novel concept and it was kind of like, oh, um,
publishers have audience development teams, and the Clinton campaign in
that case is acting in many ways like a publisher,
at least in the digital mindset, So maybe what you
want to do that and this year in UM, there
is an audience development team, and there's been an understanding,
kind of a tacit acknowledgement of how the Biden campaigns
(08:54):
that like a publisher so so like kind of the
playbook from four years ago becomes the default. So I
think of potentially, if we do our jobs right here, um,
the idea of a partnerships team also can become something
that is part of the playbook for for the next cycle.
I love that are their partnerships Christian you can point
to or talk about. That would be a manifestation of
(09:17):
bringing that media marketing mindset from outside the Beltway, if
you will, into the political arena that you think represents
where you see political marketing needing to go. So the
Partnerships team, as we've built it has three overall pillars.
The pillars are one uh net new platforms, two digital
(09:44):
and and actually like digital and social first publishers, and
then three is creators influencers um uh and and that
that side of the world. So I can give me
an example in each category that illustrates I think, um,
exactly what you're you're describing so um so in the
in the platform side, part of what we're thinking about
(10:06):
here is not our own channels, meaning a place where
you'll have an at Joe Biden or at Kamala Harris.
And in fact I just mentioned we have uh an
audience development team. Their whole job is to publish content
on our channels, to grow our audiences there, to think
about what's you know, uh an engagement that makes sense
on those platforms, and communicate effectively. So that's what our
(10:26):
audience development a development team does, and they do it
exceptionally well. The whole, the whole idea of this partnership's
team is as much as possible to get off of
our own channels, how do we grow our reach by
meeting people where they are and actually putting ourselves outside
of the at Joe Biden equivalent. So UM to two
(10:47):
platforms that are really different, but that illustrate that UM.
One of them is a partnership that we put together
with Cameo. So Cameo for those of you who are
are not familiar with it, UM is it's a it's
a platform and it's a place where they created a
marketplace where buyers and sellers can meet. The buyers being
(11:07):
individual people, and the sellers in this case, if you will,
are the celebs, the influencers who are able to offer
up for anywhere I think from like fifteen or fifty
dollars to a few hundred or maybe a few thousand
dollars a shout out video recorded on their phones in
their own homes, and you may have it for uh,
Laura getting it for our friend Alexa to say happy
(11:28):
birthday or whatever it might be. And it's done super
well during the pandemic because like gifting, the kind of
social is a really fun way of doing it right
then and you get these birthday shout outs or happy graduation,
whatever might be. So that's an existing product out in
the world. It's a platform. We went and did the
partnership work and all the legal and operations work to
(11:49):
allow for a celebrity when you go to his or
her page to have the cameos they do and fulfill
not be a payment that's processed on cameo dot com.
It becomes a donation to BFP Biden for President via
Act Blue, and all the operations back and happens to
authenticate that the donation took place and for that same
(12:10):
two and fifty dollars or whatever it might be, Uh,
the the celebrity then fulfills the request and which is
the happy birthday or whatever it might it might be UM,
and gives a great kind of plug and shout out
to to the friend who who made a donation to
the Biden campaign for it and the reason why to me,
this is a good example of a digital first platform
is because a the campaign of course, is a fundraising
(12:33):
tool that receives the donation and the contribution, which is great.
U be the celeb who is often you know, banging
down our door looking for ways to get involved, especially
when they can't go and join a rally like they
would have in a traditional election year of meaning an
in person rally. Can do these can do them at
home in their own spare time, right like thirty to
(12:53):
sixty seconds at a time. UM. And then see the
part to me that's arguably the most powerful from my
standpoint is all of the downstream earned impressions that we
get from the gift recipient sharing and other social feeds.
Oh my gosh, check it out. I got this great
shout out from past. So cameo is an example of
a platform and again very different from say Twitter as
(13:15):
a platform in and of itself. So that's one another
platform that we're working on is um it's TikTok, but TikTok.
TikTok's one where it's interesting we do we do not
have an owned channel, and you may have seen kind
of leaked in the press that we as Biden campaign
staff do not have TikTok on our phones. Um there
(13:37):
were some information security concerns, uh, And so that means
therefore we as the campaign from again like that owned
channel aren't aren't on there. So we're thinking a lot
about how do we deploy a distributed creator lad approach
to have a presence on TikTok, to have pro Joe
Biden messaging without the need for our principles for our
(13:59):
our indidates to be on on the platform. I think
you guys have done a good job. I think you
guys have me I some I see Biden stuff all
the time. I'm also and the all go, I mean
I'm happy in the all go. But here you're you're
gonna get targeted what we the TikTok things you want
to see. But yeah, I mean, you're right. We we've
been measuring obviously across the board, the number of impressions
or number of posts or you know for TikTok. It's
(14:21):
also that like how often a piece of audio is used.
That's kind of how things go viral on TikTok, So
you can see how many times a piece of audio
has been used and like kind of get a sense
for how it's been going. And yeah, we're we're happy
that we've been able to make a big den um
and get a lot of provide Harris messaging. So those
are like, those are platforms. That's another thing Christian that
we want you to come back and talk about because
(14:42):
they think there is right again the security issues or
non issues, but the perceptions with TikTok are huge in
terms of that platform being able to scale and grow
um and particularly at a time that's so critical right
in the Nations kind of history. So it's a really
(15:02):
interesting tidbit about not having TikTok on your phones totally,
So thinking Christian about really at this point, eight days away,
what's the combination of data versus gut that you're using
at this point. We talked with Lisa Sherman on our
previous episode, Presidency of the AD Council. The idea of
speed over perfection. The fly swatter comes to mind. The
(15:25):
fly swatter. I don't think there was any amount of
data that you could have looked at. Maybe there was, uh,
in the amount of time it took to get from
a debate to UM having the fly swatter up on
your website and available for sale. So so talk to
us about that dynamic and what you see as being
the most effective under the tight timelines in which you're working.
(15:46):
We sold a lot of fly swatters. Let me you,
we sold a lot of fly swatters. And and actually
more than that, it was unbelievably impressive to see the
slack channel for all of the provals to do something
fly swatter related, and then subsequently, uh, the amazing speed
(16:07):
to find a Union made fly swatter. All of the
merch in our Joe Biden store is Union made and printed.
So not only were they able to just get it
up live on the Joe Biden store as an item
for sale, they had to source the Union fly swatter
in the first place, which is so impressive, UM, and
and was able to be done. So, UM, I think
(16:29):
on something like that, when you're in a rapid response
or a real time environment, UM, I think you're probably
gonna lean a bit more gut UM, and that probably
is true when you think about the the best worst
analogy of like Oreo Dunk in the dark, there had
to be some level of a gut call on what
would be working for the brand voice of the company
and same thing here. UM. There's a lot of real
(16:51):
time decisioning that takes place on something like that. Uh.
We also use a whole host of data as you
as you as you share. So there's a person on
our team for example, UM, a woman named Alison Stern
who was the co creator of and co founder of
Tubular Labs, which is a measurement firm. She works on
the campaign and has really helped to infuse and then
(17:12):
give a shout out to Allison for this has done
a great job to infuse a data driven approach for
when we are signing partnerships with media publishers with influencers
UM and has made available again like kind of her
her thinking around it. UM. And So I guess the
obvious answer is it's both. But I do think it
depends a bit on what situation you're in, because you're
(17:32):
probably gonna skew a bit more one way UM, and
then and then sew a bit more towards the other side.
Speaking of that Christian you know, were there things that
you guys had to make quick calls on that took
you into unexpected or new directions? Were there are things
that you know you can't plan for. Some of these
(17:52):
things you couldn't planned for the fly? I mean, the
fly was amazing, um, no matter what side you're on.
It was just a kind of a crazy thing that happened.
But were there things that from a bigger change that
took you guys in a different direction? And what were they? Yeah?
I mean I can even give you an example that
that is more on our side of the house, um,
around the work that we did with animal crossing. Yeah,
(18:16):
the the animal crossing work was not breaking news. This
is not deeply political, uh Supreme Court fight kind of
a high stakes thing. However, it was something that we
worked on uh and created. I guess you would call
it like almost an m v P, like a minimum
viable product. It was the arm science. It's a native thing.
People do it all all up and down the board, UM,
(18:38):
and it has this almost low fi look, almost like grainy.
If you don't know animal crossing, you think that it's
it's like, um, hard to read UM, and we thought
that corners of the internet might really appreciate it. And
that's certainly people who play animal crossing and have their
own island and really care about what it looks like
would really appreciate it. It It would be a fun nod
to the fact that, UM, this is an important user
(18:59):
base and that people are spending time on animal crossing
and we really do want to be people everywhere where
they are, including on something like an animal crossing UM.
