Imagine trying to raise money in instrument science during the Elizabeth Holmes scandal. That’s exactly what happened to Ellen Williams. She’s the VP of Business Development at Exum Instruments, who developed an actual mass spectrometer box that can give you the full periodic table of anything you test in a matter of minutes, without using a full lab’s worth of equipment and a staff full of PhD chemists. So when her company was trying to raise funds, they ran into a few stumbling blocks along the way because people couldn't get Theranos out of their brains.  How do you navigate that? What can you do when there’s a scandal in the media related to what you’re trying to do? Ellen says it comes down to being able to listen and adapt. Listen to the episode for her full story. Link up with Ellen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellen-scott-williams/ Check out Exum Instruments: https://www.exuminstruments.com/ Link up with Rachel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelelstsdowney/ Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourgenius.com/genius-cuts

In this replay episode, As Rachel is investigating what makes the best brands the best as she grows her own company and brand. What makes brands stand the test of time? Enter Kristin Hillery, Head of Brand and Content at Voiceflow. She’s been crafting and strategizing brand-defining content for over a decade. Her answer? Take inspiration from what left an impression on you as a kid. Even (or especially?) if that impression is left by a talking toaster. Tune in to the episode to find out what she means.   Link up with Kristin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinhillery/   Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourgenius.com/genius-cuts

Welcome to another episode of Voicemails with Rachel: Creator Edition. As we're all exploring and redefining what it means to build a brand with a media-led strategy, Rachel is asking the most innovative people she knows for their thoughts and questions to help us all create better, human, intentional content. (This is a special series part of the TACK Network. For more about that, click here.) Devin Bramhall, Growth Advisor, former CEO, and podcast host, left Rachel a message: what can a media-led content strategy solve for the busy, not-involved-enough-in-marketing CEO or Founder? Why should they start a podcast or something similar? Rachel says the answer is simple: communication with your buyer and with your team is made easier with this type of strategy. And doesn’t every leader want to communicate with both their buyer and their teams more often and more clearly? Press play for her full breakdown. Link up with Devin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinbramhall/  Listen to Don’t Say Content: https://www.dontsaycontent.com/ This is a special episode of Voicemails with Rachel: Creator Edition. Check out more as a part of the TACK Network here: https://tacknetwork.com/voicemail-with-rachel-creator-s-edition Link up with Rachel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelelstsdowney/ Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourgenius.com/genius-cuts

Welcome to the first episode of Voicemails with Rachel: Creator Edition. As we're all exploring and redefining what it means to build a brand with a media-led strategy, Rachel is asking the most innovative people she knows for their thoughts and questions to help us all create better, human, intentional content. (This is a special series part of the TACK Network. For more about that, click here.) So to kick us off, CEO and Founder of People Forward Network, Nikki Lewallen Gregory left Rachel a message about how the power of podcasting can do two major things for your business: accelerate growth and fuel culture. As a founder of a podcasting business herself, she’s got so many strategies to share when it comes to how podcasting can achieve those outcomes. And Rachel leaves us with a question—how are you thinking about audio in a media-rich world? Because it’s never just a podcast. Link up with Nikki: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkilewallen/ Check out People Forward Network: https://peopleforwardnetwork.com/ This is a special episode of Voicemails with Rachel: Creator Edition. Check out more as a part of the TACK Network here: https://tacknetwork.com/voicemail-with-rachel-creator-s-edition Link up with Rachel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelelstsdowney/ Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourgenius.com/genius-cuts

How do you maintain motivation when you’re bored? What can you do to help stay engaged in working towards your goals? Rachel turns to Joe Mills, sales leader at Element Three, for his strategies for keeping his motivation and drive for progress in high gear. Rachel and Joe dive into the topic of maintaining motivation and finding the drive to keep growing, even after achieving goals. Joe shares his insightful perspective, emphasizing the importance of balance and variety in activities. He explains that mixing performance, training, and recovery is crucial for staying interested and fulfilled. Too much time spent on one aspect can lead to burnout or boredom. Joe draws parallels between his professional life, where he sees sales calls as performances, and his personal life as a fitness enthusiast. Press play to discover how to keep the wheel of motivation spinning smoothly by finding the right mix of practice, performance, and recovery. Link up with Joe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joemillse3/ Listen to 1,000 Stories: https://elementthree.com/resource_types/podcast/ Listen to Double Shot: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/double-shot/id1662370657   Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourgenius.com/genius-cuts

While nothing is perfect, how close can you get? In your work product or in life. Rachel turns to Reid Morris, Sr. Marketing Manager at Element Three to answer this question. His high standard for video and podcasting content alone inspired her to ask this question (check those out below). But what seems like an inquiry into how perfectionistic we should be turned into how we can constantly be working toward leveling each other up, not just our work product. Tune in for some thought-provoking reflections on creative excellence.   Link up with Reid: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidmorris/ Listen to 1,000 Stories: https://elementthree.com/resource_types/podcast/ Listen to Double Shot: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/double-shot/id1662370657   Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourgenius.com/genius-cuts

