Sensitive Influencer Stories (and how to share them)

[00:00:00] Georgina: For 2024, we can see it’s going to be a serious platform for these meaningful conversations. We’re also seeing a shift of creators leaving full-time creation to go back to the office. There should be no shame in going back to a nine-to-five. None at all. Like, all of our careers are shifting in different ways.

And just thinking about, okay, how can we support, these creators? in this new chapter of their lives.

[00:00:37] Jessy: Welcome to the party, you guys. It is January 2nd, the day that this episode is being released, which means it is officially 2020. 

[00:00:49] Georgina: Four. Oh my 

[00:00:52] Jessy: goodness. I’m recording this in December, so I’m envisioning what my future self is going to be thinking and what you guys are going to be feeling. Happiest New Year to you guys.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and I’m so excited to just like collaborate with you guys and share more with you guys. This upcoming year is going to be very, special for all of us. I can just feel it. So let’s start the year off on such a high note. We have a guest for today’s episode.

You guys, Georgina Whalen is with us from the company One Medical. And if you guys don’t know about One Medical, you’re probably. Going to be very excited that you know about them now, but she has been a member of WIM for quite a long time. She brings over 15 years of experience in influencer marketing as an agency partner, technology strategist, startup consultant, and media maven, and now she drives the influencer program at Amazon-owned.

medical. She got her start also as a creator herself, which I love. And you’ll hear later in this episode too, how her husband is also a food creator. She leads each program with intention and empathy. She uses her innate abilities to draw out impactful. stories that allow brands to connect in a meaningful way.

She serves as a guest lecturer at Tish and NYU founded and leads the Influencer Marketing Masterclass, which is a guided cohort for those wishing to plan, execute, and analyze successful influencer campaigns, and has served as an industry advisor for the Clorox company here. And pedal throughout her tenure.

Georgina has worked with clients and strategic partners like Procter and Gamble, Kraft Heinz, Nike, Reebok, Land Rover, and Jaguar Lego. the list goes on and on whole foods. You guys, Lexus, there are so many brands. Wonderful that she’s worked with and she really knows her stuff, but now she’s working in-house.

Now she’s working on All these sensitive stories. So that’s something we’re going to dig into today. We also talk about what it’s like to be working in some instances with your partner because she and her partner collaborate on content sometimes. What it’s like to be working at a company where you’re, you’re working with creators sometimes for three plus years.

And how that evolves in terms of your KPIs together, how you deepen those relationships, we talked about a lot. I’m very excited for you guys to listen. And I hope that you keep an open mind in terms of Georgina’s advice. How to deepen those relationships with creators. I think a lot of us say that we want to, I think a lot of us say, I don’t want to do those one-off partnerships.

I want to find people who are just the perfect brand fit and we work with them for the long term. But a lot of us like to 

[00:04:05] Georgina: struggle of like, how do we find the perfect fit 

[00:04:08] Jessy: and how do we continue to build on that relationship? Propel that momentum together. I know that there’s a lot of you who struggle with that.

So that is what we’re getting into today. I am so excited for you to get to know her. She’s also a member of WIM. So as a member, find her on Slack say hi, and tell her that you enjoyed the episode. Connect with her because they’re doing fantastic work with creators. And I’m so excited for you to hear this episode.

So without further ado, I don’t want to prolong this much longer. This is Georgina 

[00:04:42] Georgina: Whalen.

[00:04:46] Jessy: This show is sponsored by Women in Influencer Marketing, better known as WHIM, the best online community for the creator economy. You will meet fellow influencer marketers. You’ll meet brands. You’ll meet talent agencies to talk shop and get hired. And even find a mentor. When you become a member, do not forget to check out all of our incredible resources.

For example, we have dozens of masterclasses from the top voices at TikTok, YouTube, award-winning agencies, and women who are paving the way for us all. So if you want the chance to network with a few soon in films and marketing, check out what it takes to become a member. Make more money and have fun doing it.

Visit Iamwim. com slash join. That’s I A M W I M dot com slash join today and I so look forward to seeing you more around the community. All right, so I am just super grateful to have the wonderful guest today that we do. We just heard about you a little bit in the intro. On the paper version of yourself, but welcome.

