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Laura Brounstein is a storyteller, having taken up a deep interest in stories through books and other mediums from a young age. She found her way to her career path through politics, television, magazines, real estate—and now tech. Her life’s through-line is that she was able to propel herself from editing stories to helping brands (and even presidential campaigns) find unique, fresh ways to tell their stories. Join Laura as she details the major turns in her life that led her to become the Senior Vice President of Brand and Creative at Clear.
Everyone's career path is different, built by pivotal moments and choices. We're on a mission to amplify those stories and examine how our decisions shape our careers.
Nonlinear is hosted by Dave Fano, Founder & CEO of Teal—a genuinely consumer-first platform designed to help people grow and manage their careers. Our goal is to empower people to land jobs they love with free tools that guide and automate the process. Learn more at tealhq.com.
Laura Brounstein: [00:00:00] We talk a lot about like find a mentor, find a sponsor. But I really, for me, it has been my friends, my like kind of wider peer group, younger, older, who have helped me make a lot of pivotal changes and jumps.
David Fano: So, hi everyone. Thanks for listening. And again, and today, we're here with Laura Brownstein who, uh, you'll see a recurring theme, lots of these folks I've had the pleasure of working with, um, uh, which has been great, which it makes me feel good because that means they're willing to come on until. So I must've done something right.
But, uh, Laura's had an incredible career, has done really, really amazing things from working on presidential campaigns to producing TV shows. Uh, and I mean, we're, we're going to hear all about it. Um, but better to hear from you. So, Laura, could you tell us a little bit about [00:01:00] yourself?
Laura Brounstein: Hi, uh, first of all, you know, number one fan out fan that's one of my primary, you know, Moments.
Um, one of my designations, uh, we had
David Fano: some pivotal moments together
Laura Brounstein: we totally have. So right now I'm lucky enough to be the SVP of brand and creative at clear, um, which many people probably know from the friendly people at the airport that help you get through security faster, but. Has a lot of kind of uses.
Um, it helps you get into games, proving your vaccination when that's necessary and all kinds of good things like that. And this is a long way from where I started. Um, I think I've been a storyteller my whole life and my career [00:02:00] has just been about telling stories in different places.
David Fano: So, all right, cool. I already sorta like picking up on a theme.
Okay. Um, I saw you did production, like I'm assuming straight out of school, but something I like to kick these things off with, or these conversations off with is when did you feel like you had a sense of what you wanted to do for, you know, for a lot of people that's when they kind of like pick a major for some people that, you know, it's like a forced thing, but when did you feel like you had a sense, like, this is, this is what I want my work to.
Laura Brounstein: Um, you know, I remember writing stories in my fourth grade language arts class and, um, Mrs. Cornell was very tough and upper Nyack elementary school. And I wrote a story about Maria. Um, falling in love, of course, that, um, [00:03:00] she really loved, and it was a moment that really kind of solidified how much I liked to tell stories.
I knew I loved to read stories as I think as an only child, especially I was a huge. And, um, not to out our ages, but when you and I grew up, there was a lot less video content and a lot less content in general. So after you watched the show that was on right then, um, you know, you watched the Brady bunch when you came home from school and then as an only child, it was.
Pick up a book time. And, um, you know, a lot of the books I read featured women who found their kind of independence and success writing and telling stories, um, which is not something. [00:04:00] Something someone should push into, but you know, little women Louisa may Alcott. The main character is a stand in for her and is all about, um, telling stories and writing.
And, um, that always really resonated with me. So I think I always knew I was going to tell stories in some way as, um, Jewish parents in the eighties, my parents, um, you know, expected me to be a doctor until my D plus and freshmen bio at Queens. And then they were like, okay, so maybe not on the doctor thing.
Um, it seems like you're good at a couple other things. So let's go with that. Um, and I didn't tell them that that was largely because I buy always at 9:00 AM and I was too hung over to go to class times freshman year, first semester because, um, it was all very exciting. So, um, yeah, I think I always knew I was going to tell stories.