And to answer your question, it was it was a
piece of news and a piece of work that got
such an outsized, real time, super fast positive reaction UM
that we had to think pretty creatively, uh and pretty
(19:22):
quickly to think to put in plans in place for
what we would do for a two point oh UM
and to make it clear it's not a flash in
the pan activity and UH and we didn't. We launched
the Biden Island and our field office with all sorts
of Easter eggs UM and shout outs to and acknowledgments
(19:43):
of Joe Biden's past and his interests, as well as
Kummel Harris's UM and the team that did the work
did an awesome job thinking about what's native to animal
crossing and seeing the reaction in terms of the numbers,
seeing the reaction in terms of using the tweets and whatnot.
It's been also so again, maybe maybe a bit different
from like a real time tweet of how to respond
(20:04):
to something happening in the real world or a geopolitical
but in terms of a digital partnership, it was something
that we had to move pretty quickly, and I just
feel like if more brands acted like they were in
a presidential campaign, we would see a lot more innovation
and a lot more willingness to say doesn't need to
be perfect. It's something we're gonna m v P. We're
going to get out there and talk to the for
(20:25):
the far corners of the Internet UM and see if
they appreciate it. I just feel like that's a lesson
that we can all take back. What are your thoughts
on seeing more UM individuals who work in media and
marketing coming into the political marketing sphere and what impact
do you think that might have on future elections. I
think there will always be some number of UM operators
(20:49):
or or even uh some number of agencies who are
like whose agency services are used for for the campaign,
and that's been true for a while people coming from
maybe more of like my perspective, who are trying to
do things a bit differently. I hope. I think, UM
that it's proven to be really powerful to have an
(21:11):
outside an outside voice. And I don't even tell you
that some of the things that we're doing with digital
publishers UM are not new as in Christian is some
innovation person. These are in some cases things that a
group nine of the world does or has done UM
(21:33):
for a little while. So it's it really is in
that case just about pulling something from a totally different
arena or outside of what people are used to hearing UM.
And a lot of what we're doing is really great
branded content from a number of buzzfeeds individual channels. So
(21:53):
branded content for BuzzFeed is a is a well oiled machine,
meaning they really know what they're doing and how to
make it feel native. They are pros at this kind
of social first and video stuff. UM. When we are
doing things with peril Like, which is one of their
pages that focuses on Latino audiences UM, and we're doing
things with Tasty, which is they're really popular food brand
(22:15):
media publisher UH and so what an approachable way for
in that case, in the latter case for Dr Jill
Biden to talk about family and to talk about home
and the importance of voting even in the context of
making which they did for the world famous chicken farm.
It was great. I love it. I want that recipe.
(22:36):
I need to see that video. I think you just
gave us a couple of really important nuggets, one of
which Laura and I talked about a lot. Right, it's
not about the word innovation, which is just a weird,
bad word that doesn't really mean a lot, And they
don't think about how can you take something that's working
and actually put it into a different context with a
(22:56):
different audience, and all of a sudden there's actually something
kind of magic all that happens for both the audience
and the brand. So it's a great That is a
great kind of message because it's so critical to think
about creating some tension between the context and the audience.
It doesn't have to be net new And I love
the idea Christian of what you're talking about and developing
this partnership's team withinside Political Campaigns is really the cross
(23:21):
pollination of I p right knowing what you know the
campaign is best at, and then not necessarily having to
create something net new, but going out and finding partners
where that is their expertise, that is their skill set,
that is their platform, that is their tech stact, whatever
the case may be, and building on it. I think
that's something we've been talking a lot about on the show,
is like double down on the thing you're best at
(23:42):
and then go and bridge these external partnerships and find
ways to collaborate in new ways where one post one
may equal ten. So with that, Alexa, I think we
have a final question what is next? What is post
next week? For Christian Tom? Where are you gonna go?
What are you gonna do? I can tell you what's
next actually in terms of the campaign, which is you're
(24:04):
listening to this on election day, um, we will have
just concluded a body of work that we're um creating
right now, which is what we're calling Project seventy two.
It is the final seventy two hours leading into the
campaign and providing a really clean and clear um scaffolding
(24:29):
for people, individuals, influencers, creators, celebrities, people to help quote
unquote kind of donate their accounts to this campaign and
We're going to give people really easy and hopefully really
fun and compelling things to share on their social feeds,
(24:52):
whether that's agat, vertical or square or every every type
of format you can think of, UM with a bunch
of different esthetics that you can go and put out
on your channels. After that, meaning starting today election day,
we are also thinking a little bit about UM if
we need to have UM the same help of people
(25:15):
and influencers across the board in a scenario where this
election is not determined on the night of November three
tonight when you're listening to this, so UM, what's next
is you may well be called upon if you're listening
to this to help us make sure that the vote
count period m is H is happening, and that all
(25:39):
the votes are counted, and that UM everything is tabulated
in a way that that means that everyone's voice is heard.
So there's a there was work between now and November three, UM,
and there may well be work to be done together
after that as well. We're gonna run into our final
statement that we ask everyone to do. It's called kill
(26:01):
by d I Y. So what would you anything you want?
What would you kill? What would you purchase or acquire
What would you do yourself? And it's a lightning round.
I have a irrational dislike of umbrellas. It's kind of
a controversial take, but walking on New York City streets
with trying to dodge umbrellas and yourself trying to put
(26:23):
your umbrella down and hope other people, I would love
to just have everyone to be running in between awnings
or something instead, but that might not be totally feasible.
But I would say kill umbrellas. Umbrella is not that controversial.
I like it all right. What would you buy? I
would love to buy UH and I've had that that
did even more because right now it actually is my
(26:43):
main UH productivity machine. But I would love to buy
one that could do even more than what it does now.
And Apple just released their new iPads, So I think
you're in luck and oh boy, what would you do yourself?
We like everyone else, I've been doing a lot of
baking um, but we've also been therefore been doing a
(27:08):
lot of a lot of cooking. So what I would
love to learn how to d I y really well?
UM is more interesting dishes and Christian If people want
to send you recipes or get in touch with you
about future collaborations. Are partnerships post election? How can they
get in touch with you? I guess Twitter is probably
(27:28):
best on Twitter. I'm at ce L Tom ce L
t O M, so please hit me up. And I
really appreciate both of you, and thank you for having me. Christian,
thank you so much. Good luck the next eight days
and beyond. We hope you'll come back. Yes, thank you.
We'll see you soon, Christian, take care. Thank you so much.
Alexa and I wanted to take a collective pause this
(27:52):
election day and talk about turning busy into being. We're
welcoming Kristin Mitchell, founder of Nourish the People. Kristen, welcome
to Atlantia. Thank you so much for having me. I'm
so happy to be here. I would love for you
to take everyone on your journey um over the last
few years in working in the health and wellness space.
Of course, well it's always a long story how people
(28:15):
get really into wellness, deeply into this work. But I
think with me, it really started way back when I
was probably about fifteen is when I started doing yoga,
so yoga with my free into everything. My mom did
it as long as I can remember, so throughout my life,
yoga has always been a constant. I moved to New York,
very busy environment, had a lot of crazy jobs, and
I realized over time that as I was dealing with
(28:38):
more and more anxiety and more and more stressful situations,
it was returning back to that practice in that room
that I had had since I was fifteen that really
kept me grounded and kind of sane. So eventually I
hit a low point in ironically four years ago cycles
and decided that I just wanted to learn more about yoga,
(29:01):
but beyond that, learn more about I guess why it
worked for me. So I went deep into a two
teacher training program and then from there it's just been
kind of the rest of my life. That was really
the first big door that opened and clicked in my mind.
And spending that much time thinking about yoga, mindfulness, the
background of it, the history, it really changed my perspective
(29:25):
on how I behave, how I see things, and really
how I live. So pause on that one. Around that
same time, I was working a bunch of different random
jobs because just pivot, you know, and I ended up
meeting Laura, and that was another really big turning point.
For me because I saw something in you that I loved,
(29:46):
and I also saw that there were so many aspects
of what you were doing in the way that you
were living throughout your day that could benefit from me
being there to provide support from these teachings that I
had been practicing for a really long time. So that's
kind of where my my wellness practice as an individual
in my work, they kind of started to come together
(30:09):
as one, and that eventually ended up informing Nourish the
People in my mission now, which is helping really motivated
creative doers in this world who we really need, and
there are so many of them, and especially in this
time in particular, there's so many activists and entrepreneurs have
to think differently and everyone's really being pushed. So I
(30:32):
want to provide a platform and practices that are simple
to help people always be able to return to their
sense of calm even in these very chaotic situations, because
that's ultimately what I've been trying to do for myself
and when I was able to do for Laura a
little bit. Let's talk about nourish the people, talk about
(30:53):
building this brand of course, well again, I mean I
kind of have I kind of have you to thank
for it, honestly, Laura, because as I was working with you,
and as I was working in an agency, and this
was my first exposure to agency life. Of course, um,
we were working together today every day on the regular,
but then I was also in an office of just brilliant,
(31:14):
brilliant people who are just churning and doing so much
all of the time. So that kind of inspired something
in me to think, Huh, how can I simplify all
of this information that I have in my mind, all
of this information about food I've I've went to Institute
of Integrative Nutrition. So there's that side, all this information
(31:34):
about mindfulness, about yoga, about breathwork, about meditation, but simple
down to a point where it's not intimidating, there's not
a barrier to entry, but rather it can be really
grasp herbal, really practical, and these creatives and doers can
integrate these things into their life in little tiny bits
every single day to make a difference. And I think
(31:57):
that we are in this era of just doing, doing, doing, going, going, going.
