November 20, 2025 • 32 mins
On this episode of Her Playbook, Madelyn Burke sits down with Managing Director of Ticketmaster, North America, Marla Ostroff. As a 30 year Ticketmaster veteran, Marla has played a role in every major industry trend and milestone over the last three decades – hard tickets to computerized, outlets to internet, third party competition to self-ticketing, primary to secondary and many others. Marla and her team are dedicated to strengthening and supporting key business relationships with some of Ticketmaster’s largest clients and partners, while continuing to drive strategic new growth opportunities. Presented by Kendra Scott.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to an all new episode of her Playbook. Her
Playbook podcast is presented by Kendra Scott. Game Day Just
Got Personal. Find your winning look at Kendra Scott where
team spirit meets personal style. Shop jewelry, accessories and more
at your New York area Kendra Scott store or online
at kendrascott dot com. I'm Madeline Burke and I am
(00:20):
thrilled to be joined by Marla Ostrov on this episode,
the managing director of North America at Ticketmaster. Marla, First
of all, thank you so much for taking the time.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Oh, thank you fjoring being here, having you here.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
It's such a cool space. And thank you for hosting
us here in New York City. You've been in the
ticketing industry for over thirty years. First of all, how
did that start? I love the story of a young
bartender at college, kind of having a Kismet conversation.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yes, well, you know, first of all, in college, I
was really interested in sports, like I'm a big spectator
sport fan. Did not play basketball or football for that matter,
in college, but I played basketball in high school. So
when I got to college, really interested in it. But
I needed to work part time and I needed to
do my studies. So I ended up working at a
(01:12):
bar where a guy who was really involved in the
university and really involved with the basketball program. He would
come in every day, not drink, he would clean my tables.
He would talk to me and say, I love the
fact that you study and you're doing this at the
same time. And he said, I'd love your personality. And
(01:32):
he just said one day I'm going to hire you.
And I found out what he did, and he worked
in ticketing, and I went away and went to Europe
after college, and he then found me and said I
need you to go to New York and interview for
a job. And that was it.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Wow. And now, I mean, over three decades later, you've
seen so much evolution in the ticketing space, watching it
evolve from paper ticket to digital and when you look
at all the transitions over the years, what has been
the most surprising change for you?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Well, I think the biggest change was when we really
went to the internet and started selling tickets on the internet.
And that is when Ticketmaster was primarily owned by Paul
Allen from Microsoft, and he and Fred Rosen are chairman
at the time, really pushed to get the clients even
(02:28):
comfortable with the idea of people are going to be
putting credit cards online. So it was a huge transition
and that's been the exciting part for me is seeing
the teams and the even on the concert and.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Theater side, how they've evolved.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
From going on the internet feeling comfortable with that, to
then going to paper tickets, to then going to digital
tickets and now we're going into the world of AI
and that can open up a lot more as well.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Yeah. Well, and you mentioned too that the comfort level
of putting a credit card in is something new, and
you know, each new frontier poses new challenges, right you
go from waiting around the block in a long line
to you know, a long queue or dealing with bots
or what have you. How do you continue to navigate
the different challenges that come up with each new iteration
(03:18):
of the growth.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yeah, well that's you know, when I look at Ticketmaster
has been around for a long time, and part.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Of it is because we have to always be ahead
of that.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
And it is complicated because if you're sitting at your computer,
you don't really realize how many people want that show,
and you think I want to go to that show
or I really want to go to that game, and
you don't understand.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
That there are other people who also are.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Interested in that. And so I think for us, it's
also being now transparent to show people how many people
are in the queue. It might be daunting and upsetting
to know that there are probably twenty thousand other people
or maybe more who want to go, But at the
same time, I think being transparent and then and being
able to tell people who are purchasing tickets, here's the reality,
(04:10):
here's what the stadium holds. Having people understand our business
a little more, because I think we've so many times
sold out so many big events that it becomes sort
of like expected. And at the same time, there's even
from my when I started, there are people who try
to gain the system, and they try to whether they
(04:33):
used to stand at ticket outlets and put people there
to buy tickets, whether they put people on the phone
to try and get them through phone orders back when
we did that, to now having people online or through
bots trying to get tickets. So we have a huge
group that just deals with bod control security because that's
(04:54):
always you know, a ticket is a very hot commodity.
It's a passionate purchase. Different than buying anything else online.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yeah, it's an experience, it's a memory that you're buying.
I'm always curious to how are price points decided? Is
that something that you work with an artist, a team,
a venue on Is that something that's the supplying de man.
How does the price of a ticket get decided?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Good question, because contrary to popular belief, the team or
the artist decides the ticket price. It's always their decision
what they're going to charge. So, you know, teams make
a decision every year as to how their ticket prices
should be laid out, and an artist, as they go
on tour decides the same thing. And I think that
(05:41):
people have seen prices go up. Some of it might
be that an artist or a team is putting more
money into.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
The product, whether it's the players, whether it's.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
The stadium, or in the case of a concert, it
might be that the you know, an artist like Billie
Eilish might have twelve trucks to put everything on her
stage and do an incredible concert, and that costs money,
so you know, they too want have to be paid
for what they're doing and putting on this incredible event.
(06:12):
I just think that also because of resale, and sometimes
it's blurry to people when they're going on resale sites
as to what is the artist or the team's price
versus what is someone reselling that ticket.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah, no, that's interesting and it's such a different experience
for the consumer for each one. Ticketmaster also recently got
into Broadway and theater earlier this year in a different capacity.
How would you characterize the different experience with Ticketmaster and
working with you know, a sports team, a musician, Broadway show.
(06:45):
How is that a different approach?
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Yeah, you know, it's.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So it's interesting. We have well, we have been working
with Broadway for a long time. The difference now is
we actually have more theaters that we sell for broad
So not only do we sell you know, we were
selling about ten theaters. Now we're selling over forty some theaters.
(07:09):
And with that we're able to, you know, again because
our brand is sort of ubiquitous with you know, in
many markets across the country. With oh I'm going to
look for entertainment, like I'm looking at Amazon for maybe
a product, I'm looking at entertainment, I'm gonna go to Ticketmaster.