I was always fascinated by. [00:05:00] And knew I would do something in between. And, um, you know, one of my, kind of, I went to grew up in a great place, but I didn't necessarily go to a high school where being smart was cool, especially for girls. And I worked a lot, I think on finding ways to be heard while not sounding like I knew too much.
And, you know, a lot of the classic tropes that you read about women kind of cutting their own power. When they talk, I was a hundred percent doing. There was a lot of like, well, like I don't know. And maybe, and I learned that when I raised my hand in class, if I sounded unsure of what I said and didn't use big words, it was better received, um, by those around me.
And I will never forget. I've told him this story, my freshman year of college, I was in a [00:06:00] writing seminar, um, with the boy that I had a crush on, like the boy that I like. Sat and listened to him, like play guitar until like one in the morning and was like, oh, you're so talented. You're so deep. And, and he was a great, lovely, he is a great, lovely guy.
Um, but the first day we were in a class together, I remember raising my hand and afterwards feeling like, you know, great about highlight. And walking home, back to our dorm from class, he said to me, why did you sound that way in class? And I said, what are you talking about? And he's like, well, when you and I are talking, or when you're talking with our friends, you always sound kind of like pretty sure what you are saying, make these really like clear and cogent arguments.
And you just sounded like a different person. Like you didn't know what you were talking about and we're using like all these like weird. Like phrases while like, well, I don't know when you're having your voice [00:07:00] changed about like higher or something. And I was like, oh my God. I was like, that's how it was like this like light on moment of like, wow, I have been tailoring my communication style to what I thought the audience would appreciate.
And in my high school, social studies class, that was one thing. And that is not what is going to serve me going through. And it was this really, like, I still remember walking down this like snowy hill, um, at Cornell demo, like that conversation. And it was this moment of like, oh, wait, I need to like nip this in the bud.
I need to address this. And it was this real kind of like pivotal moment of like, oh, I need to find a way to speak up a little bit more that, um, really stuck with me. And I think it's something a lot of women and girls and probably people of any. Binary non binary gender have to kind of deal with at some point kind of learning [00:08:00] how to say what you think in a way that other people will engage with.
But doesn't. What you're trying to say.
David Fano: And so you've kind of your whole career is built on communicating and helping brands communicate and tell their story. And, you know, that's much more complicated than a person doing it because a brand needs to invoke, um, certain feelings and connect with customers and different demographics.
Um, so where was like the first time you started to put this awareness, like into, into motion or into.
Laura Brounstein: So I am, I'm going to date myself a little bit here, but I did intern in college, um, for Deedee Myers in the Clinton white house. And it was, um, they weren't planning on having interns that semester for myriad reasons.
And it was early on in the [00:09:00] administration and I just. Kind of kept calling and talked my way into the, into having an internship, even though they weren't planning on doing it. I remember Deedee Myers, who was the press secretary at the time, her assistant finally said to me, if I let you come in for an interview, will you stop calling me back?
Will you stop calling me? And I was like, yeah. So I think getting to work in the Clinton press office I'm under Dee Dee Myers. Um, and towards Stephanopoulos was the first time I got to really see. Kind of storytelling with D with impact and kind of how telling a story well, could move hearts and minds and progress and telling a story poorly, which every administration does.
Some of both really just. Kilz something kills things like if you don't express it well, if you don't tell that story, well, if you don't speak to what people care about, you won't get [00:10:00] to do the things that you think are important to do. So it, you know, the, how big, a role the comm's played. Um, well, I
David Fano: want to come back to this one cause I'm sure because later in your career you've done other, some things in politics and I'm sure that this interim.
Has somehow or another connected the two. Um, so I'd love it. Cause that's, I think an important thing for people to see is that career decisions don't need to be super heavy, but they can have these like compounding lasting effects, um, more strategic you can be about them. Um, all right, cool. So you did that, um, I'm sure that was an incredible experience.
