Julia Lechner
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[00:00:06] Jolie Downs: Welcome to the Career Wanderlust podcast, today, we are talking with Julia Lechner. Julia is an award winning storyteller and an award winning content marketer who currently serves as Nextdoor's head of editorial and social media. She builds and leads high performing editorial, social media, and creative teams who specialize in generating dynamic content that really elevates brands, engages consumers, and makes companies money.
[00:00:40] Fun fact, Julia, Also performs live at Improv Comedy and storytelling shows around Los Angeles. She has even won the Moth Story Slam twice and the Moth Grand Slam storytelling competitions. So check her out if you're in the LA area. Now I'm really excited to learn more. Julia, thank you for joining us on the Career Wanderlust podcast.
[00:01:02] Julia Lechner: I'm happy to be here. Thank you so much for having me, Jolie. Oh, I'm
[00:01:05] Jolie Downs: excited to chat with you. I mean, you have had a very fascinating career. You've worked your way up. I mean, your position with Nextdoor is amazing. Tell us what you feel has been some key career advice you've received that's really helped you in your journey.
[00:01:21] Julia Lechner: Happy to share. A through line that has really impacted me is following my curiosity throughout my career. And that's advice I received very early in my first. career position was as a newspaper reporter for a daily Gannett paper in Southern New Jersey. And of course, if you happen to look at my resume or learn more from this chat, I've been in several different industries throughout my career, , working for different platforms and companies.
[00:01:48] And I think that's something that one can expect throughout our careers. I'm a millennial. So things have changed. Some of the things I learned in college are not the things I'm working on. Currently, um, you know, Twitter was brand new at the time and obviously it's not called Twitter anymore. So, so things change over time.
[00:02:05] And so really the commonality is from every role or next move that I take, I just try and follow what makes me curious and what I'd like to learn next and get out of my next position, whether that's from an individual contributor to a Or wanting to explore a different industry that's new to me. And that's served me well and also kept me motivated to want to keep learning because I'm there because there's something that I'm specifically looking to get out of that position.
[00:02:32] Jolie Downs: I love that. I mean, you're combining your curiosity with making sure it's, it's knowing what you want, that curiosity you're tapping into what's that tuning fork inside of you telling you, what do you need next? What is missing? What is that, that piece that you want in your next project?
[00:02:45] Big step. I love that. And that's great advice to share. And have you found that that has brought you on a different kind of journey than you would say
[00:02:53] others
[00:02:54] Julia Lechner: have had? Yes. I think as a result of that, you know, I've moved cross country for a different career. I don't live where I grew up. I grew up in Jersey.
[00:03:03] Started in journalism and saw an opportunity to move into a different industry and actually like talked to myself into a role in Los Angeles. So that alone was not necessarily a part of the roadmap of a cross country move. Um, and since then have ended up in different industries that I didn't necessarily anticipate from the beginning.
[00:03:22] For example, I've worked in podcasting and that was not, you know, I love being on podcasts now too, so it's happy to be here, but, um, years ago, that was something that was new and unfamiliar to a lot of people. So I think remaining curious, but also open and adaptable because change is constant and we can't necessarily anticipate what technologies or industries will exist in a few years.
[00:03:43] So that's, , served me well to, to be adaptable. Um, okay. If it changes, I'm curious about different things now than I was, 10 years ago, and I'm sure that can maybe continue to be the case throughout my career.
[00:03:56] Jolie Downs: All right. And that's what you want to continue honoring in life and in your career, both, both, but you're right.
[00:04:00] Things are constantly changing. I mean, just when you're talking about the technology with Twitter to X, I mean, right now we're in the whole mixed of, you know, it was TikTok. What's going to change with TikTok with the legislation and whatnot. I mean, you just never know. What's going to happen, especially as a marketer, , all the tools constantly keep changing, don't they?
[00:04:17] So how do you adjust
[00:04:18] Julia Lechner: to that? Like what, what, what do you
[00:04:19] Jolie Downs: feel has served you well in the constant flux of consistently changing technology?
