In the world of marketing, there are brands and voices that often dominate discussion and awareness. But how can lesser-known, up-and-coming voices be heard? Join “Can You Hear Me?” co-hosts Eileen Rochford and Rob Johnson as they welcome former Vice President of Public Relations at Ulta Beauty, Eileen Ziesemer, to discuss her experiences helping to elevate new voices at one of the most influential brands in the beauty industry.
In the world of marketing, there are brands and voices that often dominate discussion and awareness. But how can lesser-known, up-and-coming voices be heard? Join “Can You Hear Me?” co-hosts Eileen Rochford and Rob Johnson as they welcome former Vice President of Public Relations at Ulta Beauty, Eileen Ziesemer, to discuss her experiences helping to elevate new voices at one of the most influential brands in the beauty industry.
Meet Our Guest: Eileen Ziesemer
With a belief that the greatest work is not work at all, Eileen Ziesemer’s 20 years of experience inform how she leverages communications to solve problems, add value, push boundaries and win. Focused on strategic storytelling, her entrepreneurial spirit and people-first style bring insight-based strategies to life and drive meaningful results. Honored by PRWeek as a “40 Under 40” honoree in 2019 and a Woman to Watch in 2021, Ziesemer’s career includes leading roles such as vice president of PR at Ulta Beauty and managing director of the U.S. Consumer Practice at MSL.
Connect with Eileen Ziesemer on LinkedIn!
Eileen Rochford [00:00:18] Hello again, and welcome to. Can You Hear Me? I'm Eileen Rochford. I'm the CEO of the marketing and strategy firm, the harbinger Group.
Rob Johnson [00:00:25] And I'm Rob Johnson, president of Rob Johnson Communications. Here at can You Hear Me? we enjoy exploring how companies manage their brands for maximum effectiveness in the marketplace. But there are some of those companies that also concern themselves with elevating other brands alongside them, companies that may be partners or vendors.
Eileen Rochford [00:00:45] And today, we're going to explore this concept as we welcome a very special guest, Eileen Ziesemer, a communications expert who most recently was vice president of public relations at Ulta Beauty. Eileen, it's an honor and a pleasure to welcome you to our show today. Also, welcome to another Eileen. I don't think we've ever had a guest who shares my name. It's very exciting for me.
Eileen Rochford [00:01:14] It's two Eileen's taking over. It's like a yeah, it's a takeover. Yeah. And you're also a fellow Marquette alum.
Rob Johnson [00:01:20] There we go.
Eileen Rochford [00:01:21] I'm sorry. So that's like there it is. Okay.
Rob Johnson [00:01:23] You know it's funny we had, two programs ago. We had Rob Hart from WBBM. He was a Marquette alum. So we had two Rob's. And then we had two Marquette alums. Now we have two Eileens and two Marquette alums.
Eileen Ziesemer [00:01:38] Again, there's a pattern here.
Rob Johnson [00:01:39] There's a pattern I think you're absolutely right.
Eileen Rochford [00:01:42] I needed to rebalance the scales basically.
Rob Johnson [00:01:45] And so here she goes.
Eileen Rochford [00:01:47] Yeah that's happening.
Eileen Ziesemer [00:01:47] Because I think a long time ago you well I know I know for certain that you had Dave Kimball the CEO at Ulta Beauty on. And did you not go to college with him Rob?
Rob Johnson [00:01:57] Right. We not only did we go to college together, we were fraternity brothers and we were in the same pledge class. We were pledge brothers.
Eileen Ziesemer [00:02:05] Yeah, we needed an Eileen from MU. I think that this is there now.
Rob Johnson [00:02:09] So when yes, we had Dave from DePauw and we had two DePauw grads. DePauw with the W everybody, not DePaul. Yeah. We felt yes, it was powerful. There was two of us there. Now, Dave is, salt of the earth. I know you worked with him for years, and, his wisdom. And this was, gosh, Eileen, two plus years ago, Eileen, both Eileen and, the brand that he's built there, what he's done there with all the the whole team has really been remarkable. So that was, a wonderful podcast as well.
Eileen Ziesemer [00:02:41] Yes. I mean, so I think the takeaways already for all of your listeners are Marquette and DePauw are the greatest schools to go to and what else? What else can we enlighten them with? No all silliness aside, thank you both very much for having me. I'm a huge fan of your show, but also of you both as individuals. So, very thrilled and honored to be here.