So if I can even find an ounce like two, three,
five minutes of someone's day to kind of help them
set a boundary or help them take a pause and
make it not intimidating. Then that's the goal, that's the mission.
(32:18):
So give us a few examples of that. So the
first thing that I'd say, and I preach this all
the time recently, especially to myself, is when you are
having a moment of complete overwhelm or anxiety or stress
or whatever it is, don't fight it. I think we
are also in this society where we really try to
escape negative feelings and escape discomfort. And the fact of
(32:41):
the matter is where in a challenging time, everyone's having
a hard year in these types of emotions and these
types of feelings are just going to happen. So when
you can sit there and just acknowledge what it is
that you're feeling, just by acknowledging it, just by putting
the verbiage around, not saying like I am anxious, but
(33:01):
just saying I'm experiencing anxiety right now, that will help
because what that does to your mind is it tells you, oh,
I'm not actually attached to this. This is just something
that's coming through me in this moment, and eventually, like
all things, it will change. So that's my first number
one tip, right now is just be very kind to
yourself and have the wherewithal to acknowledge these hard moments
(33:24):
and just say them for what they are. This is
a hard moment. I feel really overwhelmed right now. But
that's okay because they always they change to the nature
of my mind. It's the nature of emotions. It's always shifting.
So number one. Number two, everyone says it. At nauseam,
you have to breathe. You have to breathe. I feel
(33:45):
a full breath in in, a full breath out, and
repeat that. Can we just do that right now together? Yeah,
let's do it, all right, everyone, Let's do this, okay, everyone, So,
wherever you're sitting, if you're sitting cross legged, if you're
sitting with your feet on the ground, I just un
crossed my legs and put my feet down. The first
thing that you do is you notice your point of
(34:05):
contact with the floor, because that feeling of gravity, that
feeling of being supported, will always calm your nervous system.
It will always let you know that you're okay, you're held,
you're in the car, wherever you are, it doesn't matter.
Just notice your seat, notice the bottoms of your feet.
Let the breath come out of your body and then
(34:28):
take a full inhale into your nose, ride the breath
all the way down into your belly, fill your belly
exand and then just acts how let it go. There
you go. That's number two. It works every time, instantly
(34:50):
feeling better. Yes, it instantly works. And it's so silly
because it's so simple, but it always works. So that's
my big thing number two that I with say, and
the number three, which is actually this is funny. It's
popping into my mind right now, so I'm just going
to go for it. Remember the moments that you felt
really good. There's a lot of emphasis around even myself
(35:13):
like stress and anxiety, but I think it's important to
have a note or a photo or something of a
time when you just mentally felt really well, really on
it and just really good, really like yourself, and go
back to that moment, maybe close your eyes and just
put yourself back in that headspace, use your imagination just
(35:34):
what you what did you feel at that time, just
as a reminder to your body and to your mind
that you can easily go back there. As you've been building,
have you recognized patterns with executives that you've worked with
that have informed your services in terms of what you're
offering through nurse of people, both in the content of
your newsletter, but also in the services that you're designing,
(35:55):
be at yoga, practice, coaching, meditation, et cetera. Have there
been patterned There's always patterns. We're all kind of all
cycling around many of the same things, just in our
own unique ways. One thing that I noticed a lot
that I also personally deal with, of course, is perfectionism.
This this idea of needing to maintain all of these
(36:16):
really really high standards that we build for ourselves constantly.
That's a big one. Another really big one is just
generally lack of boundaries. There's a lack of boundary now,
especially in homes, because you're working, you're doing everything from
your space. So how can you help people adjust their
physical environments, in their mindset around their physical environments to
(36:37):
create boundaries for themselves within their days. That's a really
big one that I think a lot of people are
working through right now. And another one that I want
to say that's again a little bit cheesy, but you've
got to just hang with me, is just needing to
be easier on yourself it's everyone gets really wrapped up
(36:59):
in really stress stubt in things that aren't going, things
that aren't meeting expectations. And I think it's so important
collectively across the board for everyone to just be gentle
with yourself, be kind no matter what you're doing right now,
just recognize there's so so much happening that that's one
of the most important things that you can do. So
(37:20):
christ and I always hear that, like people always say,
be kind to yourself, be you know, don't be so
hard on yourself. And I always say, what does that
look like? What does that look like? Why do you
do that? What does that mean? A great questions, such
a good question. It's it's another thing where you have
to work on it. It does not come naturally. The
nature of the mind is always too critique, to criticize,
(37:43):
to over analyze, to perpetuate bad situations. Is a way
to protect us, essentially from ourselves from anything that could
possibly happen. This is something I wrote about recently where
that's why I think it's important to understand that and
be friend that aspect of your mind because all of
the negative self talk, all of the anxiety it's coming
(38:04):
from a place of ultimate protection our mind, our body.
They just want us to be safe. So it's trying
to anticipate where we could go wrong, which is where
we end up being really really hard on ourselves because
we think about all the things that we could potentially
do wrong or not meet expectations, or ways we could
potentially get rejected. So one of the ways to remedy
(38:26):
that is to first of all, get clear about where
you're being harsh on yourself. Get crystal clear. That's always
where I start understand what's the thought, what is the language,
what is the fear? What is it that I'm beating
myself up about? Right, So get very very clear and
concise about the harshness. And then this is I'll put
(38:48):
this is a new thing that I've actually been working
on recently that I'll put out there because it was effective. Um,
give yourself. Start write down advice. If you think about, well,
let's say let's pretend someone else did the things to
you that you're anxious about that you're beating yourself about.
Your best friend just went and you know, they messed
up a presentation or whatever it is, and they're just
(39:10):
beating themselves up about it. Sit down and write advice
to them. What would you say to them in that
moment right now to kind of help them feel better
to a friend, just write it and then sit there
and read it and give that advice to yourself and
just take it in take your own advice. It's really
(39:32):
interesting how we always know what we need. We always
have the answers. You just have to slow down and
ask the question and then be willing to listen to it.
Christ and I love that. It's super simple. I think
it's just right. And one of the things that you
talk a lot about is slow down. What can people
(39:54):
do right now? Because we're not in an industry that's
slow ever, we're actually the industry it's pushing the pace, right,
So what can people do to actually use the energy,
like take negative energy and take that push and take
that speed and actually turn it into something that's propelling,
(40:15):
Like how do people start to think about that? Like
I know, I know Laura really well. Laura knows me
really well. One thing that we have in common is
that we both work well one under pressure and with speed.
In fact, when we're slower, we seem to get a
little frustrated. How do we take that negative energy and
kind of reframe it and push it into a creative place,
(40:38):
push it into something that's going to help us. So
the first thing I want to touch on that I
think is so important to you said, when you slow down,
it's frustrating. Yeah, that is one of the key components
that I am trying to kind of undo with people
like yourself, that that slow down time is so crucial
(41:01):
to fuel the going time, the fast time, the under
pressure time. So a huge practice, everything is a practice.
I'll use that word in a nauseam. A huge practice
is recognizing when you're slow and being okay with the discomfort,
in knowing that the slowness is always a precedent prior
(41:25):
to moving really quickly and moving into the doing, and
that you will actually do so much better if you
give yourself that time to be slow. You have to
have both. We you just you have to have both.
It's the nature. You cannot always be doing doing, doing, going,
or you burnout, right burnout, that's all that is. So
(41:45):
embrace the slow even if it's uncomfortable. Just sit there
and think, why am I so uncomfortable? What is this?
And is there something that I could read? Is there
something that I could listen to is there a way
I could move go on a walk to process this
feeling throughout my body and make it feel okay. Feelings changed? Yeah,
I love the feelings change. That's like such an under
(42:08):
under understood right, the thing that feelings are actually constantly
moving um and typically when we're not feeling good, it
feels like they're there forever. What are the services that
you're offering now as Nourished the People is in development
(42:28):
to executives who may want to email you directly after
listening to this episode. Absolutely well. The first I always
have my newsletter. The newsletter is the core of Nourish,
so you can always find me there. I also do
one on one private sessions. I teach what's called yin yoga.
So yin is slow, it is low to the ground.