[00:04:25] Julia Lechner: I finding those common threads of what, , I know to be true about myself is helpful. So even though things may change in terms of the industry or the types of platforms I'm working with, there are through lines I've identified for myself.
[00:04:39] I enjoy. Writing, speaking, storytelling, producing content. And now that I've moved into a leadership role, I've always really enjoyed coaching people and kind of acting as like a servant leadership sort of role with my teams. So those things can remain true, even if I've pivoted from journalism to entertainment to now a tech role have all been very different.
[00:05:01] So there are some learning opportunities there, but I'm able to remain true to that. Who I am and the values that I have, uh, moving forward. So that's, that's been helpful to ground myself. Do
[00:05:12] Jolie Downs: you find your current position is a benefit to all of the previous different kinds of experiences and industries that you've had to bring together to this moment?
[00:05:20] Julia Lechner: Yes. Uh, I'm really fortunate, you know, I'm working in tech and granted, I'm not the one actually developing our platform, I'm still in a, in an editorial and social role with Nextdoor. But that's one of the things that really, , appealed to me about joining Nextdoor is it is. A smaller organization than where I was previously.
[00:05:38] And I was ready to move into a role where it could really build something from the ground up. And there are so many people at our company who come from different industries and places. So I think having diverse perspectives always serves an organization well. So I've learned so much from the people that I work with at Nextdoor.
[00:05:56] Jolie Downs: What is advice you would give someone who's going into a role where they are going to build from the ground up for the first time? Because it's a really big deal. And I actually know there's a lot of positions that are opening up like this and a lot of people moving into these things from, from a different kind of,
[00:06:09] experience, if you will. Is there anything you would, you would say that's
[00:06:12] Julia Lechner: helpful surrounding yourself with a great network of people? Mentors, advisors, advocates is extremely helpful. I felt confident to make this move because I was really fortunate in my previous role to have, , managers and mentors who really poured a lot into me and helped Coach me.
[00:06:31] , and I was able to learn from them and kind of put together the playbook of what it would look like when it was time for me to move into this kind of role myself. And I also still work remote. Not everyone in our company does, but I am a remote employee from Los Angeles. So I think it's really important to seek out those people.
[00:06:48] Networks as well. So I'm a member of a several employee groups and also keep in touch with quite a few people who I can go to when I have questions, , because we don't have all the answers. So I think it's important to always be learning and to know who you can go to with various questions, whether it's, , you know, actually building a specific effort or team or things like people management, EQ questions, et cetera, to have people you feel comfortable, , confiding in and getting advice from.
[00:07:14] Jolie Downs: Absolutely. Having those people are vital. And you know, even when you don't have those people, I just, I was thinking when you were, when you were talking about that, that even when you don't have those people, you mentioned emulating, right? And I was like, yes, you know, even if you don't have someone who's actively mentoring you, you can look at leaders who you admire and emulate the aspects about them that you admire and bring those into your own experience, which is a, it's a nice reminder.
[00:07:37] So thank you for that. And what about a story? Because you've had a lot of different experiences. So what's been something that's happened in your career that was impactful for you? Actually, you learned something really important and that sharing this actually might help other people by, by learning what you learned along the way.
[00:07:55] Prior to
[00:07:55] Julia Lechner: Nextdoor, I worked with Paramount for six years. We went through a few name changes. So CBS, Viacom, CBS, Paramount, ultimately. I had an opportunity to wear many hats during my time there. Uh, something I look back on fondly, that was like a fun side quest, essentially, project that I got to do at Nextdoor was I spent a few months.
[00:08:16] Hosting, producing, booking, putting together a podcast for TV Guide at the time. So it was a podcast about those made for TV holiday movies that you see on Hallmark and TV Guide was looking to expand into podcasting, wanted to have a sense of how to quickly put together, scale, build a podcast, and kind of put that playbook together of what it would look like.
