September 22, 2025 • 36 mins
In this inspiring episode of Work Besties Who Podcast, we sit down with Roxy Couse—content creator, corporate leader, and the voice behind the “Millennial Manager” movement. Roxy shares how she balances a thriving corporate career with consistent content creation, why authenticity is the foundation of personal branding, and how community and storytelling drive her success.
From tackling burnout to setting boundaries, Roxy opens up about the lessons she’s learned along the way. We also explore the lighter side—her love for iced coffee, her rule about work besties, and why you don’t need permission to be funny at work.
If you’ve ever wondered how to merge corporate life with creative expression, this episode will give you both the encouragement and the strategies to start today.
What You’ll Learn:
- Why performance alone won’t get you promoted
- How to balance corporate responsibilities with creative passions
- The role of authenticity and personal branding in content creation
- Roxy’s strategy for avoiding burnout through high/low effort content
- Why one true work bestie can make all the difference
- The power of storytelling in building community and influence
- How small rituals—like coffee—can connect us back to our roots
Takeaways:
- You don’t need permission to be funny.
- Authenticity is key in content creation.
- Balancing corporate life and content creation is challenging but possible.
- Personal branding should reflect all aspects of who you are.
- Boundaries protect what matters most.
- Work besties provide essential workplace support.
- Managing burnout requires self-care and content balance.
- Storytelling is a powerful tool for engagement.
- Building community creates lasting growth.
- Finding joy in small moments enhances daily life.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jess (00:00):
What do you get when you mix a sharp sense of humor,
spot-on self-awareness and akiller content game?
You get Roxy freaking Couse.
This isn't just an episode,it's a whole amazing vibe.
Wait till the end, guys,because you will hear from Roxy
herself.
How do you make work feel morelike you?
(00:25):
Hi, I'm Claude.
We are corporate employees byday, entrepreneurs by night and
work besties for life.
Join us as we explore how work besties lift each other up,
laugh through the chaos andthrive together in every
industry.
Work besties Welcome Roxy.
It's very much anunderstatement to say we are so
(00:46):
freaking excited to have you.
Roxy Couse (00:49):
Thanks for having me .
I'm happy to be here.
Jess (00:50):
So we wanted to just get right into it and ask you some
questions about you yourself andhow you started this whole
movement.
So how did you get to be whoyou are, finding that niche and
the voice that you have, whichis so unique?
Roxy Couse (01:05):
That's a great question.
So it's kind of been this, thisjourney, and people that follow
my content now and theyprobably know me as, like, the
millennial manager.
But that wasn't where I started.
Actually, I was trying tocreate something and, outside of
thinking about work, I didn'twant to talk about work, I just
wanted to be creative.
So I started creating contentabout being a homebody.
(01:28):
Because I am a homebody outsideof the office, I was doing
really well Like in terms ofthat.
I've always loved home decor Inmy career.
I've actually worked for homedecor businesses in the past, so
it's like that's so true tolike who I am.
So I started talking aboutbeing a homebody and curating my
home with these things that Ilove.
But then one day I was justlike thinking about what can I
(01:52):
do?
What can I talk about?
And I just randomly posted thisvideo about around performance
alone will not get you promoted.
It was.
It was heavy on my heart.
I mean, I've been in corporatefor a long time.
I know this to be true and thevideo did extremely well and
what I have found in terms ofyour niche and like what you do,
(02:13):
it's very easy to.
You can avoid who you are oryou can really honor that and
embrace it, and I felt likethat's when the magic happened
and I started to grow afollowing and people started to
really resonate and find mycontent relatable, and so that's
that's where we are today.
I still kind of like, still thehomebody, but I am very much
(02:36):
about how to thrive in thecorporate space now.
Jess (02:40):
Which I think is so fascinating, because when you
and I first started connecting Ivaguely remember the homebody
stuff, but it wasn't until youcommented it that I had to go
scroll for it.
Claude (02:53):
And it is.
If you go deep down, you'llfind it.
Yeah, because we came afterright.
Jess (02:55):
And it was all about, like you said, this millennial
manager and I feel like the onething that also came out when
you and I had our signconversation.
I would have no idea from fromwatching your content, which I
find fabulous and we'll bereferencing more on, I had no
idea that you were still workingnonstop as well.
So to us who have the nine tofive jobs, you're balancing this
(03:16):
content creation while stillworking, which is fascinating to
us.
How did you find the time tobalance these two?
Roxy Couse (03:22):
Yeah, it's so funny because I feel I always say like
I've, I've been living thislike Hannah Montana kind of life
, and it's actually when someoneat work and it has happened
often enough but I still getsurprised if someone says like
I'm on a call and they're likeRoxy, I follow your content, I'm
like what.
(03:43):
I don't know this person at all.
It just feels like it's thistotally separate thing that I am
.
But even while it's funny, likeas I've grown as a content
creator and I've been doing itfor a number of years now I've
gotten promoted, I've switchedcompanies, I've traveled for
work a lot some time.
(04:03):
Sometimes I was traveling threeout of four weeks in the month
but I was still showing uponline and in my content because
it's so important, because itwas so important to me.
So, yeah, I'm still working incorporate.
I'm not full time.
Actually, this is a newdevelopment.
I went part time but I've beenworking in corporate this whole
time and just balancing thecontent creation side with my my
(04:27):
nine to five.
Claude (04:27):
How do you do that?
Because it's so much work, likeyou know, we are there and we
are not as consistent as you are, so you're a motivation.
How do you do it?
Roxy Couse (04:38):
I'll be honest, I've had a lot of roles in corporate
.
So I've been on the strategyside.
I've been like a productdesigner.
I've worked with agencies andwritten briefs.
I just feel like everythingthat I've ever done in corporate
was preparing me to be able todo this for myself.
When I work with the brand andbrands tell me this all the time
(04:59):
they're like you're soorganized, your briefs, you're
so responsive.
I'm like the bar is on thefloor If I can't reply all to
your email.
So some of it feels like secondnature for me.
I'm great at like managing mytime and having autonomy and
getting the work done andmanaging my to do list and so,
like a lot of it feels like it'slike second nature and it's
(05:20):
almost like okay, I said I wasgoing to shoot a video today, so
like, let me get this out Interms of like how I actually do
it.
When I was first starting, Iactually went on this I need to
post every day for six months.
So before work I was writingscripts, posting I would do my
job.
Because I work from home, Iwould do my do my job during
throughout the day.
(05:40):
If I like had an idea, I'd likejot it down somewhere, like,
and later I'd either shoot it orI'd come back to it.
But it's like before work,after work, weekends, like those
are all opportunities for me towork on this, like side hustle
content creation.
I've just figured out, like,how to balance it and how to
(06:00):
make it work without sacrificingthe quality of my work during
the day.
Jess (06:05):
That resonates with us really well.
I do it usually first thing inthe morning.
You do it after work.
Claude (06:11):
And then weekend yeah, the weekend.
I do most of it on the weekend.
Jess (06:15):
You've got that vision and ability to hustle, you'll find
the time.
You're right.
It's just one of those that ifyou enjoy, you enjoy it.
You'll find the time for sure.
Roxy Couse (06:26):
Exactly, you always find my husband thinks I'm crazy
.
Sometimes when I have script inmy head, I can barely sleep
because I'm excited I'm gonnawake up early in the morning.
I gotta, I gotta shoot this.
I actually did this, likeyesterday, like it.
Just you will find the time ifyou're, if you love it and like
you, you have this like northstar.
I know where I want to go.
You figure out how to work itinto your life.
Jess (06:48):
I'm only tapping because, uh, how many times I like send
her a text at like 3 am andshe's like why are you writing
to me at 3 am?
I woke up and I got thisinspiration.
I just want to get it out thereand like, let's go do it,
uh-huh exactly we're like.
Roxy Couse (07:03):
I don't know if it's like people that are like
geniuses or like you havetrouble sleeping because you
have all these ideas.
I'm not saying that like we'regeniuses by any means.
Maybe we're crazy, I don't know, but passionate.
Jess (07:14):
We're passionate.
So, speaking about, like stuffin your brain, what really sets
you apart from my perspective,and it's your personal branding
and how you bring yourself tolife, whether it is if people go
all the way back and see yourhome body section.
I relate to that just as muchas I relate to your content on
(07:36):
the Millennial Manager, thoselove letters so much your
personal branding to me isreally what rises above.
What do you think people getwrong about?
Personal branding overall?
Roxy Couse (07:46):
That's a great question.
When it comes to personal brand, one of the things that I've
been very careful about is it'sabout me.
I'm the brand, so it's notattached to my employer, it's
not attached to the jobs thatI've had.
It's me as the person, and whenyou become the brand, you can
(08:07):
branch out into so manydifferent things.