So someone in Ohio might look at Ticketmaster to go
(07:31):
to Broadway and so we're able to bring more eyeballs
to people who are coming to New York. But we
also sell theater across the country. So we have probably
about a few hundred theaters that we do season tickets with.
And that's why. It's actually very similar to sports, and
many times we actually put together our sports and theater
(07:53):
clients because they're dealing with the same kind of things
when they're talking about what they can offer.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Their season ticket holders.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
As part of you know, what added benefits can they
have as being a season ticket holder. It doesn't matter
if it's theater or sports. It's very very similar.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, it's so unique too to be a part of
a company, of an organization that has such a solid brand. Right.
Ticketmaster is a name that you'd say and everyone knows
what you're talking about. I think most of us have
the app on our phone and have used it to
buy and experience a ticket to an event, a game,
a concert, or whatnot. It's one thing to get to
(08:33):
that point in an industry, but to stay there and
to maintain that top spot. What is the secret to
staying on top once you've established yourself as the.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Go to Well, you know, we always have competition, and
I think that like any other company, I think for
us it's about being really connected to our clients and
listening to them, understanding what their needs are, and then
trying to bring them products, new products that are going
to whether help them get people into their venues or
(09:05):
whether it's helping a season ticket holder be able to
transfer their ticket in a different way. Just I think
you know, for us, it's always about bringing new people
into our company as well, who are.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Married up with people like me who have a.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Passion all my life for ticketing and what we do
and understand that side of the business with technology, people
who say, okay, why don't we think about what's the next.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Best way to purchase a ticket.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
How to make it easier, and how to make the
fan experience always a good one.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
And when you first got into this industry and into
this business, it was a very male dominant field and
it still perhaps is. How have you seen that evolve
over the years.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
You know, I'd like to see it evolve more. So
hopefully before I end my career, I will see it
even grow more because I see so many great women
that I think would like to be in more senior
positions in particular in sports, but I see it on
the concert side of our business as well. For me,
(10:12):
I didn't even think about it. It's I think about
this a lot. I didn't even think about going into
a room with men. I thought more about the fact
that I was the youngest person, because I think the
two men that I worked for that had the greatest
influence on me, because at the time I worked with
a lot of men were both like, do not think
(10:35):
about anybody.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Else but yourself, like say to yourself.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I can do this, and they never brought up the
woman word or none of that. So it was more
about me and what I should be doing. So I
think that you know, in particular, the first person I
worked for, who I met at the bar, he really
was I don't care what people think I'm gonna wear
(11:01):
if i'm if I want to wear jeans to work,
I'm gonna wear jeans to work, And back then you
didn't wear geens to work. He said, people should accept
you for you, but you need to be really really direct,
really open, so that people know you and it does
shouldn't matter who are what you are. So I think
(11:22):
that for me between him and then, and his name
was Mark Schoener. And then the other person was Fred Rosen,
who was a very and is a very direct person
and he really promoted women men. It didn't matter like
I didn't see a difference, and he put a lot
into me and helping me be a more I think, bold,
(11:45):
emboldened person. And so I see now that when people
ask well did you ever see a difference, as I
say to you, I really I really didn't, even though
I had a couple experien variances where.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
It was brought up.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Sure I could relay one if you'd like. Yeah, it
was many years ago. I was with a team president
and were sitting at the table and negotiating a contract,
and I had in this probably was now about eighteen
years ago, and I had a group of men who
(12:23):
worked for me at the table as well. I was
the only woman in the room. Again, I didn't really
think about that. I was thinking more that I really
didn't know this man. He was old, a little bit older.
And actually it was longer than eighteen years ago. It
was probably more like twenty eight. It was probably thirty
years ago. How time high is? Yeah, and he wouldn't
(12:47):
he I was like right across, just like you are
and he was talking, but he was looking at the
man next to me, and he wasn't looking at me.
And the man next to me, who was older than
me worked for me, kicked me and said, why isn't
he looking at you? And I said, don't worry about it.
I'll do the talking. We'll get this deal done. I'll
(13:08):
worry about it later. So got the deal done. Two
years later, I had to renegotiate with this man and
came in and he's looking at me the whole time
I'm talking. He's smiling, he's engaged, and I was like,
what happened in two years? And I hadn't talked to
him a lot in those two years, a few times,
(13:29):
but you know, I've had enough conversation that I felt
comfortable again just looking at him. And at the end
of our meeting, he said, you know, Marla, I just
want to tell you we have a mutual friend. And
he mentioned the person. And at first I thought, oh gosh,
what did this person say, because it's sort of it
was another It was a person I knew in sports
(13:51):
who was a little had always a lot of strong opinions.
But he said, you know, Marley, he told me that
you will always tell me the truth and you have balls,
And I was like at first, says whoa. And after
that we had the best relationship. We still do have
(14:11):
a great relationship, and you know, I sort of asked
him why he didn't really directly look at me, and
he said, well, I didn't really know you, and for me,
he said, I really have to know you. But and
it wasn't again, it wasn't about what sex I was.
It was more I think at the time though he
had never really negotiated with a woman and he had
(14:33):
to get sort of my seal of approval from this
other person.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
So it all worked out great.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Yeah, it's his own comfort level in terms of okay,
this is a new experience for me, and combined with
I think you know a lot of women in fields
that are more male dominant would experience the same thing.
It's that, okay, it takes somebody else to vouch for
this person is actually for real to be seen in
that way. At times. I do like, though, how you
brought up the just bold and honest conversation and I
(15:02):
know that in your mentorship of you know, especially of
younger women, but a lot of people coming up in
this business that's the point of emphasis for you is
just being bold, direct, honest. It seems like so simple
of a concept. But how important is that and how
you know? Have you seen challenges with that with some
people coming up in the business.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yes, I think that sometimes people hold back because they're afraid.