(42:49):
It is not entirely restorative. You move a tiny bit more,
but it is just putting you into your body, really
getting you into your body and breathings so that you're
anatomy begins to relax. And then along with the in session,
I do a short conversation just to the beginning. I
help people focus in on one mental hang up, whatever
(43:12):
it is. One stressed, one anxiety, one thing that just
won't shut up in their mind. And then we kind
of move and meditate and do some visualization in accordance
to that one hang up. And then I provide practices.
I provide suggestions. What's one two minute thing you can
do every day that could help you? I say two
(43:33):
minutes and emphasize that because one of the things that
I want to do with Nourish the People and working
with executives in particulars, I know time is so valuable
and so limited, and oftentimes that's all that they have,
but it's enough to make a really substantial difference. Otherwise
I wouldn't be doing this. I would say Christen that
I know you're you offer up two minutes, but having
worked with you, those two minutes easily turned into twenty
(43:54):
minutes and in some instances two hours. So so to
everyone listening, I think for stop, sign up for Nourish
the People newsletters that Nourish the People dot co CEO
and christ and if people want to get in touch
with you to talk about the practice, sign up for
your services. How can they get in touch with you?
Absolutely you can find me on Instagram at nourish the
(44:17):
People dot Co. That's CEO. You can also email me
Kristen k R I S T I n AT Nourish
the People dot Co. That's also available on my website.
I would love so much to talk to you, so
feel free slide into my DM, send me a note
comment on something and I would I would just love
to chat and hear about how you're doing and how
(44:37):
you're handling this year and if there's anything that I
can maybe offer up to help. I think that just
st even your your presence, but you're you know, really
smart advice. Um, it's just something that, especially in this industry,
we need more of. Thank you so much for coming
by and bringing some pause to this election day. We
appreciate the conversation and you, of course so happy to
(45:00):
be here. Thank you too for having me so what
an amazing episode, feeling all types of push and pull,
thinking about pace, the meaning of pausing to push forward,
(45:21):
finding space to really think and create. And Alexa, there
was also something you said in our conversation with Christian
that really stuck with me. This idea of brand acting
like they're in an election cycle and starting to connect
some some signals here right, we heard from Lisa Sherman.
The idea of speed over perfection. We're hearing in this
(45:41):
episode with Christian, the idea of putting out a minimum
viable product and building an iterating quickly if it lands.
What do you think that this is signaling to brand
marketers in which pace is moving faster and faster every day.
I think there's, you know, the new kind of there's
a new kind of emphasis that's been put on marketers
(46:05):
around creating something new, always creating something new, and that
there's value in that. What Christian said that I thought
was so smart was it's almost like ready mades. Do
anyone to know what a ready made is? It's an art, right,
You're using found objects and you're creating something new, Like
(46:25):
if there's something that is essential in a presidential election
by using audiences, communities, things that are existing media, media products, platforms, etcetera.
That they put a spin on, and you know, I
think Christian really hit on it. And we've done this, Laura,
(46:46):
we've talked about this a lot, even in season one.
In season two, how do you take a property, uh
partner and collaborate and find where your brand in their
brand is additive or an experience at it have not
adjacent as the line I believe we always used to
use exactly additive, not adjacent. And I think that Christian
(47:06):
really hit on that. And brands, you know, election cycles
are short. They're short for all intents and purposes and
their high stakes. And I think if the brands start
to think about themselves and their activity, their marketing activity
like that, it will create collaboration over competition, which Lisa
(47:28):
Sherman talked about. It will create new from already created.
And maybe there shouldn't be a premium or the shiny
object kind of requirement for a marketer. It should be
how are you looking at things that exist that are
doing well that you could use in a different way,
(47:49):
Things that have community that you could enter into in
a different way. And I think that was a big
point that I got from Christian. He doesn't have time, right,
they don't have time to build constantly something that's new,
but they did. I couldn't agree more. And I think
there's two additional takeaways that I was left thinking about
(48:11):
following that conversation. Was one incredibly important to go to
where the consumer or in this case, the voter is,
you know, all of the partnerships that Christian was talking
about via cameo TikTok animal crossing, going to where the
customer or voter is thinking about AOC showing up on Twitch,
(48:37):
going to where the customer or the voter is And
so you know that being one the second that I
took away, double down on the thing that you're best at,
and collaborate and cross pollinate with others who are best
at what they do, and find ways to iterate and
build versus having to continually build net new yep. I agree,
(48:59):
totally agree in the market that where and I think
it is extremely difficult to be everything to everyone and
so what is the thing that you own that you
do better than anyone and then build partnerships within your
ecosystem to allow you to iterate and scale and to
do that we need Kristin Mitchell to help us clear
our heads, take a breath. Christen is such a clear
(49:22):
thinker for me. You know what's really interesting is, and
we talked about this. I have, we both have, let's
just be honest, a hard time slowing down. But one
of the things that I think, you know Christen said
was this idea around slowing down actually allows you to
speed up, and that was one of the probably most
(49:46):
important things for me. And I can't speak for everyone, Laura,
I can't speak for you Lord knows um, but but
I today has been in highly anticipated day for me.
I've been super anxious about it. It I think saying right,
I know we've talked about it, and I think it's
really important that we all do what we have to do.
(50:07):
So with that one last collective breath with Kristin Mitchell, Okay,
let's do it. Okay, everyone, close your eyes, fill your
seat underneath you, fill the bottoms of your feet, Take
a big inhal through your nose. The breath moves all
the way down through your throat into your belly. By exhale.
(50:30):
There you go, get out and vote. Laura hit it
with the list of all of our friends and family
at my heart who have been so good at us
and helped us get back on air. Big thank you
to Bob Conald, Carter, Andy, Eric gayle Vow, Michael jen
We appreciate you. Thank you so much for this opportunity.
We'll see you in two weeks.
What's up. I'm Laura Creni and I'm Alexa Kristen. Welcome
back to one of the most important Atlantias election day.
So it's November. If you haven't already dropped your ballot off,
if you're not currently standing in line to vote, we
ask you to please consider finding your local polling place
to make your voice heard. If you need more information,
(00:33):
go to vote for your Life dot com for more
information on where you can vote today. And speaking of
we have a very contextually relevant show today, Alexa. Christian
Tom is in the Atlantia House with us today. He
came off the campaign trail with Biden. He's the head
of Digital Partnerships for Biden for President. Amazing conversation with
(00:54):
him in a crazy crazy time on a crazy crazy day.
And so we also paired Christian in with Kristin Mitchell.
So Kristin Mitchell is founder of Nourish the People. We're
gonna be hanging with Kristen on the back half of
this episode to talk about her experience and working with
executives in the advertising marketing media space who are working
(01:14):
under tight timelines and talking about what it means to
take a break, to take a pause to look inward
and really create boundaries and space to really focus on
our mental health and well being. And so with that,
I hope everybody has the opportunity wherever you are listening
to Atlantia today to join us and taking a collective
(01:35):
breath as an ad community. On election day. We'll be
right back and we're back in the studio with Christian Tom,
head of Digital Partnerships for Biden for President. Christian, welcome
to at Landia. Welcome, Thank you so much for having me.
(01:57):
It's so we are so excited that you said yes,
I will do a few minutes with you. Guys hot
from the campaign trail, and we want to get a
hot take from you on what's happening. So we're recording
this a week before the election. And Christian, when we
were talking earlier, you were saying, yes, obviously the elections
the major deadline, but in the media and campaign world,
(02:21):
there's another major deadline happening tonight. Can you tell us
what that is? Yeah, So for this audience, it will
be something that probably is closer to people's hearts or
something that that maybe is more interesting. We're eight days
out from election day and tonight at midnight. We actually
do have a big advertising and digital advertising deadline. Anything
(02:45):
that's political in nature needs to go into Facebook and
be approved by midnight tonight. Facebook is not disallowing ads
running up to election day, but they aren't allowing any
new pieces of creative which adds an interesting, uh challenge
for people who are running again as you can imagine
huge numbers of add ad units and add groups at scale. Um,
(03:07):
this is the this is the last chance to get
stuff in I mean for fresh messaging. That's a real
challenge totally. I mean yeah, it absolutely is. And and
Facebook is allowing and again they obviously owned um, Instagram,
so on Facebook and Instagram, we and all all political
campaigns can continue to put out organic messaging with fresh
creative and messaging through election day and beyond. But the
(03:31):
paid boosting uh component, Yeah, it's um, this is the
this is the deadline tonight. And anyone in the media
side of the world understands it like paid is the game, right,
Paid is the game for any brand anybody who have
this conversation internally my company, Paid is the game. So
(03:51):
it poses like big challenges and I think that this
is the ongoing conversation way past the election that we're
all going to have to have. UM so interested to
have you come back post election uh and talk about
that and talk about what you're seeing in terms of
even kind of broader impact of of a decision like that,
(04:11):
if you would be amazing, I would love to. Yeah.
Prior to joining the Biden for President campaign, you were
working in a sales and partnership's capacity with Group nine.