I'm a storyteller, I love towrite poems and I love talking
about home and I love all thesedifferent things and those just
become that's Roxy, as opposedto if you only spoke about a
specific thing.
If I only talk about being amillennial manager, I put myself
in this box almost, and peoplecome to expect that from you and
(08:30):
it's hard for people to comealong on the journey when
they're so used to seeing you asthis one thing.
So I've just made sure that mybrand is well-rounded.
All the things that make up whoI am I've heard it said many
times is you are the niche, likeit's you.
It can't be like Roxy, whoworks in corporate from nine to
(08:50):
five, because if I no longerwork in corporate from nine to
five, you would have a hard timerelating to me, because that's
all of who I am.
Jess (08:58):
I love that.
That's fantastic.
The element of authenticity.
What does that mean to you,especially in relationship to
the content?
Roxy Couse (09:10):
I love creating authentic content and there's
always a little truth toeverything that I create.
Sometimes the timelines areswitched around and I'm not too
specific.
I've talked about like I've hada boss who didn't like me but
you don't know if that was nowor if that was like years ago.
But I do.
(09:30):
Every story that I've told andI think the reason why people
can relate to it is becausewe're experiencing these similar
things.
We've all had this and this isfrom real experience of working
in these spaces and from my life, and it just comes out.
Authenticity doesn't mean thatyou tell everything that's ever
(09:52):
happened in your life and youexpose every element of your
life Because, for me, I create,I don't document.
So I don't talk necessarilyabout my husband.
I don't talk about the day inthe life and what we're doing
and all of these types of things.
The content that I am puttingout is authentic to who my
husband.
I don't talk about the day inthe life and what we're doing
and all of these type of things.
The content that I am puttingout is authentic to who I am.
I'm only speaking fromexperiences that I've had.
Jess (10:12):
That's awesome.
As your audience is growing,what part about yourself do you
try to protect from thataudience?
Roxy Couse (10:19):
One of the things that I've learned in creating
content is that everything canbecome content.
For example, I've tried tokickstart my health journeys and
going to the gym and everythingcan be content.
So it's very hard to protectcertain parts of your life or to
focus on those parts becauseyou're like, oh, I could talk
(10:39):
about this.
So I am trying to be better atlike making everything into
content piece.
I have started health journeyand wellness and I have talked
about it a little bit.
I'm working out more, but everytime I go to the gym I don't
need to like filming it andtalking about it, kind of like
rose your mind off to um, uh, tobe an intentional about this.
(11:03):
There there are definitely someelements that I try to protect,
things that, like me and myhusband do like I don't do like
date nights or I just did likethis surprise 40th birthday for
my husband weeks ago and somecontent creators would like post
pictures and stuff.
I just don't.
And people do ask.
People want more of you.
They want you to talk aboutyour home life and like marriage
(11:24):
and like people ask me like isyour husband a homebody?
And all these kinds of things,and it's like he didn't sign up
to be a content creator.
My friends didn't sign up to bea content creator, so I just
protect the people around mefrom the content stuff.
Jess (11:38):
That's smart, I think.
That's one thing that I thinkwe even talked about it too when
we first started off.
What are those areas that wewould protect?
And we talked about family andelements of that, because you
need to have some element.
That's just you know.
Claude (11:50):
Which is fine for some people that do it.
It just depends where on foryou and your authenticity, where
you draw the line.
Roxy Couse (11:58):
Where you draw the line Exactly.
Claude (12:00):
So, which might be that for us and for other people, oh
yeah, there's nothing wrong withit If anyone wants to share all
of it.
Roxy Couse (12:06):
that's fantastic, I think just you need to know your
boundaries and how you can doit in your own authentic way.
Jess (12:13):
Yeah, the focuses that we each have, which have some
synergies, which is fantastic,definitely gear more towards how
to help people from the careeraspect, or personal and career
not necessarily relationship.
Claude (12:32):
Regarding the balancing corporate life, you said earlier
that some people, actually youknow, say oh, I follow you, your
company, like at the beginning.
How did they react?
You say that you've been movingcompanies, so what was their
reaction all this time?
Roxy Couse (12:44):
and I've worked for for tech companies and in the
tech space things are kind ofchanging where everyone is
thinking about thoughtleadership and how can we be
thought leaders in the space?
When I first started I was sonervous about people at work
like finding my social media.
I started to get like seriouson tiktok and actually people at
work were like oh, oh, tiktok'sfor kids, they're dancing over
(13:06):
there and I'm like cool, this isa great place for me because
you're not over there.
So I started on TikTok and Iwas just growing on TikTok and
no one really talked about it.
So I assumed that no one reallyknew like what I was doing.
I probably had like maybe like90,000 followers on TikTok
before I heard anything.
But the people that talkedabout it they were marketers and
(13:30):
so it was cool.
People were cool about it.
But I was very cognizant of thesocial media policy at work.
I am I'm a stickler for therules.
If you tell me I can't dosomething, I'm going to make
sure that I don't do it.
But there was nothing in thereabout creating a social media
presence.
It's just don't use work timeto do it or don't talk on behalf
(13:53):
of the company.
I think every company has thosesame policies around it, and so
I made sure that I stayedwithin the rules.
What I found was that some ofthe topics that I would talk
about especially if I talkedabout marketing and a retailer
loyalty program the video justcompletely blew up.
I work for a company that waslike creating software for
marketers, and when it waspicked up by the media, that was
(14:14):
really great.
That's really great for thebrand, because my company does
marketing and I'm talking aboutmarketing, so it's thought
leadership, and I think thatthat's where I see a lot of
corporate people having thisopportunity to leverage who you
are and your expertise to talkabout topics that could benefit
the brand.
I'm just very cognizant of thesocial media policy and when I
switched companies, I actuallygot clarification.
(14:38):
I saw the social media policy.
I was like getting through itand I went back because I
wouldn't want to come into anorganization.
I assume everyone's Googlingeveryone these days, but who
knows?
Right?
Jess (14:48):
yeah, I do know it hit me like I don't want you to be like
oh, you're a sports fan andyour game's a little unique too,
actually, if you didn't Googleme, but I did get clarification
and my boss was totally cool.
Roxy Couse (15:00):
They respected it, they loved it and maybe if you
play within the rules of theorganization, everything should
be fine.
I mean, it can be kind of weirdat times, but I just try to
make sure I follow the rules andnot compete with my company.
We're going to switch topics.
Jess (15:13):
One of the topics that our work besties love to learn more
about is burnout.
So you talked about you.
Did you have a traditional jobjust recently?
Part time, but at times youwere full time and then you
started building your career,which was full time.
Did you have moments of thisisn't sustainable.
And then what did you do tohelp, kind, of course, correct
(15:37):
that?
Roxy Couse (15:37):
For sure.
There's definitely been momentswhere it didn't feel
sustainable.
So one of the reasons and a lotof people don't know this is
that when you, when you start tocreate content the way that I
was and I was doing the homebodystuff and it was more like vlog
and I need to like go around myhouse with like a tripod and
all this kind of like it's verylabor intensive and it's it's
it's a lot of work.
I needed like a balance betweenlow effort and high effort
(16:02):
content, which is where themillennial manager came from,
because the millennial managercontent is low effort content.
I set up a tripod here I'mtalking to the camera so I just
needed that balance and that'skind of like where it came from,
because I could knock out likemillennial manager content like
10 episodes or 10 posts in thetime.
It would take me to go aroundand do the vlog styles and
(16:25):
editing and things like that.
On the content creation side, interms of you, you can't go hard
all the time.
You need high effort, loweffort.
You need to balance it.
It's kind of like work.
If everything is a priority,then nothing is.
You need high priority, medium,low, the low hanging fruit
things.
That's how I balance it, butalso if I need to take a break,
I'm going to take a break, likethere have been times when I've
(16:46):
been traveling for work.
I have a lot going on and Ididn't have time to do the
content.
So I either would repurposewhat I have I've learned the art
of repurposing content anddoing those things or I just
sideline.
It's a balancing act and I meanyou will burn out if you don't
prioritize and take the time foryourself.
So I try to balance.
Claude (17:05):
It's good to hear that from someone that is, you know,
successful, that it's okay tostop and not to feel guilty,
Because I know, at least for us,if we are not promoting, then
there's also this guilt.
Oh my God, my brand is going togo away.
I'm going to lose.
You know this and that.
So I think that it's soimportant to hear that also from
(17:26):
you for everybody that it'sokay to pause.
Obviously, it's not going to befor two weeks or three weeks,
but you know a certain amount oftime.
Jess (17:36):
Right, right, it does matter.
I'm going to ask you that samequestion, but as your millennial
manager self, what would yousay to your community about how
to deal with burnout?
Roxy Couse (17:48):
Well one.
I have told direct reports thiswe're not saving lives.
