Nicole Messier
[00:00:00] Jolie Downs: Welcome to the Career Wanderlust podcast, your compass for new career horizons. Today we are talking with Nicole Messier. Nicole has over 20 years of experience in global corporate and consumer communications for science and technology brands changing the world.
[00:00:18] She thrives in transformative and entrepreneurial environments, building ground floor teams and agency partners to accelerate marketing efforts. Nicole is passionate about building communication plans that impact business goals and has done so both for clients and leading agencies such as Shift and Edelman and internally for corporations such as Apprenda and HelloFresh.
[00:00:40] Nicole is now the president of Mission North and I am so excited to have her here and learn more. Nicole, thank you for joining us on the Career Wanderlust podcast.
[00:00:50] Nicole Messier: Oh, thanks for having me, Jolie. I'm excited.
[00:00:52] Jolie Downs: It's so great to chat with you. Nicole, you have had such a fantastic career. I mean, you've really moved up through the ranks and gotten yourself at all the highest positions within corporate, within agency.
[00:01:06] You clearly have had some really good advice along your way. I'm wondering, what have you learned that has brought the most impact
[00:01:16] Nicole Messier: to your career? I mean, it's a great question. I, I think for me, um, you know, I, I had, Always really good mentorship early on. And then I think everywhere that I have had, you know, I have so much gratitude towards the folks I've had a chance to work with and work for.
[00:01:34] And so, , it was recommended to me really early on to, to build sort of your mentor network around you, get comfortable with getting, you know, constructive feedback, um, getting comfortable with raising your hand and asking the right questions and just being open to other people's perspectives.
[00:01:50] And so I think Some extent that has carried me a long way to work with big groups, you know, to be a good thought partner with executive and founders. , it's also given me, I think, a lot of, , opportunity to learn about areas across technology and science that I probably wouldn't have otherwise really like dot like dove into.
[00:02:08] , and so that, you know, you sort of been able to catalyze all of that , learning and then it, it, it then makes me a really great storyteller and a great communications partner to, to our clients and, and even to our team. So it's, um, I've just been really fortunate to work for, work around great people and just optimize that as much as possible.
[00:02:25] Jolie Downs: Oh, it makes all the difference, right? Well, when you have access to amazing people and all the things that they've learned and they're willing to teach you, I mean, that's just, that just opens up your world to all the things of, you know, being able to learn in a less difficult way than actually having to go through the hard aspect of learning things yourself.
[00:02:43] It's like, it's like you either learn through intention or you learn through pain, right? So, mentors allow us to learn with intention. And now I'm curious because There's a lot of people who I would imagine would love a mentor, but maybe they're working for a company who, maybe their manager is not a very good mentor, , or maybe there's not, maybe they're the most senior person because it's just, that's the way it is in the organization.
[00:03:05] I was curious if you have any suggestions for people who don't have easy access to mentors to find them?
[00:03:12] Nicole Messier: Well, I think a lot of it is, is first of all, being open to taking on to getting a mentor that maybe isn't directly in your wheelhouse. And so one of the things that actually did benefit me, and I look back at this now because I, I did, I started my career at Edelman was A& R partners.
[00:03:27] Edelman bought them. This is, this dates me quite a bit, but, Was able to sort of grow that early stage of my career on the agency side. And within that, you know, it was, it was connecting with people who were really great strategists or on the agency side, people who had a passion for growing the revenue, but doing that through really smart ideation and creativity when, as you know, we go in and we pitch these companies and they're often very competitive pitches.
[00:03:50] And so it is the best idea. It's also the best chemistry that I think always wins. When I was in the house, one of the things that I thought was always really beneficial was thinking about mentorship outside of the comms and marketing function, learning more about product management, learning more about growth marketing, really understanding some of the challenges.
[00:04:10] What would shape a business? HelloFresh was a really great example of that. I thought when I went into the company, I said, Oh my God, I'm such a foodie. I'm going to go into this food company. It really was a supply chain and logistics company at heart. And so understanding how you build margin in food and how you build your supplying network and how that was really able to catalyze.
[00:04:29] HelloFresh's growth at the time over Blue Apron, as an example, , I gravitated to learning from those teams, both operations, supply chain, even the folks who are running our fulfillment centers, it gives you kind of an understanding of how you orchestrate teams and how you think about the partners and the suppliers or vendors you bring on.