They're afraid if they say the wrong thing. And I
think if you're passionate about you In my case, I'm
passionate about my clients and I'm passionate about the team
that I work with, and I always feel like if
I don't say something, but you just have to know
when and where to say it. You can't just blurt
(15:47):
out every time you have a feeling or emotion. But
I think from a business standpoint, there should be no
reason that you don't sit down and if you have
your facts together as to why you're bringing this up,
and yes it might be very direct, everybody knows where
you stand. And then I think in my case, I
(16:10):
think you know the clients I work with know that
I'm always going to be that person for them, as
well as I hope the team that I work with
feels the same way.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
You've become such a force to be reckoned with in
this industry and have garnered so much respect around it,
and I find it fascinating how well you balance that
with also being a mother and the experience it took
to become a mother. And I think that I mean,
you were telling me a little bit about this story,
which I find mind blowing and fascinating. If you don't mind.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Sharing, sure, sure, because I like to tell people all
the time. Number one, do not put a time frame
on anything on yourself, whether it's your career, whether it's
finding a partner, whether it's having children. Sort of, I
don't have a time clock in my head. I just
say sooner or later, these things will happen, and if
they don't happen, other things will happen to me that
(17:06):
will be just as fulfilling. And so that was always
in my head. I'm very fortunate. Everything I'm going to
tell you about my experience of my pregnancy, I credit
my partner, my husband, who is an incredible partner for me,
because I wouldn't be able to have gone through that
without him. So I know I had challenges getting pregnant.
(17:31):
I was an older mom, and once I got pregnant,
super excited, and I had a complication they said I'd
have to be on bed rest for two weeks at
the most. They thought maybe a week ended up that
it wasn't. I was having issues with amniotic fluid on
(17:52):
one of my twins, which I was having twins, So
they said, you need to be on bed rest in
the hospital. So they put me in the hospital. Well,
I didn't want to anybody at work to know so,
and I didn't want my clients to know. I was
in the middle of negotiating. Actually it was twenty five
years ago right now.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
I was as a.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Matter of fi, right now, I was negotiating the US
OPEN and we hadn't had the US OPEN contract. So
the president of the USTA at the time said to me,
you really need to come up here to White Planes
when they had an office there, and he said, I
really want your team. I want to see the passion
that you have for getting this business.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
So here I am.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I'm in the hospital. I'm like oh. So I thought, okay,
my team will go up, I will be on conference call.
They'll well back then again, no smartphones, right, so I
was on conference call several times because I said to
my EA at the time, transfer all the calls to
(18:49):
my hospital phone. Don't tell them I'm in a hospital,
Just say hold on please. She would tell me who's
on the line. Meantime, the nurses would come in in
the morning. They would say, what's your conference call schedule today?
And I would let them know so they could do
their tests during the In the middle of that, and
(19:09):
next thing, I knew that I'm on the phone with
this person from the USTA and I hear him say
you know. I hear him mumbling something, and then out loud,
he goes, you know, Marla, I just said, why aren't
you here?
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Like this is crazy.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
You want my business, but you're not here. And I
hear a person who worked with me at the time
say she's in the hospital. She's having twins, blah blah blah.
And he like got very quiet, and he goes, well, Marla,
why didn't you tell me? He goes, you remember, my
wife had triplets and was on bed rest at home
(19:44):
for weeks, and he said, I said, because I didn't
want you to stop calling me. I didn't want you
to stop dealing with me. So I ended up being
in the hospital for one hundred and eight days and
then I actually one of my twins had to stay
there for a month, So I was going back and
forth from the hospital to my house, so my baby
(20:06):
at home. Then i'd go to the baby at the hospital.
But more about the work, and I would say that
number one, I am very fortunate. I have worked with
great people. I take amaster and so it's the support
of those people that has really helped me as well.
So I could have that ruse for a while without
(20:27):
Finally it did get out, but you know, again, I
was so exhausted every day. Mentally, I would be so
thrilled that by seven o'clock I'd go, Okay, no more
phone calls. Didn't really get out of.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Bed, but was really excited about that.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
And then I would really think about the fact that
I was going to leave there with two babies no
matter what. I was just projecting that in my head.
But I think that for other women and other women
that I talked to who are having children and complications.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Over the years that I've with, I always say, if.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
You don't have a job that you could do from
your hospital bed, not everybody is as fortunate as I was.
If you don't have that, find projects things that you
can do if you you know, because you want to
have that baby, but hopefully you can. If you can work,
there are things that you could still do. So I'm
(21:21):
very lucky Ticketmaster was incredibly supportive, probably because we did
get the US open and three other contracts done from
my hospital bed, so it was quite It was quite
a good year.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Honestly, that is a very particular skill set. To be
able to negotiate a huge contract from a hospital bed
is incredible. I don't think a lot of people can
put that on their resume, I hope not over not.
It is also too kind of a testament to how
you know the experience of being a woman in an
industry like this, when you kind of feel like you
want to have to, you know, keep that a little
bit secret at times to be able to be taken
(21:55):
as seriously or considered as seriously as some of your
counterparts in the industry.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Right, And that's why I say, you don't I didn't want.
And again I'm not sure if it was just about
being a woman, but maybe that was in my head like, oh, yes,
I'm having these babies, but they're not going to call
me now, and how do I continue that conversation?
Speaker 3 (22:18):
But I did. I will say also.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
I think it's extremely important to then take that time
and be able to, you know, those couple of months afterwards,
be able to spend that time. I'm very fortunate for
my team here. My team gets six months attorney and
pat leave. So I think that is a really great
thing for women today. Back I got three months. I
(22:44):
was I will admit I was sort of excited to
walk into my office though, after being in the hospital
all those months.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
I think something about your story tells me you enjoy.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
What you do for work. I do. I do.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, that is great. I mean and you know, thinking
about all of the experiences that you've had with your
time at time maket master is there. You know, you've
negotiated a lot of big deals. Obviously this US open
one from the hospital bed is a standout one. But
is there another story or perhaps the most rewarding experience
that you can remember from your time?
