Marketing Happy Hour - Why Partner Marketing is Taking Over in 2026 (+ How to Build Powerful Relationships) | Molly Shunney of CNN

Episode Date: March 5, 2026

Is partner marketing the missing link in your growth strategy? This week, we sit down with Molly Shunney, Director of Partner Marketing & Operations at CNN, to explore how she navigated a career path from scrappy tech startups to some of the world’s most iconic media brands. Molly breaks down the "startup instinct"—the ability to solve problems without a playbook—and how she uses that agility to drive digital subscriptions in a legacy corporate environment. We dive deep into the "Nucleus Effect" of partner marketing, the enduring power of owned media, and why your ability to build authentic internal relationships is a high-performance superpower. If you’ve ever felt "job-hop shame" or wondered how to pivot your skill set into a new niche, Molly’s perspective on "collecting the dots before you connect them" is exactly what you need to hear.Key Takeaways:// How to maintain a "bias for action" and creative problem-solving skills when moving into a large-scale, structured organization.// Understanding the role of a partner marketer as the bridge between brands and internal cross-functional teams (Creative, CRM, Legal).// Why email and lifecycle marketing remain the "luxurious" testing grounds for revenue and retention compared to the surgical constraints of paid media.// The tactical value of becoming a "subject matter expert" on your partners to build deeper trust and more aligned co-marketing strategies.// Re-framing a non-linear career path not as "job hopping," but as an essential period of gathering diverse skills that make you a more versatile leader.// Why authenticity and genuine rapport are the only ways to get complex deals done and maintain internal support for new initiatives.Connect with Molly: Instagram____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

And I love that at the heart of partner marketing is like we're the nucleus between so many people, not just brand to brand, but even internally amongst teams that need a little bit more education. What is this new thing we're doing and why are we doing it? Relationships are at the backbone of this function. You really have to be someone who wants to build relationships and do so in an authentic way, in a genuine way. And that's how you're going to get not just like deals done, never mind that, but also a successful partnership. the support within your organization that you need to keep that going. It's like all connected. 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 hosts 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. Today is a very special episode. We have Molly Shunny, Director, Partner Marketing and Operations at

CNN, which is so, so exciting. The way this episode came together is a very cool story that will have to tell another day. But Molly, we were just talking off record, like, so grateful that you are just a part of this community, that you've listened. And just thank you for being here. And thank you for being a part of this episode and just offering to share your insights with us today. We're so excited. Yeah, thank you so much. I'm so excited to be here. And I think we're going to have a great conversation. I think so, too. I'm excited to learn from you both. So we're talking, part of the marketing of course and this is something I've said in the past that I am less versed in so I'm excited to ask questions but also just kind of step back and hear

here you guys share here you share of course Molly and just pass along your insights so excited to do that but first before we dive in have to of course ask you what's been in your glass lately so I'd love to answer this both literally and figuratively if that's okay the literal is my coffee with almond milk, which is so boring, but it's just, it's what gets me started in the morning. And then figuratively, something that's been really filling my cup is reimagining Greek mythology through fiction with Madeline Miller. I picked up Circe on vacation the other day, like by accident, like truly by accident. I didn't have a book. I needed something to read on the beach. And now I'm reading Song of

Achilles. I'm like looking at what else I can get into after this. So I have unlocked some within me. I didn't know was there. And it's filling my cup for sure. Oh, okay. This is awesome. I have to say, I went to like a very, I don't think I've told you this, Allie. I went to a very intense private school growing up. And we read like the Odyssey, the Eliad, like all of those books when I was in like fourth grade. And I now to this day, I'm like, man, I need to reread some of these different books and get back into this, especially with all these films coming out and stuff. So absolutely love that. You're definitely inspiring me to jump back in there. I read Sersie, gosh, maybe about two years ago now, and a friend of mine ended up actually naming her cat, Circe, like, as a result of that book.

And just she's so very into Greek mythology, so I kind of am as a result. So I hear you. I have lots of recs for you. Coffee Table Books, actual books to read. Yeah, I hear you. It's an incredible kind of bridge to reconnecting with that, you know, Greek mythology and John. So I love it. That's so interesting.

