The Network Effect with Alex Ebanks; Insights on Goal Setting Mastery, Strategic Volunteering, and Building Thriving Teams through Modern Leadership

From turning childhood chatter into a networking superpower to navigating the heights of corporate communications, Alex Ebanks shares transformative insights on authentic relationship building and career advancement. Discover how showing—not telling—became the cornerstone of her remarkable journey from agency life to Vice President of Communications with companies such as Microsoft and Essence Ventures.

Guest Bio:

Alex Ebanks is the Vice President of Communications at Fiserv. Previously, she was VP of Communications with Essence Ventures, overseeing executive, internal, and external communications across prestigious brands including Essence Communications, Afropunk, Beautycon, and Essence Studios. Her impressive career spans roles at Microsoft's Xbox, Coca-Cola, and Allied Global Marketing. A celebrated industry leader, Alex was recently named among Atlanta Business League's Top 100 Women and selected as a 2024 Career Influencer of the Year by the T Howard Foundation.

Content Sample:

- Learn how Alex hasn't applied for a job online since her first position, leveraging relationship building instead

- Discover her strategic approach to goal-setting with actionable timelines

- Uncover the power of volunteering in career advancement and network building

Key Takeaways:

[03:00] "Don't tell people your dreams, show them" - The philosophy behind career advancement

[07:00] The two-pronged approach to career success: Self-PR and strategic volunteering

[13:00] How early career relationships can circle back to create future opportunities

[19:00] Leadership insights on managing teams with transparency and partnership

Memorable Quotes:

"Don't tell people your dreams, show them."

"Your professional value isn't determined by someone else's anger or a single mistake - it's determined by your entire body of work."

Related Content:

- "Year of Yes" by Shonda Rhimes - Referenced as a transformative read

- "The First 90 Days" - Recommended for career transitions

Suggestions:

Want more insights on career evolution and growth? Connect with host Jolie Downs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joliedowns/

Looking to build your dream team with top talent? Visit paradigmstaffing.com.

To connect with Alex Ebanks, you can find her here:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandraebanks/

Ending Note:

What's your strategy for turning conversations into opportunities? Share your thoughts and join us next time for more career insights and professional growth strategies. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share with others on their career journey.

Transcript

Alex-Ebanks-

Jolie Downs: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Career Wanderlust podcast, your compass for new career horizons. Today we are talking with Alex Ebanks. Alex is the vice president of communications at Essence Ventures, where she oversees all executive, internal, and external communications across the company's portfolio of brands, including Essence Communications, Afropunk, Beautycon, and Essence Studios.

Prior to joining Essence, Alex spearheaded the consumer PR and multicultural communications disciplines on the global communications team for Xbox at Microsoft. Before that, Alex served in various PR roles at the Coca Cola company where she worked across the Coca Cola, Diet Coke, and Sprite brands.

Additional experience includes several years at top PR agency, Allied Global Marketing, where she managed and created publicity promotions and marketing campaigns for entertainment based clients within the television and film industry. Now, Alex has received great recognition for her excellent work. [00:01:00] She was recently named one of Atlanta business leagues, top 100 women in the city.

She was also named a 2024 career influencer of the year from the T Howard foundation. She was selected as the inaugural. Hallmark Mahogany honoree this year, and in 2023, she was selected as a member of the Atlanta Business Chronicles 40 under 40 list, which spotlights the city's top business professionals.

Now, that is not all. Previously, Alex was selected as a top 40 under 40 PR professional in Georgia in 2020, and in 2017, she was named a top 30 under 30 HBCU alumni on behalf of HBCU Buzz. Now, Alex is a current member of the leadership team for the LEAD Atlanta class of 2024, serving as Leadership Skills Day co chair.

She's also a board member for Women in Film and Television, Atlanta, and serves on the executive committee of the hands on Atlanta's Changemakers [00:02:00] board. Really incredible. I'm excited to learn more. Alex, thank you for joining us on the Career Wanderlust podcast. Thank you so much for having me. You have done amazing things in your career.