It was an internship. So I'm assuming it was like for the summer. Um,
Laura Brounstein: it was during a semester, um, got to like live in DC, which. You know, I had the best time at Cornell, but if the cut New York is a long way from a bustling metropolis. And, um, so going to spend a semester in DC was just like phenomenal. Um, [00:11:00] then came back, went to finish up college and you know, it was time to go work in New York city.
And it, I always people have asked like, oh, when did you decide you wanted to live in New York? And. You know, there's that John Updike saying, you know, there is the feeling that people who live anywhere other than New York must sort it, but somehow be kidding.
It was never a decision. I remember kind of consciously making. It was just like, well, where else would somebody want to live? New York city? That's that's weird. The things happen. That's where the advertising and the media and the publishing all happened. So. I need to get there. So I, um, thought to work at good morning America.
Um, I was, I took a six month maternity leave replacement muscle to my parents' chagrin doing, um, [00:12:00] being the kind of assistant producer for the Sunday show. And it was kind of relaying the like, you know, you're 22 when you're like in the green room. Celebrities. And it was also like a good lesson in like taking a chance.
Like I'm so glad I took a chance on doing something there for six months. I ended up being there for almost a year and then jumping into some other TV jobs and. I loved TV and I loved that kind of storytelling. And I loved that it was a combination of visual and I loved interviewing people. And as a producer, you got to like interview people off.
They're not always on camera. Um, and then one of my pivotal moments was I was working, um, as a producer at like a daily news show. Um, that was like a syndicated show. And we were [00:13:00] standing outside. I was standing outside with a crew where somebody who was, um, being kind of hounded by the paparazzi and was very much in the news through no fault of their own.
They were inside this building and we were standing outside of it with a crew, just waiting for them to potentially walk. And I just remember like looking and being like, this is not my life. This is bad. This feels like being part of the problem right now. Like this person didn't do anything to, in my mind deserve this level of attention.
They've made it clear that they don't want this level of attention. And I think I need a shift and you know, all the respect in the world for TV shows. Um, and the people are out there kind of waiting to ask the hard questions, but it was a moment where I was like, this. Isn't where I feel like I need to be or should be.
And I kind of sat back and I said, you know, [00:14:00] part of it is that TV is such quick form storytelling. It would be great to get to go someplace that is a long, has longer a chance to tell longer stories. And that was magazines. And this was. You know, magazines were really, really big at the time. Like people bought magazines, it was a huge business.
Um, people bought magazines by the millions on something called newsstands, which many people may not be aware of. Um, new stands were great. You bought magazines, you had something to read on the subway or the plane. Um,
David Fano: they would
show
Laura Brounstein: up at your house. I would like to get on a plane with like a stack of magazines.
Um, and so I talked my way into a job at 17 magazine and I wanted to be an editor, you know, as I'd always done, but they quite wisely hired somebody for the opening open, edit [00:15:00] role who had experience, but we liked each other and we kept talking and, um, they took a chance on me and wanted more of a TD per.
And I basically felt and convinced them that PR was just producing backwards rather than kind of saying, here's the story I want to tell. Okay. Who do I want to feature? It's like, okay, we want them to feature us. What story would we be featured? And what stories should we suggest? So I got the job of being PR director for 17 magazine, and it was a great kind of lesson.
Taking that foot in the door job. Like, I didn't think I wanted to say in PR, but I'm so glad I had two years doing magazine PR and then one year doing Corp com at the company that owned 17 because knowing how to like, think about public relations and media [00:16:00] relations and how to tell your story via earned media, I think is a skill that is never not used.
It's kind of how to put your story out there in a way that other people will tell it the way you want them. You hope they will.
David Fano: And how'd that come about? You just like apply to it or like that's early in your career. You ain't got a director job. I don't know if that was your first title. You were there for three years.
So, you know, that's like, you didn't have that experience. You built that experience as a, like, Yeah. Just so, you know, as for people like, cause I would imagine there's some amount of like hustle and deliberateness there. Hopefully, maybe, maybe got lucky, but I just think people will benefit from hearing how people do this.