[00:04:47] And that just kind of cascades into sort of everyday life here now at Mission North, where we really do think about how do we supplement our services? How do we get really great complimentary partners? How do we broaden some of the programs and innovations that we offer by working with others? And I think I got a lot of that from, um, Working with other business functions when I was in house at some of these other companies.
[00:05:08] So it is, I think, when you feel challenged to find that mentor, to think outside the box a little bit and to be open to learning something that maybe is not your craft, but eventually it's like, you'll be in a place, you'll be like, I learned that from our head of operations, or I learned that from our CEO.
[00:05:22] , and so I can appreciate sometimes that you have to kind of think outside that way to really build and learn from others.
[00:05:28] Jolie Downs: Well, I love that too, and it gives you more of a holistic mentorship as well. I mean, like you said, the full picture, well, and there's just, there are so many people to learn from.
[00:05:36] And sometimes we do get a little focused in, in this, this very direct area. So thank you for opening the mind up and seeing that there are people who can be your mentors everywhere and in all kinds of aspects. Yes. Now, what about the flip side? What about being a good mentor? I mean, what do you think it takes?
[00:05:52] What are some of the tips you would give someone to be a good mentor if they're moving into that space in their life? Thank you.
[00:05:58] Nicole Messier: You know, so much about being, I think, a good mentor is, is just, is being a really good human and appreciating that the person who might be seeking your assistance might not be like yourself.
[00:06:09] , they might be coming to you for soft skills. They might be coming to you for strategy skills. And so really kind of creating that open space, that sort of stay curious moment where you're able to ask the questions and kind of extract where are your areas of development and how can I best partner with you on that?
[00:06:24] I think that's how you make it an effective mentorship relationship. You know, you're able to really understand who, what their challenges are, what their needs might be, and you're able to just have a much more. I think well crafted, well structured conversation in the time that you have together.
[00:06:44] So I, I think that's, that's a pretty big part of it. , otherwise it might not be as effective if you're really not digging deep to understand where you might be able to have some tangible help within their career or Or whatnot, whatever it might be.
[00:06:56] Jolie Downs: Absolutely. And having that mentor role really is incredibly powerful.
[00:07:00] I mean, there's just so much that you can do to help someone along their way. And I love to see people who are just putting their hands down and helping lift people up. So thank you for bringing up this topic. I think it's an important one. We don't have to do it. Yeah, we all have to, you know, we all need it and we all, and then when we're in the position, we need to lift the others up.
[00:07:17] It's, it's, it's the cycle that, that is a beautiful cycle in this, in this professional and personal development world, so. That's right, that's right. So, now what about. A story. I mean, what has happened in your career that's had a really big impact on you that you learned quite a bit from, that it could benefit others to hear the story as well?
[00:07:37] Nicole Messier: Oh God, that's a really, that's a tough one, but here's what I'll tell you in the spirit of mentorship. One of the women that I think had a real influence on my career was a CMO I worked for at another in house role that I had, , I was at Pan for a couple of years in Boston and then I ended up working for a holding company.
[00:07:54] No one's ever heard of it. It was in the property management, property tech and real estate space. And they were coming to market with sort of a Zillow competitor. So there's a lot of fun consumer comms. Um, but I just was at the right place at the right time. I was hired by the CMO. Uh, she had come from Digitas and she was an incredible leader.
[00:08:13] She built out. She built our whole team from the ground floor. So, you know, I came in as head of comm, she had a VP of marketing and we just sort of built and grew that from there. We actually grew, , our own mini agency as well. So creatives and copywriters and, you know, digital strategists. Um, but I think the thing that she had the most impact on for me was the amount of work that she did to lean on.
[00:08:36] Lean into me for both helping me with soft skills and for really helping me understand how you plan in accordance with marketing needs. So I had sort of come into the role, really understanding the PR world, but when you had to connect it. The two, you know, what the sort of marketing KPIs were, she was never scared to sort of lean in and really talk to me about how you create comms that ties back to ROI or how you take what our brands, you know, business outcomes really needed to be and how we focus our efforts on there.