[00:08:39] And it was one of those opportunities that came to me because I've always, um, This is not something I did as much when I earlier in my career and I've gotten better at is sharing all facets of what I do. So people at my work were familiar that I had a history in podcasting, that I do comedy in my free time, that I'm obsessed with holiday movies.
[00:09:00] So, um, came up, they knew like, well, Julia would be perfect to work on this podcast and put this together. So I think it's really, , important to be open to the extent that you're comfortable. Like, don't. Hide portions of yourself. If it's something you think you can lend to your organization. And also if you're interested in something, I've gotten a lot more confident in speaking it into existence.
[00:09:24] So I'll tell people, I really hope to work on a project like this or, um, Hey, cause I'm on this podcast. I'll speak a new one to an existence. Something I was wanting to do this year. I haven't shared yet is I'd love to host a panel at an upcoming event. I have a. Background in journalism, love asking questions and I can foresee like hosting a panel is something I think I would like to try and get better at in the future.
[00:09:48] So I put those things out there and then often people will keep your name in mind when an opportunity arises. Whether that's talking about Hallmark Christmas movies on a podcast or any other experience that you'd like to have.
[00:10:01] Jolie Downs: Oh, such great advice. You know, you do speak things into existence. There is so much power in knowing what you want, telling people what you want, and consistently speaking.
[00:10:13] So the whole think as if, speak as if, act as if, right? And that's exactly what you're doing. I love it. And it's really great. Great, great advice all around anybody that that's, that's feeling what you want. Start talking about it and bring it into your existence. Thank you for that. It was, that was, I mean, that was a really, um, helpful story all around actually, um, from, from, from multiple levels, because I really feel that bringing your authentic self to your workplace makes a huge difference.
[00:10:40] And a lot of people in general will hide aspects of themselves in the professional environment. And I think the more you open up about the things that you enjoy and really what makes you you, the more and powerful your connections are in that environment.
[00:10:56] Environment and actually the higher you're going to move is in my personal opinion. I'm curious if you've found this to be true for yourself.
[00:11:06] Julia Lechner: Yes. And it's also helped me moving into a leadership role in recent years. Like I want to do the best I can for my people. So if they are really honest with me of, you know, this, Project isn't the right fit, or this is what I foresee myself doing in the future.
[00:11:21] I want to help figure out how to set up a plan to get them to where they hope to go in the future. One example that comes to mind is I, the way I kind of got into leadership initially was I, I sort of raised my hand to start mentoring our summer interns in a prior role prior to being an official, like people leader within the organization.
[00:11:40] And I remember talking to an intern who clearly wanted to be a Like on camera entertainment personality. However, the internship really was not that at all. So we really did talk quite a bit about like, here's how we can best. Serve you and kind of give you some tools that will be helpful in your career.
[00:11:56] But quite frankly, like this is not the trajectory. If your goal is to be on camera, we are the people behind the computers. So really to be able to put that together, but I sort of had to pull that out of her a little bit. And in the end, , it served her better to just really be open about it because all of us really wanted to help her to get to what her dream was and to achieve that.
[00:12:18] So I think it's really important to, Reflect and be honest with yourself of what you want, and then, you know, speak to others, because great managers, coaches, and colleagues want to help you get there.
[00:12:28] Jolie Downs: Absolutely. Is there something that you do as a leader, as a manager, that you believe helps your team? And there's something that maybe you bring unique to the table or something that other leaders might not be doing that you could share with
[00:12:39] Julia Lechner: us.
[00:12:40] I certainly wouldn't say I have any secrets. I really am fortunate to hopefully be reflecting on like what the managers and mentors have done for me, which is what made me want to be a people leader was having great people. Um, something I really appreciated from a prior manager, um, was really setting up.
[00:12:58] their people to have the winds and to be able to celebrate great moments on the team. Like they were not looking to be in the spotlight. They really did such a wonderful job that when there was something to celebrate, to share with the company, to put out there that he really made a point of amplifying the people who had contributed to that project, coaching them to feel comfortable to be able to, to be in a, you know, a room with a company leader or what have you, but to set his people up to be able to shine and share.