Laura Brounstein: So I thought about, I was a producer at a TV show at the time and um, I was like, okay, who would have to answer my call, the PR person for the magazine. And so I left a message for the PR person. On, um, [00:17:00] you know, their voicemail and they call me back and I said, I saw this job open truck, started chatting.
And it was like, no, we totally need to get the magazine on the show more. And I was like, and honestly, there's a role I'm interested in. And she of course had called me back right away because she was the PR person. And so she kind of told me who to send a letter to. I sent a letter to that, to the editor in chief.
And she was like, and I'll put in a good word for you. And I got a call to come in and interview, and then it turned out that girl that I made the connection with was leaving her job. And so there was an opening in PR. So we sort of played, I played through the whole process of trying to get the entertainment editor job I had been interested in.
And really when that didn't work, it just, I managed to, we all liked each other and kind of just kept talking and yeah. It was like a good lesson and kind of, if you're interested in a place, even if the job is not [00:18:00] exactly what you're looking for, get, figure out how to get your foot in the door and figure out who would have a reason to call you back or emailing you back and, you know, jump in.
David Fano: I think it was a really good lesson there, which is kind of like understanding that the thing that they're hiring you for is not necessarily the thing you're going to do. Whether you were aware or not, you presented yourself as the solution to their problem. You're like, yeah, I could do that. And you sort of like made the pitch, you told the story and then once you got in, I'm sure you did all sorts of really interesting things and be a little bit of what was on that original job description, but you probably got to expand and learn, um, which I think then probably took you to your next role.
Laura Brounstein: Once I was there in house, I got. You know, magazines, even then when they were more, well-funded never had enough people. So when I would like volunteer to pitch it and write things, once I kind of spent the first year proving myself in the role I was hired for, then there was more latitude to try other [00:19:00] things.
And I think that's also important. You got to kind of, I think spend almost a year, at least showing them the good faith that you are going to do a good job and put the effort into what they hired you for. And then. Once you've proven yourself, you can kind of push into other things. And, um, I am probably proud to tell you that I wrote the Buffy booklet in the back to school issue.
Um, and the seminal quiz, are you a Buffy, um, which maybe we could find for people. Uh, but that was a really important question at the time. Are you a Buffy? And it was one of my. First published magazine articles. Um, and then when I got moved into a corporate role at the company, which was getting moved up, which was exciting and was like a crash course on how corporate world, the corporate world works.
Like I learned words like EBITDA that I'd never heard of. [00:20:00] Um, and you know, the company had like a merger@thetimeprimemediamergedwithabout.com. And it was really sort of a relief or its time. And it was just interesting being a part of all that, but I knew I wanted to move towards editorial and I knew that as the corporate comms person who was also helping out with some of the brands who didn't have their own PR people, again, I had something that people with decision-making power wanted.
So I put that to good use and I would kind of. You know, go to the editor of New York magazine.com and say like, Hey, let's come up with a plan for how we're going to get you guys on the morning show is more like the New York morning shows and then say like, also, I'd love to pitch you a couple of things.
And it's like, once you start the engagement, once you have a reason to start the conversation with somebody and you're showing them, you [00:21:00] can provide value on one level, they may give you the chance to provide value on it. And so I got a lot of clips under my belt during the year I was doing Corp com and, um, that led to my first real editorial job, getting to be entertainment editor of the ladies home journal magazine.
And, um, I was an entertainment editor, um, for about five years there and then went on to Conde Nast and did the same job there. And. What's kind of interesting about that is that when a large part of magazine's revenue came from newsstand sales, when they would tell a million on the newsstand, that was a huge amount of revenue being the person who did the work to get the celebrity on the cover and then edit and write those stories that really mattered for the bottom line of the magazine.
And so it was a really interesting strategic job at [00:22:00] some point. New Stan started to fall away, as we all know. And when new Stan was no longer a significant revenue driver for magazines, the job of entertainment, editor, entertainment director, still interesting, but wasn't driving the bottom line in the same way.
