Marketing Happy Hour - How to Separate Your Personal Worth from Your Professional Title | Ally Golden of MHH

Episode Date: August 6, 2026

In this episode, Cassie turns the mic on co-host Ally Golden for a candid, long-overdue conversation about her career journey — from a PR degree she couldn't quite use, to a wealth management firm where she cut her marketing teeth, to brand management roles that clarified exactly where her passion lived, to a layoff that forced her to rethink everything she thought she knew about her own worth. Ally opens up about the ego hit of being impacted by a reduction in force at Title, what it took to separate her personal identity from her professional title, and the unexpected projects — freelance writing, mentorship, community work — that helped her rebuild her confidence and sense of self in the aftermath. She also shares the one behavior she's spent years unlearning, why being a big fish in a small pond early in your career is one of the most underrated moves you can make, and the piece of advice she'd give to younger Ally if she could go back. Equal parts career reflection and honest conversation about what it really takes to grow — this one is for anyone who has ever felt like their career was supposed to look different by now.Key Takeaways:// Being a big fish in a small pond early in your career is a gift, not a consolation prize. Ally's first role at a 15-person wealth management firm gave her more runway, ownership, and variety than most entry-level roles ever do. Wearing every hat — even the ones you didn't ask for — is what creates a well-rounded marketer.// Clarity about what you actually want doesn't come from thinking. It comes from doing. Ally didn't know she wanted to be in brand management until she was knee-deep in tone of voice work and color analysis at a finance firm. You have to try things to know which things are yours.// When you lose control of your career, build something you can control. After her layoff, Ally cold-pitched a local magazine, started freelance writing, and leaned into mentorship — not for financial reasons, but to feed the parts of herself that a full-time job had been crowding out. Those extensions made her a more well-rounded professional and person.// Unlearn the idea that your voice has to earn its place in the room. The biggest unlock of Ally's career has been realizing she was shrinking to fit a box — holding back questions, ideas, and asks because she didn't feel she fully qualified. Raising your hand before you feel completely ready is the move.// It's okay for your dreams to change. Ally spent years chasing a goal that didn't work out on the timeline she expected — and grieving that was part of the process. But flexibility and nimbleness are what allowed her to see the opportunity that was right in front of her all along.____Join the MHH Collective! The MHH Collective is a community for marketers and business owners to connect, ask real questions, and grow their careers together. Join for access to live Q&As with industry experts, a private Slack community, and ongoing resources: https://www.marketinghappyhr.com/mhh-collectiveSay hi! DM us on Instagram and let us know what content you want to hear on the show - We can't wait to hear from you! Please also consider rating the show and leaving a review, as that helps us tremendously as we move forward in this Marketing Happy Hour journey and create more content for all of you. ⁠Join the MHH Collective: ⁠Join now⁠Get the latest marketing trends, open jobs and MHH updates, straight to your inbox: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join our email list!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow MHH on Social: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Welcome to Marketing Happy Hour, a weekly podcast helping marketing professionals and entrepreneurs build better strategies and hit career goals. I'm Cassie and I'm Allie. We're marketers and your host through these unfiltered convos with your peers and experts in the space. Let's dive in. Grab your favorite drink and let's get to this week's episode. It has been a minute since it's been the two of us. I'm so excited. I know. Me too. Yeah. I'm really looking forward to it. I know. I feel like we have been kind of off and on celebrating five years of marketing happy hour we've been like going in and out of celebration and summer break and interviews and all the things but we're going back to it for today and this time we choose this a long time ago but this time i'm going to interview you

which i'm very excited about um just hear more about your career journey and all the things um i'm very excited it's going to be great i know me too i my biggest challenge is going to to be keeping it into an abridged version. Yeah, I know, same. I know. No, it'll be good. And I think, you know, I know a lot about your career journey. We talk about it occasionally, but I think the important part about this is just like

highlighting our stories more. Like, people have a lot to learn from us too. And like, I don't want to discount that. And I'm just excited to kind of dive deeper. And I'm sure I'll learn a thing or two as well. I know I'll learn a thing or two, so I'm very excited to just dive in here in a minute. Yeah, me too. Me too.

