Pretty Funny Business

EMMIE Collective
  • 5.0 (7)
  • Business
  • Updated Semiweekly

Introducing « Pretty Funny Business », the playground brand we were forced to create in order to corral our founders’ nonsensical ideas and general tomfoolery. From the founders of, by not generally endorsed by, Emmie Collective. Hosted by Lauren Aquilino and Sydney Mulligan. You can expect off-the-cuff banter on feminism, funny business, and well.. not-so-funny business. Join us out of curiosity, stay for the hot takes and dad jokes. www.prettyfunnybusiness.com

  1. 1d ago

    LinkedIn Famous and I Had No Idea: The Algorithm Picks Who You Know

    Lauren talked to a man for 30 minutes at HubSpot’s UNBOUND conference before she noticed the line of people waiting to meet him. He has 400,000 LinkedIn followers. She is on LinkedIn every day and had never seen one of his posts. This episode is about the algorithm, known on this show from now on as the Al Gore rhythm. It starts at home: Lauren looks up from a phone game where colored ants collect pixels and asks her husband what he’s laughing at. His answer is “whatever they give me,” which turns out to be Bob Does Sports Migos mashups and, later, pit bulls eating raw meat. Sydney counters with the Instagram ads responsible for every fun thing her family does all summer, and Lauren launches a new recurring segment, Algorithms I Have No Business Being On, starring the bald subreddit. Then it gets uncomfortably close to work. At HubSpot’s conference with Leslie Douglas, Lauren met a whole tier of sales-world LinkedIn famous people she had never once been served, and realized LinkedIn is a different platform depending on whose feed you’re standing in. Also this episode: The pick-two rule for clean hair, makeup and outfit, and why neither host cleared oneSydney’s husband reviews Shakespeare in the Park for the TikTok generationWhy Lauren’s youngest is not allowed to show her face on her YouTube channelThe $3 Duane Reade serum that made Sydney’s whole weekWho exactly has been following the PFB YouTube channel latelyWhy Claude flags every transcript where we mention Zohran Mamdani Timestamps 00:00:00 Cold open: there was a line to meet him 00:01:05 Clean hair, makeup, outfit: pick two 00:04:45 Introducing the Al Gore rhythm 00:05:20 Lauren’s most embarrassing phone games 00:12:05 “Whatever they give me” 00:13:55 The family computer YouTube era (and chat rooms) 00:17:15 Every kid wants a YouTube channel 00:20:05 Where “Never mind” came from 00:21:25 Shakespeare in the Park vs. Titanique 00:24:00 The car algorithm and the surprise Christmas car 00:27:05 Getting got by every Instagram ad 00:29:50 “I’m paying with my data” 00:31:20 Grocery store end caps are the original algorithm 00:33:00 Algorithms I Have No Business Being On: the bald subreddit 00:37:05 Pit bulls, color mixing and rug cleaning 00:41:20 Who’s following our YouTube channel 00:43:05 HubSpot’s conference and the LinkedIn multiverse 00:46:00 Zohran Mamdani, echo chambers and kids who can spot AI 00:48:50 Good luck out there Links Follow Pretty Funny Business on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/pretty-funny-businessSubscribe on Substack: www.prettyfunnybusiness.comFollow us on Instagram: @prettyfunnybusinessMOPZA and the Marketing Operations community: https://marketingops.com/ (code PFB10 takes 10% off a Pro membership) Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Leave us a review and subscribe wherever you listen. It genuinely helps the little podcast.

