For Hire Rebecca Adams

This week’s episode features someone who I basically met right before our interview, but she’s become someone I still go to for advice (and sometimes commiseration): Erika Velazquez Alpern, the CEO & Founder of Tactile, an agency that supports underrepresented founders by leading brand marketing and communications for media companies, tech startups, and lifestyle brands. Prior to launching her business, she was the VP of Marketing & Communications for The New Republic. She’s also worked at The Guardian, and she ran an artist program for AOL. She’s obviously a very cool person. But she’s also really wise and did not hold back all of the great advice she has to share. On the pod, we talked about:
-Why she decided to launch her own agency, versus going the sole proprietor freelance route
-How she shed the very unnecessary guilt that comes with negotiating with mission-driven startups (trust me, I’ve been there)
-The importance of case studies
Also, this interview took place back in December when Erika was 38 weeks pregnant, so we talked about what it’s like to have a baby while “operating a business baby,” as she put it. And I can confirm that the non-business baby is very, very cute.
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For this week’s episode, I talked to Kiki Von Glinow. She’s the co-founder of Toast Media Group, a Brooklyn-based digital marketing collective, and she works with clients from startups to legacy media companies to help them tell their stories and connect their brands to their audience or customers. And before Kiki did all this, we actually worked together at The Huffington Post, so it was really great to catch up with her back in December when we recorded the episode, and hear about all of the amazing things she’s accomplished. We talked about:
-How she set up her small business, and how it’s her goal to give every collective member their “best job ever”
-Why she prefers to call herself an entrepreneur vs. a freelancer
-How she earned what she calls her “Amazon MBA” by reading basically every business book she could find
Kiki’s a big proponent of Amy Cuddy’s “fake it until you become it” philosophy, and she was able to use that to push past any fears or self-doubt and put her stake in the ground as a business owner. So it might go without saying that this episode is A+ encouragement for anyone who struggles with self-doubt or criticism, but who has the talent and drive to accomplish great things.
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I’m so excited about this week’s guest — she’s basically a For Hire celebrity. I’m talking about web designer and digital entrepreneur Puno, who you might remember from Casey Zhang’s episode. Casey told me to check out Puno and her Do The Math spreadsheet, and I couldn’t be more glad that I did. I’ve been sending that spreadsheet to any new freelancers I know or any freelancers who want to learn how to work smarter not harder (don’t we all?).
Of course, Puno is much, much more than the creator of the Do The Math spreadsheet. She’s the founder of ilovecreatives, a platform connecting creatives through jobs, creative profiles, and education. She also co-created PeopleMap, an Instagram marketing tool where you can strategically find, grow, and track your community. On top of that, she teaches online courses via ilovecreatives and General Assembly. And as you’ll hear on today’s episode, Puno is a born storyteller — seriously, it was the easiest interview I’ve ever conducted. She just kept handing me beautiful nuggets of information on a platter. We covered a lot of ground, including:
-How to identify burnout — and how to quantitatively fix it with a spreadsheet
-What it’s like to launch lifestyle businesses
-Why Puno worships at the altar of time-tracking and hourly rates
Honestly, she makes a pretty compelling argument about that hourly thing. But don’t take my word for it, hear Puno’s explanation on the pod.
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In lieu of my normal programming, I have a quick update on the podcast.
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This week, I talk to Doree Shafrir, a fellow writer, editor, and podcast host, and author of the novel Startup. Doree co-hosts Matt & Doree’s Eggcellent Adventure and the Forever35 podcast, and I’ve been such a huge fan of her podcasts, so I was excited to talk to her. Doree’s had a really interesting path that’s involved two master’s degrees; freelancing during the recession; working on staff at places like Buzzfeed, Gawker, and Rolling Stone; writing a novel; and launching not one, but two, successful podcasts in short succession. Doree’s now back to being her own boss, so we talked about:
-What, specifically, writers should look out for in contracts
-Why Doree always asks for more money on principle (and how she does it)
-What maternity leave looks like when you’re creating the boundaries yourself
Whether or not you’re a Forever35 fan like me, Doree is very calmingly wise and honest, and has so much great advice to offer. We didn’t have enough time to dive into the nitty gritty of how she produces the Forever35 podcast with her co-host Kate Spencer, but if that’s something you’re interested in, then I recommend you checkout their episode aptly titled How The Pod Sausage Is Made.
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This week, I talk to Frankie Marin, a photographer who shoots for major brands like Kenneth Cole, Levis, and Rebecca Minkoff. We’ve actually been friends since college when he hired me to be a copy editor for our college newspaper The Daily Texan. If you’re not familiar with his work, I suggest you open up Instagram, like right now, and see for yourself how talented he is. (Frankie also very kindly took my headshot for the For Hire website.)
What a lot of people don’t know about Frankie is that he is such a fantastic example of how to make it in a competitive industry with zero connections or, you know, buckets of money from your family. He started shooting models when he was living in NYC after college, unemployed, on food stamps, and working jobs under the table to get by; and because of his talent and his ability to make genuine connections with people, he’s now at the place where major brands are pitching him. He’s also more than happy to pay it forward and help aspiring photographers wondering how to get to his skill level. On the pod, we talk about:
-How working within strict confines in the beginning of his career allowed him to be more creative and try new things
-Where he got financial and legal advice on Reddit
-How he continues to scale and grow his business while balancing commercial gigs with more creative ones
I basically just sat there and said “that’s amazing” a bunch of times, because I’m just so in awe of him and what he’s accomplished.
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