And I just want to hear your own words a little bit about one medical in particular and like some of the campaigns that you guys have been working on this year. I’ve been so admiring what you guys have been doing. So welcome and let’s just dive in. 

[00:06:20] Georgina: Thank you so much, Jesse. I am so happy to be here.

You have cultivated such an incredible community that I’ve been a member of for several years. So this is a dream to be here. So thank you. I feel like 

[00:06:34] Jessy: it’s long overdue. I’m really happy to have you on here today. and I’m excited to have everyone get to know you, and the work that you’re doing. So thank you for taking me up 

[00:06:43] Georgina: on it.

Absolutely. So all about One Medical. I am such a brand enthusiast because I was a One Medical member before I even found out about this job and applied. So it is my dream job. But One Medical is a national modernized primary care practice that provides inclusive, accessible, culturally competent, high-quality healthcare, and it’s integrated with 24/7 telehealth and in-office care.

So I love it, for me, one of my pain points is I don’t want to have to call someone to make my doctor’s appointment, they have an app, and you can get a same-day or next-day appointment. It makes it easy, our doctors don’t wear white coats, it’s just thoughtful and very convenient. So as far as our campaigns, I was brought on to bring our influencer efforts in-house.

Previously we were working with agencies and when I came in, it allowed us to be a lot more flexible with our campaigns, with our partnerships. I’ve been focused on hyper-local creators who are always talking about what’s going on in their community and their city. Some of them are even existing members, so they came to me with these incredible stories of brand interactions.

And I’m just always very open. When I first came in, I evaluated the 2022 program. I did a competitor analysis just to see what am I working with and where can we expand. Put together a plan, ran it by our marketing executive team and just ran with it. They trusted me. They even increased my budget and I’ve just been having a wonderful experience.

It’s the best influencer marketing manager experience I’ve ever had. That’s 

[00:08:52] Jessy: amazing. I’m really happy to hear that from you. And I know people like it. I don’t know. It’s an interesting job market right now. I feel like everyone’s like, where are the good jobs at? Like, where are the good companies to be working for?

And this is cool for everyone to hear about. And everyone, I’m sure, is wait, your budget got increased? people die to have that happen for them so they can just, just do more and experiment and all that. What would you say those, that increased budget opened up for you and allowed you to do more of?

[00:09:26] Georgina: so my CMO and my, direct boss, my boss, they’re so supportive of influencer marketing. They know how powerful of a channel it is. And I would say the marketing team as a whole. So Thank you. People were so excited for me to be there and to support their program. So I started, I worked with the regional marketing team to support their efforts.

If they had an event, if they had a new office opening, seeing if I could get creators that live nearby to support their efforts, I started working with the growth team and leveraging influencer content. In our ads, they couldn’t do so when they were working with different agencies.

So that was the first time we got to test that, and it was wonderful. So I got to obviously work with more creators, extend more partnerships, and, also test a little bit more. I did more TikTok tests and just was able to double down on a lot of my efforts. To gather the data to put, together a case for 2024 and some exciting new things that I wanted to test out.

[00:10:49] Jessy: And I love that, that’s where you’re, that’s where you’re ending even, I want to test things out. I want to test things out. It just, there’s just so much value. And experimentation, testing things out because I think there’s like such a misnomer. I’d love to hear your opinion on it. I feel like there are a lot of people out there who are spouting these rigid rules for influencer marketing where it’s This is what you do to achieve X.

That is what you do to achieve Y. And every brand is so different. So I don’t know how that can be applicable across the board. You guys are very unique. One medical, it’s this like medical, like a company where you can telehealth in person. I didn’t realize it was in person too, so that’s cool to learn.

I thought it was just telehealth. But it’s it’s this whole unique business model, something that’s becoming super popular nowadays for sure as well, but that is just, I can imagine a very different approach than say, like a fashion brand who’s trying to sell clothes influencers or into their followers and communities.

when it comes to your approach and strategies and the experimentation that you mentioned, I’d love for you to be like, candid with us if you can, I’d love to know, have there been any things that you’ve tried that you’re like, this, we had high hopes or, and it just didn’t work for us and we learned from it.