  2. Oct 6

    I Truly Wish I Had Your Forehead" and Other Comments From Our New Hater

    A stranger on LinkedIn looked at Lauren's selfie and decided the headline was her forehead. The post was about Harry Potter houses and color seasons: Lauren's husband bought her a Gryffindor sweatshirt that matches her color season, though she is not a Gryffindor. The comment that came back from a third-degree connection was "I truly wish I had your forehead." Sydney gives Lauren a one-time permission slip to ask what exactly the woman liked about it. We are still waiting on a reply. It turns out the forehead lady was the gentle one. A clip about Sydney trying to hire a nanny drew a comment telling her to "go take care of your own child or keep your legs closed," and a TikTok commenter wanted to know "what kind of mom checks out like that" after Lauren went to bed during her son's last-minute sleepover. Then Lauren shares what two years of EMMIE sales calls say about why teams hire Marketing Operations help, and the answer is the same list it was a decade ago. Also this episode: Why Lauren is convinced every Cancer is secretly a HufflepuffThe 2004 sleepover itinerary: seances, Salad Fingers, and maybe a pizzaThe web form where 70 of 120 leads never made it to Salesforce, and nobody noticed for monthsThe same five dudes in a trench coat running every reorgWhy "Frankenstack" is named after the wrong characterThe deals that close fastest, and why that's bad news Timestamps 00:00:00  Intro: we have haters now 00:02:09  The Gryffindor selfie and the color season problem 00:06:23  "I truly wish I had your forehead" 00:08:22  Asking follow-up questions about compliments (it's attribution) 00:12:41  The nanny clip and the "keep your legs closed" troll 00:16:48  "What kind of mom checks out like that?" 00:21:07  The good comment: "a very Lizzo agency 00:23:56  What 2 years of our sales calls say about Marketing Operations 00:27:14  Problem 1: leads never reach follow-up (54%) 00:31:37  Problem 2: nobody trusts the numbers (46%) 00:33:47  Problem 3: the Frankenstack, and who Frankenstein actually was 00:38:30  Problem 4: the only ops person leaves Friday 00:41:37  The T-shirt we should make Links: Follow Pretty Funny Business on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/pretty-funny-businessSubscribe on Substack: www.prettyfunnybusiness.comMarketing Ops community: https://marketingops.com/Leave us a review and subscribe wherever you listen. It genuinely helps the little podcast.

  3. Sep 22

    We Let a Guest Host In (And Regretted Nothing)

    We finally let someone else sit in the host chair, and it turns out Audrey Harze had no idea what she signed up for. Audrey Harze, CMO at MarketingOps.com, joins us as our first-ever guest host, alongside Mike Rizzo. We recorded this one in person ahead of MOPZA (formerly MOps-Apalooza), this year's marketing ops event, which goes fully virtual in October. We get the real origin story of MOps-Apalooza — the garage sale booth, the dollar store picture frames, and the tattoo artist Mike agreed to before he fully understoodwhat “tattoo booth” meant — plus why MOPZA is going virtual this year, how the MarketingOps.com membership works, and why EMMIE Collective calls its discounts a “big summer blowout” instead.Also this episode:● The Toronto pronunciation debate nobody asked for● What happens when Lauren gets a compliment and immediately needs more data● The real story behind the tattoo booth Mike agreed to without reading the fine print● Audrey's 15 years in agency life before she found MarketingOps.com● Rapid-fire predictions for marketing ops in the next 12 monthsTimestamps:00:01:51 — Sydney and Lauren welcome Audrey Harze as PFB's first-ever guest host00:02:27 — Mike Rizzo joins, MarketingOps.com gets its due00:03:42 — The MOps-Apalooza origin story begins00:05:36 — The garage sale booth confession00:07:04 — Why MOPZA is going virtual this year00:12:12 — MarketingOps.com membership and the listener discount00:13:42 — The “big summer blowout” bit00:15:12 — The tattoo booth Mike didn't know he agreed to00:18:10 — Barbie party debrief and the compliment-collecting bit00:20:00 — How Audrey ended up running marketing at MarketingOps.com00:21:17 — The Toronto pronunciation debate00:24:47 — Audrey's 15 years in agency life, before the burnout00:27:00 — Rapid fire: predictions, tools nobody should buy, and the most-used word at MOps-Apaloozathis yearLinksFollow Pretty Funny Business on LinkedInSubscribe on SubstackMOps-Apalooza / Marketing Ops communityLeave us a review and subscribe wherever you listen — it genuinely helps the little podcas