Can you talk to us about your decision to move
from working in advertising sales over to a political campaign. Yeah. So.
My my background most directly right is having spent five
(04:34):
years at now This, which was in kind of our
start up phase, and and the Dono, which together joined
up to create Group nine with a bunch of other
media properties. So I was on the publisher side, and
before that I was at the platforms. I worked at
Twitter for four years. UM was one of the first
kind of handful of employees at Twitter in the New
York office, And I worked at Google on YouTube before that.
(04:55):
So for me, the interesting kind of intersection was always
UM uh video and social platforms UH, and then and
then Group nine. Being a publisher who has really been
some of the leaders about thinking about UM publishing in
a digital and social first way to come to a
campaign where there are, um not always a lot of
(05:19):
people who come from industry, meaning who have a background
similar to what I've described. There are a few people
who've worked at other big publishing companies and or platforms, etcetera.
But a lot of people, and I think this is
true in most industries, come from the industry. These are
people who maybe serial agency people or serial entrepreneurs. I
think a lot of the people who are my colleagues
(05:40):
now are serial campaign people. This is what they do, um,
and they know the political world inside out. Um. And
I think what is nice is I hope what I
bring is a little bit of it. Therefore, an outside perspective,
meaning outside of politics, but a media industry first perspective.
So was there a moment, Christian and where you decided
(06:00):
to say, I'm going to get into the political marketing
arena and bring this perspective over to the campaign. Yeah,
I mean I I was motivated enormously by, uh, the
motivation I think a lot of people have, which is
to get Donald Trump out of office. Um. For me,
this has actually always been a bit more than merely
I think Donald Trump is a terrible president and a
(06:23):
bad person actually at his at his core um, which
I do think, um. It is to me this has
always been also affirmatively the respect I've had for Joe
Biden as a public servant um and as someone who
at his core isn't fundamentally decent human um. And I've
always admired him in politics. So the opportunity as the field,
(06:43):
meaning the Democratic primary winnowed um was one that I
couldn't pass up. And this is, I think, as Joe
Biden has said, truly a battle for the soul of
our nation. This is a referendum on who we are
as Americans. And maybe that's you know, me bighest working
on the Biden campaign, coming with somewhat kind of like
flowery language, but I sincerely deeply believe that um. And
(07:06):
so it's an honor, And it was something that I've
always had a great interest in terms of politics and
leveraging some of the skills that I can bring to
any organization, uh and and doing it here. How did
you kind of take your experience working in the marketing
media industry and translate it into really creating great digital partnerships,
(07:28):
which is your role at the Biden campaign. Well, I
guess for for me, I got introduced to Rob Flaherty,
who runs all the digital efforts here at the at
the Biden campaign UM, and as he was building out
this team, because this was when I started at the
campaign JEW which feels like simultaneously super recent but also
(07:49):
a lifetime ago. Uh. And we were talking earlier, just
as we were getting set up about how this is
a uh seven job and and so it's been like
a lifetime of of work experience. UM. But I got
introduced to Rob, and the idea of a partnerships team
is actually not a team that from what he has
(08:09):
shared with me, UM is kind of like on a
presidential campaign digital uh, normal organization or previous work. And
the example he gave to me was a little bit
of UM kind of like looking one cycle ago. So
on Hillary Clinton's campaign, the idea of audience development was
(08:32):
this novel concept and it was kind of like, oh, um,
publishers have audience development teams, and the Clinton campaign in
that case is acting in many ways like a publisher,
at least in the digital mindset, So maybe what you
want to do that and this year in UM, there
is an audience development team, and there's been an understanding,
kind of a tacit acknowledgement of how the Biden campaigns
(08:54):
that like a publisher so so like kind of the
playbook from four years ago becomes the default. So I
think of potentially, if we do our jobs right here, um,
the idea of a partnerships team also can become something
that is part of the playbook for for the next cycle.
I love that are their partnerships Christian you can point
to or talk about. That would be a manifestation of
(09:17):
bringing that media marketing mindset from outside the Beltway, if
you will, into the political arena that you think represents
where you see political marketing needing to go. So the
Partnerships team, as we've built it has three overall pillars.
The pillars are one uh net new platforms, two digital
(09:44):
and and actually like digital and social first publishers, and
then three is creators influencers um uh and and that
that side of the world. So I can give me
an example in each category that illustrates I think, um,
exactly what you're you're describing so um so in the
in the platform side, part of what we're thinking about
(10:06):
here is not our own channels, meaning a place where
you'll have an at Joe Biden or at Kamala Harris.
And in fact I just mentioned we have uh an
audience development team. Their whole job is to publish content
on our channels, to grow our audiences there, to think
about what's you know, uh an engagement that makes sense
on those platforms, and communicate effectively. So that's what our
(10:26):
audience development a development team does, and they do it
exceptionally well. The whole, the whole idea of this partnership's
team is as much as possible to get off of
our own channels, how do we grow our reach by
meeting people where they are and actually putting ourselves outside
of the at Joe Biden equivalent. So UM to two
(10:47):
platforms that are really different, but that illustrate that UM.
One of them is a partnership that we put together
with Cameo. So Cameo for those of you who are
are not familiar with it, UM is it's a it's
a platform and it's a place where they created a
marketplace where buyers and sellers can meet. The buyers being
(11:07):
individual people, and the sellers in this case, if you will,
are the celebs, the influencers who are able to offer
up for anywhere I think from like fifteen or fifty
dollars to a few hundred or maybe a few thousand
dollars a shout out video recorded on their phones in
their own homes, and you may have it for uh,
Laura getting it for our friend Alexa to say happy
(11:28):
birthday or whatever it might be. And it's done super
well during the pandemic because like gifting, the kind of
social is a really fun way of doing it right
then and you get these birthday shout outs or happy graduation,
whatever might be. So that's an existing product out in
the world. It's a platform. We went and did the
partnership work and all the legal and operations work to
(11:49):
allow for a celebrity when you go to his or
her page to have the cameos they do and fulfill
not be a payment that's processed on cameo dot com.
It becomes a donation to BFP Biden for President via
Act Blue, and all the operations back and happens to
authenticate that the donation took place and for that same
(12:10):
two and fifty dollars or whatever it might be, Uh,
the the celebrity then fulfills the request and which is
the happy birthday or whatever it might it might be UM,
and gives a great kind of plug and shout out
to to the friend who who made a donation to
the Biden campaign for it and the reason why to me,
this is a good example of a digital first platform
is because a the campaign of course, is a fundraising
(12:33):
tool that receives the donation and the contribution, which is great.
U be the celeb who is often you know, banging
down our door looking for ways to get involved, especially
when they can't go and join a rally like they
would have in a traditional election year of meaning an
in person rally. Can do these can do them at
home in their own spare time, right like thirty to
(12:53):
sixty seconds at a time. UM. And then see the
part to me that's arguably the most powerful from my
standpoint is all of the downstream earned impressions that we
get from the gift recipient sharing and other social feeds.
Oh my gosh, check it out. I got this great
shout out from past. So cameo is an example of
a platform and again very different from say Twitter as
(13:15):
a platform in and of itself. So that's one another
platform that we're working on is um it's TikTok, but TikTok.
TikTok's one where it's interesting we do we do not
have an owned channel, and you may have seen kind
of leaked in the press that we as Biden campaign
staff do not have TikTok on our phones. Um there
(13:37):
were some information security concerns, uh, And so that means
therefore we as the campaign from again like that owned
channel aren't aren't on there. So we're thinking a lot
about how do we deploy a distributed creator lad approach
to have a presence on TikTok, to have pro Joe
Biden messaging without the need for our principles for our
(13:59):
our indidates to be on on the platform. I think
you guys have done a good job. I think you
guys have me I some I see Biden stuff all
the time. I'm also and the all go, I mean
I'm happy in the all go. But here you're you're
gonna get targeted what we the TikTok things you want
to see. But yeah, I mean, you're right. We we've
been measuring obviously across the board, the number of impressions
or number of posts or you know for TikTok. It's
(14:21):
also that like how often a piece of audio is used.
That's kind of how things go viral on TikTok, So
you can see how many times a piece of audio
has been used and like kind of get a sense
for how it's been going. And yeah, we're we're happy
that we've been able to make a big den um
and get a lot of provide Harris messaging. So those
are like, those are platforms. That's another thing Christian that
we want you to come back and talk about because
(14:42):
they think there is right again the security issues or
non issues, but the perceptions with TikTok are huge in
terms of that platform being able to scale and grow
um and particularly at a time that's so critical right
in the Nations kind of history. So it's a really
(15:02):
interesting tidbit about not having TikTok on your phones totally,
So thinking Christian about really at this point, eight days away,
what's the combination of data versus gut that you're using
at this point. We talked with Lisa Sherman on our
previous episode, Presidency of the AD Council. The idea of
speed over perfection. The fly swatter comes to mind. The
(15:25):
fly swatter. I don't think there was any amount of
data that you could have looked at. Maybe there was, uh,
in the amount of time it took to get from
a debate to UM having the fly swatter up on
your website and available for sale. So so talk to
us about that dynamic and what you see as being
the most effective under the tight timelines in which you're working.