I love this. I love this. I love getting answers that are just so different from anything else we've received. So thank you for that. A little like idea for us as we as we finish and listen to this episode. I love that so much. Molly, if you don't mind to, just as we open this conversation, if you can, tell us a little bit about yourself and your career so far and what brought you to CNN. Yes, of course.

Of course. I'm, as you said, a growth marketing director at CNN right now. I'm specifically focused on growing our digital subscription product through partnerships, which are both new things. So the digital subscription product is pretty new, and the partnership team is pretty new, which Allie knows. And the whole reason I reached out to her, I was like, SOS, help. Streaming just launched last October. And so that's also very new. And it's just a very exciting and energetic time to be at CNN, which is like this legacy company, linear TV, cable, and really trying to pivot and be more digital for these, you know,

digital audiences that we all are today. So I'm, it's just a really great time to be there and great people who all have like really like vast experience in this digital transformation. And I had like a very windy path to CNN and to media in general really. Like my experience in large media organizations started at the New York Times in 2022. And every, since then, actually, really always I've been inspired by journalism and especially the written word. I'm like a lowercase W writer in my free time. I love to read. So I've always been inspired by this space, but I think once I got to the New York Times and like peaked under their hood and saw like the breadth of which these editorial teams and journalists were actually creating

and putting out into the world, I was, I mean, it was really truly hooked. And not just from like a hard news lens, which I think is what we think about when we think journalism. especially when we mention a company like CNN, which is really known for breaking news and on the ground reporting. But I'm personally also really motivated by the soft news and the levity that these journalists and editorial teams are also bringing us every day in droves. And that is equally important to me in my life.

And at the times, that's things like Modern Love Column or Metropolitan Diary, which if you think about it, are actually more like crowdsourcing efforts than they are like journalists, individual journalists. At CNN, right now I'm obsessed with Anderson Cooper. all there is programming. It's like really powerful. And that so that's the kind of stuff that brought me to this space and brought me to CNN. And it's really the reason that I say. That's incredible. I, Molly, first, we need you on substack. I'm going to, it's my personal

mission in life to get you on substack. I think that's incredible. There's, I think one thing that listeners can take away from this is that no career path goes straight into where you're at. There's all of these kind of divvets in the road or obstacles or different opportunities to get involved at these different companies that build your skill set. And one of the things I resonate most with you is how your career was like that and how it has brought you to where you are today. So thank you so much for sharing that. And I'd love to just kind of start at the beginning here. So working in these kind of early tech startups, what did they teach you that kind of big company marketers these days sometimes miss or get caught up in? This is such an important and good question,

and it's something that's actually really top of mind for me right now at CNN. Working in early startup, so like I would say I joined the New York Times around four and a half years ago. Everything before then was like less than 50 people, you know, really early stage. And it taught me a lot, but one of the most important things it taught me was how to approach problem solving

without being confined by structured, playbooks or processes. And that was more of like an implicit lesson, right? Because startups don't have those, really. Like there are no playbooks or processes. You're just sort of like building a plane while flying it. And so there's no other option but to operate without those constraints. But because I have that freedom early on in my career, I think it helps me now when there are constraints, which in large companies, there are, rightfully so, to think beyond them creatively. And it doesn't always mean that when I have a creative solution in mind at work, it's possible. Like, it's not always possible.

But at least I'm not blocked. And like, I think that's the most important part. And if it's worth it, like if I have this idea or this creative solution and I think it's worth it based on the context and the dynamics at play, I'll definitely advocate for it. So I think if you're a marketer who has always operated with those constraints because you've always worked at a large company with them, it's harder. rightfully so, to think beyond them, because it's like all you've ever known. And so, like, just a really quick example of something that's happening right now at work.