And then conversely, have there been any strategies that you’ve employed that you’re like, Oh my gosh, this hit it out of the park for us. We’re like, definitely going to implement that again. 

[00:12:30] Georgina: Yeah, I think obviously, and no campaign runs 100 percent smoothly, so I ran into some challenges.

I think one of the biggest was, I think of a campaign like a dinner party. I want to curate this experience for my guests and be thoughtful in all these different touches, be proactive in what their needs could be, and like cover all of those bases. Also, that’s just part of my personality, but when I want every creator that we’re working with to be going into the office to experience One Medical for themselves because That’s the only way to create authentic content, and I want them to be wowed.

these are beautifully designed offices, and I know it’s not all about aesthetics. But it puts me at ease when I go in. So coordinating, getting these folks on board, having a nice onboarding call, which I want to talk about later because I have the best time with these calls, and then making sure that it’s so important for us to preserve the patient experience.

The patient comes in, they’re welcomed. They sit in our beautiful lobby, but the appointments are on time and they’re with the doctor, the provider, excuse me, the primary care provider, the entire time for 30 minutes, which is very rare. So to preserve that experience, I’m coordinating with the different offices to make sure the creator also has an environment where they can authentically have the patient experience.

And all those needs to capture content. So I think as we ramped up, I had more budget. I had more creators coming into some of the same locations all the time. We ran into some barriers where either we were very booked and it was hard to get creators in or no one’s perfect. Creators will run late or say, I actually can’t make it today.

And that can be difficult because it’s a, like a very complicated balance managing everyone’s needs, but I also see it very much as a good challenge and opportunity for one, for one good example, we had a creator, she reached out to me, I tell them I’ll text me if anything’s coming up so I can let the office know.

And she was not feeling well, and she was like, I don’t feel comfortable going into the office too, in case it’s contagious. And I was like, say no more. We want you to be comfortable, healthy, happy. And I was like, what if we shoot the content, if you’re open to it, as a telltale, so you can speak to a doctor?

And she was like, oh my gosh, yes. And so that’s what we did. Because. It was an authentic experience that would be helpful to her anyway, and it was an actual storyline because she had been sharing how she was under the weather in her content that week. I think there’s always a learning and an opportunity.

Again, it just really takes. Being in a position where you feel that confidence and support from your team. Yeah, 

[00:15:55] Jessy: Absolutely. And I love being able to have the flexibility and the relationship with the influencers to be able to have that line of communication open and then that ability to be flexible and like work with each other so that everybody feels good about it.

Although of course, she was under the weather. And so I’m curious too, I think that. I love it when brands are a little bit more unique and are working with influencers because they feel like it’s a fun challenge. And so I’m so curious with all the content that you guys have created with 

[00:16:27] Georgina: creators, I 

[00:16:29] Jessy: can imagine that it’s really important to evaluate the response that you’re getting from their audiences.

And I can assume that certain audiences just like really tons of comments or lots of shares or maybe conversations in the DMs, especially on a topic like this. I can imagine there are more private conversations perhaps that’s a great thing to have without engagement. What are the indicators for you guys of successful content?

is there anything that you’ve learned along the way where talked mostly on Tik Tok and shared candid things there, or we had someone behind the scenes or like a day in the life of booking this and I’m feeling terrible and I’m trying to run around with kids and I did that in stories and that worked well for us.

are there any locations? On social that have worked particularly well for you or even like the tone or the content itself, that’s just like really stood out. 

[00:17:31] Georgina: Yeah. So yes, but also no, because we test on, let me go back just a step. One of the things I love most about our program is when I’m onboarding a creator, I’ll get on the phone with them to allow them that kind of on-one time with the brand and ask questions, talk about, what pain points they had in, in the past in healthcare, because usually we can draw out these stories and experiences that make powerful content, and like you said, the stories, and because We then deliver that content.

Oftentimes, I’m saying to the creator, this is us, this is what we’re looking to do. Now tell us your story. And where do you think this story would resonate best with your audience? And what kind of content do you want to create? And that is the best part about my job. Every creator’s wait, what? you’re not going to tell me where to put things?

