The We Are Next Podcast

Amber Hahn, VP, Head of Strategy at Madwell and Mary Ergul, Strategist at Madwell show us the importance of finding a leader and team who will support your growth. Hear about not feeling guilty about leaving a job with a lot of perks, why it's totally okay to be completely different from your boss, questions to ask in your interview to make sure your manager will have your back, and how to make a good impression when starting an internship or new job virtually.

Alex Cuevas, Director of Talent & Recruitment at DDB New York, gives you the tools to land a job in the new year. Hear about how to shift your job search approach, tips on interviewing virtually, how to craft questions that make a great impression at your interview, and how and when to have the conversation with your manager about moving up.

Sit down for an end of year heart-to-heart with Natalie Kim, Founder of We Are Next. Hear about what she's been struggling with recently and tactics to help overcome them if you're in a similar boat, what's coming in 2021 on We Are Next, and a reminder to take a break this holiday season.

Sara Anhorn, EVP, Talent at Critical Mass, provides guidance and some much needed reassurance for those looking for a job. Hear about what's kept her at Critical Mass for the past 20 years (she's worked in three offices and three different disciplines), the difference between a digital experience agency and a creative agency, what she looks for in candidates these days, and OpenBook, a new resource by Critical Mass for emerging talent.

Katie Ramp, Director of Talent & Operations at MUH-TAY-ZIK / HOF-FER, helps you get the most out of your relationship with your talent team. Hear about her advice on how to switch roles within an agency, questions to ask in your interview to figure out if an agency will take care of you, tips on getting comfortable speaking up in virtual meetings, and why agencies need to diversity their talent/HR roles.

Carla Eboli, Executive Vice President of Multicultural at EnergyBBDO, joins guest host Leo Wong to talk about what it means to work in multicultural advertising, embracing your accent, and lessons she's learned about leadership. Hear about tips for finding the right environment for your next job, whether you should apply to multicultural agencies if you don't have a multicultural background, and how junior talent can be leaders on their teams.

Mark Allen, Owner of RedCape and Senior Lecturer at SMU, doesn't want to see young talent burn out early in their careers. Hear about how to make your portfolio stand out to potential employers, making sure your hobbies and side hustles are authentic, and choosing which brands to make spec work for, becoming aware of your own boundaries, skills that all young creatives should develop, and how students can make the most out of their relationships with their professors.

Ro Kalonaros, Global Content & Culture at Omnicom, will give you the encouraging push and confidence you've been looking for. Hear about how to be an effective communicator with people at all levels, identifying both micro-opportunities to set yourself up for success and micro-aggressions you make against yourself, and why it's more effective to focus on who you are than what you want to do professionally.

Carl Desir, Global Executive Director, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at R/GA, is tackling the roots of systemic racism and oppression in the industry. Hear about the individual awareness and action we can all take, thinking about what kind of company you want to work for, advice on starting a passion project to help the cause, and the role the pandemic has played in making this a window of opportunity for the industry to change for the better.

Marinda McKenzie Cummings & Tessa Kohler, Associate Planners at VMLY&R, give us a look into working in experience strategy and starting your career in the Midwest. Hear about what their work entails, advice on receiving feedback as a junior, relocating to Kansas City for their first jobs, and diversifying your network and perspective.

Carolina Cruz-Letelier, Director for Client Services and Partner at MUH-TAY-ZIK / HOF-FER, champions small agency life, leading with kindness, and listening to what your coworkers need in 2020. Hear about being the youngest female Partner and what led to her rise, building a strong relationship with your manager, how agencies should be taking care of its people in 2020, and going back to fundamentals to prove your value while working from home.

Jesse Meza, Digital Media Supervisor, encourages you to be true to yourself—in your interviews, when dealing with other people's biases, and as you move through your career. Hear about why it was still difficult to land his first job despite all his credentials, how to keep your media skills sharp, how to set yourself up for a promotion, and choosing when to act vs. when to preserve your own energy.

