Yolanda Miller

The best advice I've received is about understanding that when you're a top performer operating at the 90th percentile of your work, you're always going to be disappointed in others, and that's okay. The advice was that because I'm a top performer, I'm going to find myself always being the one that is the corrector, the person that is there to do the cleanup, the person that is there to be the lead. I have to understand that I'm always going to be frustrated with the team and others, and that is okay. It's about being level-headed and giving room for others to grow as well. The advice was also not to worry myself with the small problems or things that seem like multiple concerns or issues, but to focus on the big picture and the big things. You can get caught up in all of the small minutiae of issues and people, but you need to worry about the big problems and focus on the big people in the industry.

I would tell anyone to stay grounded and just always do the best that they can do in their career. Honestly, don't be eager to apologize, because a lot of times you are doing the right thing if you do the best that you can do in your job. Be confident in every move that you make, because that's extremely important to build a team, to be a leader, but also to your clients. Clients want to see a confident leader. Always do the best that you can do at everything you do, whether that is doing your timesheets, whether that's doing something as small as just finishing your expense reports, or doing something big like building a full program and brand strategy. Also, lean on your colleagues for their professions and their talents. That's what's important as a leader - finding those people who substitute something that maybe you haven't done. I have worked through the ranks from the absolute bottom, and I've learned a lot about navigating the political environment in an agency. I've seen a lot of people in the way they move and how they got promoted, but staying grounded and doing your best work with confidence is key.

Now that I'm more on the executive level, the challenge is that experiential marketing is a niche market. When it's a niche market, brands don't have tons of people and places to connect with to do this type of work. There's a lot now - it's grown like crazy since I first started - but that also means that the competition is quite steep. Finding good talent and retaining good talent is a primary goal that I always have, and it's not always super easy when you're facing competition. You have to be highly motivated and self-motivated in this industry, and people have to be trusted because they're going out into the field and traveling across the country doing things on behalf of my name or the agency. The market is very saturated now - there are tons of events and tons of different things that people are doing. I just came back from Miami F1 with one of our brands, a spirits brand, and to be a spirits brand, that's huge competition. The spirits industry is already very challenged right now with the economy and with people actually drinking less. So to create experiences around brands that sometimes it might be harder to build that narrative - it's finding those creative ways to tell brand stories that sometimes it's not always super simple to do in a live event. For example, if we were doing Formula One, you can bring F1 simulators and car simulators and gaming activations, but if you work with a lifestyle brand like an insurance brand or a spirits brand, it's a little harder to create experiences around that and to tell their story, but every brand wants their story told. That's another unique challenge overall.

In my work, I truly value the relationships that are being built. People are really important to me, and their stories are extremely important. I think everyone has so many unique talents - it doesn't even matter what level they are, whether they're an EVP, SVP, VP, president, or just an associate or a coordinator. I love finding what each person's talents are and finding the value in people. I truly value my team and the people that I work around, and I look to find those values because it helps me understand who they are and how they are best fit for the business. In my personal life, I 100% value my time with my family. I have a one-year-old son, and being a mom in the industry has been a steep challenge - it's not easy, and I know people talk about it, but a lot of people don't talk about it as much as I would hope. It makes me value time so much more now. Previously, I was probably a workaholic and would really be determined to drive and get work done, which I still am, but the way I value time is so different now. I know that I have so many hours at work and I need to get it done because I need to spend the most time with my family when the work hours are over. In experiential marketing, because you're working on events, working weekends, and traveling, the hours can go on forever. Having that discipline to understand the value of time has been extremely important to me in my personal life, so that I can ensure that I'm being intentional in both my professional career and with my family and being a mom. That's the most important thing to me - valuing time and working on how to balance that.