No, every campaign is different. I have creators that are like, I want to do this in my newsletter or like on not Instagram or not TikTok and I’m like, let’s test it out. we’ll see how it does. And I think allowing the creator to lead that conversation, number one, almost always helps us like optimize the content in the content success.

But two, it helps the creator feel like they’re part of the content’s success. They’re part of the strategy. which ultimately they should be because they’re like many marketing agencies themselves. So I think. Again, allowing them to drive this strategy to an extent, to a great extent, has just helped us be so successful.

And that on one connection, when we can have it, we can’t always, but it allows us to dig deeper and for them to get to know us and like how we work and respect them and their art. And I’d love to 

[00:19:41] Jessy: dig into that a little bit more, too, because I know that building deep relationships with creators is something that’s just particularly important to you.

Do you have a philosophy around that when working with them? And like, how do you even find creators that you want to build those deep relationships with? And Any tips on really achieving that? I’m sure so many people listening, that sounds amazing, but they struggle to do it. So I’d love any tips for somebody like yourself who really 

[00:20:09] Georgina: prioritizes it.

Absolutely. Think one of the most important points is I got my start in this industry in 2009 before Instagram existed as a creator, we were bloggers back then. It’s very easy for me to put myself in a creator’s shoes in those interactions and foresee those issues. And I think it’s just so important to treat a creator’s journey just like your customer’s journey.

When I came on board here at One Medical, I was listening to the team and like all of them, just all of the data that they had gathered and how campaigns went. And one thing that they told me was creators had. An issue at one point with the payment processing and that’s very common, but I was like, let me see it.

Let me dig into this. So I took myself through the entire process of creating a screen share with audio. So I could create a resource like a video demo with audio and a written step. To foresee, hey, this is our process, you’re going to get there soon, I’ve created some resources for you ahead of time because it can be a little tricky.

So again, thinking about their experience in how we’re working together, and how they feel supported by me is very important. As far as finding creators, I feel like I’ve developed some wonderful relationships in this industry with creators, with talent managers. And so I start with the people that I know and love and also communities like WIM have been so wonderful.

I’ve found a lot of creators through the casting feature to then broaden the pool of people that I can extend an invitation to. So I think starting with that community. And because we work with creators on a pretty long-term basis, like there are creators who are working, we’re going into year three with them now.

But I will make sure to have this lengthier contract with these creators. And once we’ve established. Like their firm stance in partnership with us, I’ll say, do you have anyone that you feel would work well in one of these campaigns in the next month or so? So it’s a way to open up those recommendations without threatening some future work for them.

It’s already been established. And, creators, they all talk. They can be the best resource for this. So going to them and allowing them to make these, recommendations have been so wonderful. Another thing that I love to do is when I reach out to creators, number one is just being super transparent.

I can’t, this is for research purposes to make sure that, we’re a good fit for you at this time in, your life that you’re, with what you’re creating or what you’re prepared to create is aligned with what we’re looking to create. So transparency about where I am in the process and what I can offer is important, but I also always include it.

A fairly brief survey in a form, allows me to understand the creator’s existing pain points in healthcare, what channels they’re currently focusing on, and which ones they hope to focus on in case there’s alignment there. Again, just allow them a space to provide any information that can allow me to connect with them a little bit deeper.

So I consider my vetting survey, but it’s more of an opportunity to find out more about them and retain that information. To draw out in some of our conversations, and I can also 

[00:24:16] Jessy: imagine that, that’s one of the many reasons why you’re probably so well suited to be at the company that you’re at, just because, like, when I think of discussing, medical things, it’s just a very personal.

Thing to be sharing about and sure, I’m sure some influencers could keep it pretty superficial, but I’m sure the more impactful content is going to be about some personal things. So I can only imagine that having that as something really important to you, that being like the depth of the relationship with the creator.

It’s also really benefiting your overall mission as a brand working with those creators because being able to have that, like trust there and that relationship probably really helps the content creators feel comfortable. Discussing more sensitive things and those are the impactful stories that I think are probably going to carry them and their content throughout potentially three years even said going on three years three of working with some creators.