Eileen Rochford [00:03:01] Wonderful. Ditto my friend. It's not like I own you. Right. So how about this? I think it would be awesome, Eileen, if you could set the stage for our listeners by, walking us through your career arc, because it has been very interesting. I also think it's a really good backdrop for our topic today is, you know, it is all of our cumulative experiences lead us to where we are right now. Right. And I'd love to hear especially about your I believe it was three years leading PR at Ulta Beauty. Correct me any time that I'm wrong. (laughs)
Eileen Ziesemer [00:03:37] You've got that. The high summary pretty locked and loaded, but I'd be happy to share a little bit more about myself. I kind of think about my career in chapters. And I'd say I'm probably midway through the book. We're at the pinnacle. But, chapter one, it, you know, it's linear to me because I've lived it to your point about lived experiences, but there are certainly some zig zags along the way. And I think that, a thread of continuity is a lot of incredible leaders like Dave, like others who I've had the opportunity to work with and learn from, who saw the me in me before I did. And I think that that is a really great baseline for how I lead and what I like to bring to the table. Besides, you know, PR skills and all of that, adventure. But, so chapter one is really the foundational chapter. I was at an agency called Ogilve PR, here in Chicago, and this is where I learned, really, the fundamentals of insights, of collaborative work, the discipline of writing. And it just reinforced my love of language and words and the power that they carry. And I think, like anybody who starts, their first job and they stay in that career for a long time, you create the most incredible lifelong friendships in that chapter. And so that's a really important piece of my puzzle, because that's kind of my personal, board of directors now. So chapter two then takes me to another. Their agency. The zig zag here is that I was about to move to New York with Ogilvy PR, and was told to sit tight because there was a job opportunity in Chicago that required my attention. And that's enough of a carrot tease for anybody to stay, then. I don't know what else could be. So my mom is forever grateful for that carrot, because it kept me here, and I moved over to the Edelman family. And I work at Zeno Group, and I call that chapter when I found my leadership style and my voice, I really anchored in to my love of mentorship, not only being mentored, but that now serving as a mentor myself in this role, and really continued to grow, continue to push. And then, I was there for about three and a half years, and I moved to MSL, which is a third agency. Kind of crazy, but it's how my zig zags go. This one was a purposeful choice because it was the only PR company within a very large global holding firm, called publicist. So I wanted to go there because I thought that this opportunity would allow me as the PR person, which historically, in a marketing mix, PR has been kind of the red headed stepchild of all disciplines. I can say that as a redhead without bias. And I think that there was this opportunity to better integrate PR and learn in an integrated capacity, and that was where I really hadn't had much opportunity. You know, historically, I think it was just kind of burgeoning as a thing, like, you know, the 360 campaigns. But this would put me in the seat. I also got married and became a mom during my MSL chapter. So these were really big learning years and, incredible growth, incredible opportunities. And that's when Ulta called. And so that's a real inflection point, in my journey, because I had spent about 18 years on the agency side, which gave me access and, you know, insight to a ton of different categories. And then the recruiter calls for Ulta Beauty. And I'm not joking when I say the first thing I told them was, I don't wear makeup. And they they said, we've got people that do that. You do PR very well. Oh, okay. Well that's a different story. Let's talk. Right as I get to know the company, I just loved what they stood for. I loved meeting everybody along the way, Dave included, because it just kept showing that like, there was something very special in the culture. And there was something that they, that they needed. Right. Like storytelling on a level that is maybe a little bit higher than where they were breaking down some silos and a lot of really goodness to happen. So at the end of my last interview, I looked Shelly, the woman who hired me in the eye and said, right, wrong or otherwise, I want this job. And I just feel like I have to tell you, I really want this job. And I think that worked. So I got the job, I got in and it was amazing. And it really was the most transformational chapter, that I started two days after they closed all stores for Covid. So no one saw that coming.
Eileen Rochford [00:08:03] Wow.
Eileen Ziesemer [00:08:03] No. Yeah. It was a wild twist. So now I'm getting to know everyone in this screen that we're all used to today. But I'm assuming that they have legs. I'm assuming that, like, we are making these decisions through something. But it all came back to me through the interview process. I saw all of the values on the walls. They were not just words on walls. These were the words through which the leadership team was making decisions about this critical time in culture, in the business. And and here I am, this new person. They've never had a VP of PR before, just trying to be a sponge. And I think that that's a consistent thread is like PR people and storytellers need to be really good listeners, and I had to really tap into that there. And so then started the best three and a half years of my career because I the highest of highs, hardest of challenges, but surrounded by teams that really wanted to win together. And so it was kind of this, this crazy conglomeration of all of my favorite parts of it. And so I wouldn't change anything, I drank from a firehose to get, like, onboarded because of the nature of the world. But it was- that was the pace at which that we kept going. You know, we did Ulta Beauty at Target, we did Conscious Beauty, did a CEO transition. We also navigated Covid and BLM and announced DEI commitments, which is probably my favorite part of the whole chapter.