(15:46):
We sold a lot of fly swatters. Let me you,
we sold a lot of fly swatters. And and actually
more than that, it was unbelievably impressive to see the
slack channel for all of the provals to do something
fly swatter related, and then subsequently, uh, the amazing speed
(16:07):
to find a Union made fly swatter. All of the
merch in our Joe Biden store is Union made and printed.
So not only were they able to just get it
up live on the Joe Biden store as an item
for sale, they had to source the Union fly swatter
in the first place, which is so impressive, UM, and
and was able to be done. So, UM, I think
(16:29):
on something like that, when you're in a rapid response
or a real time environment, UM, I think you're probably
gonna lean a bit more gut UM, and that probably
is true when you think about the the best worst
analogy of like Oreo Dunk in the dark, there had
to be some level of a gut call on what
would be working for the brand voice of the company
and same thing here. UM. There's a lot of real
(16:51):
time decisioning that takes place on something like that. Uh.
We also use a whole host of data as you
as you as you share. So there's a person on
our team for example, UM, a woman named Alison Stern
who was the co creator of and co founder of
Tubular Labs, which is a measurement firm. She works on
the campaign and has really helped to infuse and then
(17:12):
give a shout out to Allison for this has done
a great job to infuse a data driven approach for
when we are signing partnerships with media publishers with influencers
UM and has made available again like kind of her
her thinking around it. UM. And So I guess the
obvious answer is it's both. But I do think it
depends a bit on what situation you're in, because you're
(17:32):
probably gonna skew a bit more one way UM, and
then and then sew a bit more towards the other side.
Speaking of that Christian you know, were there things that
you guys had to make quick calls on that took
you into unexpected or new directions? Were there are things
that you know you can't plan for. Some of these
(17:52):
things you couldn't planned for the fly? I mean, the
fly was amazing, um, no matter what side you're on.
It was just a kind of a crazy thing that happened.
But were there things that from a bigger change that
took you guys in a different direction? And what were they? Yeah?
I mean I can even give you an example that
that is more on our side of the house, um,
around the work that we did with animal crossing. Yeah,
(18:16):
the the animal crossing work was not breaking news. This
is not deeply political, uh Supreme Court fight kind of
a high stakes thing. However, it was something that we
worked on uh and created. I guess you would call
it like almost an m v P, like a minimum
viable product. It was the arm science. It's a native thing.
People do it all all up and down the board, UM,
(18:38):
and it has this almost low fi look, almost like grainy.
If you don't know animal crossing, you think that it's
it's like, um, hard to read UM, and we thought
that corners of the internet might really appreciate it. And
that's certainly people who play animal crossing and have their
own island and really care about what it looks like
would really appreciate it. It It would be a fun nod
to the fact that, UM, this is an important user
(18:59):
base and that people are spending time on animal crossing
and we really do want to be people everywhere where
they are, including on something like an animal crossing UM.
And to answer your question, it was it was a
piece of news and a piece of work that got
such an outsized, real time, super fast positive reaction UM
that we had to think pretty creatively, uh and pretty
(19:22):
quickly to think to put in plans in place for
what we would do for a two point oh UM
and to make it clear it's not a flash in
the pan activity and UH and we didn't. We launched
the Biden Island and our field office with all sorts
of Easter eggs UM and shout outs to and acknowledgments
(19:43):
of Joe Biden's past and his interests, as well as
Kummel Harris's UM and the team that did the work
did an awesome job thinking about what's native to animal
crossing and seeing the reaction in terms of the numbers,
seeing the reaction in terms of using the tweets and whatnot.
It's been also so again, maybe maybe a bit different
from like a real time tweet of how to respond
(20:04):
to something happening in the real world or a geopolitical
but in terms of a digital partnership, it was something
that we had to move pretty quickly, and I just
feel like if more brands acted like they were in
a presidential campaign, we would see a lot more innovation
and a lot more willingness to say doesn't need to
be perfect. It's something we're gonna m v P. We're
going to get out there and talk to the for
(20:25):
the far corners of the Internet UM and see if
they appreciate it. I just feel like that's a lesson
that we can all take back. What are your thoughts
on seeing more UM individuals who work in media and
marketing coming into the political marketing sphere and what impact
do you think that might have on future elections. I
think there will always be some number of UM operators
(20:49):
or or even uh some number of agencies who are
like whose agency services are used for for the campaign,
and that's been true for a while people coming from
maybe more of like my perspective, who are trying to
do things a bit differently. I hope. I think, UM
that it's proven to be really powerful to have an
(21:11):
outside an outside voice. And I don't even tell you
that some of the things that we're doing with digital
publishers UM are not new as in Christian is some
innovation person. These are in some cases things that a
group nine of the world does or has done UM
(21:33):
for a little while. So it's it really is in
that case just about pulling something from a totally different
arena or outside of what people are used to hearing UM.
And a lot of what we're doing is really great
branded content from a number of buzzfeeds individual channels. So
(21:53):
branded content for BuzzFeed is a is a well oiled machine,
meaning they really know what they're doing and how to
make it feel native. They are pros at this kind
of social first and video stuff. UM. When we are
doing things with peril Like, which is one of their
pages that focuses on Latino audiences UM, and we're doing
things with Tasty, which is they're really popular food brand
(22:15):
media publisher UH and so what an approachable way for
in that case, in the latter case for Dr Jill
Biden to talk about family and to talk about home
and the importance of voting even in the context of
making which they did for the world famous chicken farm.
It was great. I love it. I want that recipe.
(22:36):
I need to see that video. I think you just
gave us a couple of really important nuggets, one of
which Laura and I talked about a lot. Right, it's
not about the word innovation, which is just a weird,
bad word that doesn't really mean a lot, And they
don't think about how can you take something that's working
and actually put it into a different context with a
(22:56):
different audience, and all of a sudden there's actually something
kind of magic all that happens for both the audience
and the brand. So it's a great That is a
great kind of message because it's so critical to think
about creating some tension between the context and the audience.
It doesn't have to be net new And I love
the idea Christian of what you're talking about and developing
this partnership's team withinside Political Campaigns is really the cross
(23:21):
pollination of I p right knowing what you know the
campaign is best at, and then not necessarily having to
create something net new, but going out and finding partners
where that is their expertise, that is their skill set,
that is their platform, that is their tech stact, whatever
the case may be, and building on it. I think
that's something we've been talking a lot about on the show,
is like double down on the thing you're best at
(23:42):
and then go and bridge these external partnerships and find
ways to collaborate in new ways where one post one
may equal ten. So with that, Alexa, I think we
have a final question what is next? What is post
next week? For Christian Tom? Where are you gonna go?
What are you gonna do? I can tell you what's
next actually in terms of the campaign, which is you're
(24:04):
listening to this on election day, um, we will have
just concluded a body of work that we're um creating
right now, which is what we're calling Project seventy two.
It is the final seventy two hours leading into the
campaign and providing a really clean and clear um scaffolding
(24:29):
for people, individuals, influencers, creators, celebrities, people to help quote
unquote kind of donate their accounts to this campaign and
We're going to give people really easy and hopefully really
fun and compelling things to share on their social feeds,
(24:52):
whether that's agat, vertical or square or every every type
of format you can think of, UM with a bunch
of different esthetics that you can go and put out
on your channels. After that, meaning starting today election day,
we are also thinking a little bit about UM if
we need to have UM the same help of people
(25:15):
and influencers across the board in a scenario where this
election is not determined on the night of November three
tonight when you're listening to this, so UM, what's next
is you may well be called upon if you're listening
to this to help us make sure that the vote
count period m is H is happening, and that all
(25:39):
the votes are counted, and that UM everything is tabulated
in a way that that means that everyone's voice is heard.
So there's a there was work between now and November three, UM,
and there may well be work to be done together
after that as well. We're gonna run into our final
statement that we ask everyone to do. It's called kill
(26:01):
by d I Y. So what would you anything you want?
What would you kill? What would you purchase or acquire
What would you do yourself? And it's a lightning round.
I have a irrational dislike of umbrellas. It's kind of
a controversial take, but walking on New York City streets
with trying to dodge umbrellas and yourself trying to put
(26:23):
your umbrella down and hope other people, I would love
to just have everyone to be running in between awnings
or something instead, but that might not be totally feasible.
But I would say kill umbrellas. Umbrella is not that controversial.
I like it all right. What would you buy? I
would love to buy UH and I've had that that
did even more because right now it actually is my
(26:43):
main UH productivity machine. But I would love to buy
one that could do even more than what it does now.
And Apple just released their new iPads, So I think
you're in luck and oh boy, what would you do yourself?