So that’s huge. And I’m so curious, it’s a great segue because I’d love to talk about it, we’re recording this midway through December of 2023, and everyone’s planning for 2024 and excited, and nervous about what’s to come. I want to talk about KPIs for 2024, especially as you’re going into some of these longer-term relationships.

interestingly, the KPIs that you might have had with a creator on post one might be dramatically different as you guys have evolved, they’ve evolved, and you’ve evolved together throughout three-plus years worth of time together. So what are some of your KPIs as a brand for 2024 and what are some strategies that you’re excited to implement to achieve 

[00:26:09] Georgina: them?

Absolutely. I am so excited for 2024 because My strategy and KPIs are changing fairly dramatically, and shifting in a way that the industry is evolving. So my first, like my most major goal would be taking a much more integrated approach where we were focusing on social. for the majority of our touches with the influencers community, we’re now going to be expanding, because there are so many opportunities.

I know as a content consumer myself, I am on social, but I’m also reading creator newsletters. I’m listening to their podcasts. So I want us to show up not just in one place or two social channels, but in their podcast, and their newsletter. Because I, as a consumer, when I’m hearing a podcast, I listen to this podcast.

If you are recommending something, I’ve already established that trust to be listening to you continuously. I am going to stop for a minute and listen to, why do you like this service or product? And consider it for myself, because I’m a prime audience and, or consumer. So I think it’s so important to, again, dive a little bit deeper into these interactions with consumers.

to meet them where they are. And a big part of that too is I think so often when we’re creating content, we focus on these like larger milestones. And it’s so important to be inclusive of what I would say, the mini stones. I know you have a very exciting milestone. You’re engaged, like you have so many incredible milestones by the way.

So like with an incredible business, but. Thinking about all of these creators, we have one creator that we’re going on year three with, he’s just starting a family, and he was like, since this location has pediatrics, I’m so excited to talk. Enroll my daughter and I’m like, Oh my gosh, that is a very big milestone.

But thinking about those mini stones, like for example, I don’t tell most people this at all, but I have a very serious illness, a genetic illness that has, been very, tough. And when I was making the move from Boston to Columbus, where I moved, where I lived for a few years, my number one worry was like, Okay, I have this established care team of specialists, like, how am I going to leave that and, go to the unknown?

even, that kind of milestone or mini stone is a big deal, and I chronicled part of it, I created some resources that, came out of some of my pain points. And I think it’s so important to think about those and highlight them. It doesn’t always have to be that someone is getting married. Like what about all the single folks?

Like they have incredible milestones in their life that maybe we’re not highlighting quite as much. So again, thinking about it. All the ways we’re not currently maybe including everyone in all of those important moments and highlighting them. And secondly, which I’m excited about and you, I think, just recently posted something on this is capturing the next generation of buyers.

Gen Z is a force. They are so incredible. It’s so much higher stakes, there’s like a whole new playbook because they’re discerning, they will call out bias. So trying to break in like on maybe college campuses, those collegiate affinity groups, I think, that’s a big focus for me to see where we can do so meaningfully because they will sniff out anything that’s not authentic.

So I think those are really a few of my main focuses and how I’m measuring it is, it’s looking, thankfully, I’m very grateful to be able to do this instead of like just a strict, like, how many sales did we generate is looking at, of course, the reach of our content, but what conversations are being had, what is the sentiment of those conversations, where are we driving folks?

And what I listen to the most is whenever we’ve been able to relay a fact, a little tidbit that someone wasn’t aware of. you said I wasn’t aware that you could go to an office. That right there is fantastic. That’s the entire. That’s the entirety of my job is to educate and spread all of these ways that one medical can provide you convenience and support you in your health journey.

So I think that’s, yeah. No, 

[00:31:29] Jessy: takeaways are also just like the power of social sharing with some of these more personal stories. And I think it’s cool the role that you’re in, like I, a lot of influencers market as the marketers out there who are sharing all kinds of stories. But you’re talking about some posts that I’ve shared recently and I appreciate, your willingness to share about what you’re, you’ve gone through as well.

And I think that in the past, six or so months, I’ve tried to be vulnerable and share on this podcast and share on social about, my fertility journey and things like that. And it was really scary at first, but I’ve had so many people reach out and say, I know what you’re going through. I’m there.