Eileen Ziesemer [00:09:28] Ulta beauty has done so much humbly behind the scenes in this space, and we were afforded the opportunity to kind of string together all of those pieces and go out proactively to the world to say, here's what we do for DEI, here's why we believe it's important as leaders to continue to influence change. And here are some really tangible ways that we're doing it. And one of those, and I think we'll talk about it a little bit more in depth, is muse, which. So now I think I'm in chapter 4.5, because after three and a half years, I left it all to. But I'm using all of that creative energy and all of that like statement. From the work that pushed me to be better, stronger, smarter. And I've been harnessing it with smaller, level entrepreneurs, female founders, female brand founders, you know, in and outside of beauty, and just thinking about, like, what can they do or how can I help as almost like a communications concierge in the way that we help these guys on a larger scale, which has been really, really informative for me and will get me to chapter five, which is really going to be a place of purpose for me.
Rob Johnson [00:10:34] That's awesome. There's a couple of Ulta Beauty observations I want to make. I believe that right when you started. And it's probably because you did start there, coming, you know, through Covid and out of Covid. Didn't you all have some of your best years ever? And I don't know that that was anticipated, and I believe that it was, everybody was really pleasantly surprised because you don't know what's going to happen with Covid. The second observation, I wanted to make is Dave Kimball came up through the marketing ranks, which is not entirely common for people that take over the CEO role. Do you think that his emphasis on the marketing side benefited you when you came in, because you were talking about marketing and PR earlier and, did that maybe elevate you in ways that maybe it wouldn't have if somebody hadn't come from that? Or is that overstated?
Eileen Ziesemer [00:11:23] Yeah. And it's such a good perspective too. So one, I will take zero credit of the businesses performance in, in Covid. But but I love that you thought maybe I could influence that. You know, I think the company came into 2020, in a really, good position of strength. Obviously, Covid threw everyone a real big curveball. And a lot of retailers didn't weather that storm beautifully. I think that, there's a lot of different insight. And that's, you know, you come back to insights in all the ways, right? People embraced wellness because they were home and they could start routines, people. Then their routines grew. That bodes well for the beauty category. I think Ulta Beauty was well positioned with their scale of of brands, you know, from mass to luxury and, and all the different offerings in between. That makes this a good spot for, for shoppers to get in and out and get everything that they might need in their handbag, or their makeup drawer. And I think that the culture really helps, you know, when people believe that a company is good from the inside out, I think that there's more traction. So those things really did work in favor for 2020. To your point about Dave, his predecessor, Mary also comes up through marketing. And I think that they saw both of them in the leadership role, and I adore both of them, and I'm grateful for so much. We can have a whole podcast dedicated to that. But, I think that because they have an affinity for and an understanding of the power that marketing has and holds and the emotional connection that marketing can make with a consumer, not just ROI, size, and impressions and things of that nature. It's the affinity and the brand love that marketing is needed to spark. And I think that they both really do value that in ways that perhaps other clients in the past that I've had, you know, don't have the same background. And so I do think it makes a huge difference. And that's not to say that, you know, CFOs shouldn't be CEOs. They just don't have that same understanding.
Eileen Rochford [00:13:31] So having come from many years consecutively and basically the entire foundation of your career solely inside of agencies, to then decide to go into a corporate position and immediately have the opportunity taken away from you to really in person, get to know these people with whom you would be making, you know, some pretty significant shifts in how the business was run from the marketing and communication side of things. I have to say, when I learned that about your journey and you told me that before, I was astonished that you did as much as you did and and stayed as long as you did in the culture. But obviously it's the leadership. It's the other people who surrounded you and the values of the organization and the work that they were willing to put in, you know, to accomplish things together that helped you stay there. It's still is remarkable. I mean, anyone who starts an agency and goes corporate knows that that transition is probably the most difficult you will ever make in your career.