I'm working on like a small tiger team of sorts to help validate an idea and bring it to life. And like, by the way, I think all big companies should do this. They should empower their teams that have these like little tiger teams all over the place that are cross-functional, people that don't normally work together, literally just trying to validate one thing

that could be big and it could not. That's a whole other conversation. But at one point in this tiger's, team, we needed to send an email to our subscribers. And anyone, any marketer in a large organization who even touches email knows it's never as simple as just like sending an email. Like there's this whole like orchestra that goes into it. And again, rightfully so, like I'm not challenging those like mechanisms or those structures in place. But the whole point of validating an idea is that you're not using the full set of resources that you use day to day because you're not

sure the investment's worth it yet. So as the lead of the project and the marketing lead, I wrote the email, which is not something I normally do. I like slacked my trusted copywriter on the side, and I was like, hey, quick context, this is what I'm trying to do. Can you review this? She gave me the thumbs up. We sent the email. Now that's like kind of a simplified version, but that's what happened. And there's a world where I'm the marketing leader, the project lead, and I'm like, I can't do this. Like, I need to write a brief. I need to submit it to our process. project manager. I need the three business days to get feedback. I need to ask CRM to build the email template. Like there's so many reasons why like you can't do it. I need to follow the rules.

There's like there's a playbook in place that I need to follow. And that in this context just was not going to work. I needed to at least try something else. And I think like that is the instinct I'm talking about that comes from startups that is so valuable to me and that I'm really grateful for. Yeah. And it really gives other marketers, especially, maybe newer ones who are still getting their feet wet and career to just try different things and test different spaces. And I think also like we get kind of complacent at times in our roles where we're just kind of doing a lot of the similar things day to day. So keeping our brains nimble and just testing different skill sets, I think is is really important. So I love that personally.

I agree. And I also will say like in the I think this comes up later when we'll talk about partner. Like the whole reason I was able to do that is actually because of the relationships I've built on the team so that I feel like I can slack them directly versus going through the appropriate channels and whatnot. And I think that that's really key is like I'm not disrespecting process because I have an ego and I'm trying to get something done. I am I'm working with the people I know and love and care about and like and I'm like, hey, like this is something I'm trying to get done that's important to me. Like can you do me to slow? solid here. And you would be surprised at how many people are like, yeah, because they want to be part of that energy. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I would love to just hear from you to, you know, we talk about this question in the context of, you know, sometimes applying for jobs. This is a question that can get asked to a leader to kind of understand how and what success looks like in an organization that can depend on the size, the goals, of course. So how did success for you get measured?

differently at places you've worked, whether it's New York Times, startups, etc. Would just love to hear that perspective because I think sometimes we, there's a little bit of not confusion around this, but it's different, right? So I'm curious how you kind of approach that depending on where you were working. Yeah, this is also a good question. And I feel like I could answer it in a multitude of ways, either like surface level like campaign metrics, like what's different? So much. I mean, in the startup world, it's like, did you get it done and did it contribute to revenue or growth of the organization and like, okay, good job. Like that's success. For larger companies, it's different, right? We have like,

especially most of my career, I've been in lifecycle marketing space and a lot of that is around, like, campaign metrics and channel metrics and like, did we move the needle here and there through different testing? And that's a lot more complex and intricate. And in my opinion, it's more interesting. Like, that's kind of like a pro of moving into a larger organization. is that there is a little bit more like granularity in what you can measure because there's just more users or more data to work with. But I think if I zoom out and answer your question from like how is like my success as like a worker in the like as part of the team and what contributes to things like growth within an

organization, I think those things are fairly the same. Like I think it the result is different just because of. of the nature of a startup, like you can rise up the ranks or whatever, like, speak we want to say at a startup much quicker because, like, the rank is too rungs high or like there is no rank or like, you know, my first job out of college, I was director of lead generation. I didn't even, I had to Google what lead generation was and I didn't realize till later being a director of something is like in corporate world, like pretty high, like, you know, it's not high high, but it's like you have years under your belt. You're not fresh out of college. So I think like in startup

world's a little bit kind of more like loosey-goosey in that way, but, but I think what I'm trying to say is like the rapport you have with your team and like as a high performer, if that's something that's important to you, like the feeling of that, like the intuition you have of like, am I contributing and being successful in my role is the same? And I think like in corporate or larger organizations, what becomes more important is not so much that you have to change how you perform. You need to be more, like, you need to be more connected. You need to build more relationships in the organization and you need to understand a little bit more how it works because it's just not as simple. And the, like, you know, the people that you have access to

are just a lot, a lot wider. And so being able to network and connect with people and like, you know, I'm not talking about going on a road show. I just mean literally like just getting to know people so they know you so that your name is is a name that people recognize. I do think that that's important in terms of being successful or like reaching your own growth goals within a larger organization. It absolutely is. And I think you and I talked about this off record as well and that it almost shows people that you have a bias for action and it kind of becomes your superpower internally, right? because people know that they can come to you on the side to help move projects forward, to gut check on a strategy, anything like that.