  4. Sep 8

    I Hope You Hate It: A Sports Parent's Petty Prayer

    Lauren's kids nearly broke her before the first day of school even started. Sydney's nanny, meanwhile, just quit to go perform in The Polar Express. Sydney is back after a few weeks away, and Lauren spends the whole reunion catching her up on the back-to-school wreckage: a five-kid sleepover that was supposed to be “just a couple friends,” a Vitamix running at 4am, a son who wouldn't bend his knees walking to the bus because you cannot “crease the J’s”, a tissue-paper standoff in the stairwell over an ESPN alert, and the horseback riding lessons — courtesy of some very generous in-laws — that Lauren told her daughter, out loud, she hoped she'd hate. (She did not.) Sydney has her own chaos to report: her nanny just quit, again, this time to go perform in The Polar Express, and her four-year-old Ellie has staged a quiet takeover of the family iPad. Add in a five-day, non-overlapping dance company schedule for two of Lauren's kids, a saxophone tryout for jazz band, and a very strong opinion about the iPad's usefulness five years in, and you've got a full accounting of what the end of summer actually cost both households. Also this episode: The tissue paper stairwell incident that ended with a missing roll of paper towels and an ESPN alertWhy Lauren's son's brand new Air Jordans almost came with a walking injuryThe light-up Sketchers currently serving time in Sydney's “back to school jail”What happens when your nanny's next job is performing in The Polar Express (and the cheapest way to catch the “real Santa” at Radio City this Christmas)A Chick-fil-A waffle fry that received a full standing ovationThe “save of the week” segment we are officially stealing from Full Stack Moms (hi, Shannon and Mallory) Timestamps: 00:00:00  Back from a few weeks apart 00:02:23  Solo parenting weekend recap 00:04:43  The iPad, five years later: still useless 00:09:13  The tissue paper stairwell incident 00:12:44  Sketchers serving time in “back to school jail” 00:14:12  You cannot crease the Jays 00:18:36  Five kids, one sleepover, one Vitamix at 4am 00:21:16  The nanny quit again — hello, Polar Express 00:24:41  I hope you hate it: the horseback riding edition 00:26:44  The dance company schedule that requires a driver 00:33:16  The box is not PreCheck 00:38:44  Stealing “save of the week” from Full Stack Moms Follow Pretty Funny Business on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/pretty-funny-business Subscribe on Substack: http://www.prettyfunnybusiness.com Leave us a review and subscribe wherever you listen — it genuinely helps the little podcast. ----- We got you $150 off registration for MAICON this year! Use code PRETTYFUNNY150 at checkout.Register at MAICON.aiDates: October 13 to 15, 2026Location: Cleveland, Ohio

  5. Aug 11

    Is He Trash? Vol. 4: He Runs the AI BS Team

    Josh spent one afternoon at a work conference, wandered past a tattoo booth, looked down at his own calf, and decided this was the moment. That decision brought his total to three tattoos in three years, with zero regrets. This episode is Volume 4 of Is He Trash?, and the subject is Josh Lucas, who leads a team at Workato that everyone now calls the AI BS team — short for AI Business Solutions, a name they picked before anyone heard it out loud. Josh walks us through what the job actually is (a lot of Workato customer meetings, a lot of flights out of a one-gate airport in Redding, California), then gets into the story that earns him his verdict: getting a real, permanent tattoo at a conference booth, connected through a customer named Julz whose husband happened to be the one holding the needle. Three tats and zero regrets later, Josh also gets into his complicated relationship with LinkedIn, where his attempts at professional posts keep turning into the exact content he says he hates. Also this episode How Josh's team accidentally named itself after profanityThe item Josh found in his laptop bag days after a work trip that he’s having a hard time explainingWhat a good conference booth actually needs to pull a crowd (hint: it's not brochures)The LinkedIn post that made Josh declare a personal missionA tissue box that changed how one family decides what's for dinnerThe middle school metal band Josh turned down, and why he still thinks about it Timestamps 00:00:00 — Cold open 00:05:19 — Meet Josh: “I identify as trash” 00:08:48 — The AI BS team name reveal 00:12:15 — What the job actually involves 00:13:03 — Redding airport and United status life 00:17:49 — The tattoo booth story begins 00:19:09 — The Julz connection and Onyx Tattoos 00:22:13 — What makes a good conference booth 00:23:25 — The personality hire party 00:24:23 — The candy cigarette mystery 00:30:12 — Updating the LinkedIn photo 00:33:22 — The LinkedIn posts Josh hates writing 00:38:20 — Saying yes to everything (and the middle school band regret) 00:40:37 — AI BS, LinkedIn, and “trying to be a real boy” 00:42:39 — The verdict Links Follow Pretty Funny Business on LinkedIn Subscribe on Substack MOps-Apalooza / Marketing Ops community Leave us a review and subscribe wherever you listen — it genuinely helps the little podcast.