Eileen Ziesemer [00:14:31] It is not for the faint of heart. But it's also incredible and transformative. You know, I didn't get the, I didn't have access to the EIR clients all the time when I was on the agency side, I think that also, I'm working in lockstep with the VP of Investor Relations, and I grow as an individual, as a business leader, as a communications professional. And, you know, I help her in return. And I think that the crux of it for me is the people. It comes down to people and relationships. And, I'll say this until I'm blue in the face if anybody ever asks me about PR and what's so important about it? It's the 'R'. Relationships are the most critical foundation to being a successful business person. Period. End of story. But to be a successful storyteller, you have to have trust, you know, and people will not divulge their story to you if you don't have trust. And that is, you know, nurtured over time in relationships really do become the foundation of everything. And so, despite not knowing if people did have legs on the other side of the screen, I was like, I'm going to be vulnerable and I'm going to tell you what I need, and I'm going to tell you what I'd love to do, and I need to hear from you what you need. And that just evoked a really great runway of continued relationship building, you know, and I'm very happy to say that all of those relationships are sustained. You know, despite the fact that I am no longer there, I will cheer for that company forevermore. I will want Dave Kimball to be winning on all things, because I do think that what they believe in and what they stand for is, is bigger than any individual. It's so much it's such a good foundation for other companies to look at.
Rob Johnson [00:16:14] We could end it right there. But we got a long way to go. That was first of all, that was, I think I found my next quote for my presentation training about the 'R' in relations, and I was just like, wow, don't stop. Keep going. Amazing. I don't want to oversimplify it, but you brought it up about, you know, going to all these agencies and each one of them, it seems like, provided you with something different to help you kind of build your career, kind of figure out who you were professionally. And then Eileen, 'R' there just referenced the agency world that you were in for so long? I don't want to oversimplify this because, there's a lot in play here, but what would you say has enabled your career success? Some of the core tenets that you sort of lean on when it comes to, here's the leader I'm going to be, here's the executive I'm going to be.
Eileen Ziesemer [00:17:04] Yeah. I mean, you're right. We could have hours of discussion maybe with wine on this one. But. (laughs)
Rob Johnson [00:17:10] We accept. (laughs)
Eileen Ziesemer [00:17:11] One day. Yes. I think that my, my foundation in agency, lets me naturally wear many hats at one time so I can then be much more agile. I think that some people, there's a paralysis in overthinking. And that's not to say that I shoot from the hip, but I do feel like my instincts are a little bit more trained because I was wearing so many hats at different times. You know, you get to switch from one client to the other, you're going into a budget meeting all these things, and then you have to talk to somebody about their development. And, you know, you're just moving at this clip. That is really fast. I think that set me up for the success of starting on day two of Covid. I think that the ability to listen well, informs a really strong output, but also in genders trust. I think that a lot of people can say that insights are important, but truly valuing insights is a critical, critical skill because it unleashes meaningful ways in to different audiences. And, you know, a lot of times there could be a client or, even when you're in-house, like a partner who wants to talk to everybody and you can't boil the ocean, you cannot have an audience that is the world. Unless you're Taylor Swift and, and I'm not. So I have to hone in more. And then when I hone in, I can really unpack different levels, you know, psychographics, demographics, what makes them tick. And I think that valuing that really, really matters because that leads to words that matter. And then it resonates more strongly. And I think, again, most importantly, relationships. I still have super strong, very, very deep and meaningful relationships with people from everyone, the chapters in my career. And that's not because I feel like you can't, you know, burn bridges. I believe that that's a very true adage, but I it's because I like these people and I care about them, and I believe that they care about me. And like, the world is bigger than us. So I think that those things, that's how I lead. I like to be really transparent, probably to a fault.
Eileen Rochford [00:19:15] I doubt that. I think most of the people who've heard you would say that they're, you know, a few faults, but who knows, maybe there's some secrets they can tell us in the comments when we post the show. Yeah, that'll be pretty funny.
Eileen Ziesemer [00:19:25] It'd be so dangerous for my LinkedIn.
Eileen Rochford [00:19:27] I'd never do that to you, you know.
Eileen Ziesemer [00:19:29] The universe.
Rob Johnson [00:19:30] Invite them for wine, and then it really? Yeah, yeah.
Eileen Ziesemer [00:19:32] And it's a whole different story then It's just like.
Eileen Rochford [00:19:34] I was secretly recorded. Yes. Okay. So you brought it up before, but it's one of the things that I am so excited to hear you talk about because, it relates so closely to our topic today of elevating new voices, those that, really need to be heard and how what, you know, the three of us do for a living. And many other people can help that, happen. And it is the muse. I believe it's muse 100. Is that the initiative?
Eileen Ziesemer [00:20:02] Yeah, yeah. So, I love this, I love this whole topic.
Eileen Rochford [00:20:06] Tell us what it is so everybody has the context and then roll into the good juicy stuff.