Saneel Radia, Global Chief Innovation Officer at R/GA, gives you a blueprint for starting your career and a look at what it means to work in innovation in the industry. Hear about his many roles and how each was additive to his career, why business needs both those who are and who aren't entrepreneurial, the steps to getting started in innovation, and the variables that will define your career early on.

Christena Pyle, Executive Director of Advertising at TIME'S UP, shows us the power of changing your definition of success in your career. Hear about her journey working in account management and production agency-side, to ADCOLOR, to TIME'S UP, the value of trying on different roles, and how young talent can be an allies and create inclusive spaces. While recorded at the end of 2019, her advice is even more important and critical today.

Bea Iturregui, VP of Brand Partnerships at Cycle, guides us into the ever-evolving world of influencer marketing. Hear about tools she uses to keep up with what's changing across the space, lessons she's learned on relationship building (and why you don't need to be an extrovert to do so), why brands are turning to influencers now more than ever, and how to prove you have what it takes without that internship you thought you'd have.

Matt Dunn, Art Director at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, joins us to inspire your next creative side hustle. Hear about how stealing a brief from the printer at his internship led to winning a Coca-Cola pitch, his first creative side hustle and how it's shaped his career, the ingredients of a good creative side project, and why it's even more important to stay connected with past colleagues during this time.

Angela Brown, Senior Social Strategist at GSD&M, helps us understand Covid-19's effect on social media, brands, and our individual paths. Hear about how Covid-19 has changed her role, examples of brands that responded well (and others that didn't) and the lasting effect of Covid-19 will have on brands, behind-the-scenes of the infamous tweet that started the Popeye's/Chik-Fil-A Chicken Sandwich War, and dealing with the reality of a pivot from a practical and emotional perspective.

Natalie sits down to give her advice on starting your career amidst Covid-19, and answers some unanswered questions from the Q&A portion of the Virtual Recruiter Roundtables. RSVP to the third and final Roundtable.

Gina Asaro-Collura, SVP/Creative Director at FCB Health & Adjunct Professor at FIT, shares her best tips for freelancing, virtual networking and interviews, and working your connections. Hear about getting fired and entering the world of freelance, the benefits of working freelance for six and a half years, advice on virtual networking and pointers for phone or virtual interviews, and pitching her full-time role at FCB Health after freelancing there.

Aaron Wiggan, Director of Brand Strategy at REI, shares lessons on mentorship and leadership from his career on both the agency and brand side. Hear about how his undergraduate studies in post-colonial theory, English, and forestry played a role in shaping him as a strategist, the similarities and differences of the markets he's worked in, learning to let go of the work as a senior leader, and understanding the challenges of being a client after moving to the brand side.

Molly Schlinger, Vice President, Creative Strategy at Hill+Knowlton, wants you to know that a creative agency isn't the only place to be a strategist. Hear about resources for those who don't have formal strategy training, the opportunities to work in strategy in PR, the nuances and similarities of applying to work at a PR agency, and why feeling like you don't know what you're doing is okay.

Tien Dang, Associate Producer at Anomaly LA, didn't know what she wanted to do within advertising, took her time figuring it out, and found a job she's excited to go to every day. Hear about keeping yourself open and learning along the way, balancing your financial needs with finding a job that fulfills you, how to build more meaningful relationships, and the ingredients of a stand out MAIP Fellow or summer intern.

Digital Nomads: A new generation of people traveling and working remotely at the same time. But what is it really like to be one? Sam Kern, host of Radically Different, talks to 5 digital nomads and thought-leaders about the pros and cons of the lifestyle, how they became location-independent, and what this revolution means for the world in this special Friends of We Are Next featured episode.

Chris Kwak, Senior Strategist at BBH, shares some of the harder learnings from his career in this open, reflective interview. Hear about how he frames the 6-7 years he spent touring the world with his band (in hindsight), taking an internship at age 26, why he started applying to full-time jobs on the first day of his internship, asking more questions when you're in over your head, and how to make sure you're becoming hybrid talent.