If you are feeling like youcan't do it all, that's okay,
like we're all human and it isimportant for us to take a step
back and prioritize and thinkabout, like what's important in
the grand scheme of things, alsoasking for help.
I've always been terrible atasking for help and which also
(18:11):
leads to burnout, so I've gottena lot better at that.
But I just think it's thismindset shift of prioritization
and also being really realisticwith ourselves that we can't do
it all and that's totally okay.
Jess (18:26):
Okay, this is just something I would love to know.
I feel like every time I watchyour videos not every time, but
a lot of your videos you'remaking some type of iced coffee.
In fact, I created an icedcoffee for this.
That's when I ran to thekitchen and fell.
That's what I get for that.
Where did this love of coffeecome from, and what's your
(18:47):
favorite coffee?
Roxy Couse (18:50):
oh, my love of coffee.
So my love of coffee probablygoes.
It goes back to me, a child.
So my mom, she loves coffee andshe gets up.
She's always gotten up likereally early.
She always has.
She always had a pot of coffeegoing.
So I always smelled coffee inthe house and we would.
(19:10):
We would always sit on theporch and sometimes I would like
take a sip when I was younger.
But now, like we can drink ourcoffee together, yeah, so I just
think I just my love of coffeedefinitely comes from my mom
loving coffee and it was justlike these moments that we would
have together.
So, like I often think about,like when I'm making my coffee
(19:31):
in the morning, I like thinkabout my mama and, yeah, it's
just like true to who I am.
And iced coffee in the morning,I like think about my mama and,
yeah, it's just like true towho I am.
And iced coffee is definitelylike a millennial, millennial
thing.
I love an iced coffee.
And COVID, during COVID.
I never made coffee at homebefore because I always went
into it.
No, no, no, no, no, I wouldnever.
I'm like I'm not doing thisbecause I would always like be
(19:55):
going into the office, so Istopped every day, like I'm the
person that like, if I'm goingto be late, I'm going to show up
with, like coffee, with thecoffee with Starbucks, starbucks
or LadyBug yeah, exactly, I'mgoing to show up with coffee,
being that we're about workbesties.
(20:21):
I'd love to chat with you alittle bit about work besties.
Do you, roxy, have a one or afew work besties?
I have always had a work bestie.
At every place that I've everworked.
It's been like you just have to, you just need someone.
I actually remember, um, and Ithink it's I actually have
talked about, like how you canfind community through work.
And for someone like me who,like I've moved around for work,
you can find community throughwork.
And for someone like me who,like I've moved around for work
I'm originally from Texas.
I worked in Arkansas, moved toCincinnati for a job me and my
(20:42):
husband moved to Michigan for,for another job that I had I've
had to find community in theseplaces and I've pretty much made
a work bestie at every place,even working remotely.
There's always that one personwhere you're like, okay, this is
, this is my person.
So yeah, I just I just love itand I mean these are people that
they've been to my wedding,I've been in there.
(21:04):
It's, it's just like work issuch a great place to find these
forever friends, especiallywhen you can connect over the
same dislike for somebody orsome project, just say the
trauma.
Claude (21:21):
What would happen if there were no trauma at work?
Right, we would not have any no, you still.
Jess (21:27):
We'd be talking about like love island, which I know you
love to talk about, or somethinglike that.
There might be more positivecommentary.
I don't know, but it's a joke.
Sorry, I get your joke, but Ido love that because I think to
your point.
With the work bestie element,you can find them anywhere, or
(21:48):
hopefully you can or you should.
The coolest part about it isyou end up being friends with
people that you probably ineveryday life would not have
thought to connect with thoughtto to connect.
Oh, absolutely, friends, right?
Yeah, and it definitely likehelps give you more perspective
on things and learning from eachother.
Claude (22:04):
Right, because a lot of time you are going to, maybe,
and it's, there's this thing ontiktok, it's always.
You know, oh, my world bestie,I'm going to their kids their
70th birthday, or you know,their kid's graduation when
you're only 25.
So you know, it's just so funnybecause you actually learn so
much from everybody.
(22:25):
You know Absolutely.
Jess (22:27):
And this way around the work, bestie community.
I feel like it's kind ofembedded in your ethos without
even calling it out.
But within your community, doyou try to intentionally
incorporate that, whether onlineor in real life, or is it just
kind of organically?
Roxy Couse (22:43):
happening in terms of like work bestie.
Yeah, so I have talked aboutwork besties.
I actually did the work bestieinterview.
It's like interviewing thislike new work bestie type of
thing, and I did this like funnyskit about, like you know, tell
me about a time, and it's it'slike interviewing this like new
work bestie type of thing, and Idid this like funny skit about,
like you know, tell me about atime, and it's it's just like
these questions around, like soif your work best is on PTO,
then what's going to happen ThenI'm on PTO.
I think it's so funny that thatdynamic I just feel like it's
(23:06):
natural, Like I mean, I feellike online I'm like everybody's
work best.
I'm either your favoritemanager or I'm your work bestie.
So I don't know, I just feellike it's organic.
Jess (23:14):
So one of the things that we get asked a lot about
ourselves is with your workbestie, how do you help each
other stay grounded?
So if you could think about onework bestie or the collective,
because I know you've got abunch- I have a large community
and I consider them all my workbestie.
Roxy Couse (23:29):
But this might be a hot take, but I don't believe in
having multiple work besties atmy company so it's gonna be
like one person, like it's likeone or two.
But I just feel like, if I'mlike telling you all my things,
I can't be having you have like10 work besties, because what
are you telling them?
So I'm like exclusive, I needlike one commit and we can have
(23:51):
other friends.
But they're not at that levelthat we are.
I like that.
Claude (23:56):
For example, I have my work, bestie you, I will say
everything.
Then I have some friend at workthat I will say something, but
not everything.
I know what to say to eachother, right?
I don't want everybody to knowwhat is in my head.
I can say she's weird, but Ican say it to you only I
actually am aligned.
Jess (24:16):
I feel like all three of us are similar.
I don't think you can have morethan one solid work bestie at
the same company.
Right To your point, you couldhave a solid work bestie at
other places too.
Claude (24:26):
Oh yeah.
Jess (24:27):
But when the same company, I think you could have other
friendly work, friends, friendlyco -workers yes, but I would
not sorry current company.
I would not consider anyoneelse there.
I work bestie outside of you.
Claude (24:39):
Yeah, I agree, I think that's so smart thank god, I was
like I made the cut while Iwasn't breathing.
You know I didn't want to.
Where is she going there?
Roxy Couse (24:47):
what, how?
I um, you know it's alwaysgreat to have besties, like in
this environment, in thecorporate environment, because I
feel like it's so, it's such aunique experience.
My work bestie, who might belike overwhelmed, I'm like, but
you're about to go on PTO, soturn on your out of office and
get like stop answering.
Even this tough love, eventhough I'm like I'm still
answering, but I'm gonna liketurn it off.
(25:08):
I'm gonna like build you up andmake sure that, like you're
like you have somebody that hasyour back.
That's like my thing and like,having this work bestie, like I
got your back, I'm, I'm here foryou.
So which?
Jess (25:20):
I I mean working in the corporate environment, anywhere.
You still want to have likethat close knit of people in
general, for sure, but to havesomeone know everything about
you and I think maybe thedifference is like that one work
bestie doesn't know just thework stuff but the personal
stuff they know the more.
Roxy Couse (25:37):
yeah, exactly.
Jess (25:41):
That's the point of differentiation, because I'm not
going to go tell everybodyabout all my personal things
that are going on that are infact impacting how I show up at
work, but they definitely willthat one work bestie will know
it all Kind of like.
Roxy Couse (25:54):
Even when I was creating content, I have had a
work bestie who I'm like I don'tknow if, like I told them.
I eventually told them I waslike I don't know if you know
that I'm doing this, but I'mgetting a little following
online and this is turning like.
I would just I would alwayslike tell them about like okay
(26:20):
about like okay, this ishappening, I'm so nervous.
Claude (26:21):
And they're like why do you need to like own it?
Jess (26:22):
But yeah, and they were there to support you and hype
you up, which is every step ofthe way, which is amazing and
fantastic, because I'm surethey're not along that same
journey with you, so they haveno skin in the game outside of
just being that supportiveperson.
Roxy Couse (26:31):
Right, exactly, exactly.
I love that.
Jess (26:33):
Of all your content creation.
What's your favorite kind ofarea that you've focused in on,
or even a clip that you've done?
Roxy Couse (26:40):
So my favorite is probably the storytelling aspect
of it and I'm so glad I've beenable to like come back to that.
So I mentioned it in a commenton one of my videos where people
were like you're a lyricist,are you writing a book?
But when I was growing up, wehad very little.