As always, we have to start with an important question. Allie, what has been in your glass lately? Oh, my goodness. When is Biro not in my glass, to be totally honest? But today, we're recording two days before the new Spider-Man movie comes out. And both you and I are huge fans of Spider-Man and just very excited for there to be a new movie for us after five years, little under five years. And so I actually have the Spider-Man exclusive bureau can, which I'm super excited about.

It's specifically the Kingston Golden Pills, which is actually my favorite of the Bureau NA beers. And so, yeah, that's what I have. How about you? Yeah. First of all, the cans look amazing. We've been talking about this. They've been doing some awesome partnerships for The Odyssey as well.

is Spider-Man, which obviously Tom Holland founder of Bureau was in both films. And I love a partnership like that. And also just the branded can is so good. Like we were joking with our friend Jackie who works for Bureau that like we want to literally frame it on our wall. Because like we love Spider-Man. We love Bureau. I'm still figuring out how I can do that. I know. It also, I don't know. You probably can't see I have a terrible camera, but it does say your friendly neighborhood non-alcoholic beer, which I just absolutely love. and there's a web design like going throughout the can. It's just it's also good.

Oh my gosh. I love it. I have not gotten my hands all night yet, but I do have one of the shandies from Biro. Love. Which is so good. I tried this flavor last night for the first time, Blackberry Yuzu.

It's delicious. I believe these are limited. So go to Target or wherever you shop. That has Biro. Double check their website. Maybe before you go to the store. But check it out. They're so good.

And it's so funny. I just have to note, like, people, someone asked me the other day, they were like, are you like paid by bureau? Like, what's the deal here? And I'm like, no. Like, we legit just like this brand. Yes. We love the brand.

Obviously, huge fans of Tom and everything he's done. But like, this is just a testament to this show is like, we've gotten to know Jackie over the years and like watched her journey. And I'm just such a huge fan of that team and like what they're building. And so, you know, yes, we talk about Bureau a lot, but it's for a reason and just absolutely a huge fan of all things, Bureau and what they're doing. Very, very well said. Well, Allie, we have a lot to cover here. So I think we're going to go ahead and dive in if you're ready.

But start at the beginning, if you can, like we're going to go way back to your first role out of school. Tell us a little bit about that. What did you do? Yeah, so I'm not sure if everybody knows this. My formal degree is actually in PR. And what I found, I was living in Boston at the time, and that's where I'm born and raised. And what I found is that PR was increasingly hard to get into, and I'm dating myself. This was back in 2014. Yikes. It was increasingly hard to get into at an entry level where there was work that felt, I think, meaningful to me. And so as a result of that, I started to branch out of just focusing on

applying to roles that were just PR-specific and started to open myself up to marketing in general. And when I got less focused on PR and more focused on the marketing of it all, the opportunities felt like they were endless in terms of the ways that I could fit in from. from an entry level standpoint. And so I ended up at a wealth management firm. Now finance, everyone has heard me talk about this, but math, finance, anything like that is like truly not, that's why I'm in marketing,

truly not something that I am comfortable with or felt called to in any way, shape, or form, but the opportunity was what made this role so attractive. And essentially what it was, was I joined as a marketing associate, as I mentioned, very much entry level, but had the opportunity to work in a personalized wealth management firm where there were maybe 15 people at the firm. And so it was very much this approach of big fish in a small pond, which I talk about a lot,

because there was such runway for me to own the marketing area of the business at a very, very young age and just give the opportunity to have a lot of new and fresh ideas. in terms of how we were pitching these high net worth clients to come invest their money with us. A lot of opportunity for brand work in terms of color analysis and tone of voice, things that I hadn't necessarily had a ton of opportunity to do while I was in school. So that was an awesome kind of toe dip into the world of marketing, albeit a very hyper-specific industry. I also had the opportunity to work on just more varied media, so TV spots,

print ads in different local papers and magazines. Also had the opportunity to really focus in on our website, which was one of the first times I had the opportunity to just actually go in and mess around in website design. So additionally there, I had the opportunity to manage my first direct report right out of school. That was, I think, the maybe the toughest part for me, coming in as entry level was I was, I had essentially an assistant as part of being a marketing associate that I kind of helped bring along the journey. I was able to get the direct report about, I would say a year and a half into that role and I was there about three years. So I did have that