[00:13:27] And that was something that was really important to me. Cause I am admittedly like I'm comfortable being in the spotlight, but like, it's not about you in those moments. It's really like, how can I set someone else up and coach them to feel comfortable to step into that? So I, I really try and come from like a servant leadership perspective and how can I put them forward to.
[00:13:46] You know, I don't want anyone out there not feeling comfortable, but like, how can we coach you get ready? How can we, you know, do a dress rehearsal? So now you're the one that is shining and sharing your projects yourself.
[00:13:58] Jolie Downs: I love that. That's what makes, that's what makes an excellent leader right there. A hundred percent.
[00:14:02] I love that. Creating positive teams through this type of leadership. I would love to know what your experience has been like at Nextdoor. Could you tell us a little bit about Nextdoor, what you guys do well, and what do you look for in
[00:14:16] Julia Lechner: talent? Absolutely. So Nextdoor is my first foray into a tech role. I previously have worked in entertainment and journalism.
[00:14:25] What appealed to me was I'm in a new role as the head of editorial, , and also have adopted our social team as well to work on storytelling. So my role is kind of twofold. We focus on finding all those amazing, wonderful, quirky, feel good stories that happen on next door. So we interview the neighbors.
[00:14:43] Talk to them, get their stories so we can share them on social media or pitch them out to press or use them in other formats to amplify those feel good stories. Um, one that comes to mind is a, a centenarian had a dog parade. So he, someone was turning 100, went to next door and said, You know, my grandfather's turning a hundred.
[00:15:03] Will you all bring some dogs to the neighborhood? Cause he loves dogs and he like pet every single dog that went by and this dog parade on his hundredth birthday. Um, and it was a story that we were able to like amplify and share a bit more. And it just makes people feel so good to be able to see those wonderful moments when communities come together.
[00:15:22] Absolutely. Can I
[00:15:22] Jolie Downs: stop you really quick? Because I am a member of next door and I don't know where to find this. How, where are these? Is this on your social media? Like next door social media specifically. Okay. So we all need to follow next door social media to get these great stories because I want to
[00:15:36] Julia Lechner: know.
[00:15:37] Yeah. So we have those on the channels. We, we send them out. You can find stories just like that in your own feed. And then of course that one actually got quite a bit of pickup. So we're on like Instagram. ABC world news tonight and all the various things. I mean, that one, that's a very exceptional story.
[00:15:53] And I'd say the through line of, , people at next door, which is really what spoke to me about joining the organization. We have a lot of great, , folks at next door is it's a place where everyone is really committed to the mission. Yeah. Of what we're doing. People join next door because they're purpose driven because they see the potential of how we can bring communities together, , to, you know, put together local events to make things happen at a at a local grassroots level in their own community.
[00:16:21] communities. So that's something that really appealed to me is that when you see people that are really committed to the mission or purpose of where they work, , you feel like you're a part of a team and everyone's very motivated to want to do great work together. So that's something that really appealed to me.
[00:16:35] And I live in Los Angeles in a really busy city, but my husband and I are the kinds of people that like to know everyone. On our block and in our apartment building. And we, we are also active users of next door. So it was a place where I was really, you know, loved the product and wanted to contribute. I love
[00:16:52] Jolie Downs: that so much.
[00:16:53] And if people are wanting to get involved with the company, is there a certain type of value set that Nextdoor looks for in their people?
[00:17:02] Julia Lechner: Yes. Um, quite a few, but I think some that really appeal to me are, , act like an owner is one of our values. Trying to, and that kind of comes back to how I like to lead, to like empower people to do great work.
[00:17:14] And then, Step aside and let them do that. Um, experiment and learn quickly is another great one. So like being able to take on a project, see if it works, keep reiterating. , but we have a number of values that really speak to employees, but those are, are two, especially that, that I really enjoy that we kind of set people up to be able to do, , great work and then support them on those projects.