But one of the things that mymom found was there was this
(27:03):
program, it was called YoungWriters Program and it was at
the college and they happenedlike every year and it used to
be free.
I recently saw that there's afee but like everything's more
expensive now these days we'relike, but like everything's more
expensive now these days forlike programs like that but it
was this free program in thesummertime.
I went every summer and it waslike a week long program and you
wrote stories.
They taught you how to writedifferent poetry types, like a
(27:24):
haiku and all this kind of stuff.
At the end of the summerprogram you would get this book
and everybody had their workpublished in the book and I had
poems and all kinds of stuff andI I just love that program and
I just feel in corporate we aretasked.
You have to be a storyteller inorder to get your point across
or to bring people along on thejourney.
You have to be able to tell areally compelling story, and so
(27:46):
it's just been very interestinghow my love for writing and
working in corporate and havingto tell these stories it just
makes up everything of like who,who you are, all these skills
that you've gained along the way, and I've just loved being able
to incorporate that into mycontent and try to think about
how can I tell the best story,how can I move people.
It's really a strategy behindit, but that's my favorite part
(28:09):
of it.
Claude (28:09):
Which is totally your thing, because Jess is actually
in Insights, which you alwayssay.
It's always about stories.
Jess (28:19):
How do you bring all of the facts into a story, because
nobody remembers facts unlessit's a story.
Roxy Couse (28:25):
It's a story Right.
Jess (28:26):
Exactly, exactly, and you have to bring them on a journey.
So it's not only storytelling,it can't be about you.
It's the audience.
You're sharing it with right,and you do such a great job.
Your content doesn't focus juston one thing, and even the
topics that you have yes, it'sthe millennial manager, and you
can look at us and see neitherof us are millennials, but we
still relate to it.
(28:49):
Sorry, maybe people think twiceyou can tell I don't look like a
millennial.
Speak for yourself.
I know I am not a millennial,but I definitely resonate with a
lot of your content too.
Claude (29:01):
So even though it's focused on that, it's wide
enough to still bring in peopleon the journey trigger that
emotion right into people yeah,that's what it is, which brings
us back for more which, by theway, is not so easy to trigger
an emotion onto people.
It is very hard.
I feel like it's very hard.
Jess (29:21):
Well, I think it goes back to you.
You're building a communitysimilar to what we're trying to
do.
You've already established andpeople are on that journey, and
if you build the community, youget to know who they are.
So telling that story helps ina way, because you know what
they're interested in.
Yeah, yeah, yeah for sure, ifsomebody wanted to start into
(29:42):
content creation they haven'tyet.
They've been thinking about itbut they haven't like taken the
stab yet.
What would be your tip for themto get started?
Roxy Couse (29:51):
Just get started, so just start posting.
So people ask me all the timeit's like how do I get started?
How do I come up with my niche?
One?
I think it's about being amarketer.
I know what's about the odds.
You have to figure out whoyou're talking to.
One thing we say in marketing isif you're talking to everyone,
you're talking to no one.
It is much easier to talk to anaudience that you yourself are
a member of.
So, like I can talk tomillennials because I'm a
(30:13):
millennial, I can talk to a girlin her 30s because I'm in my
face.
It's important to focus in onthat audience.
I'm going to talk to this oneperson about this one thing, and
then you find that there's likea lot of people that also
resonate with this thing.
It's also important to havelike an outside in way of
thinking, and I actually wastelling my hairstylist, the
(30:33):
person who does my hair.
I was looking at her social andit was a lot of selfies of her
and I'm like but your hairstyleis, you're trying to get more
business.
It has to be outside in.
You have to show the product.
Jess (30:43):
Style is you're trying to get more business.
It has to be outside in.
Roxy Couse (30:45):
You have to show the product.
Nobody wants to see the selfiesof you.
It's also like removingyourself from the equation and
I've learned this thing.
Like creating how do you tell acompelling story?
Like I have to make you seeyourself in this.
This isn't about me, this isabout you.
So, for example, one of thestrongest hooks that I felt like
I've had was when I starteddoing the homebody content and
like what I led was is anyoneelse a homebody?
(31:06):
But yeah, you like beinginvited to things even though
there's a 99% chance you're notgoing.
It wasn't that made it lessabout me, it's about you and
everybody's like yeah, I am.
So if you're going to create,like it has to be, like selfless
(31:28):
, like it not about you, it'sabout them.
Start to create for aparticular audience that, like
you yourself, are a part of thatyou could talk about all day
long and I just feel like that'sthe best way to get started.
Claude (31:32):
And, roxy, where can our audience find you?
Roxy Couse (31:34):
yeah, so it's at roxy cows, uh, instagram, tiktok
, also youtube.
Um, it's roxy cows on linkedin.
Recently, like in the last year, I prioritized LinkedIn and I
recently passed like 10,000followers on LinkedIn, which I
think is amazing becauseLinkedIn is so hard to grow on.
So yeah, that's where you canfind me.
Jess (31:55):
That is one thing I think most content creators don't
understand is the differentplatforms have different ways to
gain those audiences.
And it isn't the same recipe.
Roxy Couse (32:04):
Absolutely yeah, that was my journey.
Like I grew on TikTok and thenI was like, let me prioritize
Instagram.
Grow on Instagram.
And then I was like, okay,linkedin.
And LinkedIn was last, becauseI work in corporate.
Like you really get seen overthere by the people that know
you in real life.
So, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jess (32:20):
Totally understand that.
But to your point, celebratethe wins, even how small, like
there's still big wins.
Absolutely Exactly All right,we have one last question for
you, roxy.
How do you make work feel?
Roxy Couse (32:31):
more like you.
I make work feel more like meby showing up as myself.
So one of the things that I Ihave a, I have a, I have a sense
of humor and it comes out in mycontent, like sometimes I'll
think about, like you know, I'mlike panicking about a deadline
or like we're like oh no, thishappened and I'm like this is
(32:54):
nothing Like compared to likethe grand scheme of what's
happening in the world.
Sometimes I'll have to stopmyself from giggling.
When I was younger, me and mycousin, who were the same age,
we always got in trouble becausewe would just be giggling at
like the wrong times, like inchurch or something like that,
and so I just think we takeourselves so serious where, like
(33:15):
sometimes, we just have to likelaugh and be, be who you are.
I just think, if you can likehone in on that and this is how
I'm going to show up and it justit just helps you to to just be
more comfortable in anyenvironment that you walk into.
I have nervous energy.
I think millennials havenervous energy, and so one of
the ways that I get over that isI always try to crack a joke at
(33:36):
the beginning of a presentation.
I'm going to make you laugh,I'm going to make you smile, I'm
going to make this seem this isnot that big of a deal, and I
feel like I bring that into thecontent too, like I'm.
It's going to be humorous, butthere's going to be some real to
it, and that's just how, how Iam and how I show up.
Jess (33:53):
I love it.
I think I have said this to younow at least five times, but
I'm a huge fan of yours.
We're both huge fans of yours.
This has really been one of thecoolest things for us too, so
thank you so much for havingthis conversation with us.
I feel like I am leaving thisconversation a bigger believer
of you than I was even before isit even possible?
Claude (34:14):
I don't know, I don't think.
Jess (34:18):
I relate to you so much because I also have that nervous
energy and I kick off withhumor as my way of combating it
too.
Your humor is um the way you doit.
It's so honest and it's so realand having those conversations
with you, the hustle that youhave behind the scenes, that
people don't see or know, thatyou've now shared with us.
I just I find it commendableand I'm so in awe of you.
(34:40):
Thank you so, thank you so muchfor sharing this with us.
You've led with a lot ofinsights.
You've given us permission totake a pause.
You've given us permission tolaugh.
Claude (34:50):
You've given us permission to say it's okay that
you're living in chaos but takea step at a time and to make
sure to be authentic.
Roxy Couse (34:59):
And.
Claude (34:59):
I really love the fact that you say it's not being
selfish.
You have to be selfless andtalk to your audience, and that
I think it's something that isreally, really important.
Jess (35:09):
I will be re-listening to this nonstop and remembering
this important occasion.
For me, this conversation was atrue honor of our podcasting
lives and we'll be re-listeningto it every time we need a
reminder that it's possible tobe bold, funny and full of heart
all at once.
Claude (35:27):
So if Roxy's words hit home for you, take this episode
as your sign.
You don't have to hide who youare to be professional.
You don't have to shrink to fitinto workplace culture so you
can be funny, real, ambitiousand still protect your peace.
(35:47):
So share this with your workbestie, your group chat or that
friend who's learning to leadwith their authentic self.
Then come hang with us in thework besties community, where we
celebrate bold voice, weirdtalents and all the messy,
magical parts of showing upfully at work.
(36:07):
Follow Roxy, cheer up and lether remind you you don't need
permission to be yourself and tobe funny, but if you're looking
for it, this is it.