There's a diverse class of disruptive madmen and madwomen who've taken their talents to the startup streets and Mary-'thee stallion'-Pryor is one of them. As the cofounder of Cannaclusive, Mary is using her skills sharpened in the music and ad industries to make sure the cannabis industry is as diverse and inclusive as those who partake in the plant. Listen in as she gives the BTS on her work in this special featured episode from Kai, Karinna, and Simeon of Mixed Company.

Chelsea St. Clair, Cultural Strategist at sparks & honey, helps us squeeze the most out of the opportunities in our careers. Hear about taking a year off to travel (and how she talked about it in interviews), the skillset of a cultural strategist, working in a small agency environment, how she networked her way to Cannes last summer, and the two questions we should ask ourselves before we start any job.

James Ramseur, Integrated Comms & Media Planner at Wieden + Kennedy, shares lessons from his career, including working on one of the most awarded campaigns in 2019. Hear about learning to manage his finances, slowing down and enjoying the process wherever you're at, being in the room spitballing with creatives and strategists, finding community in Portland, and what it was like to work on Dream Crazy for Nike as his first project.

Ciara Gaffney, Strategist at Deutsch, shows us how to lean into our unique perspectives and passions when applying to jobs and working in advertising. Hear about her approach for making your application materials stand out, how being an immigrant has informed her strategic POV, what contributed to her promotion from a jr. to mid-level strategist in just 8 months, and how her own love of K-Pop played a role in Mattel's BTS doll line launch.

Sara Porritt, Group Director of Planning and Diversity & Inclusion Lead at OMD US, first dove into marketing and media as a way to promote her own R&B music. Hear about creativity in media, transitioning from being a junior planner to a media strategist, taking a step back to find the meaning in your career, advice for those who are questioning leaving the agency world, and the inspiration for her new podcast, Hear Us Roar.

Julia Vanderput, Director of Strategy at The Marketing Arm, shares the textbook sexual harassment she experienced early in her career and how we can break down the environments that allowed it to happen. Hear about pivoting into strategy from project management, the effect of bystanders, what to do if you see something inappropriate happening, and why the environments we create in our workplaces are important to our role as culture makers.

Deb Ashley, Media Planner at The Wall Street Journal, gives us a glimpse of what it's like to work in advertising on the publisher-side. Hear about starting out as an administrative assistant at a small agency, how she overcame her feelings of being under-qualified, what she does in her role as a Media Planner at the Wall Street Journal, and feeling the added pressure of being one of only a few black people on past teams. For more guidance from the industry, subscribe to our Weekly Email—it's a small dose of advice, delivered Mondays.

Cam Ferrin, Partner at TwentyFirstCenturyBrand, brings his experience working in brand strategy on the client side at some of the biggest brands out there—including Coca-Cola, Mars, Levi's, and Airbnb—to the podcast. Hear about getting his big break into the industry, how brands and agencies can be better partners to one another, what it means to work in brand strategy, and what he thinks contributed to his rapid advancement in his career.

In this special Minisode, Natalie is joined by Leo Wong, who will be taking over We Are Next for a few months while she's on maternity leave! Hear about his experience in the industry, and what to expect from We Are Next while Natalie takes some time off to become a mom.

Troy Gary, Director of Brand Strategy at Playboy, wants us all to create the environments we want to work in. Hear about how his early experience in sales and account management has been valuable, making sure we're not talking to ourselves, fostering better relationships with senior leadership, why it's smart to ask about an agency's new business strategy in your interview, and the reasons behind his decision to take on a new role at Playboy.

Jennie Moore, Creative Director at WONGDOODY, believes that you are where you are for a reason. Hear about becoming a creative director at age 44 and why she wouldn't go back and do things differently, the relationship between those just starting out and those with a lot of experience under their belts, how she's built confidence and become more assertive, and why being laid off could be the best thing for your career. For more guidance from the industry, subscribe to our Weekly Email—it's a small dose of advice, delivered Mondays.