And that was when I felt like it was time to try something else. Um, a friend of mine. Um, at one of my jobs blends gave me the advice, um, damn close to the revenue stands close to the dollars and it is so obvious, but it's such good advice. Thank you, Holly. Whidden such good advice. Um, that the closer you are, your role is to what is driving revenue for the company, the C for you are like, that's a good, you want to be on the revenue side of things or.
The able to prove that you were work, has some weight, some influence on it. Um, [00:23:00] jumped into, um, a job at, um, got to go work for Joanna Coles at, um, Hearst at Cosmo magazine, right. When it was kind of really rehabilitating, um, Cosmo as a political ad. Kind of huge force and voice of women in multiple spheres.
And we got to do a lot around kind of women and power. And if some of the first kind of, um, conferences for young women, which now there are so many of them, but we did, um, FunFair cosmos fun, fearless life at Lincoln center for 1800 young women. And, uh, It was one of the, one of the first for women on the kind of upwards trajectory beginning of their career.
Most of those kinds of conferences have been for people kind of more once they're a little more solidified and leaders in what they do. And [00:24:00] I kind of get, it was like getting back to the live content that I had done in the beginning of my career with T. And I realized I loved live journalism. Like I love being able to like get people, telling stories, having conversations, having revelations that come from the exchange of ideas, the electricity of an audience.
Um, and that was great. Um, while I was there, I also kind of got to develop and launch Airbnb mag. Um, what's the partnership between Hearst and Airbnb. And that was my first exposure to like hyper-growth startup culture, because we worked really closely with the Airbnb team and they were all brilliant and intense.
And I kind of saw this whole new world that was really on the ascendancy and started to think that, you know, media, wasn't the only [00:25:00] place to tell that story. And brands we're kind of using storytelling in these kind of innovative, cool ways and had the resources to do so sometimes more resources to make the content.
Then the media, um, entities. It's interesting
David Fano: how you kind of built, you know, a lot of the early parts of your career on a specialty in content. And at that, then companies started to realize that content could be an asset for them. And so what used to be another company's product came a whole nother industry is marketing.
Laura Brounstein: Yes, exactly. Which is, you know, when I first. Got, you know, my first job outside of the media world, um, was at, we work, um, being head of content and everybody I told I got that job too. This was fall of 2018. We're like, that's so cool. What is that? [00:26:00] And now if you look online, like head of content is like a normal job for a brand.
And in the fall of 2018, it really wasn't. People were like, what now? What's that? What do you do? Um, and you know, parachuting into work felt like entering another dimension from,
David Fano: and it happened like, you know, so you did this Airbnb magazine, which I think was a huge success. Yeah.
Laura Brounstein: And then I talked my way into changing from a strictly editorial role at Hearst into, um, editorial and business development, because I started to realize, and kind of as a theme that, um, the only way I was going to get to do cool shit was to find someone to pay for it because, um, the margins can change.
Exactly. It was like realizing like, oh, I got to get closer to the money, closer to the [00:27:00] revenue and started kind of saying, okay, I want to do a whole thing on women in tech. Great. I'm going to go to CES and talk to a bunch of people and bring in some sponsors. And that is not, what's not typically what an editor did, but I realized that was how I could do the storytelling I wanted to do.
So, um, I, the next thing I worked on and kind of developed and then close the deal with a magazine for Bumble, um, Whitney Wolfe herd is phenomenal. And, um, we covered her very on and had her speak at events really early on in Bumble's trajectory at Cosmo. So we'd known each other for a couple years, and that was a lot of fun developing that magazine for them.
And that really, once that kind of came together, it really showed like, oh, this is real. This is a real job. Like companies need someone in-house to do this. So I said, okay, where do I, if if I want to do this, I made a list of kind of all the companies in New York that [00:28:00] I would most want to go to. And, you know, Twitter, I love Twitter.
I love Twitter. I love being on the platform. So like Twitter was one of them. And then honestly we work was towards the top of the list because it seemed like this exciting mission driven New York base. You know, unicorn startup. And I just basically started triangulating, who do I know that knows someone there.