Eileen Ziesemer [00:20:11] I just get so excited talking about this because this is the work that matters. You know, we can all anybody can say, oh, she did PR at all to. And so like she sold lipstick and perfume. That was part of it. But it wasn't all of it. And that matters to to the people, you know, the many, many associates who work at Ulta Beauty, you know, you have to sell the products for everyone to get a paycheck, and that's important. But because we had such a platform and such, influence in an industry that really matters, doing work that matters, I think, makes everybody feel really good to work there and really proud. And this is the piece that I walk away so proud about. So, to kind of set the stage, I talked about, like kind of the convergence of all the cultural, forces in 2020, 2021, you know, Covid, Black Lives Matter, questions about economic stability. It was an election year. Like there was a lot happening that created a lot of tension. And for the first time in a very, very long time, DEI was front and center. And that was long overdue. And this was all happening in parallel with Ulta Beauty, like, really becoming much more purposeful, in its efforts and moving from kind of a transactional brand into emotional and purposeful brand. And so the purpose, as we stated, it was to use the power of beauty to bring to life possibilities. And so in doing that, you have to listen right back to insights. And we learned that a third of Black beauty enthusiasts. So we call, beauty lovers, beauty enthusiasts. And one third of Black beauty enthusiasts felt left out by the industry. Whether that was what they see in advertising, what they hear, what they can shop on shelf. You know, there's a lot of ways to to feel like you are seen or unseen. And a third of them felt left out. And so we wanted to start changing that. But do it in relevant ways, meaningful ways, and keep listening until we get it right. So when we announced the DEA commitments in February '21. So that would be one calendar year after I started. And, you know, going around the whole company and pulling with partners, of course not by myself, but, pulling what, what each part of the company was doing in DEI tried to assemble a large story, and then the marketing team said, okay, there's a lot going on here. We're going to be able to talk about these commitments in big broad strokes. Let's anchor it in a campaign. So they brought to life this beautiful campaign called muse, which stands for magnify, uplift, support and empower. And they they made this beautiful, beautiful campaign, to air in concert with the commitment. And then the way that we could bring it to life tangibly was the muse 100. And we established ten categories, whether it was, you know, executive excellence, style setters, a fearless founder, like all of these really fun categories. So you had makeup artists, but then you had up and coming people like this one girl, Marley, she was she saw that there weren't a lot of Black female protagonists in books. So she created this list of books that authors that weren't necessarily getting, you know, to the front of the Amazon must reads or, you know, the New York Times list. And it was just this beautiful list of female protagonists who happened to be women of color. And she got credit for that as an emerging person who saw need, you know, and so each of these 100 voices were Black voices in and around beauty, who represent what we believe to be the next chapter of diversity, equity and inclusion. And they each received, a $10,000 gift from Ulta to continue with their ventures. They were celebrated on our website as well as their social channels. They kind of we came together for a kickoff moment, and now muse exists in an ongoing annual way. So that was kind of the one tangible moment at launch. And we just got to dig into so many different kinds of people doing so many great things. And it's just like the global head of fashion and beauty at Snapchat was one. Plus, this girl who's curating book lists, you know, and just to see that spectrum and see how many voices there are that are doing something, but they get lost in this sea of chaotic communications that we operate in, like daily. It's it showed us that, like, this is just step one and what else can we do? And here and you know, we have to be industry leaders. So let's not stop. And that then gave way to the Muse accelerator, which, kind of takes the muse 100 step further. And that is an annual, identification of eight brand founders. So now we're getting a little closer to beauty dialing in. These are different brands that have demonstrated that they're they're good at DTC. They can sell direct to consumer. Are they yet retail ready. Maybe maybe not. They apply for the the muse program. And eight of them get selected to go through a ten week program where they get mentorship. They get significantly more funding. They get access to mentors who are brands that already are sold at Ulta Beauty, but also come from similar backgrounds. And then they get access to resources like PR, like merchants, supply chain leadership, because you don't know what you don't know. And I think that that is really the greatest misstep of founders who are trying to scream from the rooftop what they're doing is trying to do everything and not recognizing that, like, you can create a community of people to help you do that. And it doesn't have to mean that, like you're giving all your money away to do it. Because there are opportunities like muse to go apply for or there are people like me in this 4.5 chapter stage where, like you do consultancy and you and you just want to help because we know that there there is a lot of noise. And to break through, you have to lean on other people who have skills that maybe you don't because I, I certainly couldn't create a beauty brand that can help you talk about it.