Speaker 2 (23:15):
You know, I've had, really, I've had so many. I
think for me when we first when I came to
take a master, they had been probably for ten ten years,
a small company, and then Fred Rosen came into the
companies said I really want to grow this thing. So
I think for me, being part of really it was
(23:36):
like being part of a startup and opening offices and
being flexible. And I think that's really what helped me
in my career. Really from the very beginning, I would.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Go work box office that I'd offer.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
To help behind you know.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Do will call, do whatever I could to help.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Because I really want to also understand how people were
working with our product and what they went through. So
I think that opening all those offices, training people. I
had a senior position then, but I still didn't feel
like just because I had this title that I couldn't
(24:13):
do these other things. And I think that is actually
what really has helped my career because I've never thought about, well,
I'm now a general manager, I'm now an EVP. It
doesn't matter what your title. You have to work together
as a team and do anything to sort of help
grow your business. And so at the time we were
(24:34):
going into Buffalo, New York, we were going into Virginia
and to I can name many markets Philadelphia, and it
was exciting for me. I didn't, you know, and I
really offered to travel a lot. I probably gave up
some great activities that you know, back home, and I remember,
(24:55):
you know, I remember thinking to myself that this is
so exciting that what we're going to end up accomplishing,
and so I think, really, I can't. I can tell
you that a lot of contracts and negotiating that I've
done over the years has been really fun and some
of them not so fun sometimes, but that to me
was so rewarding.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
When you know people who are watching or listening. This
perhaps might not understand too the process of negotiating a
contract from a ticket master's side with a team, with
a league, with a event. How would you describe what
that process is and what is being negotiated there.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
So we negotiate many times with the venue and whoever
comes into that venue, whether it's the team, and the
team might own the venue, or it's a promoter, it's
really with the venue. And because what you're doing is
we negotiate for giving them not only hardware that they
can use for coming into the venue, the accessing now
(25:57):
digital tickets and scanning those to inside, which is the
part that the general fan doesn't see, and that's all
the software that is for a season ticket holder. Then
our third thing is the distribution, so we offer whether
it used to be phones and outlets, to now ticketmaster
(26:18):
dot Com as an extension to the team or the
venue's website. So it's offering all those services. And then
we also have marketing and we offer marketing services. So
it's really all about helping sell the ticket. It's also
about post sale, how someone comes into a venue. It's
(26:39):
about reporting for the team or the artists so that
they have reports on and then it's also for knowing
who's coming into the venue. You want to know that
Marla's coming in and ultimately we want to know now
like does Marla like hot dogs and French fries? We
should be making sure that she knows that we're serving
(27:01):
that today and here's where she can go get that.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
So it's it's really all about.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
And that's where I say we work with our teams
and our venues to make sure that we're providing tools
that they can talk to their fans, because our fans
are their fans, right and we're just trying to help
them sell as many tickets as they can.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, So in negotiating with a venue, perhaps you get
a deal with MetLife Stadium, which you know covers the
Giants and the Jets games, but also the musicians that
are coming to perform there, and that's kind of all
under one umbrella.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Correct, Okay, correct, that's fascinating.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
There's so many nuances to this industry that I think
people you know, use on a daily basis and see
on a daily basis. But there's so much going on
in so many layers to it.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Well, that's what we say all the time, like, no
one really understands ticketing because all you got, I got
my ticket, I have my ticket, and it's the on sale,
but it's all the things that go behind it. And
then that's the technology. And you know, that's why a
lot of ticketing companies have sort of come and gone
because to put money into that technology to make sure
(28:11):
that massive on sales go smoothly, and you know there
are always a couple that might not and hopefully the
majority of them. In our case. Do we sell millions
and millions of tickets a month and you know we
also unfortunately get billions of bot attacks and it's, as
(28:31):
we talked about earlier, how do you block that and
how do you have a great on sale? And you're
never going to make everybody happy because either they didn't
get the seat they wanted, they didn't get a ticket
because it got you know, the event was sold out,
But how do you then make them come back and
note that they're always going to have a real ticket.
Number one is that these days is extremely important and
(28:54):
that it was an easy process. Even if you didn't
have to didn't get the ticket you wanted, it wasn't
an arduous process.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Now, as a professional in this industry as long as
you have been, when you look back at the earlier
days of your career, or perhaps look at some of
the younger professionals coming into whether it be ticketing or
an industry of their choice, what is one piece of
advice that you would want to give either your younger
self or the younger generation as they kind of venture
into trying to establish themselves in their chosen field.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Well, my younger self, I'm not sure what advice i'd
give myself. Probably none of it relates to work.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
That's also fair though, I mean life is just as
important as work.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Yes, And I think I think for myself though, like
I was open to moving. I moved a bit for
my career, so I was open to moving. And as
I said, I was open to doing anything. And I remember,
I remember that one of my vice presidents said to
me at one point early early in my career, well,
(29:59):
you seem very mature, and that's why they promoted me.
And I remember thinking, I'm not that mature. But I
think it was more the fact that I was so
into what I was doing, and I was probably immature
on my personal side and maybe more mature on my
(30:20):
work side, because I really found something that I could
be passionate about. And so I think that making sure
that you're number one really getting in there and not saying, well,
what's next for me? Like I never thought about what
is next? As I said in my personal life as well,
(30:41):
I didn't think for in advance, like oh, well, if
I'm doing this, what's going to happen in two years?
Like I actually think that I talked to my kids
about this a lot, because their friends talk about, oh,
I've been somewhere a year, where am I going next?
And I say to them, what have you done in
that year? That makes it that you should move on?
(31:02):
What you have learned everything you should at that job.
Whereas I really took on so many things that people
noticed me. For what I was taking on, I wasn't
thinking about people noticing me, and moving to the next position.