And, um, our friend, Joe Lee said, you should meet my friend, Julie Rice. And I was like, Julie breaks the fender of soul cycle, get the fuck out. And I got to go in and meet the wonderful Julie Rice. And I fell in love with her in like two seconds. And she was like, yeah, you need to come work here, but it's going to take awhile.
I'll introduce you to, you know, my friend, Jen, Skyler, that's probably who you should work for, but you know, it'll take a minute. And [00:29:00] it was big and scary. And Hurst had like, kinda gotten wind that I was looking and kind of came to me with this incredible offer to stay. And it was like, do I leave kind of media?
Which has been my whole pretty much my whole career. Or do I take this chance on like this whole new world? I was like, I think I got to push myself to do the scary thing and go try this. And, um, I'm so glad I did, even though. You know, turn it into something you literally read about.
David Fano: So as a collector and, uh, you know, uh, shared of stories, lots
Laura Brounstein: of content, lots of content, lots of crazy moments.
It was before we work, I had run big teams for projects, but the most people at any one time I'd ever had reporting to me, it was maybe three weeks. But I had run like [00:30:00] big, like 50 person teams on like magazine this like launched this new magazine or do this big event. And I didn't realize how different the two work until I was in the position of being lucky enough to lead this big, wonderful global team that when you're responsible for kind of people's career and.
It's very different to be able to rally a big group of people to do great work on three month project than it is to kind of really effectively lead a large group of people who are like on your team and are looking to you for like, what's next in my career. How am I handling this? Um, you know, I think to our detriment, us gen X-ers were not raised to.
Kind of asked for advice and help in the same way, millennials and now gen Zs have been, and they kind of come and say, what's my career path. And can we talk this through? And that never would have Dawn. [00:31:00] To do as a gen X or like, I don't know. We came home from school and nobody was there and it was not like, yeah,
David Fano: there was also, there is a big difference between what I would call working in a project-based environment versus a product based environment.
Oh, interesting. And that's a big difference, right? Because projects have these explicit end dates. Um, and they're almost like an external pressure that stop it, that you release it. You know next, and when you're an, a product based company, it never stops, right? Like you have releases, but then you just gotta keep iterating on the product.
And so there's this like continuum or continuity. That's very different, you know, even just like staffing when you're in a project based culture, to your point, staff gets reshuffled and people just work on projects. Um, and so it's, it's a big difference. I don't think people really recognize that when they go from like an accounting firm.
Or a PR firm to an in-house agency. These service firms is they operate in [00:32:00] a very different way. And I kind of think it's cool for people to do both, but they need to recognize that they're very different.
Laura Brounstein: Totally. That's a great point. It was very different and I never also run a global team before. So I suddenly had like 40, 50 people around the world and I was having to learn.
I mean, I didn't honestly know what mattered in terms of social media. Or in, you know, when it's areas and it was like learning kind of, of course, how to best tell our stories at which changed every day we work, what the story you were telling to some degree, um, kind of in the U S and then the wider world.
And that was also, I mean, Getting to work for a global company is a really great thing to get to do. At some point, I feel like you just get so much more perspective and just realize [00:33:00] we are, we are not the only audience and you know, how, how and where you communicate. It's very different in different areas of the world.
And what you have to worry about is really. Um, you know, I remember one of the early things we did there was, uh, people wanted to put out like a happy holidays, like have, um, have a great Christmas vacation. And it got pulled back because half the people, there were a large number of, we work staffers around the world for him, Christmas was nothing to do with their lives.
Um, and it was just a simple thing that was like, okay, this is different. Um, but we work, you know, it was crazy and thrilling. The crazy shit we got to do. And you know, sometimes you got to do these like big things that were like, wow, we had money. We got to do this like huge global summit. And you know, one of the fun things I got to do is this like [00:34:00] dinner series.
Um, with the James bureau foundation to bring stakeholders together around a table, talking about meatless eating and kind of elevate that in different communities that we were in. And that was like such a cool kind of thing to get to do with that a brand that is investing in its kind of community and its values.