opportunity for a pretty large chunk of being at Athena Capital. Yeah. I love it. And I feel like you and I have very similar beginnings to our stories where we had these roles where we were doing a lot of different things, wearing a lot of hats, et cetera. And I think in the moment, it can feel like you're doing a lot, but not actually doing anything or like anything that helps to shape where you should be going in your career. But I think the biggest thing I always tell people is like, you have to do all the things in order to know exactly what you want to do. It's like experience helps to shape and guide what that future is going to look like. So I love how you started there as well because I'm sure that was a very insightful time of

figuring out what you like and don't like. And I think just remembering when you are early in your career, even like still midway through your career, like you're still picking up the pieces and trying to figure out what you want to focus in if you do want to focus in something. Totally. And I think the opportunity. to wear so many hats when it came to marketing channels gave me the understanding that I have now in terms of how I can be a good thought partner for the people that do own those channels,

like in, for example, at Madewell, which is where I am now, there are things that I'm still taking from that first job in that first three years of my career that I use today in a, maybe in a more focused way, but I do still use the same skill set. you know next question is like either looking back early on or more recent whatever you want to pinpoint was there like a decision or moment or um you know project or whatever you want to call out that like really you feel changed the trajectory of your career personally yeah i do actually think it's when i left athena um so my going into my second job which was which was difficult for me because after three years I had built so many wonderful relationships, not just with other research analysts and

financial planners and things like that. I even went as far to get a certificate in financial planning just so that I had the investment foundational knowledge while I was there to be able to speak the same language as colleagues, even though, again, my background was not in finance, right? But started to think about how to extend myself while I was there to be able to be a better cross-functional partner and particularly an owner of the marketing area of the business. And I think when I made the decision to leave there, it was really around that sort of calling that I had to something that felt a little bit more on the brand side of things. I think the marketing blanket was so vast in terms of the things that I was covering.

and the area that I found most appealing and exciting to me was really that tone of voice work and the color analysis work and how were we showing up in these pitches to, you know, potential clients and particularly partners with agencies and things like that. And part of the role was brand, but it wasn't explicitly stated. And there started to be all of these, you know, things that I was reading and opportunities around brand management. And I was like, man, I think that's actually where I want. want to be. And so in mid-2017, I hopped to a personal loan lender. So still kind of financial

adjacent. So my experience in terms of the finance industry was actually really helpful for me in this role because I already kind of understood the foundational pieces that were needed and jumped to a brand called Lending Club, which is, which is still around today. They essentially do personal loan lending for folks needing dental surgery or bariatric surgery or hair replacement surgery. I actually had the opportunity to be the role was essentially a brand manager for five different submarkets. And so that really taught me the importance of nuanced communication and niche brand management. And so that from that moment on,

in terms of joining London Club, I realized that brand was what I was most passionate about. Yeah. And I think, again, like that stuff or that clarity doesn't come without experience and trying things. So thank you for sharing that. The other thing that I'd love to know is like, you know, as you've grown and evolved in your career, are there certain moments where your career forced you to kind of rethink who you are or who you wanted to be? like we we talked a lot about this in my episode too where um there were different projects or people i met or experiences i had where it kind of like changed not only professionally what i was interested in and who i wanted to be become but like the things as a person and on a deeper level that i really valued um so yeah just curious like i know that's kind of a deep question but what you

would say to that no it's it's a it's a great question and I have two answers because I think there were two very distinct moments that come to mind for me. The first is actually while I was at Lending Club. A lot of the work that I was doing was in the fertility submarket and it was marketing to essentially parents who were unable to have a child and we were offering as Lending Club loans for people to be able to do IVF. And it was in that moment where I was, again, learning about myself and the things that I wanted to be known for or be a part of. And there was almost this like purpose driven marketing that I was doing because I had the opportunity to go to these trade shows and actually hear from these parents that we had actually helped have a baby. Because we were able to offer them the financial assistance they needed to be able to have a baby.

