Imagine trying to raise money in instrument science during the Elizabeth Holmes scandal. That’s exactly what happened to Ellen Williams. She’s the VP of Business Development at Exum Instruments, who developed an actual mass spectrometer box that can give you the full periodic table of anything you test in a matter of minutes, without using a full lab’s worth of equipment and a staff full of PhD chemists. So when her company was trying to raise funds, they ran into a few stumbling blocks along th...
Mar 07, 2024•6 min•Ep. 42
In this replay episode, As Rachel is investigating what makes the best brands the best as she grows her own company and brand. What makes brands stand the test of time? Enter Kristin Hillery, Head of Brand and Content at Voiceflow. She’s been crafting and strategizing brand-defining content for over a decade. Her answer? Take inspiration from what left an impression on you as a kid. Even (or especially?) if that impression is left by a talking toaster. Tune in to the episode to find out what she...
Feb 29, 2024•9 min•Ep. 41
Welcome to another episode of Voicemails with Rachel: Creator Edition. As we're all exploring and redefining what it means to build a brand with a media-led strategy, Rachel asks the most innovative people she knows for their thoughts and questions to help us all create better, human, intentional content. (This is a special series part of the TACK Network. For more about that, click here .) Devin Reed, content creator, author, founder of The Reeder, and Head of Content at Clari, left Rachel a me...
Feb 22, 2024•9 min•Ep. 40
Welcome to another episode of Voicemails with Rachel: Creator Edition. As we're all exploring and redefining what it means to build a brand with a media-led strategy, Rachel is asking the most innovative people she knows for their thoughts and questions to help us all create better, human, intentional content. (This is a special series part of the TACK Network. For more about that, click here .) Devin Bramhall, Growth Advisor, former CEO, and podcast host, left Rachel a message: what can a media...
Nov 09, 2023•11 min•Ep. 39
Welcome to the first episode of Voicemails with Rachel: Creator Edition. As we're all exploring and redefining what it means to build a brand with a media-led strategy, Rachel is asking the most innovative people she knows for their thoughts and questions to help us all create better, human, intentional content. (This is a special series part of the TACK Network. For more about that, click here .) So to kick us off, CEO and Founder of People Forward Network, Nikki Lewallen Gregory left Rachel a ...
Nov 02, 2023•12 min•Ep. 38
How do you maintain motivation when you’re bored? What can you do to help stay engaged in working towards your goals? Rachel turns to Joe Mills, sales leader at Element Three, for his strategies for keeping his motivation and drive for progress in high gear. Rachel and Joe dive into the topic of maintaining motivation and finding the drive to keep growing, even after achieving goals. Joe shares his insightful perspective, emphasizing the importance of balance and variety in activities. He explai...
Sep 21, 2023•5 min•Ep. 37
While nothing is perfect, how close can you get? In your work product or in life. Rachel turns to Reid Morris, Sr. Marketing Manager at Element Three to answer this question. His high standard for video and podcasting content alone inspired her to ask this question (check those out below). But what seems like an inquiry into how perfectionistic we should be turned into how we can constantly be working toward leveling each other up, not just our work product. Tune in for some thought-provoking re...
Sep 14, 2023•6 min•Ep. 36
Are you team choose-your-own-adventure? Or team go where life takes you? Jackie Yafremava, Head of Delivery Services at Share Your Genius, left Rachel a voicemail seeking advice on transitioning from a mindset from the latter to the former. So how does Rachel choose her own adventure? She shares her insights on prioritizing personal goals and emphasizes regularly revisiting and refining them in this episode. One important takeaway? It's not selfish to set goals and map out where you want your li...
Aug 24, 2023•4 min•Ep. 35
Founders’ stories captivate us. We love hearing about bringing a new idea to life. But it’s not always easy. As Rachel was reflecting on her own founder’s journey, she called up her friend, co-founder and CEO of Qualifi, Darrian Mikell, and asked: What traits do successful founders have in common? And how do those traits shape your thought leadership strategy? His unique POV on what to do with the lessons you learn from leading and growing is simple but impactful: share it. Link up with Darrian:...
Aug 17, 2023•6 min•Ep. 34
If you listen to this podcast, you’re probably a high performer. You’re working towards something. You have goals. You work hard. (You probably play hard too.) But we can’t do the big things without discipline. And we can’t invest in what matters most if we can’t figure out how to put our phones down and put work away. So what can we do? Rachel turns to COO of Amplify Logistics, Matthew Zarzycki to answer this question for us. He’s a dad, a COO, a board member, and more. Tune in for his tips on ...