Gets to do that kind of thing. And then of course I learned what to do and what not to do. Um,
David Fano: yeah, so IPO, right. You'd never done that before and that's just kind of like a whole different animal on its own and not a lot of people, you know, at least for me, I was already. Paternity leave and kind of leaving, but I got to see a little bit, cause I was like sort of halfway in halfway out and that, you know, it's a really unique experience.
Um, you know, like something like it's just very foreign, um, in, in the way that process is handled and the things you need to do. And, um, you know, coming in as like a [00:35:00] brand marketer. And I think that's one of the things that I think was tricky as it co we work with a company that was able to leverage its brand and emotional storytelling in a very cool way and sort of my take.
Just that, that does not work when it comes to like an S one. Um,
Laura Brounstein: yeah. SCC is not interested in, um, helping feel quite as much as stories,
David Fano: no stories.
Laura Brounstein: Yeah. Um, it was such a fascinating experience and, you know, I have to say my new job. Clear, which I've been at clear now for almost a year and a half, and it's been amazing.
And we had an IPO in June, um, that felt great. And it was so great to get to do one to kind of completion. And, um, you [00:36:00] know, now having been part of two, you kind of, you see the patterns and. What works and what doesn't and how much kind of smart savvy leadership matters.
David Fano: Yeah. So kind of jumping around a little bit.
I mean, one of the things in careers that I feel like you've done it on kind of both sides, you had jobs that you didn't have the experience for, and you were able to make the pitch to do it. Then you also now have a job where you did have the experience. And it's kind of interesting as someone who's now hired, managed a lot more.
Um, I'd be curious. Like what advice would you have for someone. Who cause obviously having that IPO might be a different category of knowledge. It's like, we will pay up for someone who's done that before. Cause there's so much at risk and we can't risk not having someone who hasn't done it before, but I'd say the majority of skills aren't that way.
So like what advice would you have for, because when so many pivoters that come through the deal platform and you've done some, I would call like micro pivots, um, you know, kind of staying in the same. [00:37:00] Category of occupation, but like what advice would you have for people to kind of make that pitch for a company to hire you, even though you don't have the exact skills?
Laura Brounstein: I think it's always kind of, you have to like look back and what you've done and find what is pertinent to the company's needs. Even if that job wasn't expressly didn't seem like a job that would have those responses. So kind of just being able to see what the company is needing and kind of say, like, I did find specific examples in your career of, you know, maybe it was when you were doing something completely different, but you hadn't experienced that would be relevant.
Just being able to cite specifically. Like I dealt with this, here's the issue and here's how I solved it. And here was the result and. With job interviews. And at this point I've had the benefit of interviewing a lot of people and being on a lot of [00:38:00] interviews, the more you can show concrete, I did this, like here, what's the problem.
Here's how I handled it. And here's the result kind of beginning to end. And again, it's telling a good story. It's having a beginning, middle and end. Um, the more prospective employer is going to take a chance on. And I think also, you know, something I always ask in interviews, um, is what are your pain points and what can I make better for you coming into this job?
No one doesn't like that. No, no one doesn't like someone saying, how can I make your life easier? And then when they tell you, hopefully honestly like, here are my pain points. Here's what I need. Then you can. That makes sense. Here's how I would address those needs. So get the person to tell you what, they're, what they really need.
One of the biggest themes, and I kind of haven't [00:39:00] directly hit on it, but I think I've mentioned some things. Um, I am a big believer in, um, your friend mentors, your friends, I call them your friend tours, trademarked. Um, you know, we talk a lot about like, find a mentor, find a spot. But I really, for me, it has been my friends, my like kind of wider peer group, younger, older, who have helped me make a lot of pivotal changes and jumps and leaps.
And, you know, from my conversation, walking from the writing seminar with Justin to kind of Jolie introducing me to Julie, um, to. After I left, we work. I, um, did a couple of other things we could come back to, but when the presidential campaign was heating up, I was sort of at a pivotal at a moment of deciding what was next.