So I got promoted without like having to ask or
(31:22):
without thinking about it because I volunteered. Hey, can I
go help you in Pittsburgh because I heard there's a
big event there and you guys need help. There was
a Grateful Dead show at MetLife. Can I help get
people into the venue with the ticket takers? That's you know,
(31:45):
that's how you move ahead because A you're learning more
about the business and B you know, you're showing your
coworkers also you're there in there with them. It just
I think it just makes you more more marketable and
more uh and more have more leadership qualities in the future.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
Yeah, and almost more dimensional in terms of what you
can offer too. I love that perspective. It's not necessarily
the time as much as it is you know, the
task and the experience of it all that kind of
propels you forward. Marla Ostrov, thank you so much. This
has been a really great conversation. Thank you joining this
and I really appreciate you taking the time to join
us on her playbook brought to you by Kendra Scott.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Absolutely and I love wearing my Kendra Scott today, so
thank you.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
She's game day ready.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
I am, thank you, thank you so much,
Welcome to an all new episode of her Playbook. Her
Playbook podcast is presented by Kendra Scott. Game Day Just
Got Personal. Find your winning look at Kendra Scott where
team spirit meets personal style. Shop jewelry, accessories and more
at your New York area Kendra Scott store or online
at kendrascott dot com. I'm Madeline Burke and I am
(00:20):
thrilled to be joined by Marla Ostrov on this episode,
the managing director of North America at Ticketmaster. Marla, First
of all, thank you so much for taking the time.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Oh, thank you fjoring being here, having you here.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
It's such a cool space. And thank you for hosting
us here in New York City. You've been in the
ticketing industry for over thirty years. First of all, how
did that start? I love the story of a young
bartender at college, kind of having a Kismet conversation.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yes, well, you know, first of all, in college, I
was really interested in sports, like I'm a big spectator
sport fan. Did not play basketball or football for that matter,
in college, but I played basketball in high school. So
when I got to college, really interested in it. But
I needed to work part time and I needed to
do my studies. So I ended up working at a
(01:12):
bar where a guy who was really involved in the
university and really involved with the basketball program. He would
come in every day, not drink, he would clean my tables.
He would talk to me and say, I love the
fact that you study and you're doing this at the
same time. And he said, I'd love your personality. And
(01:32):
he just said one day I'm going to hire you.
And I found out what he did, and he worked
in ticketing, and I went away and went to Europe
after college, and he then found me and said I
need you to go to New York and interview for
a job. And that was it.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Wow. And now, I mean, over three decades later, you've
seen so much evolution in the ticketing space, watching it
evolve from paper ticket to digital and when you look
at all the transitions over the years, what has been
the most surprising change for you?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Well, I think the biggest change was when we really
went to the internet and started selling tickets on the internet.
And that is when Ticketmaster was primarily owned by Paul
Allen from Microsoft, and he and Fred Rosen are chairman
at the time, really pushed to get the clients even
(02:28):
comfortable with the idea of people are going to be
putting credit cards online. So it was a huge transition
and that's been the exciting part for me is seeing
the teams and the even on the concert and.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Theater side, how they've evolved.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
From going on the internet feeling comfortable with that, to
then going to paper tickets, to then going to digital
tickets and now we're going into the world of AI
and that can open up a lot more as well.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Yeah. Well, and you mentioned too that the comfort level
of putting a credit card in is something new, and
you know, each new frontier poses new challenges, right you
go from waiting around the block in a long line
to you know, a long queue or dealing with bots
or what have you. How do you continue to navigate
the different challenges that come up with each new iteration
(03:18):
of the growth.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yeah, well that's you know, when I look at Ticketmaster
has been around for a long time, and part.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Of it is because we have to always be ahead
of that.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
And it is complicated because if you're sitting at your computer,
you don't really realize how many people want that show,
and you think I want to go to that show
or I really want to go to that game, and
you don't understand.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
That there are other people who also are.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Interested in that. And so I think for us, it's
also being now transparent to show people how many people
are in the queue. It might be daunting and upsetting
to know that there are probably twenty thousand other people
or maybe more who want to go, But at the
same time, I think being transparent and then and being
able to tell people who are purchasing tickets, here's the reality,
(04:10):
here's what the stadium holds. Having people understand our business
a little more, because I think we've so many times
sold out so many big events that it becomes sort
of like expected. And at the same time, there's even
from my when I started, there are people who try
to gain the system, and they try to whether they
(04:33):
used to stand at ticket outlets and put people there
to buy tickets, whether they put people on the phone
to try and get them through phone orders back when
we did that, to now having people online or through
bots trying to get tickets. So we have a huge
group that just deals with bod control security because that's
(04:54):
always you know, a ticket is a very hot commodity.
It's a passionate purchase. Different than buying anything else online.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yeah, it's an experience, it's a memory that you're buying.
I'm always curious to how are price points decided? Is
that something that you work with an artist, a team,
a venue on Is that something that's the supplying de man.
How does the price of a ticket get decided?
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Good question, because contrary to popular belief, the team or
the artist decides the ticket price. It's always their decision
what they're going to charge. So, you know, teams make
a decision every year as to how their ticket prices
should be laid out, and an artist, as they go
on tour decides the same thing. And I think that
(05:41):
people have seen prices go up. Some of it might
be that an artist or a team is putting more
money into.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
The product, whether it's the players, whether it's.
Speaker 2 (05:49):
The stadium, or in the case of a concert, it
might be that the you know, an artist like Billie
Eilish might have twelve trucks to put everything on her
stage and do an incredible concert, and that costs money,
so you know, they too want have to be paid
for what they're doing and putting on this incredible event.
(06:12):
I just think that also because of resale, and sometimes
it's blurry to people when they're going on resale sites
as to what is the artist or the team's price
versus what is someone reselling that ticket.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah, no, that's interesting and it's such a different experience
for the consumer for each one. Ticketmaster also recently got
into Broadway and theater earlier this year in a different capacity.
How would you characterize the different experience with Ticketmaster and
working with you know, a sports team, a musician, Broadway show.
(06:45):
How is that a different approach?
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Yeah, you know, it's.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So it's interesting. We have well, we have been working
with Broadway for a long time. The difference now is
we actually have more theaters that we sell for broad
So not only do we sell you know, we were
selling about ten theaters. Now we're selling over forty some theaters.
(07:09):
And with that we're able to, you know, again because
our brand is sort of ubiquitous with you know, in
many markets across the country. With oh I'm going to
look for entertainment, like I'm looking at Amazon for maybe
a product, I'm looking at entertainment, I'm gonna go to Ticketmaster.
So someone in Ohio might look at Ticketmaster to go
(07:31):
to Broadway and so we're able to bring more eyeballs
to people who are coming to New York. But we
also sell theater across the country. So we have probably
about a few hundred theaters that we do season tickets with.