Making yourself available to the rest of the team is 100% of superpower. Not everyone is able to do that. It takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of effort. And I know that you have perfected it. So it's a wonderful, wonderful skill to share. Perfected it is too generous. I think you're being modest, but.

It's it really is. It's a superpower for sure. And so I hope that, you know, people can can kind of listen to this and take that away as something that they can work towards. It is, it's key in any, in any role in at any company. I want to shift gears a little bit into the media landscape because we have a lot of listeners that are kind of playing in the media landscape, whether it be earned, own paid. And so I'm curious from your perspective, what is something that owned media can do right now that paid media? can't replicate. So first I'll say I'm saying this as someone with relatively little experience in paid media. That won't always be the case. Actually in my new role I'll be able to flex that muscle a little more. I think we were talking about that alley. I'm really excited about that opportunity. So take everything I'm saying with a grain of salt. I'm an owned media gal through through. But from my vantage point, paid is so much more surgical. We're talking about CPAs. It's so precise and you have to work within those constraints because there's money on the line and revenue on the line. Own is so much more luxurious, like compared to that.

Like at worst, it's an always-on channel that has evergreen campaigns running that make marginal impact over time. Okay, great, I'll take that. And it's free. At best, it can be a major revenue driver for your business. And I've seen this like firsthand at large organizations at, New York Times, CNN, HBO, like, you would be surprised at how much of a powerhouse channel email still is. So I'm very team-owned. I think that it's like there's a lot of room to play. I think there's a lot of room to test creatively in ways that paid, you just don't have the room,

like you don't have the creative liberties because you are so tied to that CPA and other numbers that you're tracking. So I think that to me is like where owned has an edge and where I've really appreciated working there for the last five plus years of my career, actually really more because in startup world, you're really mostly working in owned channels as well. So I think like, yeah, I love that about own and I'll always love that about own. But as you both know, as marketers in the world, for the most part, you need both. And you need to have an awareness of both so that you can flex those channels like when it's necessary. and in different contexts.

Before we get back to the episode, we wanted to take a moment to tell you about our latest offering for marketing professionals. We get asked all the time where marketers can actually connect outside the podcast. So we built it, the MHH collective. Monthly live sessions with us and industry experts, real career conversations in a Slack space

that's actually helpful and not noisy. If you want to learn with people, not just listen, we'd love to have you. If you want to join us, you can find the link in the show notes below. Yeah, it's so true. And both Cass and I are like such big proponents of an email channel. Like we are of the team that like email is still underutilized in a lot of ways and finding new ways to engage our email audiences. And so I love that you said that. I think that's so important. And I agree. It's it it paid has to be a part of your channel strategy in some way.

I think it's the way that you go about it is what makes it impactful and what you're actually tied to. And so having those hard metrics to kind of measure. yourself against. But it's also a good test channel, I will say. Like that's something that I feel like I've, I've kind of seen at different organizations is that Pade's almost used as this like testing ground to be able to try different things or different messages and see how it resonates. Now, of course, you have to have the budget and the freedom to do that. However, I do think, sometimes thinking of it as more of a testing ground is, is a little more approachable or digestible for some of these like bigger companies. So I find, I find that really interesting. I would love to chat about our favorite thing ever, which is partner marketing, which is how we got connected.

Molly, partner marketing is still, as we've discussed, like very early infancy stage of people sort of understanding what it is, how it differs from brand partnerships, and what it actually means as part of your channel mix and how it can actually be its own sort of standalone industry. And so we know it's such a relationship driven discipline. It is the entire reason that this role exists. And I want to know what you love about it and how that pivot has felt for you, kind of stepping into this new role. Well, I will say too, I would love to hear your answers to this as well, Allie, just because I'm such a newbie in this space.