And I realized in that moment that marketing is, it's always been about people. And I think that what we were putting out there at that time I was so deeply proud of because it took in research from that customer base. So those who are trying to have a baby for five, six, seven, eight years, however long it was, with the opportunity to give them the chance at the family that they had always wanted. And so, you know, that included thinking through, again, that tone of voice, the color analysis of how we were actually going to have pamphlets about loans in the office when they would tell you that your first IVF cycle didn't click, right? I think it was a really, a really pivotal moment for me, excuse me, in understanding that the consumer behavior is what drives our decision making and also drove how passionate I felt about the marketing. I was actually doing. I would also say, and I have talked a little bit about this on the podcast

since it is fairly recent, but I would say also when I was impacted by the reduction in force that title last March, I, man, this is going to be, you know, hard to say, but also I think it's an important lesson in that it was such an ego hit for me in so many ways. And as a result of that, I had to peel apart the layers of my personal worth in being impacted by something like this and my professional worth. And that was an exercise that, frankly, a year and a half later, I'm still going through and still kind of figuring out what that meant to me at the time and how it impacts how I show up today. But I will say that was a point where I had such a, a wake-up call in terms of my value and what I bring to the table. And I think everybody who has

been listening to the podcast for the last year and a half has seen sort of how I've maybe shaped my experience moving forward and how I talk about myself now in terms of how I used to talk about myself, particularly in interview settings or whether we're talking to guests on the podcast, etc. but it was a it was a huge it was a huge wake-up call for me in terms of how I how my personal brand looked externally facing but also how it looked to me and I think I learned a lot about what it means to really separate out those those pieces of your career and how it is important to continue to be you you do have value outside of your career and as as someone who used to combine those two, it is very, very important to see them as two separate things.

Yeah, absolutely. I want to go back to that in a second, but a couple things that you said that kind of stood out to me when you were talking about the Lending Club example. I think, you know, we talk about all the time like storytelling and emotion and marketing. I think it's obviously a lot easier when you're directly impacting families and a part of like large life experience like that. However, I would challenge anyone, like, what is the deeper need that you're tapping into or solution you're providing on an emotional level for a human being, like, whether it's makeup or, you know, you're doing something like at Lending Club, what you were doing, I think being able to tap into that and, like, communicate and storytell around emotion and

experience like that is huge. And then the other thing that you said that was, I think, really important as a reminder is like we as marketers, I think sometimes we silo ourselves into only managing the online or in-person marketing experience. But I think we have a real opportunity because we are so close to the consumer to also impact other parts of a business. So like you mentioned the pantones on the walls and kind of the experience inside of a facility that your business is running. I think that you know, customer experience should be very consistent offline and online in a store on the website, on social, et cetera. And so if you're able to kind of like provide feedback or insight or data into like not only how a customer experience should be on digital marketing platforms, but also,

you know, in person in a store with a customer experience team, et cetera, I think there's a huge opportunity there. And then last thing I'll say is just this. connection to value and the roles that you're choosing, I think that's another thing that keeps us going each and every day. When we're doing work that we directly align with value-wise, like we feel excited to back. I cannot tell you the amount of work that I've done that I'm like, I literally don't care about this and it makes it hard to do the work. And then you don't do a very good job with your like, totally. That is like psychologically proven that like if you are not excited about the work you're doing, like you're not going to show up and perform, right? So like,

I think that's just an important reminder overall when we're choosing roles, when we're choosing projects, et cetera, like make sure that you have alignment there. Totally. And the last thing I'll say on the Lending Club experience too was it was the first opportunity that I had to do B to B to C because technically some of the marketing was to our dental offices or the fertility clinics, right? And then there was the additional layer of how are we getting the loan opportunities into the hands of the consumer. So that was really interesting for me to kind of peel apart and understand because the messaging was so nuanced and so different for all five submarkets that I was able to work across. And some, again, you know, had had more investment and more time and resources than others. However, it was still such an interesting customer journey to think about, whether you were, you know, the offices that we were working with or from a business standpoint or the actual end consumer.

Yeah, for sure. No, that's great. Great experience. And again, I think very awesome that you got to do that early on in your career, lots of learnings there. So I want to go back really quickly to, you know, your layoff with title, for example. You kind of mentioned just the power of personal branding and working through that, like, post that happening. I'm curious, is there anything else, like, in practice that you're still thinking about

or applying that that experience kind of, like, I don't want to say forced you into, but, like, kind of prompted that as an exercise, even if it's, like, within the personal branding world, but what are some things that you're, like, actively continuing to do that, that kind of propelled. do you into if that makes sense? Yeah, absolutely. There are a couple things, to be honest, because I think at that time I felt so completely out of control when it came to my career that I started to think about what are other ways that I can extend my personal brand that aren't a full-time job? Because at that moment, I wasn't necessarily ready to hop into something

that felt full time and, you know, I really wanted to give myself a break in between. And I was grateful enough to have a severance package to be able to do that. And I'm, again, very grateful for that opportunity because I was able to take the time I needed to actually think about, what do I actually enjoy? Am I in the right lane? Do I want to switch things up? And where I landed was thinking about other things that I enjoy about marketing. And one of those things is writing.