Jess (36:20):
Bye.
Remember, whether you'reswapping snacks in the break
room, rescuing each other fromendless meetings or just sending
that perfectly timed meme.
Having a work bestie is likehaving your own personal hype
squad.
Claude (36:33):
So keep lifting each other, laughing through the
chaos and, of course, thriving.
Until next time, stay positive,stay productive and don't
forget to keep supporting eachother.
Work besties.
What do you get when you mix a sharp sense of humor,
spot-on self-awareness and akiller content game?
You get Roxy freaking Couse.
This isn't just an episode,it's a whole amazing vibe.
Wait till the end, guys,because you will hear from Roxy
herself.
How do you make work feel morelike you?
(00:25):
Hi, I'm Claude.
We are corporate employees byday, entrepreneurs by night and
work besties for life.
Join us as we explore how work besties lift each other up,
laugh through the chaos andthrive together in every
industry.
Work besties Welcome Roxy.
It's very much anunderstatement to say we are so
(00:46):
freaking excited to have you.
Roxy Couse (00:49):
Thanks for having me .
I'm happy to be here.
Jess (00:50):
So we wanted to just get right into it and ask you some
questions about you yourself andhow you started this whole
movement.
So how did you get to be whoyou are, finding that niche and
the voice that you have, whichis so unique?
Roxy Couse (01:05):
That's a great question.
So it's kind of been this, thisjourney, and people that follow
my content now and theyprobably know me as, like, the
millennial manager.
But that wasn't where I started.
Actually, I was trying tocreate something and, outside of
thinking about work, I didn'twant to talk about work, I just
wanted to be creative.
So I started creating contentabout being a homebody.
(01:28):
Because I am a homebody outsideof the office, I was doing
really well Like in terms ofthat.
I've always loved home decor Inmy career.
I've actually worked for homedecor businesses in the past, so
it's like that's so true tolike who I am.
So I started talking aboutbeing a homebody and curating my
home with these things that Ilove.
But then one day I was justlike thinking about what can I
(01:52):
do?
What can I talk about?
And I just randomly posted thisvideo about around performance
alone will not get you promoted.
It was.
It was heavy on my heart.
I mean, I've been in corporatefor a long time.
I know this to be true and thevideo did extremely well and
what I have found in terms ofyour niche and like what you do,
(02:13):
it's very easy to.
You can avoid who you are oryou can really honor that and
embrace it, and I felt likethat's when the magic happened
and I started to grow afollowing and people started to
really resonate and find mycontent relatable, and so that's
that's where we are today.
I still kind of like, still thehomebody, but I am very much
(02:36):
about how to thrive in thecorporate space now.
Jess (02:40):
Which I think is so fascinating, because when you
and I first started connecting Ivaguely remember the homebody
stuff, but it wasn't until youcommented it that I had to go
scroll for it.
Claude (02:53):
And it is.
If you go deep down, you'llfind it.
Yeah, because we came afterright.
Jess (02:55):
And it was all about, like you said, this millennial
manager and I feel like the onething that also came out when
you and I had our signconversation.
I would have no idea from fromwatching your content, which I
find fabulous and we'll bereferencing more on, I had no
idea that you were still workingnonstop as well.
So to us who have the nine tofive jobs, you're balancing this
(03:16):
content creation while stillworking, which is fascinating to
us.
How did you find the time tobalance these two?
Roxy Couse (03:22):
Yeah, it's so funny because I feel I always say like
I've, I've been living thislike Hannah Montana kind of life
, and it's actually when someoneat work and it has happened
often enough but I still getsurprised if someone says like
I'm on a call and they're likeRoxy, I follow your content, I'm
like what.
(03:43):
I don't know this person at all.
It just feels like it's thistotally separate thing that I am
.
But even while it's funny, likeas I've grown as a content
creator and I've been doing itfor a number of years now I've
gotten promoted, I've switchedcompanies, I've traveled for
work a lot some time.
(04:03):
Sometimes I was traveling threeout of four weeks in the month
but I was still showing uponline and in my content because
it's so important, because itwas so important to me.
So, yeah, I'm still working incorporate.
I'm not full time.
Actually, this is a newdevelopment.
I went part time but I've beenworking in corporate this whole
time and just balancing thecontent creation side with my my
(04:27):
nine to five.
Claude (04:27):
How do you do that?
Because it's so much work, likeyou know, we are there and we
are not as consistent as you are, so you're a motivation.
How do you do it?
Roxy Couse (04:38):
I'll be honest, I've had a lot of roles in corporate
.
So I've been on the strategyside.
I've been like a productdesigner.
I've worked with agencies andwritten briefs.
I just feel like everythingthat I've ever done in corporate
was preparing me to be able todo this for myself.
When I work with the brand andbrands tell me this all the time
(04:59):
they're like you're soorganized, your briefs, you're
so responsive.
I'm like the bar is on thefloor If I can't reply all to
your email.
So some of it feels like secondnature for me.
I'm great at like managing mytime and having autonomy and
getting the work done andmanaging my to do list and so,
like a lot of it feels like it'slike second nature and it's
(05:20):
almost like okay, I said I wasgoing to shoot a video today, so
like, let me get this out Interms of like how I actually do
it.
When I was first starting, Iactually went on this I need to
post every day for six months.
So before work I was writingscripts, posting I would do my
job.
Because I work from home, Iwould do my do my job during
throughout the day.
(05:40):
If I like had an idea, I'd likejot it down somewhere, like,
and later I'd either shoot it orI'd come back to it.
But it's like before work,after work, weekends, like those
are all opportunities for me towork on this, like side hustle
content creation.
I've just figured out, like,how to balance it and how to
(06:00):
make it work without sacrificingthe quality of my work during
the day.
Jess (06:05):
That resonates with us really well.
I do it usually first thing inthe morning.
You do it after work.
Claude (06:11):
And then weekend yeah, the weekend.
I do most of it on the weekend.
Jess (06:15):
You've got that vision and ability to hustle, you'll find
the time.
You're right.
It's just one of those that ifyou enjoy, you enjoy it.
You'll find the time for sure.
Roxy Couse (06:26):
Exactly, you always find my husband thinks I'm crazy
.
Sometimes when I have script inmy head, I can barely sleep
because I'm excited I'm gonnawake up early in the morning.
I gotta, I gotta shoot this.
I actually did this, likeyesterday, like it.
Just you will find the time ifyou're, if you love it and like
you, you have this like northstar.
I know where I want to go.
You figure out how to work itinto your life.
Jess (06:48):
I'm only tapping because, uh, how many times I like send
her a text at like 3 am andshe's like why are you writing
to me at 3 am?
I woke up and I got thisinspiration.
I just want to get it out thereand like, let's go do it,
uh-huh exactly we're like.
Roxy Couse (07:03):
I don't know if it's like people that are like
geniuses or like you havetrouble sleeping because you
have all these ideas.
I'm not saying that like we'regeniuses by any means.
Maybe we're crazy, I don't know, but passionate.
Jess (07:14):
We're passionate.
So, speaking about, like stuffin your brain, what really sets
you apart from my perspective,and it's your personal branding
and how you bring yourself tolife, whether it is if people go
all the way back and see yourhome body section.
I relate to that just as muchas I relate to your content on
(07:36):
the Millennial Manager, thoselove letters so much your
personal branding to me isreally what rises above.
What do you think people getwrong about?
Personal branding overall?
Roxy Couse (07:46):
That's a great question.
When it comes to personal brand, one of the things that I've
been very careful about is it'sabout me.
I'm the brand, so it's notattached to my employer, it's
not attached to the jobs thatI've had.
It's me as the person, and whenyou become the brand, you can
(08:07):
branch out into so manydifferent things.
I'm a storyteller, I love towrite poems and I love talking
about home and I love all thesedifferent things and those just
become that's Roxy, as opposedto if you only spoke about a
specific thing.
If I only talk about being amillennial manager, I put myself
in this box almost, and peoplecome to expect that from you and
(08:30):
it's hard for people to comealong on the journey when
they're so used to seeing you asthis one thing.
So I've just made sure that mybrand is well-rounded.
All the things that make up whoI am I've heard it said many
times is you are the niche, likeit's you.
It can't be like Roxy, whoworks in corporate from nine to
(08:50):
five, because if I no longerwork in corporate from nine to
five, you would have a hard timerelating to me, because that's
all of who I am.
Jess (08:58):
I love that.
That's fantastic.
The element of authenticity.
What does that mean to you,especially in relationship to
the content?
Roxy Couse (09:10):
I love creating authentic content and there's
always a little truth toeverything that I create.
Sometimes the timelines areswitched around and I'm not too
specific.
I've talked about like I've hada boss who didn't like me but
you don't know if that was nowor if that was like years ago.