[00:09:06] It's so easy to be getting headlines. It's another thing. Getting them where they mattered. It was probably, I don't know, it was probably about 30 or so at the time. It was just the right time in my career that I had that sort of C suite mentorship with someone who really gave, , just a ton of effort to get to know us, to spend time with us, to build the relationship, but then to also educate us.
[00:09:26] And so I think the story that always comes to mind is when I think of the lessons I took out of that, like I learned how to run more effective meetings. I learned how to value executive time and, you know, create a strong read ahead, create a really great agenda, be in and out in 15 minutes. You know, could this have been an email?
[00:09:42] Great. Then let's not have a meeting. She also was who sat me down one day and said, my God. You know, your team loves you. Like, here's your review. And I will never forget what she said. She goes, you know, the only thing I have to give you as far as like an area of development is you need to slow down and like ask people how their weekend was.
[00:09:59] And she was so right. And it stuck with me and here I am like 13 years later or so. And I laugh cause I think, God, I'm so ready for the day at, you know, 8 AM. And I want to just jump into the work. And there's always so much going on, especially in the role I have now. But the amount of time and, , effort she put into building relationships really has helped me, I think, along the way, be a better manager and be a better leader.
[00:10:23] And so I'm just always so grateful to her for that. She was, she was phenomenal in that way.
[00:10:28] Jolie Downs: You know, it's such, it's so interesting how such simple things can make a huge difference, right? And I feel you on that because I have also. Um, you know, just like, right. So did you get this done? What's going on?
[00:10:38] And it is, it is a, it is a simple yet important piece of advice to take. How was your weekend? You know, how are you doing? What's going on?
[00:10:48] Nicole Messier: Yes. I mean, you know, there's, there's a little line you have to tow there, but I think with time and, um, just attention to people and what might be going on in their lives, , you know, one of the co CEOs here at Mission North, uh, I will never forget, we had an offsite a couple of years ago, and she.
[00:11:03] brought to this table, the idea of like, how are you coming into this meeting? Like what's going on? So that the larger group around us was sort of aware of maybe what else was sitting on people's shoulders and what was going on in their head. So we do that a lot now as a team and it just makes all the difference to sort of center everybody that yes, we're here.
[00:11:21] We all work and live and breathe by growing a business and doing really great client service, but we're also a team and we should find joy in that. , and so relationships really do matter. I think when you think about what a profile of success looks like, and I cherish the relationships that I've, I've been able to build and have, and I hope it's made me a good manager.
[00:11:38] Jolie Downs: Oh, and you know what? I love that. I'm going to take that actually. The, and the team meetings, you know, how are you coming into this meeting? That's a great question. And just allowing people to little space. Yeah. To answer that. I love that. That's being adopted into my team meetings. A hundred percent. You, you rattled off a number of actually on the meetings front, because I think this is actually a really important topic because corporations.
[00:12:00] Have a lot of meetings, , that aren't needed, I would say. So , you rattled off a few things. I'm just curious, could you gimme a quick synopsis of what you feel makes a great meeting, like to help other people who are dealing with their own meetings? Right. It sounds like you've, you've kind of whittled it down to make these work for you.
[00:12:16] Is there any quick advice you'd give people around their meetings in
[00:12:19] Nicole Messier: corporations? I think it's important that when you are managing a team, especially if it's a really large team, that they understand how to first work well, with you so we all do at Mission North how to work with me document.
[00:12:30] Interestingly enough, the executive team at Hello Fresh did the same thing, and it's everything from, you know, here's what I expect. I want to let you know that I always go to inbox zero. So if I haven't responded to you, I will. By that night, I like to tell people like I'm a little bit of a of a late worker at times because I have three kids.
[00:12:47] If I'm writing to you at seven o'clock, I don't expect you to write me back at seven o'clock. And so things like that just, I think, break down all those barriers and some of that intimidation around having meetings. I think having an effective meeting is also making sure people going into it understand what we're trying to get out of it.
[00:13:02] And so sometimes that read ahead is really helpful, making sure it's a, it's a good agenda, making sure you have the right people at the table. And I think the other thing I like to think about for important meetings, whether it's like a brainstorm for a new business pitch, or it might be a strategy session with a client is looking beyond the team and thinking about the other unique perspectives you have within your organization that might have just a really unique perspective on something or can give you a fresh take.