Rob Johnson [00:26:08] What's amazing is you don't have to scream from the mountain top. They don't have to, I should say, because you have provided them an outlet. You've provided them the voice. You've provided them the muscle that so many of these up and coming businesses need, minority businesses need. So, I mean, I know that you take great pride in that, as you should, but I'm curious to know, as you were going on this journey with all of these up and coming minority entrepreneurs, what would you say some of the common threads are that you witnessed amongst the founders that you were coming across regularly?
Eileen Ziesemer [00:26:41] There's so much I love this whole, I wish that they could be here so that they could tell you, you know, what they gleaned to that could be a fun follow up, like the people who do those accelerators just to see, like, what their greatest takeaways are because it is just as much as you know, we Marquette fans all love the team. We have different experiences when we go to the game. Same is true of anybody who gets into an accelerator program or, you know, like their experience, their lived experience is going to be different. So for me, I think across the board, no matter how it manifests, the energy that entrepreneurs bring to their business is second to that. They are more enthusiastic about their lipstick, about their head care, about their candles than anybody has ever been about candles in the history of time. And that's I mean, that's palpable. I think that that if you don't have that fire, then good luck continuing down your journey, because I think, you know, that passion, and the conviction and the hunger is just it's life giving. And so to me, I'm like, I want to get on your boat. Let's go. Where we going? You know, and that's really been, super fun. So that is contagious and exciting and in all the ways on the flip side, and I think I was just kind of alluding a little bit to this, like if, if an entrepreneur takes on too much, given their own resources, knowledge and bandwidth, things can get jumbled quickly. And I think that it's all really, really well intended. And, it's really important to come back to knowing what you don't know. And that sounds so trade and cliche, but, you know, similar to me with I am a consumer PR person through and through. That is what my entire agency, you know, upbringing did for me got me to Ulta. And then they were like, and now can you please review this press release for earnings? And I was like, yes, I can, but I'm here for grammar and not for details because I know what I don't know. And so I think, you know, what? I, I share that because some of the common threads are, you know, like, you might be great at creating scents, colors, chemistry in your product and you want to tell people every bit of that, do it through the lens of like your vision and your mission and your differentiated story. Not every bit of your story. What is your story that makes it special? And then, you know, while you want the whole world to embrace it and maybe they will one day. Not everything is meant for everyone. So know who your audience is and learn everything about them. I think that that a lot of entrepreneurs do that in in smart ways, and then they'll be like and everyone else and that's what they want their Halo to be doing. And it's like, maybe, and then I think the third one is do not compromise one minute of your values to serve one. You know, this one part of the business will benefit if I do this, if you are not, if you do not bring conviction of courage with your values to every piece of your business. I think in this world where authenticity is like the barometer, then it's you're setting yourself up to fail. So I think those are the three watch outs I would give but never wane on the enthusiasm and and just continue to, like, work your network and find the people that are willing to help you.
Eileen Rochford [00:29:51] Oh, I love that, that's such great advice. Never lose your light. Right. That's a biggie. That's so funny. I was just meeting with someone recently, and they had asked me to tell the whole story of my career, and it was, fascinating because-
Eileen Ziesemer [00:30:03] I love that story, by the way. (laughs)
Eileen Rochford [00:30:05] It is funny. But I at the end of it, he said. I would find it hard to believe that you are any less enthusiastic right now, because I just heard it about your business as you were when you started it, and that was just the greatest compliment. So I 100% applaud what you're saying and underscore it. No doubt about that. Absolutely. All right.
Eileen Ziesemer [00:30:27] And it sounds simple, right. But it's very easy in the trenches. Yeah. Well, you know, I've always done it this way, but we can save X amount that if we did that. Well, now you're compromising your values and the standards to which you've held yourself all along, you know, and I think it's very easy to do that, but I really believe that authenticity is is the only way forward in this very divisive world we're leading. We need to be there for our true selves if we want anyone else to buy it.
Eileen Rochford [00:30:57] Yeah. Clarity of your convictions. No doubt about it. Yeah. Hundred percent. I think we had similar backgrounds where you and I were raised. And you too (Rob), I think maybe. Yes.
Rob Johnson [00:31:07] I didn't go through the agency thing like you all did, though, so that was a far different background.
Eileen Rochford [00:31:10] Or the Irish Catholic thing, which is a whole other conversation. (laughs)
Eileen Rochford [00:31:22] So you're here. This is where you are Eileen. And thank you. I think our listeners are just lapping this up. I know we are, but I love to hear you talk a little bit about. Because things are going to be changing for you. And I'm not asking for you to talk about where you're going in your career just yet, but I know it's going to be exciting and there is something big happening. But as you move into, you know, this next stage of, your very accomplished and successful career, what how do you see yourself continuing to help elevate these new voices? I just it could be in your personal life. It can be in your career, but I can tell how passionate you are about this. And I'm just curious. Let's. Because I think I could learn something from you. And I'd love to hear you talk about that, like. All right, if Eileen's going to do that, then I think I can do a little bit of that, too.