We like everyone else, I've been doing a lot of
baking um, but we've also been therefore been doing a
(27:08):
lot of a lot of cooking. So what I would
love to learn how to d I y really well?
UM is more interesting dishes and Christian If people want
to send you recipes or get in touch with you
about future collaborations. Are partnerships post election? How can they
get in touch with you? I guess Twitter is probably
(27:28):
best on Twitter. I'm at ce L Tom ce L
t O M, so please hit me up. And I
really appreciate both of you, and thank you for having me. Christian,
thank you so much. Good luck the next eight days
and beyond. We hope you'll come back. Yes, thank you.
We'll see you soon, Christian, take care. Thank you so much.
Alexa and I wanted to take a collective pause this
(27:52):
election day and talk about turning busy into being. We're
welcoming Kristin Mitchell, founder of Nourish the People. Kristen, welcome
to Atlantia. Thank you so much for having me. I'm
so happy to be here. I would love for you
to take everyone on your journey um over the last
few years in working in the health and wellness space.
Of course, well it's always a long story how people
(28:15):
get really into wellness, deeply into this work. But I
think with me, it really started way back when I
was probably about fifteen is when I started doing yoga,
so yoga with my free into everything. My mom did
it as long as I can remember, so throughout my life,
yoga has always been a constant. I moved to New York,
very busy environment, had a lot of crazy jobs, and
I realized over time that as I was dealing with
(28:38):
more and more anxiety and more and more stressful situations,
it was returning back to that practice in that room
that I had had since I was fifteen that really
kept me grounded and kind of sane. So eventually I
hit a low point in ironically four years ago cycles
and decided that I just wanted to learn more about yoga,
(29:01):
but beyond that, learn more about I guess why it
worked for me. So I went deep into a two
teacher training program and then from there it's just been
kind of the rest of my life. That was really
the first big door that opened and clicked in my mind.
And spending that much time thinking about yoga, mindfulness, the
background of it, the history, it really changed my perspective
(29:25):
on how I behave, how I see things, and really
how I live. So pause on that one. Around that
same time, I was working a bunch of different random
jobs because just pivot, you know, and I ended up
meeting Laura, and that was another really big turning point.
For me because I saw something in you that I loved,
(29:46):
and I also saw that there were so many aspects
of what you were doing in the way that you
were living throughout your day that could benefit from me
being there to provide support from these teachings that I
had been practicing for a really long time. So that's
kind of where my my wellness practice as an individual
in my work, they kind of started to come together
(30:09):
as one, and that eventually ended up informing Nourish the
People in my mission now, which is helping really motivated
creative doers in this world who we really need, and
there are so many of them, and especially in this
time in particular, there's so many activists and entrepreneurs have
to think differently and everyone's really being pushed. So I
(30:32):
want to provide a platform and practices that are simple
to help people always be able to return to their
sense of calm even in these very chaotic situations, because
that's ultimately what I've been trying to do for myself
and when I was able to do for Laura a
little bit. Let's talk about nourish the people, talk about
(30:53):
building this brand of course, well again, I mean I
kind of have I kind of have you to thank
for it, honestly, Laura, because as I was working with you,
and as I was working in an agency, and this
was my first exposure to agency life. Of course, um,
we were working together today every day on the regular,
but then I was also in an office of just brilliant,
(31:14):
brilliant people who are just churning and doing so much
all of the time. So that kind of inspired something
in me to think, Huh, how can I simplify all
of this information that I have in my mind, all
of this information about food I've I've went to Institute
of Integrative Nutrition. So there's that side, all this information
(31:34):
about mindfulness, about yoga, about breathwork, about meditation, but simple
down to a point where it's not intimidating, there's not
a barrier to entry, but rather it can be really
grasp herbal, really practical, and these creatives and doers can
integrate these things into their life in little tiny bits
every single day to make a difference. And I think
(31:57):
that we are in this era of just doing, doing, doing, going, going, going.
So if I can even find an ounce like two, three,
five minutes of someone's day to kind of help them
set a boundary or help them take a pause and
make it not intimidating. Then that's the goal, that's the mission.
(32:18):
So give us a few examples of that. So the
first thing that I'd say, and I preach this all
the time recently, especially to myself, is when you are
having a moment of complete overwhelm or anxiety or stress
or whatever it is, don't fight it. I think we
are also in this society where we really try to
escape negative feelings and escape discomfort. And the fact of
(32:41):
the matter is where in a challenging time, everyone's having
a hard year in these types of emotions and these
types of feelings are just going to happen. So when
you can sit there and just acknowledge what it is
that you're feeling, just by acknowledging it, just by putting
the verbiage around, not saying like I am anxious, but
(33:01):
just saying I'm experiencing anxiety right now, that will help
because what that does to your mind is it tells you, oh,
I'm not actually attached to this. This is just something
that's coming through me in this moment, and eventually, like
all things, it will change. So that's my first number
one tip, right now is just be very kind to
yourself and have the wherewithal to acknowledge these hard moments
(33:24):
and just say them for what they are. This is
a hard moment. I feel really overwhelmed right now. But
that's okay because they always they change to the nature
of my mind. It's the nature of emotions. It's always shifting.
So number one. Number two, everyone says it. At nauseam,
you have to breathe. You have to breathe. I feel
(33:45):
a full breath in in, a full breath out, and
repeat that. Can we just do that right now together? Yeah,
let's do it, all right, everyone, Let's do this, okay, everyone, So,
wherever you're sitting, if you're sitting cross legged, if you're
sitting with your feet on the ground, I just un
crossed my legs and put my feet down. The first
thing that you do is you notice your point of
(34:05):
contact with the floor, because that feeling of gravity, that
feeling of being supported, will always calm your nervous system.
It will always let you know that you're okay, you're held,
you're in the car, wherever you are, it doesn't matter.
Just notice your seat, notice the bottoms of your feet.
Let the breath come out of your body and then
(34:28):
take a full inhale into your nose, ride the breath
all the way down into your belly, fill your belly
exand and then just acts how let it go. There
you go. That's number two. It works every time, instantly
(34:50):
feeling better. Yes, it instantly works. And it's so silly
because it's so simple, but it always works. So that's
my big thing number two that I with say, and
the number three, which is actually this is funny. It's
popping into my mind right now, so I'm just going
to go for it. Remember the moments that you felt
really good. There's a lot of emphasis around even myself
(35:13):
like stress and anxiety, but I think it's important to
have a note or a photo or something of a
time when you just mentally felt really well, really on
it and just really good, really like yourself, and go
back to that moment, maybe close your eyes and just
put yourself back in that headspace, use your imagination just
(35:34):
what you what did you feel at that time, just
as a reminder to your body and to your mind
that you can easily go back there. As you've been building,
have you recognized patterns with executives that you've worked with
that have informed your services in terms of what you're
offering through nurse of people, both in the content of
your newsletter, but also in the services that you're designing,
(35:55):
be at yoga, practice, coaching, meditation, et cetera. Have there
been patterned There's always patterns. We're all kind of all
cycling around many of the same things, just in our
own unique ways. One thing that I noticed a lot
that I also personally deal with, of course, is perfectionism.
This this idea of needing to maintain all of these
(36:16):
really really high standards that we build for ourselves constantly.
That's a big one. Another really big one is just
generally lack of boundaries. There's a lack of boundary now,
especially in homes, because you're working, you're doing everything from
your space. So how can you help people adjust their
physical environments, in their mindset around their physical environments to
(36:37):
create boundaries for themselves within their days. That's a really
big one that I think a lot of people are
working through right now. And another one that I want
to say that's again a little bit cheesy, but you've
got to just hang with me, is just needing to
be easier on yourself it's everyone gets really wrapped up
(36:59):
in really stress stubt in things that aren't going, things
that aren't meeting expectations. And I think it's so important
collectively across the board for everyone to just be gentle
with yourself, be kind no matter what you're doing right now,
just recognize there's so so much happening that that's one
of the most important things that you can do. So
(37:20):
christ and I always hear that, like people always say,
be kind to yourself, be you know, don't be so
hard on yourself. And I always say, what does that
look like? What does that look like? Why do you
do that? What does that mean? A great questions, such
a good question. It's it's another thing where you have
to work on it. It does not come naturally. The
nature of the mind is always too critique, to criticize,
(37:43):
to over analyze, to perpetuate bad situations. Is a way
to protect us, essentially from ourselves from anything that could
possibly happen. This is something I wrote about recently where
that's why I think it's important to understand that and
be friend that aspect of your mind because all of
the negative self talk, all of the anxiety it's coming
(38:04):
from a place of ultimate protection our mind, our body.