So to even fame expertise here is such a disservice to anyone listening. But, but I like, I love this question. I'll answer it first and I'll pass the ball back to you. But I'll say I tend to speak really highly about my pivot to corporate America or larger organizations since joining the times. And that's great because it's true. But it has not come without like a lot of periods of real doubt and disappointment at times even. Like the cost of leading starting startup world and like the wearing all hats and kind of doing whatever is that you begin to specialize. And so for the last four years, I've specialized in life cycle marketing.

particularly in the email channel. And I love Lifecycle, like I was just alluding to in my own media spiel, but I've been ready to expand beyond it for so long now. And when I think about what I love most about Lifecycle Marketing, it was the briefing period with our cross-functional partners, specifically with creative teams and CRM teams. And this isn't sound really nerdy, but I cannot adequately explain the sheer joy it would bring me

when I would start with a new team and build net new work streams with our health. CRM and creative partners and build a flow that's well-oiled and efficient and just makes sense. Like it really fit like going back to the cup, it really filled my cup. Like really was why I liked going to work and why I liked work and why I kept doing it. So when I learned more about partner marketing, kind of through a life cycle marketing actually, like I basically originally at HBO Max was working adjacent with a partner marketing team because I was helping them support partner subscriber engagement messaging through

our own channels at HBO Max. And it opened my eyes to like, wow, this is a whole new world that is so beyond like a specific channel and a specific engagement of opportunity. And so I just felt like a very natural next step for me and I was just looking for where I could do that as soon as possible. And I love that at the heart of partner marketing, which I'm sure you can relate to. Allie is like we're the nucleus between so many people, not just branded, but even internally amongst teams that need a little bit more education, like we've talked about off record too, like need a little bit more understanding about what is this new thing we're doing and why are we doing it and how does it differ from our D to C product?

So all of that sounds a little darkening. I think some people will pick up what I'm putting down, but like the short of it is I'm pumped. The pivot feels completely right. And I think it all goes back to sort of like a through line, I think in this whole conversation, which is like relationships are at the backbone of this like function. Like you really have to. be someone who wants to build relationships and do so in an authentic way, in a genuine way. And that's how you're going to get not just like deals done, never mind that, but also a successful partnership. And also the support within your organization that you need to keep that going. It's like all connected. Would you agree with that, Ali? I completely agree.

It is, it is so end to end when I think about partner marketing. It has to be from the onset of the deal structure. you have to be introduced to the team. You have to be introduced as a value add to the team from a co-marketing perspective and that you'll be leading those strategies and those plans to go to market to the actual launch of whatever that campaign or co-marketing plan actually looks like, right? Whether it's these sort of like micro moments in time or it's your leading into a big campaign. So I completely agree it's so relationship driven.

I would also say, just to answer your question, Molly, in terms of like feeding that back to me in terms of like what I love about it, I always think about the nuanced approach to communication I take per partner. So something that is is really helpful for me is to become a subject matter expert of those partners. So in addition to making the relationships with the actual team, one thing that we've talked about, Molly, is like getting on a 30 minute call with the partner team and saying like, give me a deep dive. Like what are some things that I don't know on the surface about this company that I can learn. How can I be more well-versed in the way that your team works

or something that the company is doing that I can kind of be a sponge in and be a student of that company? Because when you're a subject matter expert, your marketing plans are so much more solid and aligned. And you can then speak their language back to them, which I think is a huge value ad, and that sometimes we overlook. Partners really value that.

they really want to feel like they're an extension of your team in the way to do that is becoming a subject matter expert. And I just, I feel so strongly about that. And I talk a lot about having that nuanced approach to communication, depending on who you're talking to. And it's been, it's been such a value add and such a point of pride, I think, for me and something I take, you know, I take to heart. Something you said that I want to underline is this, the speaking language of like the partner. And that is so valuable whether you're interested in partner marketing or not. Like, and actually, whether you're a marketer or not, like, 100%. I think, and actually, I think we'll get into this too in a couple in a little bit, but like the, like the desire to like meet someone where they're at

or even like a little further. Like, I'm not just going to go halfway. I'm going to come like 75%, you know, because it's a relationship. Like they should come a little bit. But like, you know, to make that effort with your cross functional partners internally, externally, literally whoever you work with, like you're going to be known as that person and that's someone people want to work with, obviously. And that's different than being a dormant. It's just, it's a respect. It's a, like, it's a desire to work with others. It's like, it's like fundamentals of being human, really. Yeah, that's exactly what I was going to say. Like, I always think about work relationships as in, as a friend, like, how would someone want to be treated? And obviously, like, that's a different type of