  6. Jul 28

    Is He Trash? Vol. 3: Ethan Thomas (Our New CEO) Is a Zero

    Ethan Thomas came on the show billed as a zero on the trash scale. He left as the CEO of EMMIE Collective. Vol. 3 of Is He Trash? Was supposed to be a straightforward, is-he-trash episode with our growth advisor turned first male hire, Ethan Thomas. Then Lauren hijacked it three minutes in to announce EMMIE's next chapter: Ethan is now CEO, and Lauren is moving into the CMO seat she's clearly been auditioning for since episode one. Once the news is out, we get into everything you'd expect from an actual Is He Trash? Episode: Ethan's path through Cisco, Citrix, and Pure Storage (where he and Lauren first met, on opposite sides of the table), the Harvard Business School mentor who told him he was too serious, and a full audit of how badly he's adjusted to working inside a company that is, in his own words, “taking down the patriarchy every day.” Spoiler: not well. Also not badly enough to earn a single trash point. Also this episode:Why “unc” is apparently the meanest thing you can call a man.The tandem bike metaphor that somehow predicted EMMIE's entire hiring strategy.A full inventory of everyone's liquid protein intake, and what “your body weight in grams” actually means.The straw incident.Why “calm and friendly authority” was a compliment in 2019 and an accusation now.The two-letter acronym Ethan still can't say out loud.The merch order that made him laugh off-camera. Timestamps00:00:00 — Cold open: the announcement, no context00:00:02 — Welcome back, meet “unc” Ethan00:04:17 — Is He Trash? Vol. 3 begins, Ethan's a zero00:04:34 — Big news: Ethan is EMMIE's new CEO00:08:19 — On being EMMIE's first male hire00:10:31 — Ethan's path: Cisco, Citrix, Pure Storage00:16:03 — The business model pitch, and a tandem bike joke that's really a strategy shift00:17:42 — Liquid protein, baby formula, and beef bone powder00:22:01 — Straw-gate00:25:07 — Things Ethan Has Said00:29:11 — The merch order Ethan laughed at off-camera00:32:15 — Reporting Live From Girl Dinner, and more on EMMIE's next chapter00:34:15 — “Calm and friendly authority” vs. “you're just writing a skit”00:37:26 — The acronym Ethan still can't say00:39:28 — The most unexpected ASMR confession yet00:42:47 — Trad agency, and other things Ethan definitely did not mean to say LinksFollow Pretty Funny Business on LinkedInSubscribe on Substack: www.prettyfunnybusiness.comLeave us a review and subscribe wherever you listen — it genuinely helps the little podcast.

  7. Jul 15

    Is He Trash? Vol. 2: Alexander DeMoulin Defends Himself

    Alexander DeMoulin got fired from two sales jobs, moved into his mom's unfinished basement in Portland, and somehow ended up giving a conference talk called “Are You Trash?” So obviously we had to have him on for Vol. 2. Alexander is Director of Revenue Operations at Fin (formerly Intercom, now officially a Salesforce company — the acquisition was announced three weeks before we recorded this). He's also an EMMIE client, which he'll tell you he became not because of a pitch deck but because he thought Lauren and Sydney were funny, DM'd them for a replacement MQL t-shirt from the first-ever MOps-Apalooza, and ended up in a full vendor evaluation. We talk about the ongoing branded-swag challenge no vendor has fully won (Clay came closest with a leotard, though it was not the thong that was requested), the case for vibe-coding your own martech stack versus paying people who actually maintain it, and the two sales jobs Alexander got fired from before he found his way into ops — the story that eventually became the “Are You Trash?” talk that partly inspired this whole series. Also this episode: The correct pronunciation of “DeMoulin” involves a 1914 Supreme Court intellectual property case and marching band uniformsWhy “Alexander,” “Alex,” and “Alec” caused a full identity crisis at a work eventThe Slack channel names that make the MQL pipeline sound like a girl groupWhat “Stressica Jessica” and “Thirstina Aguilera” have to do with lead scoringThe actual reason nobody makes ruffle socks anymoreWhy Alexander thinks AI is going to make human-to-human skills more valuable, not less 00:00:00 — Cold open 00:00:24 — Welcome, guest intro, and an early prediction on the trash verdict 00:01:57 — The Alexander / Alex / Alec identity crisis 00:04:51 — An Ancestry.com deep-dive into the DeMoulin family and a 1914 Supreme Court case 00:07:17 — How Alexander actually became an EMMIE client 00:12:15 — The “recent outcome”: Fin's acquisition by Salesforce 00:13:32 — Turning around the Titanic: inside Intercom's culture reset 00:17:37 — The branded swag challenge, and the leotard that missed the assignment 00:20:13 — Vibe-coding your own martech stack (and why that's job security for everyone else) 00:27:37 — MQL girls, outbound girls, and lead-scoring personas with better names than yours 00:30:23 — Fired from two sales jobs, back to his mom's basement in Portland 00:35:09 — The “Are You Trash?” talk that helped inspire this series 00:38:20 — Rebuilding trust after striking out three times, and sharing that story at Clay's Sculpt Conference 00:42:46 — Where AI actually fits into the future of ops jobs 00:45:19 — Final verdict Follow Pretty Funny Business on LinkedIn Subscribe on Substack MOps-Apalooza / Marketing Ops Community Leave us a review and subscribe wherever you listen — it genuinely helps the little podcast.