[00:13:27] That way, I think people get into these meetings and they're learning more, they're understanding more, but you're also not. sitting in that like silo that you might be so used to because you work in a team environment and so much, especially on the agency side is that team environment. So I try to encourage people like, Hey, I know we're going to talk about financial services, but why don't we bring in corporate reputation?
[00:13:45] Like there's so much going on in the regulatory space. There's so many things that are being impacted between fees and it's an election year. Like, let's make sure corporate is represented here and then we're, we're really thinking about the more macro problems that might be facing this client versus just being in the weeds because, you know, we're kind of a train that runs really well on a track.
[00:14:03] And I think that really helps make meetings exciting and also gives people an opportunity to think and learn in a different way.
[00:14:09] Jolie Downs: Oh, I love it. Oh, that's really great advice. And honestly, the, how do you work with me? That's fantastic. Every company should do that. That is fantastic. It's,
[00:14:17] Nicole Messier: it's really great.
[00:14:17] It's an easy exercise and it's kind of funny when you put it down on paper, but, um, you know, , I work with a colleague and the way they like to see feedback is ahead of time in writing. So, one of the things that they stress is, I love feedback, I actually do better when I can digest it first, have my own moment with it, and then come and talk to you about it.
[00:14:37] And it works so well that like, even now, I'm like, you know what I would love? Like, I would love my performance review ahead of time. I'll read it, the good, the bad, the ugly, but then I can digest it and we can have a really productive conversation about what we do to move forward. Um.
[00:14:50] Jolie Downs: I love that
[00:14:51] Nicole Messier: so much.
[00:14:51] Yes. Learning people's styles and how they like to receive information, I think is so much, and it breaks down so many of those barriers or that worry or vulnerability. Um, so the, how do I work with me document, I think is a, is a really good one.
[00:15:04] Jolie Downs: Fantastic. I'm, I'm adopting that myself too. So , thank you.
[00:15:07] Really good advice all around. Now, what about Mission North? Tell us a little bit about Mission North. What do you guys do well? What do you look for in your talent? What, you know, what are some of the things that you guys are doing?
[00:15:17] Nicole Messier: I could probably talk about Mission North forever. , I've had a really wonderful, I feel very fortunate to have worked for great agencies through and through some big, some small, , my sort of latter half of my agency career has been similar, sort of like that midsize where the clientele is, you know, Right.
[00:15:32] It, to some extent, the throughput is technology. And so mission north, we're about a hundred people and we, , are very much focused on tech and science companies that have an impact that can have an impact on the world. I say change the world sounds a little cheesy, but it does tend to be the place that when we're looking at a piece of new business, that's the lens that we look at it.
[00:15:52] Sometimes those stories are really complex and we need to break them down. Sometimes the stories are so filled with skepticism from the Large parties like we represent cultivated chicken and they're under attack by big meat. And we like to take those really challenging moments and look at storytelling through the lens of innovation.
[00:16:12] So we really have grown into an agency that is much more focused on, we're going to tell this story. We're going to build the content that provides the validation to it. We're going to connect the people within our clients who can be more trusted than just promotional aspects of maybe the marketing side.
[00:16:28] To reinforce that. And then we're gonna help amplify and target that through digital and paid and design and creative. And so I think we've just like kind of cracked a nut a little bit on how you tell a story, but then also how you can tell the C suite. Like, look, we can really measure ROI at the end of this, and it comes from a place of real insights, and it comes from a place of really understanding your industry and That's how we're organized.
[00:16:52] So when you come here, you work with a team that is fully ingrained in financial services or enterprise or sustainability or life sciences and health, and it just helps you hit the ground running. But it also, I think, gives you a team that really has perspective of what is, what are the challenges of that sector's time?
[00:17:08] What is the biggest opportunity that's in front of them? And how do we connect those two? So we're telling really great story and kind of getting your message out there.
[00:17:15] Jolie Downs: What do you look for in talent when they come your way? Is there a certain kind of personality that does well at Mission North, would you
[00:17:20] Nicole Messier: say?
[00:17:21] We don't think about personality. Personality to us is, is more bringing, is more about bringing bias into the experience than we would ever want to have. We look for people who have the subject matter expertise for sure. So we do tend to hire by, by practice area. Um, we look for people who, you know, obviously depending upon level, there's always a correlation of experience and skill sets that they've had.