[00:40:00] And I just was like, I care so much about this. I don't think I can do anything else. I don't think I would be able to focus on anything else other than this campaign. So I need. I find myself a job there. And I just reached out to a couple of good friends who were involved with the campaign. And one of them wrote back and said, wait a second, are you serious?
We just had something open up that I think you would be perfect for. We need someone to kind of build out and produce our team. Joe talks program. Which is kind of setting up celebrities with campaign surrogates, to do IgG live conversations about the issues. And it was like everything I've ever done, kind of combined into one thing.
I was like, oh, wait, I can do that. And I got to like take things. I actually knew how to do and play a role in the last few months of the [00:41:00] campaign, which was literally a dream. And it happened because a friend and then one of my best friends from we were Maria Comella was the one who said, and our, uh, our friend Maria and our friend Catesby had gone from, we worked to clear and they said, Hey, let's you should come over here.
Let's come, come talk. And, um, so I just think it goes back to like your friends, your relationships really matter and invest in them and be true to them because. They will help you move forward.
David Fano: Yeah. And I think a lot of people struggle taking the long view with their career. The think very short term I had to go, this person was my manager.
It was a bad relationship. And look, I can't give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but context environment, you just never know. And, um, I just, you know, I don't know. I'm kind of try to be on everyone's good side. I've definitely not succeeded at that. Um, [00:42:00] But as I've gotten older, I'm not going to say wiser but older.
Um, I've kind of become more aware. I've gotten to see it and that these, um, you know, Cal Newport news is a great writer, uh, calls a career capital, and it is, and you know, it's these investments than it is career capital, these relationships, uh, Yeah, they pay off and I'm sure the, you know, that you worked on in the white house, uh, you know, earlier in your career, maybe you even crossed paths with some of those people, um, you know, to getting to work on a presidential campaign that, that one that's successful presidential campaign on top of that, I think is pretty
Laura Brounstein: remarkable.
I mean, it was, it was a real thrill and it really like there is like a thread of people I met in all different kinds of places that led into that. And, um, You know, even being here, honestly, you may not remember, but you and I didn't really ever work together directly. And when things are sort of [00:43:00] wrapping up at rework, I was like, all right, I need to like, just have some conversations with some good smart people and figure out what I want to do next and take a second.
And I just kind of cold. Slack, I think like texted you or emailed you and with like, Hey, we don't really know each other, but I hear such great things. I want to know you can we get coffee and you wrote right back. And we're like, yep, same great. Next week.
David Fano: I remember we went and had coffee at black Fox downtown.
Laura Brounstein: Exactly.
David Fano: You are then very kind to meet with my wife around some business idea she had with the content and it was really cool. And then I think it kind of like this investment in relationships. I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit. Uh, maybe going back to that college thing, uh, on your deliberateness, right?
It's like, oh, I got lucky, you know? No, you reached out to the person it's just like consistently, it seems like you were really doing a very cool balance of strategic and opportunistic action. [00:44:00] Right? You had an idea of where you want. But then you're also like very open to like what the world would present to you.
And, um, I don't know. I think you've had a really go, you're still having, you've got a lot of work ahead of you. Um, but it really
Laura Brounstein: clearly, but,
David Fano: well, thanks so much for the time. I, I appreciate it so much. I, you know, you, and I think our, our talkers, we could do this for hours. Um, but if folks wanted to follow along with your work or anything you wanted to share with them, or that they could, you know, follow along with amazing things you're doing, do they.
Laura Brounstein: I am pretty active on Twitter and Instagram at Laura Brownstein. You'll get to see my world score and what my kitten is, what mischief my kitten is making. And also maybe some more career relevant content as well. But this is great. Congrats with like what you're doing with teal. When you told me the idea, I was like, it was one of those like clicks, like.[00:45:00]
That is smart. I'm so glad you're doing it. And you know, I love listening to podcasts and stories about people's trajectories. So I'm just like, thank you. Thank
David Fano: you so, so much, I'm excited for everyone to hear your story.
And that's it for this episode of Non Linear. If you enjoyed today's conversation, make sure to subscribe, share, and rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.|
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