and copy. And I haven't necessarily had the opportunity to impact copy at the level that I've always wanted to because I do really enjoy it. And I like words. I think words are our most valuable resource we have. And as a result of that, I used to really enjoy creative writing. And one of the things that I was like, man, how cool would it be if I could just freelance write for someone and just like pitch myself out there? And so I started to do that. And I, I cold pitched myself to a magazine here in Horizon West, which is the community I live in. And they were like, we're looking for community contributors. We think it'd be a great fit.

It was a moment where it wasn't necessarily because I was excited like on the financial side of things. It was more, how can I feed my soul during this time with things that feel aligned with my values and aligned with the things I'm passionate about? And I'm still working for them today. I write two or three articles a month that come out in various, you know, in various ways on their newsletters and social media and then also in their print magazines. And so I've had the opportunity to be published in that way. And that is not anything I ever thought I would have the opportunity to do. But because I pitched myself and I took a chance on that, I'm so grateful I did because that is,

that is one area that I am really, really deeply proud of and work that I'm deeply proud of as well. A lot of the stories that I write are community interest pieces. So they're, you know, think people in our community that are doing really awesome things. Like, for example, this girl that is cleaning up the decks at one of the meeting outdoor decks at, you know, one of the communities that she, she lives in. And so that's such an awesome opportunity to highlight this 10-year-old girl who is doing really, really great things in her community. And I get to meet the parents and I get to meet the girl. And it's just a, it's a feel good thing for me. And it's, it's really helped solidify my love for writing as well.

That's one thing. The second thing I would say is I now, because networking has become such a giant part of my life, I would say that I really, really stand by the rule of not leaving a network conversation, networking conversation without making one more connection outside of that. So, for example, anyone that I am talking to at any company at any given time, I am either connecting them with somebody in my network or they are connecting me with somebody to continue the web of connections. I think one thing I was so desperate for after being laid off was connection.

And the network that, the existing network I have, also, of course, this podcast network, really saved me in terms of my, you know, sort of my grief. related to that and also, you know, how I was going to move forward and what my next steps were. Yeah. I think all those exercises are super important just to keep your brain super nimble as well, especially the creative writing piece. It's like just doing different types of work, I think is really good mentally. It keeps you kind of refreshed and inspired. So that's awesome. I definitely, I definitely can learn from that. Like I think that's something I want to do more of too, was just like extracurricular projects like that.

Totally. So yeah, I love that. So awesome. Yeah. It's been a really, really good value add to my sort of repertoire. And I feel more well-rounded as a result. And, you know,

you and I are doing the courses this summer with Dennis and Edge. We've been, you know, posting a lot about those. But the AI and content strategy course. And then, of course, the podcast studio, you know, four-week intensive course. We've been doing things like, like that, I feel are actually representative of who I am as a professional and a person versus

it just being very one-sided. And that has been a huge learning for me. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And it can look differently for everyone. So it's like, you know, figure out what what you're kind of naturally drawn to. I mean, for you and I too, it's like taking photos and creativity and thrifting and like we have our own like fun page or we just post whatever we want. at any given moment and just try and experiment and have fun with it. So again, I think finding that can be super simple, but just slowly leaning into your hobbies and passions, I think, is really important and just keeps you inspired overall.