But I do.
(09:30):
Every story that I've told andI think the reason why people
can relate to it is becausewe're experiencing these similar
things.
We've all had this and this isfrom real experience of working
in these spaces and from my life, and it just comes out.
Authenticity doesn't mean thatyou tell everything that's ever
(09:52):
happened in your life and youexpose every element of your
life Because, for me, I create,I don't document.
So I don't talk necessarilyabout my husband.
I don't talk about the day inthe life and what we're doing
and all of these types of things.
The content that I am puttingout is authentic to who my
husband.
I don't talk about the day inthe life and what we're doing
and all of these type of things.
The content that I am puttingout is authentic to who I am.
I'm only speaking fromexperiences that I've had.
Jess (10:12):
That's awesome.
As your audience is growing,what part about yourself do you
try to protect from thataudience?
Roxy Couse (10:19):
One of the things that I've learned in creating
content is that everything canbecome content.
For example, I've tried tokickstart my health journeys and
going to the gym and everythingcan be content.
So it's very hard to protectcertain parts of your life or to
focus on those parts becauseyou're like, oh, I could talk
(10:39):
about this.
So I am trying to be better atlike making everything into
content piece.
I have started health journeyand wellness and I have talked
about it a little bit.
I'm working out more, but everytime I go to the gym I don't
need to like filming it andtalking about it, kind of like
rose your mind off to um, uh, tobe an intentional about this.
(11:03):
There there are definitely someelements that I try to protect,
things that, like me and myhusband do like I don't do like
date nights or I just did likethis surprise 40th birthday for
my husband weeks ago and somecontent creators would like post
pictures and stuff.
I just don't.
And people do ask.
People want more of you.
They want you to talk aboutyour home life and like marriage
(11:24):
and like people ask me like isyour husband a homebody?
And all these kinds of things,and it's like he didn't sign up
to be a content creator.
My friends didn't sign up to bea content creator, so I just
protect the people around mefrom the content stuff.
Jess (11:38):
That's smart, I think.
That's one thing that I thinkwe even talked about it too when
we first started off.
What are those areas that wewould protect?
And we talked about family andelements of that, because you
need to have some element.
That's just you know.
Claude (11:50):
Which is fine for some people that do it.
It just depends where on foryou and your authenticity, where
you draw the line.
Roxy Couse (11:58):
Where you draw the line Exactly.
Claude (12:00):
So, which might be that for us and for other people, oh
yeah, there's nothing wrong withit If anyone wants to share all
of it.
Roxy Couse (12:06):
that's fantastic, I think just you need to know your
boundaries and how you can doit in your own authentic way.
Jess (12:13):
Yeah, the focuses that we each have, which have some
synergies, which is fantastic,definitely gear more towards how
to help people from the careeraspect, or personal and career
not necessarily relationship.
Claude (12:32):
Regarding the balancing corporate life, you said earlier
that some people, actually youknow, say oh, I follow you, your
company, like at the beginning.
How did they react?
You say that you've been movingcompanies, so what was their
reaction all this time?
Roxy Couse (12:44):
and I've worked for for tech companies and in the
tech space things are kind ofchanging where everyone is
thinking about thoughtleadership and how can we be
thought leaders in the space?
When I first started I was sonervous about people at work
like finding my social media.
I started to get like seriouson tiktok and actually people at
work were like oh, oh, tiktok'sfor kids, they're dancing over
(13:06):
there and I'm like cool, this isa great place for me because
you're not over there.
So I started on TikTok and Iwas just growing on TikTok and
no one really talked about it.
So I assumed that no one reallyknew like what I was doing.
I probably had like maybe like90,000 followers on TikTok
before I heard anything.
But the people that talkedabout it they were marketers and
(13:30):
so it was cool.
People were cool about it.
But I was very cognizant of thesocial media policy at work.
I am I'm a stickler for therules.
If you tell me I can't dosomething, I'm going to make
sure that I don't do it.
But there was nothing in thereabout creating a social media
presence.
It's just don't use work timeto do it or don't talk on behalf
(13:53):
of the company.
I think every company has thosesame policies around it, and so
I made sure that I stayedwithin the rules.
What I found was that some ofthe topics that I would talk
about especially if I talkedabout marketing and a retailer
loyalty program the video justcompletely blew up.
I work for a company that waslike creating software for
marketers, and when it waspicked up by the media, that was
(14:14):
really great.
That's really great for thebrand, because my company does
marketing and I'm talking aboutmarketing, so it's thought
leadership, and I think thatthat's where I see a lot of
corporate people having thisopportunity to leverage who you
are and your expertise to talkabout topics that could benefit
the brand.
I'm just very cognizant of thesocial media policy and when I
switched companies, I actuallygot clarification.
(14:38):
I saw the social media policy.
I was like getting through itand I went back because I
wouldn't want to come into anorganization.
I assume everyone's Googlingeveryone these days, but who
knows?
Right?
Jess (14:48):
yeah, I do know it hit me like I don't want you to be like
oh, you're a sports fan andyour game's a little unique too,
actually, if you didn't Googleme, but I did get clarification
and my boss was totally cool.
Roxy Couse (15:00):
They respected it, they loved it and maybe if you
play within the rules of theorganization, everything should
be fine.
I mean, it can be kind of weirdat times, but I just try to
make sure I follow the rules andnot compete with my company.
We're going to switch topics.
Jess (15:13):
One of the topics that our work besties love to learn more
about is burnout.
So you talked about you.
Did you have a traditional jobjust recently?
Part time, but at times youwere full time and then you
started building your career,which was full time.
Did you have moments of thisisn't sustainable.
And then what did you do tohelp, kind, of course, correct
(15:37):
that?
Roxy Couse (15:37):
For sure.
There's definitely been momentswhere it didn't feel
sustainable.
So one of the reasons and a lotof people don't know this is
that when you, when you start tocreate content the way that I
was and I was doing the homebodystuff and it was more like vlog
and I need to like go around myhouse with like a tripod and
all this kind of like it's verylabor intensive and it's it's
it's a lot of work.
I needed like a balance betweenlow effort and high effort
(16:02):
content, which is where themillennial manager came from,
because the millennial managercontent is low effort content.
I set up a tripod here I'mtalking to the camera so I just
needed that balance and that'skind of like where it came from,
because I could knock out likemillennial manager content like
10 episodes or 10 posts in thetime.
It would take me to go aroundand do the vlog styles and
(16:25):
editing and things like that.
On the content creation side, interms of you, you can't go hard
all the time.
You need high effort, loweffort.
You need to balance it.
It's kind of like work.
If everything is a priority,then nothing is.
You need high priority, medium,low, the low hanging fruit
things.
That's how I balance it, butalso if I need to take a break,
I'm going to take a break, likethere have been times when I've
(16:46):
been traveling for work.
I have a lot going on and Ididn't have time to do the
content.
So I either would repurposewhat I have I've learned the art
of repurposing content anddoing those things or I just
sideline.
It's a balancing act and I meanyou will burn out if you don't
prioritize and take the time foryourself.
So I try to balance.
Claude (17:05):
It's good to hear that from someone that is, you know,
successful, that it's okay tostop and not to feel guilty,
Because I know, at least for us,if we are not promoting, then
there's also this guilt.
Oh my God, my brand is going togo away.
I'm going to lose.
You know this and that.
So I think that it's soimportant to hear that also from
(17:26):
you for everybody that it'sokay to pause.
Obviously, it's not going to befor two weeks or three weeks,
but you know a certain amount oftime.
Jess (17:36):
Right, right, it does matter.
I'm going to ask you that samequestion, but as your millennial
manager self, what would yousay to your community about how
to deal with burnout?
Roxy Couse (17:48):
Well one.
I have told direct reports thiswe're not saving lives.
If you are feeling like youcan't do it all, that's okay,
like we're all human and it isimportant for us to take a step
back and prioritize and thinkabout, like what's important in
the grand scheme of things, alsoasking for help.
I've always been terrible atasking for help and which also
(18:11):
leads to burnout, so I've gottena lot better at that.
But I just think it's thismindset shift of prioritization
and also being really realisticwith ourselves that we can't do
it all and that's totally okay.
Jess (18:26):
Okay, this is just something I would love to know.
I feel like every time I watchyour videos not every time, but
a lot of your videos you'remaking some type of iced coffee.
In fact, I created an icedcoffee for this.
That's when I ran to thekitchen and fell.
That's what I get for that.
Where did this love of coffeecome from, and what's your
(18:47):
favorite coffee?
Roxy Couse (18:50):
oh, my love of coffee.
So my love of coffee probablygoes.
It goes back to me, a child.
So my mom, she loves coffee andshe gets up.
She's always gotten up likereally early.
She always has.
She always had a pot of coffeegoing.