[00:17:37] Jolie Downs: Fantastic. Now, I'm a big believer in, in feeding your mind proactively because look, we're, we're, we're being bombarded with content at all time. And I'm super curious, you being someone who is a specialist in content, what do you feed your mind with on a proactive basis that has really helped you that.
[00:17:55] Others. It would be helpful for them to know about
[00:17:58] Julia Lechner: happy to share. And I have a long list. So I'll focus on one. Um, I really love a site called Career Contessa. It was founded by Lauren McGoodwin. I found it, , Maybe a decade ago and I still visit it regularly, but it was a site that was essentially founded for millennial career women.
[00:18:18] So I really saw, you know, being one myself, saw myself in the advice and it's a really great place to turn where they have all kinds of resources, how to negotiate, how to have difficult conversations, just all the things that you hope to learn. And quite frankly, , in my family and life, I just went down a very different career path.
[00:18:37] I come from a family of primarily educators. So people that had not worked in the kinds of corporations where I'm working. So I've really turned to this as a resource at times of, you know, how to go on an interview, how to network, et cetera. So it's a really great resource. And I have advised a lot of mentees as well to, to check it out for that kind of information.
[00:18:56] Jolie Downs: That's fantastic. Is there a key piece of advice that you've gotten from career contesta that to this, like it comes to your mind immediately and you still use
[00:19:03] Julia Lechner: to this day? Yes, quite a few. One that comes to mind, and I share this with people too, is I think it was earlier into LinkedIn as well, and people are getting a lot more into LinkedIn these days.
[00:19:14] , but I, I worked with a coach through Career Contessa because they also offer coaching and they really encouraged me to like, go to various people's LinkedIn's. Who have the career that you want or that you admire and like, look at their playbook of what they did. So essentially to study, like, maybe I should consider this certification or talking to someone at this company, like, look at their step by step journey there. , and then also to be inspired. playbook. So that's a great way to get inspired by like, what kinds of things are they highlighting? Like to get hired at this company, they included these bullet points of what kinds of projects they worked on or what KPIs were associated with success there, and kind of using that to inspire how you write your resume or position yourself for certain roles.
[00:19:58] So essentially like go find the people you want to be or want to be working with and use that as the playbook to put together your career plan.
[00:20:06] Jolie Downs: Excellent. Excellent advice. And you can do that with all aspects, even people who are just living a great life and maybe not the career, right? You can look at that and do the, follow the steps, the stepping stones, the dots.
[00:20:19] I think it's brilliant because there's so much to learn from all of the people out there. And so often we don't take the time to just simply go and look at the LinkedIn or look at the things they're doing, look at the things they're focusing on. And that's incredibly helpful. So thank you for that advice.
[00:20:33] It's great. You know. This has been a wonderful conversation, Julia. But before you go, I would love to ask you about your personal superpowers, because I believe we're all born with personal superpowers, but that we also have a number that are developed over time. And I love to learn about what people have developed over time and how it served them.
[00:20:52] Could you share what your, one of your personal superpowers are?
[00:20:55] Julia Lechner: Happy to. It might not be rare, but I know it's a fear for many, which is my comfort with public speaking and also with Sharing, you know, personal things about myself or even embarrassing things on stage. As we mentioned, this is for so professional podcast, but I do comedy in my free time.
[00:21:13] I had a life goal achieved last year, winning the moth grand slam from sharing a funny story from my life on stage. So for many people, that sounds like an absolute nightmare being on stage and, you know, doing that kind of thing, but I really love doing it and it's served me both personally and professionally to be able to do that.
[00:21:32] But I think. Sharing your own personal stories are really humanizing. They bring people together. Often I get off stage and someone will say, Oh, that happened to me. I've just never shared that before. Oh my gosh. I'm so glad you said that I lived that too. So it really, um, fills me up and makes me feel great to, to come off stage and hear that something I shared resonated with an audience and hopefully they can laugh at it too.