[00:17:44] But a lot of what we do when we interview at Mission North, we have five values. We look for people who can check the boxes on most of those five. Can you test yourself? Will you stay curious? Do you embrace the fact that not all minds think alike and that we want to be a collaborative team and we want to hear other people's opinions.
[00:18:03] And so that's kind of the way we look at, , our interviewing process. We interview in three categories. It's. Always, you know, a three round type of interview. Someone focuses strictly on values. Someone focuses on creativity and someone focuses on domain expertise. And that's the way we look at every hire.
[00:18:21] So we have all sorts of personalities here. I like that. Yeah. If you can live and work by our value set, you'll be successful at Mission North.
[00:18:30] Jolie Downs: I love your value set, by the way. Love, love, love. Completely embrace that myself. Thank you. That's fantastic. Now, what about feeding your mind? I'm a really big proponent about feeding your mind in a positive way.
[00:18:41] How do you feed your mind in a positive way? Was there anything that you read, watched, or listened to that's had a positive impact on you that could positively impact others as well?
[00:18:51] Nicole Messier: Well, you know, certainly being a news junkie, that's where I spend a ton of my time. But from a self development standpoint, I think one of the oldest books, it's a pretty old book.
[00:19:01] It's a Malcolm Gladwell book. It's called Blink. I'm sure maybe you've read it. Yeah, really good. Great. It was a great way of validating. I find that I'm a very decisive. Uh, decision maker and it's not because I'm the smartest in the room. It's not because I'm the loudest in the room. It really is because I just have an instinct and I always felt like, is this instinct weird?
[00:19:20] Am I being too decisive? And blink sort of opens your mind to understanding that statistically and philosophically or, um, psychologically. first guess is usually the right one. , and it has a lot of things about trusting your gut, , and listening to others and embracing, but still knowing when you need to sort of assert yourself and make the call.
[00:19:40] And that for me was sort of a foundation of how I kind of grew , And built and learn the rest of sort of the library that I think, you know, I, when I get a chance to pick up a book, um, I look at it like I try to have it reinforce things that I think I know, but I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing.
[00:19:56] And then a lot of what else I will look at will be mostly related to how do we expand strategic communications? for the future. Um, and so now I'm like diving into A. I. Storytelling and looking into, you know, where are we going to maximize our efforts and spend on behalf of clients against some of these algorithms on linked in?
[00:20:13] How do we maximize our efforts on meta? And those air things? Tick tock. Those air things that now I find and maybe it's because I'm getting a little older, but I need to stay fresh on that. And so I would say that's probably where I spend a chunk of my time now as well.
[00:20:26] Jolie Downs: We all need to stay fresh on that.
[00:20:27] It's all moving so fast. There's just, there's no way around it. So fast, like that. Just, um, it's amazing how much there is to learn consistently coming in. Like, even as you're, even as you're learning it, there's just consistently more coming in to up level. So anything that we can keep doing. On that note, you said that you, you have either certain newsletters or certain, , avenues that you're going to, to keep up on some of these technology aspects.
[00:20:54] Nicole Messier: Yeah, yeah, , I I mean I am a little bit of a sub stack junkie so, um, I don't know why I think to some extent some of these Writers who are taking the time to write long form pieces that are, you know, giving really good advice are, um, It's just, somehow I just connect to the, to the information more.
[00:21:14] , so, across the, I would say that's probably where I spend the most of my time. And of course I'm like freezing not thinking of some of these in particular.
[00:21:22] Jolie Downs: Well, if people are looking at Substack, that's a great resource for all kinds of information on all kinds of different topics. So that's just a great suggestion to go check out in general, if you're not already doing that.
[00:21:31] Nicole Messier: Well, they've done a nice job of, you know, if you start with the generalist on Substack, they'll give you the next three that make the most sense. And so that site has done a beautiful job, I think, of kind of putting to bed the old editorial, , kind of pathway and user experience that you might get on a new site, but really saying like, we can make you smarter on this now and then this.
[00:21:49] Now, um, the other thing we do at mission north, which I think is, it's a, it's an expensive investment, but I think it's very worthwhile. Everyone at mission north has a linkedin learning account. And so we compile Every sort of month or so, like here's LinkedIn learning for this level. Here's LinkedIn learning about digital marketing.