Aug 10, 2023•12 min•Ep. 33
As Rachel grows her own company and brand, she’s often investigating what makes the best brands the best. What makes brands stand the test of time? Enter Kristin Hillery, Head of Brand and Content at Voiceflow. She’s been crafting and strategizing brand-defining content for over a decade. Her answer? Take inspiration from what left an impression on you as a kid. Even (or especially?) if that impression is left by a talking toaster. Tune in to the episode to find out what she means. Link up with ...
Aug 03, 2023•9 min•Ep. 32
Brandi Starr is COO of Tegrita, who hosts the Revenue Rehab podcast. She met up with Rachel at a recent event, and left her a voicemail—how do you define your thought leadership strategy? And how do I bring my own thought leadership to the table when I’m the interviewer on my show to help my expertise shine? Rachel has 5 steps to help hone in on your thought leadership strategy, and some solid tips for bringing that into your podcast. It starts with asking really good questions. Listen to Revenu...
Jul 27, 2023•8 min•Ep. 31
Are downloads a sign of podcast success? Or is the attention we give them driven by ego? Rachel turns to Jillian Hoefer, Share Your Genius’ Strategic Lead and Creative Director to set the record straight: downloads are a metric of performance, but not necessarily an indicator of success. So what do we mean by that? What constitutes true success for your B2B podcast? Tune in to hear her answer. And if you want more of the discussion around this topic, Rachel and Jillian recorded their phone call ...
Jul 13, 2023•3 min•Ep. 30
Spurred on by an article spouting that downloads are the best metric to track when it comes to podcast success, Rachel Downey turns to Jillian Hoefer, Strategic Lead at Share Your Genius for not only a voicemail, but an entire phone call (that she recorded) to dive into this discussion. And spoiler—they believe downloads are vanity metrics. Rachel and Jillian explore the importance of understanding your existing audience, tracking valuable interactions, and focusing on specific call-to-actions t...
Jul 11, 2023•27 min•Ep. 29
What happens when a brand has a really good culture and a really good brand? What kind of impact can they have? What’s the intersection there? Rachel turns to content strategy expert, Alex George. Alex has led brand and digital marketing strategy for powerhouse brands—think Meta, PayPal, Huffington Post, and Tech Crunch in collaboration with global consumer brands like General Mills, Unilever and Coca-Cola. He currently looks after brand strategy and growth for Cast & Crew, a leading payroll...
Jul 06, 2023•5 min•Ep. 28
What are the core tenets of a successful, long-term brand strategy? Rachel turns to content strategy expert, Anum Hussain. Anum is a content leader with 12+ years of experience at the intersection of marketing, media, and entrepreneurship. From building HubSpot's early content playbooks to running an AI news startup to becoming the first content marketing leader at Reforge, she’s an expert at developing content strategy, understanding audiences across multimedia formats, and leading cross-functi...
Jun 29, 2023•8 min•Ep. 27
What do you do when your creative juices have pretty much dried up? When you need a jolt of creativity and new ideas, what do you turn to? Share Your Genius’s own Sarah Duvendack and Kassidy Zurbuch left Rachel a voicemail to get her opinion. Rachel’s shortlist: Reading fiction books Consuming content in different forms than where you create Seeking out conversations with other creatives Press play to hear why and how these became Rachel’s go-to creativity-inducing activities. Link up with Kassi...
Jun 22, 2023•4 min•Ep. 26
This might be one of the hardest questions we’ve posed on this podcast, and none other than our host, Rachel Downey, is here to answer it. Kassidy Zurbuch, Show Manager at Share Your Genius, reached out to ask how do you define success in your career, and to dig deeper—how does that relate to the career ladder? It’s not always about titles and money, but what creates a career you’re really proud of? And at what level do you find that? Rachel finds meaning in the skills she learns and the people ...
Jun 15, 2023•4 min•Ep. 25
AI is taking the world by storm—increasing efficiencies, speeding up processes, and so much more. So how is it impacting creatives, customers, and the market overall? Where do we go from here? So Rachel reached out to Lindsay Tjepkema to ask just that. Lindsay is the Co-Founder and CEO of Casted—the first Amplified Marketing Platform and only podcast solution for B2B marketers—so she knows a thing or two about leveraging tech to create connections. Lindsay says the brands that are more human are...
Jun 08, 2023•4 min•Ep. 24
Our host, Rachel Downey, deals in podcasts every day. If you follow her, you’ve heard her say “it’s never just a podcast”. It’s a call to think bigger about your media strategy. But what does that mean to others? And is Rachel correct in her thinking? So she asked Devin Bramhall, marketing advisor and host of Don’t Say Content. And she says that media-first strategies are the future of brand-building. Devin has spent over 15 years growing B2B Saas companies through community-led strategy. She is...