Ashlea Ramirez, Engagement & Inclusion Manager at Droga5, made an early career shift from project management to Diversity & Inclusion. Hear about her tips for MAIP 2020 Fellows, the non-profit she co-founded called Women Who Create, how mentees can make the most out of their relationship with their mentors, initiatives she's worked on at Droga5, including exposing Latinx directors to the creatives and producers at the agency for Hispanic Heritage Month, and how her job has influenced her own coming out story. For more guidance from the industry, subscribe to our Weekly Email—it's a small dose of advice, delivered Mondays.

Jack Rogosin, Associate Copywriter at FCB Chicago, grew up around advertising, thanks to his mom, Fallon's first female creative hire (the original Peggy Olsen). But that didn't mean it was easy for him to break into the industry. Hear about his struggle to get hired because of his age/lack of a college degree (despite winning The One Club's Creative Bootcamp several times), what he gained from unpaid internships outside of the industry, finally getting his foot in the door via an out-of-the-box job application, and facing a moral crossroad early in his career. For more guidance from the industry, subscribe to our Weekly Email—it's a small dose of advice, delivered Mondays.

Bella Ibrahim, Marketing Director at Kerning Cultures, spent five years as an art director at Digitas before joining a podcast network start-up. Hear about why not getting hired isn't always about you, learning to manage up when it came to promotions, the power of hearing stories from the Middle East and the mission of Kerning Cultures, what it's been like to move to a start-up environment, and podcasts as an advertising medium. For more guidance from the industry, subscribe to our Weekly Email—it's a small dose of advice, delivered Mondays.

Rachel Guest and Celine Faledam, Associate Creative Directors at The Many, have been creative partners across 10 years, two continents, five ECDs and 206 late night desk dinners. Hear about the biggest things you don't learn in ad school, what to do if you aren't clicking with your partner, their experience and learnings from their passion project Give The Talk, and the role of creativity and brands when it comes to social good issues. For more guidance from the industry, subscribe to our Weekly Email—it's a small dose of advice, delivered Mondays.

Marc Phillips, a Content Director at IBM Watson Health, worked in content and social strategy agency-side before recently going in-house. Hear about how to maintain a strong portfolio as a strategist, making yourself indispensable during a period of layoffs, tips on adjusting to the in-house work environment, and why your identity should include something other than what you do professionally. For more guidance from the industry, subscribe to our Weekly Email—it's a small dose of advice, delivered Mondays.

Karen Goodman, Group Creative Director at Havas, is here to help you take more risks in your career. Hear about how young creatives can stand out when starting out, integrating into a new city where you don't know anyone, what she learned from working for two years client-side at Under Armour, letting go of the pressure we put on ourselves when starting something new, and why we should “always be ready”. For more guidance from the industry, subscribe to our Weekly Email—it's a small dose of advice, delivered Mondays.

Elizabeth Rosenberg, Global Head of Communications at 72andSunny, joins us to shed light on the huge role PR/Communications professionals play in the agency world. Hear about why encouraging speaking engagements within your own office is underrated, the strategy involved in crafting and pitching a story to the media, tips for networking in the industry, the demand for PR talent, how we should be receiving and using the feedback we get, and tips for getting paid what you're worth. For more guidance from the industry, subscribe to our Weekly Email—it's a small dose of advice, delivered Mondays.

Gina Kim, Art Direction Intern at Squarespace, talks about the day-to-day work, challenges, learnings and advice that came out of her summer internship. Part of Intern Fieldnotes, Vol. 2, a special series created in collaboration with interns and companies all over the industry. See the full series here.

Kayla Torres-Han, Marketing Intern at Copacino + Fujikado, chats about the day-to-day work, challenges, learnings and advice that came out of her summer internship. Part of Intern Fieldnotes, Vol. 2, a special series created in collaboration with interns and companies all over the industry. See the full series here.

Graciela Lopez, Project Management Intern at Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness (Publicis Health Summer Internship Program), chats about the day-to-day work, challenges, learnings and advice that came out of her summer internship. Part of Intern Fieldnotes, Vol. 2, a special series created in collaboration with interns and companies all over the industry. See the full series here.