So I always smelled coffee inthe house and we would.
(19:10):
We would always sit on theporch and sometimes I would like
take a sip when I was younger.
But now, like we can drink ourcoffee together, yeah, so I just
think I just my love of coffeedefinitely comes from my mom
loving coffee and it was justlike these moments that we would
have together.
So, like I often think about,like when I'm making my coffee
(19:31):
in the morning, I like thinkabout my mama and, yeah, it's
just like true to who I am.
And iced coffee in the morning,I like think about my mama and,
yeah, it's just like true towho I am.
And iced coffee is definitelylike a millennial, millennial
thing.
I love an iced coffee.
And COVID, during COVID.
I never made coffee at homebefore because I always went
into it.
No, no, no, no, no, I wouldnever.
I'm like I'm not doing thisbecause I would always like be
(19:55):
going into the office, so Istopped every day, like I'm the
person that like, if I'm goingto be late, I'm going to show up
with, like coffee, with thecoffee with Starbucks, starbucks
or LadyBug yeah, exactly, I'mgoing to show up with coffee,
being that we're about workbesties.
(20:21):
I'd love to chat with you alittle bit about work besties.
Do you, roxy, have a one or afew work besties?
I have always had a work bestie.
At every place that I've everworked.
It's been like you just have to, you just need someone.
I actually remember, um, and Ithink it's I actually have
talked about, like how you canfind community through work.
And for someone like me who,like I've moved around for work,
you can find community throughwork.
And for someone like me who,like I've moved around for work
I'm originally from Texas.
I worked in Arkansas, moved toCincinnati for a job me and my
(20:42):
husband moved to Michigan for,for another job that I had I've
had to find community in theseplaces and I've pretty much made
a work bestie at every place,even working remotely.
There's always that one personwhere you're like, okay, this is
, this is my person.
So yeah, I just I just love itand I mean these are people that
they've been to my wedding,I've been in there.
(21:04):
It's, it's just like work issuch a great place to find these
forever friends, especiallywhen you can connect over the
same dislike for somebody orsome project, just say the
trauma.
Claude (21:21):
What would happen if there were no trauma at work?
Right, we would not have any no, you still.
Jess (21:27):
We'd be talking about like love island, which I know you
love to talk about, or somethinglike that.
There might be more positivecommentary.
I don't know, but it's a joke.
Sorry, I get your joke, but Ido love that because I think to
your point.
With the work bestie element,you can find them anywhere, or
(21:48):
hopefully you can or you should.
The coolest part about it isyou end up being friends with
people that you probably ineveryday life would not have
thought to connect with thoughtto to connect.
Oh, absolutely, friends, right?
Yeah, and it definitely likehelps give you more perspective
on things and learning from eachother.
Claude (22:04):
Right, because a lot of time you are going to, maybe,
and it's, there's this thing ontiktok, it's always.
You know, oh, my world bestie,I'm going to their kids their
70th birthday, or you know,their kid's graduation when
you're only 25.
So you know, it's just so funnybecause you actually learn so
much from everybody.
(22:25):
You know Absolutely.
Jess (22:27):
And this way around the work, bestie community.
I feel like it's kind ofembedded in your ethos without
even calling it out.
But within your community, doyou try to intentionally
incorporate that, whether onlineor in real life, or is it just
kind of organically?
Roxy Couse (22:43):
happening in terms of like work bestie.
Yeah, so I have talked aboutwork besties.
I actually did the work bestieinterview.
It's like interviewing thislike new work bestie type of
thing, and I did this like funnyskit about, like you know, tell
me about a time, and it's it'slike interviewing this like new
work bestie type of thing, and Idid this like funny skit about,
like you know, tell me about atime, and it's it's just like
these questions around, like soif your work best is on PTO,
then what's going to happen ThenI'm on PTO.
I think it's so funny that thatdynamic I just feel like it's
(23:06):
natural, Like I mean, I feellike online I'm like everybody's
work best.
I'm either your favoritemanager or I'm your work bestie.
So I don't know, I just feellike it's organic.
Jess (23:14):
So one of the things that we get asked a lot about
ourselves is with your workbestie, how do you help each
other stay grounded?
So if you could think about onework bestie or the collective,
because I know you've got abunch- I have a large community
and I consider them all my workbestie.
Roxy Couse (23:29):
But this might be a hot take, but I don't believe in
having multiple work besties atmy company so it's gonna be
like one person, like it's likeone or two.
But I just feel like, if I'mlike telling you all my things,
I can't be having you have like10 work besties, because what
are you telling them?
So I'm like exclusive, I needlike one commit and we can have
(23:51):
other friends.
But they're not at that levelthat we are.
I like that.
Claude (23:56):
For example, I have my work, bestie you, I will say
everything.
Then I have some friend at workthat I will say something, but
not everything.
I know what to say to eachother, right?
I don't want everybody to knowwhat is in my head.
I can say she's weird, but Ican say it to you only I
actually am aligned.
Jess (24:16):
I feel like all three of us are similar.
I don't think you can have morethan one solid work bestie at
the same company.
Right To your point, you couldhave a solid work bestie at
other places too.
Claude (24:26):
Oh yeah.
Jess (24:27):
But when the same company, I think you could have other
friendly work, friends, friendlyco -workers yes, but I would
not sorry current company.
I would not consider anyoneelse there.
I work bestie outside of you.
Claude (24:39):
Yeah, I agree, I think that's so smart thank god, I was
like I made the cut while Iwasn't breathing.
You know I didn't want to.
Where is she going there?
Roxy Couse (24:47):
what, how?
I um, you know it's alwaysgreat to have besties, like in
this environment, in thecorporate environment, because I
feel like it's so, it's such aunique experience.
My work bestie, who might belike overwhelmed, I'm like, but
you're about to go on PTO, soturn on your out of office and
get like stop answering.
Even this tough love, eventhough I'm like I'm still
answering, but I'm gonna liketurn it off.
(25:08):
I'm gonna like build you up andmake sure that, like you're
like you have somebody that hasyour back.
That's like my thing and like,having this work bestie, like I
got your back, I'm, I'm here foryou.
So which?
Jess (25:20):
I I mean working in the corporate environment, anywhere.
You still want to have likethat close knit of people in
general, for sure, but to havesomeone know everything about
you and I think maybe thedifference is like that one work
bestie doesn't know just thework stuff but the personal
stuff they know the more.
Roxy Couse (25:37):
yeah, exactly.
Jess (25:41):
That's the point of differentiation, because I'm not
going to go tell everybodyabout all my personal things
that are going on that are infact impacting how I show up at
work, but they definitely willthat one work bestie will know
it all Kind of like.
Roxy Couse (25:54):
Even when I was creating content, I have had a
work bestie who I'm like I don'tknow if, like I told them.
I eventually told them I waslike I don't know if you know
that I'm doing this, but I'mgetting a little following
online and this is turning like.
I would just I would alwayslike tell them about like okay
(26:20):
about like okay, this ishappening, I'm so nervous.
Claude (26:21):
And they're like why do you need to like own it?
Jess (26:22):
But yeah, and they were there to support you and hype
you up, which is every step ofthe way, which is amazing and
fantastic, because I'm surethey're not along that same
journey with you, so they haveno skin in the game outside of
just being that supportiveperson.
Roxy Couse (26:31):
Right, exactly, exactly.
I love that.
Jess (26:33):
Of all your content creation.
What's your favorite kind ofarea that you've focused in on,
or even a clip that you've done?
Roxy Couse (26:40):
So my favorite is probably the storytelling aspect
of it and I'm so glad I've beenable to like come back to that.
So I mentioned it in a commenton one of my videos where people
were like you're a lyricist,are you writing a book?
But when I was growing up, wehad very little.
But one of the things that mymom found was there was this
(27:03):
program, it was called YoungWriters Program and it was at
the college and they happenedlike every year and it used to
be free.
I recently saw that there's afee but like everything's more
expensive now these days we'relike, but like everything's more
expensive now these days forlike programs like that but it
was this free program in thesummertime.
I went every summer and it waslike a week long program and you
wrote stories.
They taught you how to writedifferent poetry types, like a
(27:24):
haiku and all this kind of stuff.
At the end of the summerprogram you would get this book
and everybody had their workpublished in the book and I had
poems and all kinds of stuff andI I just love that program and
I just feel in corporate we aretasked.
You have to be a storyteller inorder to get your point across
or to bring people along on thejourney.
You have to be able to tell areally compelling story, and so
(27:46):
it's just been very interestinghow my love for writing and
working in corporate and havingto tell these stories it just
makes up everything of like who,who you are, all these skills
that you've gained along the way, and I've just loved being able
to incorporate that into mycontent and try to think about
how can I tell the best story,how can I move people.
It's really a strategy behindit, but that's my favorite part
(28:09):
of it.