Jun 01, 2023•5 min•Ep. 23
If you've been around our host, Rachel Downey, you’ve heard her say “it’s never just a podcast”. It’s a call to think bigger about your media strategy. But what does that mean to others outside of Share Your Genius? And is Rachel correct in her thinking? Enter Margaret Kelsey, a marketing industry vet. She’s spent a decade building scalable, effective marketing programs—and teams—for B2B SaaS companies like OpenView and Appcues. She now advises founders on how to do the same. So what’s her take ...
May 25, 2023•6 min•Ep. 22
”Movement is fuel.” - Lara Heimann, LYT Yoga Founder and CEO As a high performer, incorporating movement into your day can be a struggle sometimes. We’re balancing lots of goals, lots of daily tasks—how can we make sure our health is still an important piece of our day? Rachel turns to Lara Heimann, creator of the LYT Yoga Method to answer the question. Listen to LYT here: https://lytyoga.com/blog/category/podcasts/ Link up with Lara: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lara-heimann-8a556b13/ Follow Lar...
May 18, 2023•4 min•Ep. 21
It’s one thing to create great content, it’s a whole other thing to create great content with mass appeal. We’re talking about pitching to the big brands (think Netflix, Hulu, etc). So what takes a pitch to that next level? Rachel turns to Co-Founder of Flow Studios, Matt Naylor. He’s pitched and sold series to both of those big brands we mentioned and co-founded an Emmy-nominated and Clio-winning creative studio. His answer to this question will have you thinking about how to bring your content...
May 11, 2023•4 min•Ep. 20
[If you haven’t listened to the voicemail pod with Meg Johnson, scroll back (1 episode) and listen to that first.] Introducing phone calls with Rachel. Because sometimes you just need a full conversation. After Meg Johnson (Head Producer at OpenView) left Rachel a message on how brands should be thinking about video strategy, they got back together and recorded their entire conversation for us. From metrics of success to brand affinity strategy, Meg deep dives the importance of thinking through ...
May 05, 2023•35 min•Ep. 19
Video content has been and continues to be a powerful tool in the brand and creator’s tool belt, from video podcasts to social media and beyond. But how are big brands thinking about video? And how do you use it strategically to get closer to your goals? Enter Meg Johnson—head producer at OpenView, an expansion-stage venture capital firm. She’s got her hands in all kinds of media at all times, including her own email (and audio) newsletter. Listen in to hear her POV on video strategy. Link up wi...
May 04, 2023•2 min•Ep. 18
On this replay episode, we’re throwing it back and flipping the script. Gretchen Schott, CLO of Threefold and Host of Made for Impact, listened to Rachel’s mini-series on Scared Confident called The First Million—an intimate look at how she built Share Your Genius from 0 to $1M. Inspiring Gretchen to ask, how did you learn to bet on yourself? Press play for Rachel’s answer. For the podcast that inspired Gretchen’s question - listen here: https://tiffanysauder.com/scared-confident/takeover-rachel...
Apr 27, 2023•4 min•Ep. 17
Next up in our brand storytelling mini-series, Michael Heller. He’s the CRO of PDA, with a background that makes his current role all the more interesting. He’s a lawyer, founder of Vessel Media, and brilliant at inciting creativity, change, and community. The work he’s done as part of PDA has led the charge on many of the largest campaigns—the number one dance trend on TikTok as one of them. So Rachel asked him—why should brands be investing in storytelling? Link up with Michael here: https://w...
Apr 20, 2023•7 min•Ep. 16
If you’re here, we imagine you find storytelling just as important, powerful, and useful as we do. So why should brands invest in it? WeTransfer’s WePresent won an Oscar for their short film, The Long Goodbye, so they know a thing or two about how storytelling impacts people AND business. So Tara Goutermout, WeTransfer ’s Brand Strategy Director, is here to answer Rachel’s question—why should brands be investing in storytelling? Link up with Tara here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taragoutermout/...
Apr 13, 2023•5 min•Ep. 15
Finding the right (and best) talent is a talent all on its own. And Lindsey Groepper knows how to do it—she’s grown her award-winning B2B PR agency ( BLASTmedia ) exponentially over the past few years. And to her, finding the best talent isn’t always among the people with the most relevant and extensive experience. Press play to hear her strategy to finding the best and brightest to grow your teams. Link up with Lindsey here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindseygroepper/ Listen to Saas Half Full ...
Mar 30, 2023•4 min•Ep. 14
Ever been busy and felt like you aren’t feeling as creative as you could be? Share Your Genius’s own Marketing Lead, Katie Mills jumps in to ask Rachel exactly that question. So listen in for Rachel’s 3 practices to boost your creativity when you need it. Link up with Katie here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiemills11/ Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourge...
Mar 23, 2023•4 min•Ep. 13