Totally. If I didn't have any of those things, I don't think I would be where I am today, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, you don't realize how much it actually impacts, like, the bigger picture of your life and career. totally until you look back at it yeah for sure um do you so you asked me this question too this is an interesting one like do you believe in having a long term plan for your career or is it more about following the momentum is it a mix of both what's your thought on that yeah truthfully i i am very

type a so i always have at least some sort of three to five year plan kind of ruminating in the background. However, I will say the important thing about that is actually to be flexible and be adaptable and be nimble because opportunities will come up that will completely destroy your three to five year plan. Maybe it's a good opportunity. Maybe it's something like getting impacted by a reduction in force that you weren't expecting, right? I, the one kind of point I want to make there is that there is beauty in kind of going with the wave of your career and just enjoying the good in the moment versus always feeling like you have to plan for something that is way far down the line. Life changes so quickly and that's that's okay. I think I have spent a lot of years chasing a dream

that did not work out. And for a long time, I struggled with feeling very sad about that and feeling like I had failed in a lot of ways. And the reality is because I was so set on this one thing happening within this one time frame, I had to almost again grieve the loss of that and understand that my dream has changed as a result of that happening, right? and I think it is okay for your dreams to change. It is okay to think about your career in three years, five years, ten years, and have a goal

to set to. I think the most important part, though, is maintaining that flexibility and that opportunity to be nimble and take opportunities as they come to you. Yeah. There's so many ways to look at that kind of thing. I mean, you know, in one hand, it's like, we're young and you never know what could happen. I think desires are placed on our hearts for a reason.

And like, I think we have every reason to chase that. But also, like, sometimes the desire is taken away because we feel like we did everything we could. And maybe it's not the thing that we're looking to follow or chase, at least for right now. So I think additionally to that, it's just paying attention to your heart and your mind and, like, how you feel about a situation. you know, you and I have been in similar places where it's like we either have an opportunity in front of us or we're chasing an opportunity, but it doesn't quite feel right.

And I think we have to be very cognizant of those feelings. Like it even if you're chasing a dream, like it needs to feel like the right choice. Totally. And so it's it's such a like interesting psychological conversation. But I think dreams and desires can ebb and flow throughout life. always like very much keeping tuned to like how you're feeling about things and talking to people and asking for their feedback and this is why mentorship and like our environments are so important because like some people can be completely broken by that experience but I think if you can use

it as learning and and to reframe it and like figure out okay now what can I do next or how can I use this as kind of like a launch pad or a jumping off point you know there's different ways to look at it. But yeah, it's a, it's an interesting one. Totally. Totally. But I do, I do continue to feel that the, like, the openness of my, my heart was like really important during all of that. Um, because there was this opportunity to, you know, pivot my, my experience into something else that maybe I was a little bit blind to because I was so focused on something. else and that that opportunity that was right in front of me is actually really good and really exciting and I think we so often downplay the other things just to uplift something else

and it's been it's been an interesting experience for sure yeah for sure and I have encouraged you and this in the past and would encourage anyone that like I think sometimes to you know doors shut temporarily maybe because it means we need to collect a little bit more before we get to that point, I think. Exactly. You know, culture and the way that we talk about, like, growing up and achieving your goals, whether that's, you know, from a personal standpoint, parenthood and getting married and like all these things. Timelines are so different nowadays and everyone's individual timeline is different. And so I think this is why, again, not to be too cheesy. Like comparison is such a killer because like you, um, you can't get too caught up and like, well, I should be here. Not saying you are,

but like just in general. Oh, no. Yeah. I think, you. you know, there's, there's a lot of different ways to look at this, but always this is why like check-ins and audits with yourself, where you are at in your career journey. It's like, do I still want that? If the desire's still there, like, what can I be collecting now in order to maybe get there in the future if that's still something that I want to do? But I think to your point, like having these other things that also fuel us at the same time is really important. But also like giving it your all to achieve something is huge as well. There's just like a really interesting balance there, I think.

I completely agree. I completely agree. And I do actually feel like in a lot of ways I didn't have a lot of those extensions of myself because I was so deeply focused on my full-time job and my full-time job being the one thing that I was devoting my time and energy to. And I truly feel like a more well-rounded and adjusted person as a result of having different extensions of me showing up in LinkedIn, in the freelance work I do, in the mentorship work I do, in the podcast work I do. It all has made me genuinely a better person and a better professional.