And that's why. It's actually very similar to sports, and
many times we actually put together our sports and theater
(07:53):
clients because they're dealing with the same kind of things
when they're talking about what they can offer.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
Their season ticket holders.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
As part of you know, what added benefits can they
have as being a season ticket holder. It doesn't matter
if it's theater or sports. It's very very similar.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, it's so unique too to be a part of
a company, of an organization that has such a solid brand. Right.
Ticketmaster is a name that you'd say and everyone knows
what you're talking about. I think most of us have
the app on our phone and have used it to
buy and experience a ticket to an event, a game,
a concert, or whatnot. It's one thing to get to
(08:33):
that point in an industry, but to stay there and
to maintain that top spot. What is the secret to
staying on top once you've established yourself as the.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Go to Well, you know, we always have competition, and
I think that like any other company, I think for
us it's about being really connected to our clients and
listening to them, understanding what their needs are, and then
trying to bring them products, new products that are going
to whether help them get people into their venues or
(09:05):
whether it's helping a season ticket holder be able to
transfer their ticket in a different way. Just I think
you know, for us, it's always about bringing new people
into our company as well, who are.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Married up with people like me who have a.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Passion all my life for ticketing and what we do
and understand that side of the business with technology, people
who say, okay, why don't we think about what's the next.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Best way to purchase a ticket.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
How to make it easier, and how to make the
fan experience always a good one.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
And when you first got into this industry and into
this business, it was a very male dominant field and
it still perhaps is. How have you seen that evolve
over the years.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
You know, I'd like to see it evolve more. So
hopefully before I end my career, I will see it
even grow more because I see so many great women
that I think would like to be in more senior
positions in particular in sports, but I see it on
the concert side of our business as well. For me,
(10:12):
I didn't even think about it. It's I think about
this a lot. I didn't even think about going into
a room with men. I thought more about the fact
that I was the youngest person, because I think the
two men that I worked for that had the greatest
influence on me, because at the time I worked with
a lot of men were both like, do not think
(10:35):
about anybody.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Else but yourself, like say to yourself.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
I can do this, and they never brought up the
woman word or none of that. So it was more
about me and what I should be doing. So I
think that you know, in particular, the first person I
worked for, who I met at the bar, he really
was I don't care what people think I'm gonna wear
(11:01):
if i'm if I want to wear jeans to work,
I'm gonna wear jeans to work, And back then you
didn't wear geens to work. He said, people should accept
you for you, but you need to be really really direct,
really open, so that people know you and it does
shouldn't matter who are what you are. So I think
(11:22):
that for me between him and then, and his name
was Mark Schoener. And then the other person was Fred Rosen,
who was a very and is a very direct person
and he really promoted women men. It didn't matter like
I didn't see a difference, and he put a lot
into me and helping me be a more I think, bold,
(11:45):
emboldened person. And so I see now that when people
ask well did you ever see a difference, as I
say to you, I really I really didn't, even though
I had a couple experien variances where.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
It was brought up.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Sure I could relay one if you'd like. Yeah, it
was many years ago. I was with a team president
and were sitting at the table and negotiating a contract,
and I had in this probably was now about eighteen
years ago, and I had a group of men who
(12:23):
worked for me at the table as well. I was
the only woman in the room. Again, I didn't really
think about that. I was thinking more that I really
didn't know this man. He was old, a little bit older.
And actually it was longer than eighteen years ago. It
was probably more like twenty eight. It was probably thirty
years ago. How time high is? Yeah, and he wouldn't
(12:47):
he I was like right across, just like you are
and he was talking, but he was looking at the
man next to me, and he wasn't looking at me.
And the man next to me, who was older than
me worked for me, kicked me and said, why isn't
he looking at you? And I said, don't worry about it.
I'll do the talking. We'll get this deal done. I'll
(13:08):
worry about it later. So got the deal done. Two
years later, I had to renegotiate with this man and
came in and he's looking at me the whole time
I'm talking. He's smiling, he's engaged, and I was like,
what happened in two years? And I hadn't talked to
him a lot in those two years, a few times,
(13:29):
but you know, I've had enough conversation that I felt
comfortable again just looking at him. And at the end
of our meeting, he said, you know, Marla, I just
want to tell you we have a mutual friend. And
he mentioned the person. And at first I thought, oh gosh,
what did this person say, because it's sort of it
was another It was a person I knew in sports
(13:51):
who was a little had always a lot of strong opinions.
But he said, you know, Marley, he told me that
you will always tell me the truth and you have balls,
And I was like at first, says whoa. And after
that we had the best relationship. We still do have
(14:11):
a great relationship, and you know, I sort of asked
him why he didn't really directly look at me, and
he said, well, I didn't really know you, and for me,
he said, I really have to know you. But and
it wasn't again, it wasn't about what sex I was.
It was more I think at the time though he
had never really negotiated with a woman and he had
(14:33):
to get sort of my seal of approval from this
other person.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
So it all worked out great.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Yeah, it's his own comfort level in terms of okay,
this is a new experience for me, and combined with
I think you know a lot of women in fields
that are more male dominant would experience the same thing.
It's that, okay, it takes somebody else to vouch for
this person is actually for real to be seen in
that way. At times. I do like, though, how you
brought up the just bold and honest conversation and I
(15:02):
know that in your mentorship of you know, especially of
younger women, but a lot of people coming up in
this business that's the point of emphasis for you is
just being bold, direct, honest. It seems like so simple
of a concept. But how important is that and how
you know? Have you seen challenges with that with some
people coming up in the business.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yes, I think that sometimes people hold back because they're afraid.