relationship, but it's, to your point, Molly, it's those fundamental traits of a relationship, like what feels good on the receiving end, and like, how can you provide that to someone? And I think that stands out to people. And it also increases just the collaboration nature of a partnership that helps with trust and just buy in on ideas. And so I think there's a lot of benefits that come to that. So it's like, how can you just get to know someone a little bit deeper, their needs a little bit deeper, and I think all that will serve you really well. Yeah. So I want to ask to just a little bit about career, again, pivoting back to that.

You've talked a lot about trusting your intuition when careers feel nonlinear. This is something that I'm definitely challenged with at times personally, just because my career has been kind of all over the place. We had this quote that I referenced now all the time. someone on the podcast said you have to collect the dots before you connect the dots. So it's like going out, gathering all of this experience, and then you're figuring out, okay, now how does this all piece together in a way that makes sense? And so how did you personally learn to trust your intuition with all this different experience

and kind of what's been your journey with that? Yeah, I love that quote so much. I'm going to put that in my back pocket for later. And I think at first I'll say that I think I learned to trust it. before I knew I was learning to trust it if that makes sense and I actually was watching a video just before we hopped on to record this of someone who was accepting award in the Broadway for a Broadway musical and he was shouting out to his parents in the audience thanking them for letting his freak flag fly without

judgment all through his adolescence and just letting him be him like unapologetically and how that opened him up like for the rest of his life work, personal, what have you. And I thought of this conversation, because we talked about this question of intuition when we chatted Allie, like, I was fortunate to have people in my life early on, especially my parents who instilled in me like, it's okay to follow your curiosity, even if that means deviating from a path that other people are taking or a majority of people are taking or the people around you are taking. And because of that, I think my curiosity has always come first. Like my first, going back from my first,

my first job out of college, that was a very successful startup. Now, I was a 12th employee. I didn't realize at the time what that could mean financially. I'm sure there could have been a lot of people though in my life at that time pressuring me to stay in what looked like a very potentially lucrative, successful path. And I probably left millions of dollars on the table by leaving, but I was not ready at that point after college to work that way. Like I remember sitting in the phone booth at work, we work and being like, this is,

This is not for me right now. I don't know what is, but it's not for me. So I quit, and I became a nanny overseas for a year. And I genuinely say this without, like, a single threat of regret in my body. Like, I would not trade that experience, which has opened up so much more for me than, like, what I would have been without it for a million dollars. I wouldn't. So I feel our stories, like, and I mean, like, when I say our stories, I mean our full human self, like, not just our work and, like, sectioned out by category. Our stories are so uniquely ours,

and it's always been really important to me to look back on that and see something that is uniquely mine and not like a blueprint that I'm following because someone said to or someone else did. So I guess to answer your question more directly, like I am a deeply intuitive person, and I think I am that way because my mom made me that way, my dad made me that way, which is like,

funny because marketers aren't really supposed to be. Like we're like, like, our strategy is supposed to be rooted in data. It's supposed to be informed by data. And I, and I believe in that as well. But, like, that is just not how I operate in the real world for better or worse. And so it's not how I've operated within my career. And that's, that's all of that I just said is coming from a place where time has passed. And I have already gone through the, like, layers and layers of self-doubt.

So, like, I did not always have this point of view. but I look back now and I'm like, yes, yes, yes. I like, I can point to every single juncture in which I follow my curiosity over someone else's blueprint. And that made me happier. So that's a win. Totally. I think it can be both, right?

You can have that self-doubt and uncertainty in your career path and also know that you are the product of all of these puzzle pieces of experiences that you have put together to get to where you are now. And I think we so often live in this world where it's one or the other, and it actually is both. This is one of those things where duality is really important. And pivoting, I actually, the answer to this question, I think is something is duality there. Is there a specific skill set that you think is underrated in marketing right now? Yes, this is a great question too. And this could either be controversial or really obvious. I don't know which. I'd say project management.