Eileen Ziesemer [00:32:06] It's a heady question because I don't know that there's one silver bullet, but for me, very personally, like this, this work, both while I was at Alta and in this consultant kind of headspace, has been so life giving for me. It re grounded me into my deep love for words and the power that they hold. I think that it also, it just kind of awakened a part of me that was like, yep, I am still super passionate about this, and I really didn't know how purposeful it could be. I think that I always believed in PR, but I didn't believe it had such exponential, abilities. So there's also a phrase and I will muck it up. So the intent of the phrase is that as you keep climbing, you look back and you pull others with you. And somebody said it to me along the way, I have never, ever forgot that and I never will. And I think that, especially amongst female leaders, it is our imperative duty to do that for one another and to show other women that, like we, we want to be up here together, like there is not a fight for who got there first. So to me, I will continue to be a conduit for articulating mission vision values with leaders. If they reach out, I am happy to help. If I can't, I know people who can and put them in touch with them. I just think that, like, the more you listen to other stories, the better you are as a well-rounded adult and, parent and just human who operates amongst others. And so I think it's really important to keep listening. And if I can't individually help that, I will help find the people who can. I just think that I've been so inspired, and I want to pay that forward in any way I can. And more than that, I think that if if one person can break through a little bit or break out or break a paradigm, then we're all better for it. And if we can all if one person can help and that just like sets off a series of positive events, wouldn't that be a whole lot better than waking up to gripe about, you know, the cost of a paid spend on X, Y, z duty to that? Like there's a lot of tactical things that we can get lost in every day. But if we just hold each other up and we get creative and we want to win together. To me, I listen on LinkedIn, I celebrate people. I don't know if you're familiar with Erin Gallagher, but she is somebody who I just think is doing it right, talking about hype women all the time. And I'm not trying to say it's all about women because there's a lot of men founders. I mean, Rob Ron Robinson is, this beauty founder who is so incredibly kind and smart and wicked, wicked, generous with his wisdom. And I think that there are more than that that exist. And we are just giving space to the people who are the loudest in the room versus the people who have something different to say. So I'm just going to keep celebrating and champion those people who have something new to say and helping where I can. And I know that that's not a real answer, but it's as far as I can go because I don't know, because no two are the same.
Eileen Rochford [00:35:19] I think the spirit of your answer is beautiful.
Rob Johnson [00:35:21] That was a real answer. We'll say it. That was real.
Eileen Rochford [00:35:25] That was real. Definitely real. I'm curious. Did, are you a mentor as well? Like a Marquette mentor, or is that something that you do?
Eileen Ziesemer [00:35:32] I am loosely a Marquette mentor. Your past guest, Rob, is roping me in on it.
Eileen Rochford [00:35:39] Yeah. And I'm being roped in too. So we'll both be mentoring. We'll do it together, which is great.
Eileen Ziesemer [00:35:43] I've gone to a couple of their events. And then I am, I'm a mentor to a couple of people here in Chicago.
Eileen Rochford [00:35:50] Wonderful. I'm sorry. Rob, please. I didn't mean to interrupt you.
Rob Johnson [00:35:53] Oh, no. No, no, no. I mean now you got the you got the mentor connection now, too, with our, with our buddy, our other buddy, Rob. Rob Hart.
Eileen Rochford [00:36:00] I think this show and all of its guests is, frankly, just going to take over the world.
Rob Johnson [00:36:05] But I want you to know, if you didn't go to DePauw or Marquette, you still have a chance to get on this show. I don't want people to feel like they're gonna be left out. You were really leaning on a few minutes back. Eileen, values differentiation, authenticity, things that are cores to what you believe in, who you are. But in that spirit, if somebody is listening to this and they're like, oh, that's great, that makes 100, that's awesome. They had the promotional and business muscle of Ulta Beauty alongside them or behind them. For people that don't have that, that they do have to scream a little louder at the top of the mountain to get to have their voice heard. What advice do you give them about leaning in on those things when you don't have that, you know, you don't have that partnership that's going to allow you to ascend much more quickly than you might otherwise have.