There are, like, people now I’m very friendly with and texting now because. We’ve become friends simply because I shared something about, my medical journey and my fertility journey as well. I can just imagine how fulfilling it is to be able to have your job where you can explore with creators, what’s the story that you want to tell?

And how can we support telling that in a way that will, really just impact your community? It’s just that just sounds fulfilling and I just admire what you guys are doing. So I just wanted to say that I think that’s pretty amazing. There’s been a lot of shift in influencer marketing, certainly from the beginning, and you said you started this years ago, like your career in it.

And even in the past, like a year, two years or so, like I’ve sensed a really big shift in the industry. I’ve heard creators have their perspective on it, brand marketers, agency folks, and lots of change. I’m curious from your perspective, where have you seen things shift in influencer marketing and how has it impacted the work that you guys are, doing?

[00:33:33] Georgina: I think there, there has been such a big shift. change doesn’t, change is always this wonderful opportunity. And I’m not always someone to just dive in, I’m like, I’ll look and assess and see, where can we fit in this shift? Similarly, we’re now seeing an explosion of paid or sponsored content on LinkedIn as it’s for 2024, we can see it’s going to be a serious platform for these meaningful conversations.

And I’ve been loving the content, by the way. But, does it make sense for us to enter in with creators right now? I’m not sure, but we’re also seeing a shift of creators leaving full-time creation to go back to the office. And the conversations I’ve been watching on Threads are there should be no shame in going back to a nine to five.

None at all. we, all of our careers are shifting in different ways. And I think making that pivot is brave, and I love seeing all of the very candid conversations and just thinking about, okay, how can we support, these creators in this new chapter of their lives? It’s just such a difficult conversation and just like you have been so vulnerable and I appreciate it so much.

I feel like it helps so many other people feel more confident in telling their stories. People are vulnerable about how tough like net 60 payment terms are. It’s very difficult, if someone does all this work, if they’re working full time. My husband is a full-time creator in the food space.

The bills don’t wait for 60 days. That’s very tough, and we need to listen to these. to this feedback and these conversations and see how we can shift to meet these new needs or needs that have like already been there but maybe we weren’t as aware. So I think there have been some incredible evolutions that like Brands have been trying to provide solutions like I’m sure you saw the Visa, it’s ReadyCreator commerce program.

And so they’re trying to get creator payments, their payments in 30 minutes or less, allowing global tipping. So I think there, there are going to be more brands and companies trying to provide. With this support and these resources, there’s another great Canopy. I’ve seen Canopy, it’s like a great way, I think, for creators to provide anonymous feedback, support, and tips, as in resources, and information.

And I just love seeing all of these new companies and startups and platforms. Giving creators more leverage, more information, like I think we’ve both seen where. There’s been some disconnect in different groups of, creators because what you don’t know, you don’t know. And I take that very seriously in my job.

For example, I have a set budget. I need to be creative and economical to an extent, but two creators are actually by some chance delivering the same deliverables and, somewhere around the same ballpark as far as engagement. Niche expertise, and one quotes me 200 and the other quotes me at 750.

These are very small made-up numbers, by the way. I must then come back, especially if it’s not going to impact, impacting my budget because I’ve allotted 750 for both. To then say, thank you so much for your feedback, I do want to let you know that we have budgeted for creators of your size at this amount, and this is what we will be paying your counterparts, and that’s what I do, because it’s my job, because a lot of these creators They don’t know, and oftentimes they are minority creators, because that’s how I started.

So again, just finding ways to support this changing landscape. Be mindful of, new platforms, new software, and ethically using AI. So that, again, we’re not watering down her efforts. We’re not just trying to show up everywhere but to add value. 

[00:38:37] Jessy: Yeah. I love that so much. I think all that’s so important as well.

And I’m curious, I can imagine a lot of people listening are hearing these things and they’re like, I want to change that. I want to improve that. I want to better this and that. And so if there are changes that we want to see in our industry and we’re able to articulate it, Where we wanna see our industry go, and I wanna empower everybody listening.