Yep. Absolutely. Yeah, for sure. I'm excited to keep, you know, staying tuned for all of those ebbs and flows and things that you're learning along the way. It's all very powerful. and helpful. I guess, you know, another question too is like what's something you've had to unlearn to grow into your professional self? You've already kind of mentioned a couple of them, but does anything else come to mind? I think one thing I've had to unlearn is the notion of feeling like I need to fit into a certain box to be able to raise my hand, whether it be for different projects or, you know, different partner relationships. I think there is something so valuable in raising your hand and asking. I think you and I say this literally all the time, make the ask. That is, I had to unlearn

the feeling of I can't make the ask. And there's a difference between can't and won't or can't and unable to make the ask, right? I think that to me feels like my biggest, kind of up level or unlock in the last few years is my confidence has grown so much in the last year and a half. Just even sitting with you here talking with you from a podcast standpoint or the workshops that we're doing, my confidence has grown exponentially because I have had, I've unlearned the behavior that my voice isn't valuable or as valuable as someone else in the room. because I was shrinking to fit into a certain box versus, you know, raising my hand or asking a question or, you know, giving myself the space to be involved.

And that is such a valuable lesson, particularly for women, that I think, you know, it took me 34 years. But I also think that we talk to a lot of these young, you know, female professionals specifically who are already starting to do that in their career so early on, and it is entirely a testament to us as professionals kind of changing that narrative earlier on in the process versus much later on in your career. And so I love to see that, and I love to hear that that is changing

because that is a behavior I've had to very intentionally unlearn. Absolutely. And then kind of piggybacking off of that, as we close out here, if you were to give Younger Allie one piece of career advice, what would you share with her? That's a hard question. I would say I would tell her to enjoy being a big fish in a small pond, enjoy taking on the hats that you maybe weren't excited about originally and find joy.

in those hats because it has ultimately created and made the professional that I am today. It's also now an entirely, it's an entirely new discipline by itself being somebody that can hold those hats from a cross-functional standpoint. And I think, you know, integrated marketing wasn't necessarily a thing back in 2014 like it is now. But I am so, I am so proud. of the work that I've done, the unlearning that's come with that, but also the sort of rebuilding of my confidence when it comes to career as a result. And I think I would just continue to urge

myself back then to, you know, keep taking every lesson, every opportunity, every project, even if it felt out of scope. Absolutely. It's been very fun to watch you grow and develop your career the last gosh five five years at this point yeah excited to see kind of what is ahead for you and uh you've done an amazing job i learned so much from you each and every day so kudos for everything you have accomplished yes um thank you thank you thank you yeah i would also you know just prompt you listening like if there's more you want to hear from alley's career i go on allie's LinkedIn and you will see there's a wealth of experience and stuff on there. You know, we've done a lot of episodes on, not a lot.

We should do more episodes on partner marketing. So that's one thing we do. Yeah. But, you know, if there's anything you want to hear from her, definitely let us know. We'll keep trying to do more of these, you know, one-on-one episodes and just talk more about topics that we're excited about and more about our experience because I think there's a lot to dig in there. So I'm excited.

Agreed. Agreed. It was great to do an episode, just you and I, for a change because it's been a while. I know. I know. But I will say if there are any follow-up questions, if there are things that you resonated with, things that you didn't resonate with, please tell me. I think there are, I have received massive amounts of LinkedIn messages from listeners that always, like, genuinely fill my cup in ways that I don't have the vocabulary for. So I would love to be able to continue those conversations, you know, outside of the podcast. And yeah, just welcome you in any way you're comfortable with. Yeah, that's actually a good reminder too. You know, we don't talk about this a lot.

And it's like weird for us to ask this. But like we genuinely love doing this show. But we also really appreciate feedback and like ideas and things. And so we tell people all the time we're like, if there's something you want to hear, brand you want to hear from or whatever or you have a story or something you've learned that you want to share with us. Please let us know. Like we would love your feedback on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, reviews, et cetera.

But your messages mean the world to us. And truly, like, we don't just say this to make everyone feel great. Like, they truly keep us going. Like, there have been so many times that we and I have almost just completely thrown in the towel on things. we're like, this is too much work. But it's truly like you and the community listening that keep us going each and every week. And so thank you for just being here.

Thank you for we took a little bit of time off this summer. So thank you for just bearing with us as we rested and recouped and everything. But just so grateful that you guys are here. And thanks for listening, as always. Thanks so much for listening to this episode of Marketing Happy Hour. enjoyed it, make sure you're subscribed to the show and sign up for a weekly newsletter with insights and marketing resources. We also invite you to check out the MHHH collective, our community for marketers looking to connect, grow, and learn together. Check out the

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