How to make navigating change your superpower
How to make navigating change your superpower
+steps on finding your target audience and the cultural moments | news that caught our attention this week
As someone who recently moved across the country from NY to SF, I can confirm it’s not an easy feat - especially with young kids in tow - and the thought of doing it mid-pandemic actually sounds impossible.
However, this is exactly what today’s featured contributor, Leonor Ayala Polley, did while also navigating a big career change from producing at NBC News to becoming the Chief of Business Development and Partnerships at URL Media [not to mention also completing the prestigious Columbia Journalism School 2023 Sulzberger Fellowship].
Her advice on riding the wave of change and reframing it into a superpower really resonated with me, and I hope it inspires some of you too.
-Melissa⚡️
Navigating and embracing change is a superpower
Leonor Ayala Polley is a leader in the news industry, making sure the stories told and hiring reflect the communities they serve, with over 19 years of experience at brands like ABC News and NBC News. She is currently the Chief of Business Development and Partnerships at URL Media.
In the late Summer of 2019, my husband was offered a new career opportunity that would move our family to San Francisco. And while he was ready to say no, I asked him to stop and seriously consider it. As I recall, my question was, “Are we really going to live and die in New York City? As great as the city can be, it kicks my ass daily, and it is even harder with kids.” Typically, it takes him a beat or two longer to think about change and adapt. I jump in head first. So after some thinking and talking, we decided it was actually the perfect time to try a new city. Our kids were still young enough. And San Francisco was definitely on our list of cities to which we’d be willing to relocate. Our close NYC friends who knew about the impending move were stunned. We got both of our kids into two of the best schools in NYC – a fantastic feat by some standards. But yes, we were willing to part ways with all of that for the sake of starting anew.
We started quietly making plans. We researched and vetted schools for our children. And I started tapping professional networks because I might take a new job. After all, I was coming up on 18 years at NBC News and was craving a change anyway – and I like BIG change! I also reasoned that there was no way NBC News – a very NYC-centric shop – would allow me to work from SF.
But when the pandemic lockdown hit in the Spring of 2020 – a mere month before I was going to travel to San Francisco to find a place for our family to live and settle all the plans we were making were suddenly in flux. And so, just like that, all of us were forced to readjust our plans, expectations, and routines.
After feeling completely paralyzed by all of the pandemic's unknowns, we forged ahead. I launched a new plan and a new way of executing it; it was an escape from reality for me. My husband, who was just moving through the day-to-day, says now that he was thoroughly impressed by my resolve to figure it out.
I found and booked us a recreational vehicle (RV) to drive across the country (it was a one-way trip, so it was hard to find one!). I found a moving company to pack and move our belongings across the country. I found an apartment in San Francisco virtually and decided on it because it was near the kids' new school.
And once we finally did arrive in San Francisco, we were completely isolated and alone for the first few months. We didn’t know anyone and no one was racing to meet new people, especially perhaps not recent arrivals from New York City. And I honestly can’t remember feeling more lonely and afraid. I kept a brave face for the kids but sank deeply into my work. I was part of the leadership team charged with diversity, equity, and inclusion at NBC News, and our team was now front and center after the murder of George Floyd. I was always involved in deep and meaningful work, but now our small team was in the spotlight. We ramped up our work, and despite my cross-country move, I kept working.
I lost myself in the work. I loved my work, but it began to consume me in unhealthy ways. In my personal life, our San Francisco neighbors turned out to be the most toxic and vulgar people imaginable (so we moved again a few months later). Wildfires raged across the West that summer, causing orange skies and ash to blanket the city – the toxic air further forced us into isolation. And then my mother had a stroke. It was all starting to feel like an impossible canyon of change.
But here we are –three years later. I finally quit NBC in the Summer of 2021. I started working for a startup called URL Media founded by my childhood friend, S. Mitra Kalita. We even bought a house recently and are here for the foreseeable future (yes, despite all the bad news about San Francisco).
Why share all of this? Here are a few leadership lessons I have learned about embracing change and how leveraging personal change can set you up for success in your professional life:
Change is hard, give yourself space to adapt: As much as you may think you are great at navigating change, it’s hard at any age and even harder during a pandemic lockdown. Be kind to yourself. Give yourself and those around you grace. Taking mental health breaks and pauses to reflect on why you sought a change is essential to help ground you. And if the change is thrust upon you, much like the pandemic lockdown, take it day by day and lean on your community.
We’ve always done things this way: This phrase makes me cringe. I’ve always believed embracing and thriving in change leads to personal and professional growth.
Change takes time: Change is incremental. Don’t rush it. As a New Yorker, I find this last one incredibly hard. I still want things to happen yesterday, but I am also accepting that sometimes the best change happens over time. This is probably the biggest key to embracing change and those around you – not everyone is on your timeline, which is okay.
There is a deep complexity and irony in loving change, as a change in career or moving to a new city doesn’t mean you navigate change well. It is a lesson I learned over the last three years, and in the process learned a lot about myself, how I want to think about work and life, and how to find time and meaning in the people and things I love most. So, finding your inner calm, whatever that means to you, and a frequent path back to the calm among the chaos will ultimately make you a better leader.
for more, head to the MTD blog x connect with Leonor on LinkedIn
how to find your target audience
🔑 digital strategy question: how do I find my target audience?
Think about it, in order to truly be effective in moving the needle against any of business endeavors, you need to know who you’re trying to reach, where they are, what their lives are like, and - most importantly - the unique value you bring to them.
Besides bringing value, the other critical reason to know your target audience is so that you know how to shape your brand voice to effectively communicate with them. If you are aware of what your audience is up to, how they live their lives, which platforms they spend time on, and when they are there, your content planning is a million times easier.
Here are some initial steps to take to get started and/or refine your process in order to hone in on exactly who your target audience is:
Identify what you think your audience looks like: Layout the age ranges, gender, interests, geographic location, incomes, and any other characteristics that apply to who you believe you’re reaching
Get familiar with analytics: Now look at the numbers on your social platforms. On the backend analytics, check to see if the audience data aligns with what you think of your target audience. Note the differences.
Define your target: Combine who your audience is and who you’d like to be reaching into 3 sections; superfans - your diehards, converts - those within reach, and aspirational - major goal audience. From here on out, when you build content and write captions, you keep all of these segmentations in mind. Consciously create, write and hashtag so that you reach at least one at all times.
Measure and tweak: Once you are consciously creating content, double down on analytics. Measure how content performs. If you move any demographic or characteristic information, note that, and track the type of content, timing, cadence and frequency.
for more tips on how to hone in on your audience and a great exercise at putting what you learn into practice, head to the MTD blog
💎cultural gems💎
The cultural moments and news that caught our attention this week:
How Barbie came to life. If you’re curious about the upcoming Barbie movie but not sure exactly what it’s about, Time breaks down what audiences can expect.
Barbiecore is surging its way into home decor and interior design. “Information shared by Pinterest shows that there was a 1,135 percent increase in searches for ‘Barbie aesthetic bedroom’ from May 2022 to May 2023.”
YouTube’s Culture & Trends Report: Moving at the speed of culture. Fascinating look at how creators are using YouTube to change pop culture.
Discord improved my marriage. How one couple uses Discord as their primary mode of communication [other than IRL].
What I learned on a Titanic sub expedition. “Last summer, for a CBS News Sunday Morning story, I joined OceanGate for a dive on its Titan submersible. I never saw the Titanic. We were only 37 feet below the waves when mission control aborted our dive.”
inspo
it’s not always this easy, but sometimes it can be 📸: @thomaslelu