How do you recommend that we go about starting that change and making 

[00:39:08] Georgina: that change? So I have a couple of ideas or just ways that I’ve implemented thus far. So what I do with every campaign is at the close, once I’ve made sure the creator has been paid so that they don’t feel obligated to participate, I’ll send out a creator experience survey.

It allows them in a completely anonymous way to evaluate us as a brand in their brand experience, their in-app experience, my communications, how much they were paid, and literally every granule part of the campaign because I want that feedback. I need the feedback to better work with support and communicate with these creators.

So just like you have an NPS score with your customers, why are you not listening to creators who are going to potentially become customers or who are already driving new customers? So that is something that I learned when I was at Maverick, the creator platform, a wonderful group of people, by the way.

It was something that one of my colleagues implemented and I’ve just always done it since then to make sure that creators understand, that we care about your experience we’re listening and we want to know. And here is a safe space for you to provide that feedback. So that’s number one.

And then number two is, oftentimes really candid conversations with leadership, providing that you feel like you have a safe space, to have them, to initiate them. I’m so grateful that, I do, and I can’t say I’ve always felt that way, but I do here. before having those conversations, doing the work, really getting deep into, what are these issues?

What’s causing them? And also coming to the table in the conversation with solutions, like when I was wondering, do we need to change our payment system? Can we? I did. I had gone through the process myself, pinpointed some, areas, of improvement, and then evaluated what there was on the market as an alternative for benefits features, and costs.

So that I could then have a really, informed conversation on, what we should do next. So I think, again, it comes down to listening, but not just listening, providing creators a platform to say, this is what I’m not getting from you and the company. And this is maybe even how I’d propose you doing things differently or, your creative brief was way too long.

And I’m always worried about that because who wants a five-page brief? But taking that information, like I’m going to take that information and present it to my entire leadership team when I present like our overall performance for 2023 and I’m going to say, these are some really interesting things our creators said they cared about, they want to see us do differently so that it’s not just me in my siloed influencer marketing department, But, everyone in the marketing team, marketing department, including product marketing, they’re hearing this, and it gets some thoughts going and the wheels of change hopefully moving.

Yeah, 

[00:42:45] Jessy: that’s perfect. And it takes a certain type of person to be open to that feedback. So you think it’s like very admirable, like not everybody is or some people say that they are and they’re not. So I think that it’s great that you guys seem very open to it and like amenable to it and that it’s just gonna help, it’s gonna help everybody.

So I think that’s fantastic. I am so curious. I know you mentioned that your husband is a food creator, and I didn’t realize that, and I’m so curious, like, how does that work with you guys being in the same industry? Is it helpful? Is it annoying sometimes? What have you learned from him being in the same industry as you are?

[00:43:27] Georgina: I will say the positives outweigh the challenges, I’m so proud of him though, by the way, he got started in the industry a year before me. So he is an OG food blogger and made the jump full time fairly quickly, has written I think five, maybe six, I should know this, cookbooks. It’s interesting, I can very quickly if I’m having conversations about a new tool, a new platform that I know he’s talked about, I can run to him quickly and be like, what were your thoughts on this?

What were your thoughts on this? Before a conversation I’m then having about it because he’s very clued in, he has a very large audience, so he has, monthly calls with Metta because they care about their creators. And they’re always talking about new products. He gets to have the in on those conversations and a lot of product testing.

So it’s such an advantage for me. So I can be like, Oh, I already know about this, but I can’t say anything. He doesn’t tell me anything confidential meta. And I think another part though, is You know, it could be hard when you work all day in influencer marketing, in the analytics, and then he comes, we’re having dinner and he’s Oh my gosh, the algorithm, it’s like, it’s doing all these funny things.

I was looking at my CPM today based on the ad platform and I’m just like, can we shut off? Can we not do this? like my brain has been in this space for nine, to 10 hours. I understand he wants to have these conversations, but for me, sometimes it does feel like work and he doesn’t have any co-workers like he has his agent, he has, sometimes has an assistant, but it’s important for me, I think the, like having a community and we’re actually newer to Atlanta, so we’ve just been building more community, meeting some creators, yeah, is such a benefit.