They're afraid if they say the wrong thing. And I
think if you're passionate about you In my case, I'm
passionate about my clients and I'm passionate about the team
that I work with, and I always feel like if
I don't say something, but you just have to know
when and where to say it. You can't just blurt
(15:47):
out every time you have a feeling or emotion. But
I think from a business standpoint, there should be no
reason that you don't sit down and if you have
your facts together as to why you're bringing this up,
and yes it might be very direct, everybody knows where
you stand. And then I think in my case, I
(16:10):
think you know the clients I work with know that
I'm always going to be that person for them, as
well as I hope the team that I work with
feels the same way.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
You've become such a force to be reckoned with in
this industry and have garnered so much respect around it,
and I find it fascinating how well you balance that
with also being a mother and the experience it took
to become a mother. And I think that I mean,
you were telling me a little bit about this story,
which I find mind blowing and fascinating. If you don't mind.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
Sharing, sure, sure, because I like to tell people all
the time. Number one, do not put a time frame
on anything on yourself, whether it's your career, whether it's
finding a partner, whether it's having children. Sort of, I
don't have a time clock in my head. I just
say sooner or later, these things will happen, and if
they don't happen, other things will happen to me that
(17:06):
will be just as fulfilling. And so that was always
in my head. I'm very fortunate. Everything I'm going to
tell you about my experience of my pregnancy, I credit
my partner, my husband, who is an incredible partner for me,
because I wouldn't be able to have gone through that
without him. So I know I had challenges getting pregnant.
(17:31):
I was an older mom, and once I got pregnant,
super excited, and I had a complication they said I'd
have to be on bed rest for two weeks at
the most. They thought maybe a week ended up that
it wasn't. I was having issues with amniotic fluid on
(17:52):
one of my twins, which I was having twins, So
they said, you need to be on bed rest in
the hospital. So they put me in the hospital. Well,
I didn't want to anybody at work to know so,
and I didn't want my clients to know. I was
in the middle of negotiating. Actually it was twenty five
years ago right now.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
I was as a.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Matter of fi, right now, I was negotiating the US
OPEN and we hadn't had the US OPEN contract. So
the president of the USTA at the time said to me,
you really need to come up here to White Planes
when they had an office there, and he said, I
really want your team. I want to see the passion
that you have for getting this business.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
So here I am.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I'm in the hospital. I'm like oh. So I thought, okay,
my team will go up, I will be on conference call.
They'll well back then again, no smartphones, right, so I
was on conference call several times because I said to
my EA at the time, transfer all the calls to
(18:49):
my hospital phone. Don't tell them I'm in a hospital,
Just say hold on please. She would tell me who's
on the line. Meantime, the nurses would come in in
the morning. They would say, what's your conference call schedule today?
And I would let them know so they could do
their tests during the In the middle of that, and
(19:09):
next thing, I knew that I'm on the phone with
this person from the USTA and I hear him say
you know. I hear him mumbling something, and then out loud,
he goes, you know, Marla, I just said, why aren't
you here?
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Like this is crazy.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
You want my business, but you're not here. And I
hear a person who worked with me at the time
say she's in the hospital. She's having twins, blah blah blah.
And he like got very quiet, and he goes, well, Marla,
why didn't you tell me? He goes, you remember, my
wife had triplets and was on bed rest at home
(19:44):
for weeks, and he said, I said, because I didn't
want you to stop calling me. I didn't want you
to stop dealing with me. So I ended up being
in the hospital for one hundred and eight days and
then I actually one of my twins had to stay
there for a month, So I was going back and
forth from the hospital to my house, so my baby
(20:06):
at home. Then i'd go to the baby at the hospital.
But more about the work, and I would say that
number one, I am very fortunate. I have worked with
great people. I take amaster and so it's the support
of those people that has really helped me as well.
So I could have that ruse for a while without
(20:27):
Finally it did get out, but you know, again, I
was so exhausted every day. Mentally, I would be so
thrilled that by seven o'clock I'd go, Okay, no more
phone calls. Didn't really get out of.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Bed, but was really excited about that.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
And then I would really think about the fact that
I was going to leave there with two babies no
matter what. I was just projecting that in my head.
But I think that for other women and other women
that I talked to who are having children and complications.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Over the years that I've with, I always say, if.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
You don't have a job that you could do from
your hospital bed, not everybody is as fortunate as I was.
If you don't have that, find projects things that you
can do if you you know, because you want to
have that baby, but hopefully you can. If you can work,
there are things that you could still do. So I'm
(21:21):
very lucky Ticketmaster was incredibly supportive, probably because we did
get the US open and three other contracts done from
my hospital bed, so it was quite It was quite
a good year.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Honestly, that is a very particular skill set. To be
able to negotiate a huge contract from a hospital bed
is incredible. I don't think a lot of people can
put that on their resume, I hope not over not.
It is also too kind of a testament to how
you know the experience of being a woman in an
industry like this, when you kind of feel like you
want to have to, you know, keep that a little
bit secret at times to be able to be taken
(21:55):
as seriously or considered as seriously as some of your
counterparts in the industry.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Right, And that's why I say, you don't I didn't want.
And again I'm not sure if it was just about
being a woman, but maybe that was in my head like, oh, yes,
I'm having these babies, but they're not going to call
me now, and how do I continue that conversation?
Speaker 3 (22:18):
But I did. I will say also.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
I think it's extremely important to then take that time
and be able to, you know, those couple of months afterwards,
be able to spend that time. I'm very fortunate for
my team here. My team gets six months attorney and
pat leave. So I think that is a really great
thing for women today. Back I got three months. I
(22:44):
was I will admit I was sort of excited to
walk into my office though, after being in the hospital
all those months.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
I think something about your story tells me you enjoy.
Speaker 3 (22:52):
What you do for work. I do. I do.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, that is great. I mean and you know, thinking
about all of the experiences that you've had with your
time at time maket master is there. You know, you've
negotiated a lot of big deals. Obviously this US open
one from the hospital bed is a standout one. But
is there another story or perhaps the most rewarding experience
that you can remember from your time?