Are you team choose-your-own-adventure? Or team go where life takes you? Jackie Yafremava, Head of Delivery Services at Share Your Genius, left Rachel a voicemail seeking advice on transitioning from a mindset from the latter to the former. So how does Rachel choose her own adventure? She shares her insights on prioritizing personal goals and emphasizes regularly revisiting and refining them in this episode. One important takeaway? It's not selfish to set goals and map out where you want your life to go. It's your's, after all! Tune in to gain valuable insights on intentional living and goal setting from Rachel's advice and Jackie's candid questions. Link up with Jackie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacqueline-yafremava-58825a236/ Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourgenius.com/genius-cuts

Founders’ stories captivate us. We love hearing about bringing a new idea to life. But it’s not always easy. As Rachel was reflecting on her own founder’s journey, she called up her friend, co-founder and CEO of Qualifi, Darrian Mikell, and asked: What traits do successful founders have in common? And how do those traits shape your thought leadership strategy? His unique POV on what to do with the lessons you learn from leading and growing is simple but impactful: share it. Link up with Darrian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darrianmikell/ Listen to Rachel’s founder story (Part 1 of 3) here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rachel-downey-and-the-first-million-part-1/id1555762235?i=1000588299274   Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourgenius.com/genius-cuts

If you listen to this podcast, you’re probably a high performer. You’re working towards something. You have goals. You work hard. (You probably play hard too.) But we can’t do the big things without discipline. And we can’t invest in what matters most if we can’t figure out how to put our phones down and put work away. So what can we do? Rachel turns to COO of Amplify Logistics, Matthew Zarzycki to answer this question for us. He’s a dad, a COO, a board member, and more. Tune in for his tips on sustainably being attached AND detached from your devices. Link up with Matthew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewzarzycki/ Rachel’s performance coach, David Gorsage: https://campdavidllc.com/   Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourgenius.com/genius-cuts

As Rachel grows her own company and brand, she’s often investigating what makes the best brands the best. What makes brands stand the test of time? Enter Kristin Hillery, Head of Brand and Content at Voiceflow. She’s been crafting and strategizing brand-defining content for over a decade. Her answer? Take inspiration from what left an impression on you as a kid. Even (or especially?) if that impression is left by a talking toaster. Tune in to the episode to find out what she means.   Link up with Kristin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinhillery/   Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourgenius.com/genius-cuts

Brandi Starr is COO of Tegrita, who hosts the Revenue Rehab podcast. She met up with Rachel at a recent event, and left her a voicemail—how do you define your thought leadership strategy? And how do I bring my own thought leadership to the table when I’m the interviewer on my show to help my expertise shine? Rachel has 5 steps to help hone in on your thought leadership strategy, and some solid tips for bringing that into your podcast. It starts with asking really good questions. Listen to Revenue Rehab: https://www.revenuerehab.live/ Link up with Brandi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandistarr/   Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourgenius.com/genius-cuts

Are downloads a sign of podcast success? Or is the attention we give them driven by ego? Rachel turns to Jillian Hoefer, Share Your Genius’ Strategic Lead and Creative Director to set the record straight: downloads are a metric of performance, but not necessarily an indicator of success. So what do we mean by that? What constitutes true success for your B2B podcast? Tune in to hear her answer. And if you want more of the discussion around this topic, Rachel and Jillian recorded their phone call discussing podcast success. It's the episode right before this one, titled You Shouldn't Care About Downloads.   Link up with Jillian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianmacnulty/ Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourgenius.com/genius-cuts

Spurred on by an article spouting that downloads are the best metric to track when it comes to podcast success, Rachel Downey turns to Jillian Hoefer, Strategic Lead at Share Your Genius for not only a voicemail, but an entire phone call (that she recorded) to dive into this discussion. And spoiler—they believe downloads are vanity metrics. Rachel and Jillian explore the importance of understanding your existing audience, tracking valuable interactions, and focusing on specific call-to-actions to promote your podcast. Plus, a successful content experience is all about creating connection with your audience—which is key in any business. Whether your preferred medium is podcasting or not, their discussion on what real success looks like can be useful for any content strategy. Press play to go beyond the vanity metric and dig into what we base our Share Your Genius strategy on. Link up with Jillian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianmacnulty/ Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourgenius.com/genius-cuts

What happens when a brand has a really good culture and a really good brand? What kind of impact can they have? What’s the intersection there? Rachel turns to content strategy expert, Alex George. Alex has led brand and digital marketing strategy for powerhouse brands—think Meta, PayPal, Huffington Post, and Tech Crunch in collaboration with global consumer brands like General Mills, Unilever and Coca-Cola. He currently looks after brand strategy and growth for Cast & Crew, a leading payroll-, accounting- and HR solutions partner for the film, tv, streaming, and live entertainment industries. His answer? The sky is the limit. Corporate brands may get a bad rap, but they can influence culture at scale for the better. Press play to hear his take. Link up with Alex: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexjgeorge/ Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourgenius.com/genius-cuts