And it’s wonderful because I feel like we can both help each other. Like he is such a creative, whereas I’m like super analytical and type A. So he’ll be like, Oh my gosh, I got this great like email. This is how I was going to respond. And I’ll look and I’ll be like, no, let me help You let’s do this.

This is an awesome opportunity. So I feel yeah. He just really balances me out so much, but yeah, we also do help each other, as I’ll sometimes be in his content. He has a podcast, I guess we both do, so we create together there. And we are co-creating or co-authoring a cookbook.

No one knows who the first person is. You hear it 

[00:46:18] Jessy: here first. Tell us 

[00:46:21] Georgina: more. Yeah. So we are actually both represented by the same agency because I was up until like last year, I was still creating content fairly consistently. And one night, I didn’t know what we were doing. We’re having a dinner together.

And. I said to him, you know what I don’t see because it’s just him and I and our dog Frida, our nuclear family. I don’t see a lot of cookbooks for drinks, double income, no kids. And then some people add W. A. D. with a dog because my husband also likes we take care of our dog. Like she is an actual human.

Like we make, we always, have homemade food. And she’s just, she goes to daycare, everything like that. So we, I was like, wouldn’t it be fun to make a niche cookbook for like couples and maybe couples with dogs and include some of those recipes? And he was like, let me bring it. I have a call with Sally this week, like, why don’t I bring it up?

And she loved it. And we did the research. We were like, there’s none out there. So she was like, go ahead, put the proposal together. Let’s shop it around. And I was like, Wow, we’re doing this. So I guess the opportunities have been wonderful. But again, when it’s time to shut off, it can be a little tough.

And I 

[00:47:47] Jessy: appreciate that. I know that some people Can relate. There are only a few who are brave enough to work with family, significant others, et cetera, even friends sometimes, because, things can go awry, but I know they can relate for sure, where, even when things are going swimmingly well like it’s hard to shut off.

Like you said, it can be hard because you’re both passionate about this too. And sometimes it’s good probably for the relationship to be able to like compartmentalize at least, and just say okay, we’re just going to have a night where it’s us. It’s not about the book. It’s not about the podcast.

It’s not about that. It’s about us. Yeah, I totally can understand that. And I appreciate you bringing that up too. That is so cool though. I don’t know. Your household fascinates me. That’s like the coolest thing that you guys are in the industry together doing both the behind-the-scenes, in front of the camera, authoring.

It sounds like you guys are really mastering the industry like you guys are like the modern-day couple creating the creator economy. I think that’s the coolest thing ever. I have a feeling also that our listeners and, everyone watching on Spotify or YouTube would love to reach out and connect with you.

And of course, you’re a member of WHIM, but for the people who want to maybe follow you on social or connect with you on LinkedIn. what is your preferred way that our audience reaches out to you? 

[00:49:19] Georgina: That’s a thoughtful way to ask that question. So number one, thank you. And number two, I would probably say email just because I try to use social very intentionally.

So potentially email or LinkedIn. just because I’m not always able to get to everything on social. So my email, I’m happy to provide it. It’s just my first name, Georgina, and then at georginawhalen. com or on LinkedIn, just Georgina Whalen there as 

[00:49:52] Jessy: well. Perfect. And we will share links to those in the show notes so you guys can just click away.

It makes it easier for you guys. Thank you so much for coming on the show today. I love your story. I love everything that you’re up to and that you’re doing. I hope that everyone appreciated it as much as I did. I think it’s so cool. And I look forward to just following your journey. And you hear it. You heard it here first, guys.

There’s this wonderful book coming out. So that’s exciting and I look forward to seeing that on the horizon too. And for all of you guys who are listening and watching, you guys are the best. I hope everyone’s having a happy holiday. I hope that everyone has a wonderful new year. And thank you guys for listening.

Thank you so much, Georginum. Thank you, Jessie. If you enjoyed this episode, we gotta have you back. Check out our website for more ways to get involved, including all the information you need about joining our collective. You can check out all the information at iamwim. com. Leave us a review, or a rating, but the most important thing that we ask you to do is to share this podcast.

Thanks for listening. 

[00:50:59] Georgina: Tune in next week.