Speaker 2 (23:15):
You know, I've had, really, I've had so many. I
think for me when we first when I came to
take a master, they had been probably for ten ten years,
a small company, and then Fred Rosen came into the
companies said I really want to grow this thing. So
I think for me, being part of really it was
(23:36):
like being part of a startup and opening offices and
being flexible. And I think that's really what helped me
in my career. Really from the very beginning, I would.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Go work box office that I'd offer.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
To help behind you know.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Do will call, do whatever I could to help.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Because I really want to also understand how people were
working with our product and what they went through. So
I think that opening all those offices, training people. I
had a senior position then, but I still didn't feel
like just because I had this title that I couldn't
(24:13):
do these other things. And I think that is actually
what really has helped my career because I've never thought about, well,
I'm now a general manager, I'm now an EVP. It
doesn't matter what your title. You have to work together
as a team and do anything to sort of help
grow your business. And so at the time we were
(24:34):
going into Buffalo, New York, we were going into Virginia
and to I can name many markets Philadelphia, and it
was exciting for me. I didn't, you know, and I
really offered to travel a lot. I probably gave up
some great activities that you know, back home, and I remember,
(24:55):
you know, I remember thinking to myself that this is
so exciting that what we're going to end up accomplishing,
and so I think, really, I can't. I can tell
you that a lot of contracts and negotiating that I've
done over the years has been really fun and some
of them not so fun sometimes, but that to me
was so rewarding.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
When you know people who are watching or listening. This
perhaps might not understand too the process of negotiating a
contract from a ticket master's side with a team, with
a league, with a event. How would you describe what
that process is and what is being negotiated there.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
So we negotiate many times with the venue and whoever
comes into that venue, whether it's the team, and the
team might own the venue, or it's a promoter, it's
really with the venue. And because what you're doing is
we negotiate for giving them not only hardware that they
can use for coming into the venue, the accessing now
(25:57):
digital tickets and scanning those to inside, which is the
part that the general fan doesn't see, and that's all
the software that is for a season ticket holder. Then
our third thing is the distribution, so we offer whether
it used to be phones and outlets, to now ticketmaster
(26:18):
dot Com as an extension to the team or the
venue's website. So it's offering all those services. And then
we also have marketing and we offer marketing services. So
it's really all about helping sell the ticket. It's also
about post sale, how someone comes into a venue. It's
(26:39):
about reporting for the team or the artists so that
they have reports on and then it's also for knowing
who's coming into the venue. You want to know that
Marla's coming in and ultimately we want to know now
like does Marla like hot dogs and French fries? We
should be making sure that she knows that we're serving
(27:01):
that today and here's where she can go get that.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
So it's it's really all about.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
And that's where I say we work with our teams
and our venues to make sure that we're providing tools
that they can talk to their fans, because our fans
are their fans, right and we're just trying to help
them sell as many tickets as they can.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, So in negotiating with a venue, perhaps you get
a deal with MetLife Stadium, which you know covers the
Giants and the Jets games, but also the musicians that
are coming to perform there, and that's kind of all
under one umbrella.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
Correct, Okay, correct, that's fascinating.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
There's so many nuances to this industry that I think
people you know, use on a daily basis and see
on a daily basis. But there's so much going on
in so many layers to it.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Well, that's what we say all the time, like, no
one really understands ticketing because all you got, I got
my ticket, I have my ticket, and it's the on sale,
but it's all the things that go behind it. And
then that's the technology. And you know, that's why a
lot of ticketing companies have sort of come and gone
because to put money into that technology to make sure
(28:11):
that massive on sales go smoothly, and you know there
are always a couple that might not and hopefully the
majority of them. In our case. Do we sell millions
and millions of tickets a month and you know we
also unfortunately get billions of bot attacks and it's, as
(28:31):
we talked about earlier, how do you block that and
how do you have a great on sale? And you're
never going to make everybody happy because either they didn't
get the seat they wanted, they didn't get a ticket
because it got you know, the event was sold out,
But how do you then make them come back and
note that they're always going to have a real ticket.
Number one is that these days is extremely important and
(28:54):
that it was an easy process. Even if you didn't
have to didn't get the ticket you wanted, it wasn't
an arduous process.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Now, as a professional in this industry as long as
you have been, when you look back at the earlier
days of your career, or perhaps look at some of
the younger professionals coming into whether it be ticketing or
an industry of their choice, what is one piece of
advice that you would want to give either your younger
self or the younger generation as they kind of venture
into trying to establish themselves in their chosen field.
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Well, my younger self, I'm not sure what advice i'd
give myself. Probably none of it relates to work.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
That's also fair though, I mean life is just as
important as work.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Yes, And I think I think for myself though, like
I was open to moving. I moved a bit for
my career, so I was open to moving. And as
I said, I was open to doing anything. And I remember,
I remember that one of my vice presidents said to
me at one point early early in my career, well,
(29:59):
you seem very mature, and that's why they promoted me.
And I remember thinking, I'm not that mature. But I
think it was more the fact that I was so
into what I was doing, and I was probably immature
on my personal side and maybe more mature on my
(30:20):
work side, because I really found something that I could
be passionate about. And so I think that making sure
that you're number one really getting in there and not saying, well,
what's next for me? Like I never thought about what
is next? As I said in my personal life as well,
(30:41):
I didn't think for in advance, like oh, well, if
I'm doing this, what's going to happen in two years?
Like I actually think that I talked to my kids
about this a lot, because their friends talk about, oh,
I've been somewhere a year, where am I going next?
And I say to them, what have you done in
that year? That makes it that you should move on?
(31:02):
What you have learned everything you should at that job.
Whereas I really took on so many things that people
noticed me. For what I was taking on, I wasn't
thinking about people noticing me, and moving to the next position.
So I got promoted without like having to ask or
(31:22):
without thinking about it because I volunteered. Hey, can I
go help you in Pittsburgh because I heard there's a
big event there and you guys need help. There was
a Grateful Dead show at MetLife. Can I help get
people into the venue with the ticket takers? That's you know,
(31:45):
that's how you move ahead because A you're learning more
about the business and B you know, you're showing your
coworkers also you're there in there with them. It just
I think it just makes you more more marketable and
more uh and more have more leadership qualities in the future.
Speaker 1 (32:07):
Yeah, and almost more dimensional in terms of what you
can offer too. I love that perspective. It's not necessarily
the time as much as it is you know, the
task and the experience of it all that kind of
propels you forward. Marla Ostrov, thank you so much. This
has been a really great conversation. Thank you joining this
and I really appreciate you taking the time to join
us on her playbook brought to you by Kendra Scott.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Absolutely and I love wearing my Kendra Scott today, so
thank you.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
She's game day ready.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
I am, thank you, thank you so much,
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