They just want us to be safe. So it's trying
to anticipate where we could go wrong, which is where
we end up being really really hard on ourselves because
we think about all the things that we could potentially
do wrong or not meet expectations, or ways we could
potentially get rejected. So one of the ways to remedy
(38:26):
that is to first of all, get clear about where
you're being harsh on yourself. Get crystal clear. That's always
where I start understand what's the thought, what is the language,
what is the fear? What is it that I'm beating
myself up about? Right, So get very very clear and
concise about the harshness. And then this is I'll put
(38:48):
this is a new thing that I've actually been working
on recently that I'll put out there because it was effective. Um,
give yourself. Start write down advice. If you think about, well,
let's say let's pretend someone else did the things to
you that you're anxious about that you're beating yourself about.
Your best friend just went and you know, they messed
up a presentation or whatever it is, and they're just
(39:10):
beating themselves up about it. Sit down and write advice
to them. What would you say to them in that
moment right now to kind of help them feel better
to a friend, just write it and then sit there
and read it and give that advice to yourself and
just take it in take your own advice. It's really
(39:32):
interesting how we always know what we need. We always
have the answers. You just have to slow down and
ask the question and then be willing to listen to it.
Christ and I love that. It's super simple. I think
it's just right. And one of the things that you
talk a lot about is slow down. What can people
(39:54):
do right now? Because we're not in an industry that's
slow ever, we're actually the industry it's pushing the pace, right,
So what can people do to actually use the energy,
like take negative energy and take that push and take
that speed and actually turn it into something that's propelling,
(40:15):
Like how do people start to think about that? Like
I know, I know Laura really well. Laura knows me
really well. One thing that we have in common is
that we both work well one under pressure and with speed.
In fact, when we're slower, we seem to get a
little frustrated. How do we take that negative energy and
kind of reframe it and push it into a creative place,
(40:38):
push it into something that's going to help us. So
the first thing I want to touch on that I
think is so important to you said, when you slow down,
it's frustrating. Yeah, that is one of the key components
that I am trying to kind of undo with people
like yourself, that that slow down time is so crucial
(41:01):
to fuel the going time, the fast time, the under
pressure time. So a huge practice, everything is a practice.
I'll use that word in a nauseam. A huge practice
is recognizing when you're slow and being okay with the discomfort,
in knowing that the slowness is always a precedent prior
(41:25):
to moving really quickly and moving into the doing, and
that you will actually do so much better if you
give yourself that time to be slow. You have to
have both. We you just you have to have both.
It's the nature. You cannot always be doing doing, doing, going,
or you burnout, right burnout, that's all that is. So
(41:45):
embrace the slow even if it's uncomfortable. Just sit there
and think, why am I so uncomfortable? What is this?
And is there something that I could read? Is there
something that I could listen to is there a way
I could move go on a walk to process this
feeling throughout my body and make it feel okay. Feelings changed? Yeah,
I love the feelings change. That's like such an under
(42:08):
under understood right, the thing that feelings are actually constantly
moving um and typically when we're not feeling good, it
feels like they're there forever. What are the services that
you're offering now as Nourished the People is in development
(42:28):
to executives who may want to email you directly after
listening to this episode. Absolutely well. The first I always
have my newsletter. The newsletter is the core of Nourish,
so you can always find me there. I also do
one on one private sessions. I teach what's called yin yoga.
So yin is slow, it is low to the ground.
(42:49):
It is not entirely restorative. You move a tiny bit more,
but it is just putting you into your body, really
getting you into your body and breathings so that you're
anatomy begins to relax. And then along with the in session,
I do a short conversation just to the beginning. I
help people focus in on one mental hang up, whatever
(43:12):
it is. One stressed, one anxiety, one thing that just
won't shut up in their mind. And then we kind
of move and meditate and do some visualization in accordance
to that one hang up. And then I provide practices.
I provide suggestions. What's one two minute thing you can
do every day that could help you? I say two
(43:33):
minutes and emphasize that because one of the things that
I want to do with Nourish the People and working
with executives in particulars, I know time is so valuable
and so limited, and oftentimes that's all that they have,
but it's enough to make a really substantial difference. Otherwise
I wouldn't be doing this. I would say Christen that
I know you're you offer up two minutes, but having
worked with you, those two minutes easily turned into twenty
(43:54):
minutes and in some instances two hours. So so to
everyone listening, I think for stop, sign up for Nourish
the People newsletters that Nourish the People dot co CEO
and christ and if people want to get in touch
with you to talk about the practice, sign up for
your services. How can they get in touch with you?
Absolutely you can find me on Instagram at nourish the
(44:17):
People dot Co. That's CEO. You can also email me
Kristen k R I S T I n AT Nourish
the People dot Co. That's also available on my website.
I would love so much to talk to you, so
feel free slide into my DM, send me a note
comment on something and I would I would just love
to chat and hear about how you're doing and how
(44:37):
you're handling this year and if there's anything that I
can maybe offer up to help. I think that just
st even your your presence, but you're you know, really
smart advice. Um, it's just something that, especially in this industry,
we need more of. Thank you so much for coming
by and bringing some pause to this election day. We
appreciate the conversation and you, of course so happy to
(45:00):
be here. Thank you too for having me so what
an amazing episode, feeling all types of push and pull,
thinking about pace, the meaning of pausing to push forward,
(45:21):
finding space to really think and create. And Alexa, there
was also something you said in our conversation with Christian
that really stuck with me. This idea of brand acting
like they're in an election cycle and starting to connect
some some signals here right, we heard from Lisa Sherman.
The idea of speed over perfection. We're hearing in this
(45:41):
episode with Christian, the idea of putting out a minimum
viable product and building an iterating quickly if it lands.
What do you think that this is signaling to brand
marketers in which pace is moving faster and faster every day.
I think there's, you know, the new kind of there's
a new kind of emphasis that's been put on marketers
(46:05):
around creating something new, always creating something new, and that
there's value in that. What Christian said that I thought
was so smart was it's almost like ready mades. Do
anyone to know what a ready made is? It's an art, right,
You're using found objects and you're creating something new, Like
(46:25):
if there's something that is essential in a presidential election
by using audiences, communities, things that are existing media, media products, platforms, etcetera.
That they put a spin on, and you know, I
think Christian really hit on it. And we've done this, Laura,
(46:46):
we've talked about this a lot, even in season one.
In season two, how do you take a property, uh
partner and collaborate and find where your brand in their
brand is additive or an experience at it have not
adjacent as the line I believe we always used to
use exactly additive, not adjacent. And I think that Christian
(47:06):
really hit on that. And brands, you know, election cycles
are short. They're short for all intents and purposes and
their high stakes. And I think if the brands start
to think about themselves and their activity, their marketing activity
like that, it will create collaboration over competition, which Lisa
(47:28):
Sherman talked about. It will create new from already created.
And maybe there shouldn't be a premium or the shiny
object kind of requirement for a marketer. It should be
how are you looking at things that exist that are
doing well that you could use in a different way,
(47:49):
Things that have community that you could enter into in
a different way. And I think that was a big
point that I got from Christian. He doesn't have time, right,
they don't have time to build constantly something that's new,
but they did. I couldn't agree more. And I think
there's two additional takeaways that I was left thinking about
(48:11):
following that conversation. Was one incredibly important to go to
where the consumer or in this case, the voter is,
you know, all of the partnerships that Christian was talking
about via cameo TikTok animal crossing, going to where the
customer or voter is thinking about AOC showing up on Twitch,
(48:37):
going to where the customer or the voter is And
so you know that being one the second that I
took away, double down on the thing that you're best at,
and collaborate and cross pollinate with others who are best
at what they do, and find ways to iterate and
build versus having to continually build net new yep. I agree,
(48:59):
totally agree in the market that where and I think
it is extremely difficult to be everything to everyone and
so what is the thing that you own that you
do better than anyone and then build partnerships within your
ecosystem to allow you to iterate and scale and to
do that we need Kristin Mitchell to help us clear
our heads, take a breath. Christen is such a clear
(49:22):
thinker for me. You know what's really interesting is, and
we talked about this. I have, we both have, let's
just be honest, a hard time slowing down. But one
of the things that I think, you know Christen said
was this idea around slowing down actually allows you to
speed up, and that was one of the probably most
(49:46):
important things for me. And I can't speak for everyone, Laura,
I can't speak for you Lord knows um, but but
I today has been in highly anticipated day for me.
I've been super anxious about it. It I think saying right,
I know we've talked about it, and I think it's
really important that we all do what we have to do.
(50:07):
So with that one last collective breath with Kristin Mitchell, Okay,
let's do it. Okay, everyone, close your eyes, fill your
seat underneath you, fill the bottoms of your feet, Take
a big inhal through your nose. The breath moves all
the way down through your throat into your belly. By exhale.
(50:30):
There you go, get out and vote. Laura hit it
with the list of all of our friends and family
at my heart who have been so good at us
and helped us get back on air. Big thank you
to Bob Conald, Carter, Andy, Eric gayle Vow, Michael jen
We appreciate you. Thank you so much for this opportunity.
We'll see you in two weeks.
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