I say a lowercase P project management, especially when you don't have access to a formal, like, expert project manager, who are truly angels on earth. So that's not the level I'm talking about. But I never worked with project managers until I got to the Times. And shout out to the New York Times, project managers. They're, like, unbelievably talented. But they sort of like opened me up to a new level of what it looks like to facilitate

a cross-functional project from end. end. And so when I don't have access to that, being able to put together, actually, this goes back to, again, like things we've said earlier, speaking someone else's language, when you're able to do that or put together a simple timeline or clarify dependencies that maybe don't totally like come back to bite you, but you know we'll come bite to back the project in full, like keeping the orchestra music playing, when I do that well, I get so much more done. And be a. it helps tremendously build respect, stronger relationships again, like hitting the nail in the head here, but like it's just, it really like goes to, I just feel like when I'm project

managing well, I can feel it. And that has become increasingly because since I joined HBO Max, like after the New York Times, I went back to no project managers like in our full end-to-end life cycle for campaigns. And we don't really have them in the same way at CNN either. So some projects you have them some you don't and I just I have found that like that is a special superpower if I can wield it which I don't always wield it perfectly but it's like something I feel passionate about continuing to build up oh that's such a great answer and I personally could not agree more I don't know what you think Ali too but like it's so important to be on top of your stuff and your work and as marketers there's so many things going on at one time and so being able to just

have a snapshot of what you need to work on next and in order to achieve a specific goal and timeline in place. I think that's incredibly important. So thank you for reinforcing that. Molly, this has been so wonderful and we will definitely have you back. So stay tuned to your email for that invite just to check in down the road here. But again, just learned so much from you and just loved hearing your conversation. You're such a delight, too, to speak with. So thank you for being here. But before we let you go,

we have to know where can we just stay in touch with you personally and everything that you're doing in your career. And then, of course, let us know any channels for CNN that you want to shout out as well. Yes, of course. Well, first I'll say thank you so much for having me. I said this before we started recording, but I'm so enamored and fascinated and motivated

by what you guys are doing. I think that this is really important. And I said this in my email to Allie when I reached out. To be fair, I don't seek out many marketing podcasts or business-related podcasts in my free time. But when I do, it's like I give it a 30 second, you know, and I'm like, I don't think this is going to do it for me. And when I heard you both speak about partner marketing, but just like the way you talked about marketing in general and the way I was able to tap in immediately and just know what you were talking about. felt so great. Like I haven't had that experience before outside of work, you know, where I hear people talking about sort of the work that we do day in and day out in the way

that you do. So I encourage you to keep this up. I know you don't need my encouragement, but like it's really wonderful and thank you for having this platform for us to tap into. I'm going to keep it old school and say you can send me an email if you want to get in touch. Shunny M, S-H-U-N-N-E-Y-M at Gmail.com. I really love meeting. talking to new people and like wherever that connection goes if it ends right there if it goes for years like whatever it is i'm open to it so please send me an email um i have to shout out cnn all access you can get cnn streaming um now which is great and there's so much programming the product is new it is new and it's growing and it's evolving so it's not it's it's a great way to just

get familiar with all of the types of content that cnn puts out going back to Brett that I was saying, like, CNN isn't just hard news, and there's a lot of editorial content that is really meaningful and powerful. A quick anecdote, I'll say too, like, I was just on vacation, and I was staying at this place that I needed, I wanted to, like, learn a little bit more about. And I found this segment from CNN from 12 years ago on YouTube, like interviewing the guy who owned this, like, permaculture ranch that we were staying at. And it was just this reminder that CNN, like, permeates our culture in such an interesting way. And there's always something that CNN can teach us about the world around us, not just our country and not just our local communities.

So that's my CNN plug. And then the last thing I'll say, if it's okay, a former colleague of mine at the New York Times recently published a woman-led self-published zine called Neat Freak. And she included one of my fictional short stories in it. And so if you're interested in supporting something like that, you can find more information at NeatfreakZen.com. gosh. Thank you. Yeah. Amazing. Substack, Molly, this is your, your nephew. It goes back to I'm all for this. We look forward to seeing you on there. Amazing. Thank you so much again. This has been so wonderful. Thank you for sharing. Thank you for just contributing your knowledge to our community. We're very grateful. So really appreciate that you joined us today.

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of Marketing Happy Hour. If you 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 links in the show notes. We'll see you next time.