  8. Jun 30

    Is He Trash? Vol. 1: James Leedom

    If a salesperson calls you three times in one minute, calls back after you answer and tell them to stop, and then calls you again — and your takeaway is that Sydney should just pick up the phone — you might be the problem. This episode, we put that energy on trial. James Leedom is back. He joined us with approximately one hour's notice, from the Adobe office in New York City, on his vacation. That's either dedication or a character flaw — we spent the episode figuring out which. The verdict is in: not holistically trash, but there's a garnish situation happening. But before we got to James, Sydney had a developing story. She posted about getting triple-called — three calls in under a minute from the same sales number — and the LinkedIn comments absolutely lost the plot. Salespeople defending the practice, commenters insisting she should just answer, one person threatening to call all of her top-of-funnel. We broke down the four categories of people who showed up in those comments, discussed what AI dialers have to do with any of this (nothing, actually), and revisited the time Sydney ended up on the LinkedIn Lunatics subreddit. Turns out Lauren was on there first. Nobody noticed. Also this episode: The free spirit man taxonomy — what it means to be unbothered by the paper, and who is quietly funding that lifestyle Sephora is girls' Bass Pro Shop. Hockey is the boy aquarium. The Venn diagram was completed. James tells a dream. He was given multiple exits. He took none of them.The British English crisis: "pants" is not trousers, and this changes everything about the proposed series title.A compostable cup lid situation that accidentally explains every perpetual Salesforce sync error you have ever suffered through Timestamps00:01:30 — Welcome back (virtually). James is on vacation at the Adobe office.00:03:00 — Sydney's background. An inventory is taken.00:06:00 — Sephora is girls' Bass Pro Shop. Hockey is the boy aquarium.00:08:00 — Is He Trash? The game is explained. The evidence is reviewed.00:13:30 — The free spirit man. What he is. Who is financing him.00:16:40 — The triple call. Sydney's LinkedIn post. The developing story.00:18:00 — The four categories of people in those comments.00:19:30 — The time a webinar provider called five times in two minutes. During infant daycare hours.00:22:00 — AI dialers, the mental health emergency page, and a commenter threatening to call top-of-funnel.00:25:30 — Thought leaders vs. loss leaders. Where PFB lands.00:27:00 — London trip preview. British English. The pants problem.00:33:40 — Dreams segment. James had one. We gave him outs.00:37:20 — B2B marketing lesson: the compostable cup lid saga and what it has to do with your Salesforce sync error.00:40:45 — Final verdict: James Leedom is not holistically trash. Trash is a garnish. A topping. LinksFollow Pretty Funny Business on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/pretty-funny-businessSubscribe on Substack: www.prettyfunnybusiness.com Leave us a review and subscribe wherever you listen — it genuinely helps the little podcast.

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

Introducing « Pretty Funny Business », the playground brand we were forced to create in order to corral our founders’ nonsensical ideas and general tomfoolery. From the founders of, by not generally endorsed by, Emmie Collective. Hosted by Lauren Aquilino and Sydney Mulligan. You can expect off-the-cuff banter on feminism, funny business, and well.. not-so-funny business. Join us out of curiosity, stay for the hot takes and dad jokes. www.prettyfunnybusiness.com

Information

  • Creator
    EMMIE Collective
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    81
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © EMMIE Collective
  • Show Website
    Pretty Funny Business

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