Eileen Rochford [00:36:54] Yeah. I mean, it's a great question. And I think that there are lots of nuances by category and industry. And I think I come back to the, the energy and the enthusiasm that an entrepreneur brings. And so if you don't, if you're just, you know, somebody who can throw money at something and build it, then like, you might not have the same passion for the person who created Touch Land, a great beauty brand that is like a spray hand sanitizer. It's beautifully packaged. Lovely scents. And you just you have, I think, for them, like Cheetos and vodka, who ever could have saw another vodka coming in, disrupting the landscape, right? But they have. And they've done so really well. And I think the reason why those brands and even even Taylor Swift, three TS I like three things. And three, Taylor Swift wasn't always Taylor Swift, but who she was when she broke onto the scene and who she is today. Her core values have been shifted. Tito's family owned distilled in Austin. Still, that I don't know where touchland was born, but I know that they are not compromising in their packaging. They continue to grow in different ways. And so I think that those, you know, you find your audience and you stick to your story. Don't lean on it. Don't take bits and pieces of all the other stories that you like. What is your story? And say it with authenticity and courage and joy in your heart. And that resonates. But when you do it to the right audience and you know that audience, you can create groundswell. And so I think there's a stick to it ness that is critical for entrepreneurs, but there's also the narrowing and the focus of your story that is critical because without that, you're never going to move the needle. Nobody is ever going to say, here's this new retailer and they're going to take over the world like on day one. No, nobody comes out and says that it's not how marketing works. But I think if you can work your network, LinkedIn is the best tool in the world for people who don't have the muscle or the strength of something like an Ulta Beauty, like a Walmart, etc. they don't. They don't know how small the world is, right? Like I, I bet I could get to Kevin Bacon if that theory still exists. I think that we all could. And I think that if you have faith in, like, just pushing down it live tinted. Great brand, great case study to look at. She saw a need. She stuck to her narrative. She continues to grow. And she was just in and time magazine like she's killing it. But it's because she's never swayed. You know she's never gone away from her differentiated story, not trying to comply and be something that's not especially the underrepresented voices. Now is your time. The world is giving you a stage, and it's not giving it equally to everybody yet. But there are a lot more people ready, willing and able to champion them. And I think that like, if you don't strike now and you're going to spin wheels and no one wants to do that.
Eileen Rochford [00:39:44] Nice. Well, thank you for this fire up session. I could just, like, jump out of my chair and start, you know, what.
Eileen Ziesemer [00:39:49] What are we going to do next?
Eileen Rochford [00:39:54] Where are we going now? I was thinking going to the punching bag, you know, but it just to kind of get. Whoa. All right. So much energy. Yes. Well, I think we might be at the end of our conversation. But I did want to just say, is there anything else that we didn't cover that you wanted to impart today? We always like to give that chance.
Eileen Rochford [00:40:12] I mean, just my immense gratitude to both of you for having me. I love this show. I think you guys are super fun and really relatable and approachable. And, thanks for putting really good content into the world and for hopefully inspiring some other folks to keep pushing against their dreams.
Eileen Rochford [00:40:29] Thank you.
Rob Johnson [00:40:30] We had so many just different things that I was writing down like, oh, there's another one, there's another one. Just some great nuggets. So well done.
Eileen Rochford [00:40:37] Well done. And you also just have such a gift for how you put words together. And your phrasing is really it's fantastic.
Eileen Ziesemer [00:40:44] Very generous both of you.
Eileen Rochford [00:40:47] We always like our guests to leave feeling really good about themselves. That's one of our mission.
Rob Johnson [00:40:52] And we are excited to see what the next chapter is. You have a lot more chapters to write and we just can't wait. And we do see it. So thanks for being on Eileen Ziesemer.
Eileen Ziesemer [00:41:03] Thank you, thank you.
Eileen Rochford [00:41:05] More to come. I think you're going to be a repeat guest in the future. I have a feeling.
Eileen Ziesemer [00:41:09] Hopefully stay tuned.
Rob Johnson [00:41:11] That would be awesome. That's going to do it for another edition of Can You Hear Me? I'm Rob Johnson. We'd love to hear from you, our listeners. So if you have any thoughts on today's topic or any of the topics you'd like us to cover in future episodes, please contact us on social media. We now have a Can You Hear Me podcast page on LinkedIn.
Eileen Rochford [00:41:28] Yes, join us on LinkedIn. We want to hear from you. We want to see you for sure. And I thank you as well. I'm Eileen Rochford. If you love today's show, we have one request. Would you please help us grow our audience by sharing this episode on LinkedIn, which is the fabulous place where most of our content gets shared. And if you are so inclined, also drop a review of our show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Those are the two biggest distributors of podcasts, so you would help other people find our content and we would be forever in your debt. So thank you. We appreciate you guys. Take care.