[00:21:55] And it's kind of a stress buster as well. , but I consider that to be my own personal superpower. I love
[00:22:00] Jolie Downs: this. Let me ask you, were you ever nervous about giving speeches before you started developing the
[00:22:05] Julia Lechner: superpower? I don't feel a huge amount of nerves, but I think I have that adrenaline rush, and those can often feel the same, , for many.
[00:22:14] So advice I give to people who do feel nerves going on stage is almost like, reframe it as, I'm so excited to be up here. I'm so pumped. Like my heart rate and body know that I'm about to do something awesome because quite frankly, the feeling of like nerves and excited adrenaline are in many ways similar.
[00:22:33] So I think that's really helpful to just like reframe and trick yourself into thinking you're just. Really excited to be up there.
[00:22:39] Jolie Downs: And some of my favorite advice, , honestly, because you can use that in everything and you're absolutely right. It's the same feeling. It's just the story you're telling yourself is, is what it's all about.
[00:22:48] So you change the story and it changes. It changes everything really. And, and I, I asked, I was curious because I actually, I really, I can, I connect with this a lot because I love public speaking. It's something that, that I absolutely love. I love, um, to go on stage and speech, but it's not something I always, I love.
[00:23:05] It was something that I was interested in learning and growing that experience. But initially I was very fearful and very like the knees knocking, the hands shaking still, the hands will sometimes just not, you know, I feel great. I'm super excited, but the hands might just a little bit, but I love it. But that took time.
[00:23:23] It was developed over time. It was over practice. And it was, it was continuously trying and continuously pushing myself, even when I felt scared, even when I felt nervous and, and that unfamiliarness, the more I did, it became more familiar and more familiar until it was just like, I love this.
[00:23:43] Julia Lechner: And yeah, and I would actually encourage many, if they feel like they're in that moment of transitioning, like from, From fear to comfort there. It's also okay to call it out on stage, to say something like, Oh my gosh, my hands are shaking because I'm so excited to be talking to you all. Or like, this is such a big, I was a little nervous because it's such a great crowd, but I'm excited to be here.
[00:24:02] Like, people want to root for you, so I actually think putting it out there many times, like, you know, You become the underdog in the room and people are excited to watch you succeed. Exactly.
[00:24:11] Jolie Downs: So you just don't let those things, anything that you want to learn or grow, even if you're scared or you're not, it's unfamiliar, it's weird.
[00:24:18] The more you do it, the more familiar you get, you absolutely can develop it. You can actually create something that started as nothing. Fear, worry, anxiety, and you can turn that into a superpower. And so I love talking to people about what they've developed in their lives. Thank you so much for sharing. I think that's great.
[00:24:35] Julia, this has been wonderful. Thank you for joining us on the career. Wanderlust
[00:24:39] Julia Lechner: podcast. It was a pleasure. Thank you again for having me.
[00:24:42] Jolie Downs: And actually, before I let you go, are you still on the circuit in LA doing the improv? Can people find you? You
[00:24:49] Julia Lechner: can, and depending on the release date, I'm actually about to do another Moth Grand Slam next week.
[00:24:54] I gotta ask you to come perform. , and that's why it's always good to say yes. Cause it was kind of a last minute. ask of like, can you come up and fill a slot for us? So I'm going to be performing next week, but I do perform regularly. So you can find me on Instagram, LinkedIn to, to know more, but I do have quite a few shows coming up in the next few months that I'm excited for.
[00:25:15] That's
[00:25:15] Jolie Downs: very cool. Definitely check her out. Check, check out Julia. If you're in the LA area, I'll look you up Julia when I'm in LA or next it's coming up in a couple of months. So that would be really fun. Lovely. Looking forward to see. Yeah. Thank you. You take care.
[00:25:30] Thank you for joining us on the Career Wanderlust Podcast. If you find value in learning from others, give us a like and subscribe. If you're looking to grow your communications, marketing, public relations, or sales and biz dev team with the best talent and quickly, check us out at ParadigmStaffing. com and submit a request.
[00:25:54] We are wishing you a most successful and fulfilling career. Until next time.