What are the core tenets of a successful, long-term brand strategy? Rachel turns to content strategy expert, Anum Hussain. Anum is a content leader with 12+ years of experience at the intersection of marketing, media, and entrepreneurship. From building HubSpot's early content playbooks to running an AI news startup to becoming the first content marketing leader at Reforge, she’s an expert at developing content strategy, understanding audiences across multimedia formats, and leading cross-functional teams through change seasons. Her answer to the question? It comes down to focus and simplicity. If your brand leaves people with more questions than answers, you’re doing it wrong. Press play for Anum’s real life examples from her time at Hubspot and her own startup, Below the Fold. Link up with Anum: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anumhussain/ Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourgenius.com/genius-cuts

What do you do when your creative juices have pretty much dried up? When you need a jolt of creativity and new ideas, what do you turn to? Share Your Genius’s own Sarah Duvendack and Kassidy Zurbuch left Rachel a voicemail to get her opinion. Rachel’s shortlist: Reading fiction booksConsuming content in different forms than where you createSeeking out conversations with other creatives Press play to hear why and how these became Rachel’s go-to creativity-inducing activities. Link up with Kassidy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kassidy-zurbuch-167926245/ Link up with Sarah: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-duvendack-b897751b8/   Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourgenius.com/genius-cuts

This might be one of the hardest questions we’ve posed on this podcast, and none other than our host, Rachel Downey, is here to answer it. Kassidy Zurbuch, Show Manager at Share Your Genius, reached out to ask how do you define success in your career, and to dig deeper—how does that relate to the career ladder? It’s not always about titles and money, but what creates a career you’re really proud of? And at what level do you find that? Rachel finds meaning in the skills she learns and the people she works with and for. Now press play to hear why.   Link up with Kassidy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kassidy-zurbuch-167926245/ Read Forming Storming Norming Performing by Donald B. Egolf   Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourgenius.com/genius-cuts

AI is taking the world by storm—increasing efficiencies, speeding up processes, and so much more. So how is it impacting creatives, customers, and the market overall? Where do we go from here? So Rachel reached out to Lindsay Tjepkema to ask just that. Lindsay is the Co-Founder and CEO of Casted—the first Amplified Marketing Platform and only podcast solution for B2B marketers—so she knows a thing or two about leveraging tech to create connections. Lindsay says the brands that are more human are the ones who will win. Tune in to hear how she thinks AI fits into that winning lineup.   Link up with Lindsay: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsaytjepkema/ Check out The Casted Podcast: https://podcast.casted.us/public/5/The-Casted-Podcast-52134   Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourgenius.com/genius-cuts

Our host, Rachel Downey, deals in podcasts every day. If you follow her, you’ve heard her say “it’s never just a podcast”. It’s a call to think bigger about your media strategy. But what does that mean to others? And is Rachel correct in her thinking? So she asked Devin Bramhall, marketing advisor and host of Don’t Say Content. And she says that media-first strategies are the future of brand-building. Devin has spent over 15 years growing B2B Saas companies through community-led strategy. She is the former CEO of Animalz, the leading content marketing agency for B2B Saas companies, where she 3x’d revenue in 2 years to nearly $12M, and the co-host of Don't Say Content, a popular podcast for marketing leaders. She is also the former Executive Director of Boston Content, the largest community for content marketers in Boston, where she 2x’d membership in 2 years, and founder of The Master Slam, a poetry slam-style debate about startups and tech. Now press play to hear her full answer.   Link up with Devin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/devinbramhall/ Listen to Don’t Say Content here: https://www.dontsaycontent.com/ Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourgenius.com/genius-cuts

If you've been around our host, Rachel Downey, you’ve heard her say “it’s never just a podcast”. It’s a call to think bigger about your media strategy. But what does that mean to others outside of Share Your Genius? And is Rachel correct in her thinking? Enter Margaret Kelsey, a marketing industry vet. She’s spent a decade building scalable, effective marketing programs—and teams—for B2B SaaS companies like OpenView and Appcues. She now advises founders on how to do the same. So what’s her take on “it’s never just a podcast”? It starts with the fact every business needs to focus on brand and distribution, and the fact that podcasts help do both of those things extremely well and extremely authentically. Link up with Margaret: https://www.linkedin.com/in/margaret-kelsey-104abba/ Her website: http://www.margaretkelsey.com/ Listen to Don’t Say Content here: https://www.dontsaycontent.com/ Have a question for Rachel? https://www.speakpipe.com/vmswithrachel Want more from Rachel and her crew of brand content experts? Sign up for Genius Cuts. https://www.shareyourgenius.com/genius-cuts