Claude (28:09):
Which is totally your thing, because Jess is actually
in Insights, which you alwayssay.
It's always about stories.
Jess (28:19):
How do you bring all of the facts into a story, because
nobody remembers facts unlessit's a story.
Roxy Couse (28:25):
It's a story Right.
Jess (28:26):
Exactly, exactly, and you have to bring them on a journey.
So it's not only storytelling,it can't be about you.
It's the audience.
You're sharing it with right,and you do such a great job.
Your content doesn't focus juston one thing, and even the
topics that you have yes, it'sthe millennial manager, and you
can look at us and see neitherof us are millennials, but we
still relate to it.
(28:49):
Sorry, maybe people think twiceyou can tell I don't look like a
millennial.
Speak for yourself.
I know I am not a millennial,but I definitely resonate with a
lot of your content too.
Claude (29:01):
So even though it's focused on that, it's wide
enough to still bring in peopleon the journey trigger that
emotion right into people yeah,that's what it is, which brings
us back for more which, by theway, is not so easy to trigger
an emotion onto people.
It is very hard.
I feel like it's very hard.
Jess (29:21):
Well, I think it goes back to you.
You're building a communitysimilar to what we're trying to
do.
You've already established andpeople are on that journey, and
if you build the community, youget to know who they are.
So telling that story helps ina way, because you know what
they're interested in.
Yeah, yeah, yeah for sure, ifsomebody wanted to start into
(29:42):
content creation they haven'tyet.
They've been thinking about itbut they haven't like taken the
stab yet.
What would be your tip for themto get started?
Roxy Couse (29:51):
Just get started, so just start posting.
So people ask me all the timeit's like how do I get started?
How do I come up with my niche?
One?
I think it's about being amarketer.
I know what's about the odds.
You have to figure out whoyou're talking to.
One thing we say in marketing isif you're talking to everyone,
you're talking to no one.
It is much easier to talk to anaudience that you yourself are
a member of.
So, like I can talk tomillennials because I'm a
(30:13):
millennial, I can talk to a girlin her 30s because I'm in my
face.
It's important to focus in onthat audience.
I'm going to talk to this oneperson about this one thing, and
then you find that there's likea lot of people that also
resonate with this thing.
It's also important to havelike an outside in way of
thinking, and I actually wastelling my hairstylist, the
(30:33):
person who does my hair.
I was looking at her social andit was a lot of selfies of her
and I'm like but your hairstyleis, you're trying to get more
business.
It has to be outside in.
You have to show the product.
Jess (30:43):
Style is you're trying to get more business.
It has to be outside in.
Roxy Couse (30:45):
You have to show the product.
Nobody wants to see the selfiesof you.
It's also like removingyourself from the equation and
I've learned this thing.
Like creating how do you tell acompelling story?
Like I have to make you seeyourself in this.
This isn't about me, this isabout you.
So, for example, one of thestrongest hooks that I felt like
I've had was when I starteddoing the homebody content and
like what I led was is anyoneelse a homebody?
(31:06):
But yeah, you like beinginvited to things even though
there's a 99% chance you're notgoing.
It wasn't that made it lessabout me, it's about you and
everybody's like yeah, I am.
So if you're going to create,like it has to be, like selfless
(31:28):
, like it not about you, it'sabout them.
Start to create for aparticular audience that, like
you yourself, are a part of thatyou could talk about all day
long and I just feel like that'sthe best way to get started.
Claude (31:32):
And, roxy, where can our audience find you?
Roxy Couse (31:34):
yeah, so it's at roxy cows, uh, instagram, tiktok
, also youtube.
Um, it's roxy cows on linkedin.
Recently, like in the last year, I prioritized LinkedIn and I
recently passed like 10,000followers on LinkedIn, which I
think is amazing becauseLinkedIn is so hard to grow on.
So yeah, that's where you canfind me.
Jess (31:55):
That is one thing I think most content creators don't
understand is the differentplatforms have different ways to
gain those audiences.
And it isn't the same recipe.
Roxy Couse (32:04):
Absolutely yeah, that was my journey.
Like I grew on TikTok and thenI was like, let me prioritize
Instagram.
Grow on Instagram.
And then I was like, okay,linkedin.
And LinkedIn was last, becauseI work in corporate.
Like you really get seen overthere by the people that know
you in real life.
So, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jess (32:20):
Totally understand that.
But to your point, celebratethe wins, even how small, like
there's still big wins.
Absolutely Exactly All right,we have one last question for
you, roxy.
How do you make work feel?
Roxy Couse (32:31):
more like you.
I make work feel more like meby showing up as myself.
So one of the things that I Ihave a, I have a, I have a sense
of humor and it comes out in mycontent, like sometimes I'll
think about, like you know, I'mlike panicking about a deadline
or like we're like oh no, thishappened and I'm like this is
(32:54):
nothing Like compared to likethe grand scheme of what's
happening in the world.
Sometimes I'll have to stopmyself from giggling.
When I was younger, me and mycousin, who were the same age,
we always got in trouble becausewe would just be giggling at
like the wrong times, like inchurch or something like that,
and so I just think we takeourselves so serious where, like
(33:15):
sometimes, we just have to likelaugh and be, be who you are.
I just think, if you can likehone in on that and this is how
I'm going to show up and it justit just helps you to to just be
more comfortable in anyenvironment that you walk into.
I have nervous energy.
I think millennials havenervous energy, and so one of
the ways that I get over that isI always try to crack a joke at
(33:36):
the beginning of a presentation.
I'm going to make you laugh,I'm going to make you smile, I'm
going to make this seem this isnot that big of a deal, and I
feel like I bring that into thecontent too, like I'm.
It's going to be humorous, butthere's going to be some real to
it, and that's just how, how Iam and how I show up.
Jess (33:53):
I love it.
I think I have said this to younow at least five times, but
I'm a huge fan of yours.
We're both huge fans of yours.
This has really been one of thecoolest things for us too, so
thank you so much for havingthis conversation with us.
I feel like I am leaving thisconversation a bigger believer
of you than I was even before isit even possible?
Claude (34:14):
I don't know, I don't think.
Jess (34:18):
I relate to you so much because I also have that nervous
energy and I kick off withhumor as my way of combating it
too.
Your humor is um the way you doit.
It's so honest and it's so realand having those conversations
with you, the hustle that youhave behind the scenes, that
people don't see or know, thatyou've now shared with us.
I just I find it commendableand I'm so in awe of you.
(34:40):
Thank you so, thank you so muchfor sharing this with us.
You've led with a lot ofinsights.
You've given us permission totake a pause.
You've given us permission tolaugh.
Claude (34:50):
You've given us permission to say it's okay that
you're living in chaos but takea step at a time and to make
sure to be authentic.
Roxy Couse (34:59):
And.
Claude (34:59):
I really love the fact that you say it's not being
selfish.
You have to be selfless andtalk to your audience, and that
I think it's something that isreally, really important.
Jess (35:09):
I will be re-listening to this nonstop and remembering
this important occasion.
For me, this conversation was atrue honor of our podcasting
lives and we'll be re-listeningto it every time we need a
reminder that it's possible tobe bold, funny and full of heart
all at once.
Claude (35:27):
So if Roxy's words hit home for you, take this episode
as your sign.
You don't have to hide who youare to be professional.
You don't have to shrink to fitinto workplace culture so you
can be funny, real, ambitiousand still protect your peace.
(35:47):
So share this with your workbestie, your group chat or that
friend who's learning to leadwith their authentic self.
Then come hang with us in thework besties community, where we
celebrate bold voice, weirdtalents and all the messy,
magical parts of showing upfully at work.
(36:07):
Follow Roxy, cheer up and lether remind you you don't need
permission to be yourself and tobe funny, but if you're looking
for it, this is it.
Jess (36:20):
Bye.
Remember, whether you'reswapping snacks in the break
room, rescuing each other fromendless meetings or just sending
that perfectly timed meme.
Having a work bestie is likehaving your own personal hype
squad.
Claude (36:33):
So keep lifting each other, laughing through the
chaos and, of course, thriving.
Until next time, stay positive,stay productive and don't
forget to keep supporting eachother.
Work besties.
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The Brothers Ortiz
The Brothers Ortiz is the story of two brothers–both successful, but in very different ways. Gabe Ortiz becomes a third-highest ranking officer in all of Texas while his younger brother Larry climbs the ranks in Puro Tango Blast, a notorious Texas Prison gang. Gabe doesn’t know all the details of his brother’s nefarious dealings, and he’s made a point not to ask, to protect their relationship. But when Larry is murdered during a home invasion in a rented beach house, Gabe has no choice but to look into what happened that night. To solve Larry’s murder, Gabe, and the whole Ortiz family, must ask each other tough questions.