[00:22:05] Here's three things that just came out, you know, revolutionary speakers that you should just listen to. It's kind of like our own little Ted library, but snippets are just six minutes long. You can put them in the background, but I think we're trying to encourage that sort of always self learning and self growth of it.
[00:22:22] We also have people who want to learn new skill sets, right? Like I've been a media strategist for 10 years. How do I learn more about integrated strategy? And LinkedIn learning has been great. It's taken a lot of the lift of training off of our belt and it's coming from experts. , fantastic video, which everyone obviously loves to digest.
[00:22:37] So, um, so that has been really helpful too. And I find myself diving in and that's a lot of the AI stuff. , the opportunities, learning the difference in LLM, like that has really been through LinkedIn learning. And I've, I've really enjoyed, , just trying to grasp as much of it as, as possible.
[00:22:50] Jolie Downs: Fantastic. Yes. No, LinkedIn learning is another great avenue to, to be looking into. I would say worth every penny by far. So yeah, yes. Yes. This, this has been great, Nicole. Thank you so much. Before you go, I would just love to ask, because I believe we all develop these, uh, Personal superpowers, right? I mean, we're born with personal superpowers, but I believe we also develop some over the course of time.
[00:23:14] I'm curious, what is a personal superpower of yours that you've developed, and how has it served you?
[00:23:21] Nicole Messier: Anyone who knows me will probably find this pretty funny. I, I think I have a superpower in efficiency. And so I'm quick to look at, you know, let's say we make a list of things that are, you know, to dos that we need to do.
[00:23:32] I'm able to connect them to priorities. In the spirit of actually getting rid of half of the to do's. Is this going to have a meaningful impact on us? If it's not like that's a next quarter thing. Um, is this connected to revenue? Right. , we are a growing agency. The way I look at things as president is, is this going to help us grow?
[00:23:49] If it's not like it, maybe it's a back burner thing that we need to tackle. Um, so efficiency, I think for me is. is really helpful. And I use a lot of technology to create efficiencies. But, um,
[00:24:01] Jolie Downs: what is something you use that others could use out of it? Because this is amazing efficiency. This is a very big topic.
[00:24:07] Nicole Messier: I'll tell you something so simple and maybe, you know, people just roll their eyes a little bit, but I use voice texting a lot. I use it to fill out a scorecard after an interview, a couple of notes and thoughts after a meeting, like quick things I can do while I'm running downstairs to let the kids in the door.
[00:24:23] Um, but you know, and then I can quickly, whatever, you know, edit GVT and make it better that way. Um, but I am trying to every day bring down. A, my amount of meetings, but B, just how much writing needs to go into communicating, but not losing the power of effective communication. Yes. So, um, so it's not rocket science, but it
[00:24:45] Jolie Downs: is really It's simple and something I actually haven't been doing, so.
[00:24:49] So, so thank you. You're welcome. You know, sometimes just opening the door to very simple ideas, it's just not considering that can make a big difference, so. Why am I reading these paragraphs when
[00:25:00] Nicole Messier: I could speak them and
[00:25:01] Jolie Downs: then post them? Yes. Yeah. But the efficiency piece is, like, being able to figure out, like you said, what you need to do to reach the goals most efficiently, the quickest, that, I mean, that is so invaluable because so many of us are spinning our wheels on the things that are not getting us anywhere, but we think that's what we're supposed to be doing.
[00:25:16] And really what's going to move the needles right here, that's what we need to focus on to make it go. So it sounds like you're an efficiency expert on figuring out what that needs to do, how do we make this work, and that is wonderful.
[00:25:26] Nicole Messier: So. No, and I like to be responsive versus reactive, right? And so. Right.
[00:25:30] Yeah. That I think is a part of efficiency. Um, but it's also a part of knowing when to say no to things and when to put some stuff on the, on the side and, you know, parking lot and, and focus on what, what's really going to have an impact.
[00:25:40] Jolie Downs: Absolutely. And that's another thing to always remember that it's okay to say no to certain things that aren't, are not on the path of where you're going.
[00:25:48] If this isn't going to lead you in the direction that you need to go, then maybe put that to the side for a minute and focus somewhere else. So yeah. Thank you so much, Nicole. This
[00:26:00] Nicole Messier: Thanks so much, Jolie. It's great to see you.