And look, I mean, you're not, I mean, are you even halfway through? I mean, you are excelling advancing. I'd love to know, is there any advice or belief or something that you found that has helped you Move throughout your career. Move up. 

Alex Ebanks: I would say my favorite quote. I don't know who said it's anonymous quote, but the quote is don't tell people your dreams show them.

And so for me, I take that with me both personally but also my professional career aspirations. So, for example, if there's something you really want to do instead of talking about it, actually do it and show those whether it's hiring managers or, you know, peers or, you know, people that you aspire to be one day what you can do.

Versus just talking about it and then oftentimes someone will see the [00:03:00] work and open the next door for you. 

Jolie Downs: Oh 100 percent I love this advice so much. It's really powerful I have found and I feel like it's the key to moving up right? It's showing that there's something that you want that you desire that you can do it's you're excited about and like you said it's I mean, well, I believe it's good to speak forward things you want but

really where the magic happens is when you show it. 

Alex Ebanks: Yep. Doing it. Yeah. 

Jolie Downs: Yeah. Now have you, have you done this yourself? Is this how you have moved up through the ranks consistently in your career? 

Alex Ebanks: Yes, I would say one of the proudest accomplishments that I love, I'd love to know is that I haven't actually applied for a job like just on LinkedIn or, you know, online since my first job.

So that's a big accomplishment for me. It's always been someone has seen me at, you know, in LinkedIn. Working doing work in action and whether they are the hiring manager and they say, Oh, you know, I'd love to talk to you about a role or someone [00:04:00] mentions me to the hiring manager. And I may not know the hiring manager yet.

That's actually how I've been able to maneuver throughout my career thus far. So I truly live by that quote because it has worked. And I just hope it continues to work, but so far it's really been the actions that I've shown and also the way that people experience me, where they've mentioned me in rooms that I haven't been in for opportunities that I, I wouldn't even have thought of myself to even go after.

Jolie Downs: Now, this is a big deal when, when you have the types of relationships with people where they will mention you when you're not in the room in the positive way, what do you think helps you build those kinds of relationships? 

Alex Ebanks: I always stand on just being genuine, no matter who you're with, who you're around, because it really is important on how people experience you.

You never know where that experience can lead. And oftentimes I always say, I like to just be friendly with everyone. So if I meet someone. I'm going to give the same energy to give them that I would give to someone that, you know, I look up to and aspire to be one day, because you just never know how that one experience and how [00:05:00] that person experiences you could open a door for you, whether again, personally or professionally.

Jolie Downs: Right. I, this is my favorite personally. I think this is what the world needs all around it's It's so easy. I mean, it's, it's, it's not difficult to be kind, right? You know, I mean, it really is the simplest thing that we can do to make a difference in the world around us and the people around us is to simply just be kind.

Yeah. And, and you're right. It's amazing. You never know how, how that's going to impact the person. I mean, A, you never know what that person's dealing with, but just being kind to someone can have such a big impact and then that can influence them. It moves forward, but this is. How people remember you.

Definitely. That's 

Alex Ebanks: the best piece of advice I give all my mentees. And I'm like, you never know who you're going to meet, but it's how you leave them. The impression and how they experience you. 

Jolie Downs: Exactly. And you know, and not only that because they're, just because they like you they're not going to suggest you.

You have to have high level work. Clearly you have high level work. I'm, I'm [00:06:00] wondering is there any advice you've been given or you give people to help them reach their own personal ability to have that high level work. 

Alex Ebanks: Definitely So I there's two of two prong approach. I always live by one is PR professionals We're horrible at PR ing ourselves But every year I list down my list of goals and then throughout the year I list out the goals and then I list out the action items And I give them timelines.

So as I think about, okay, you know, one of my goals this year was to get at least two industry awards. And I ended up getting more than two industry awards for even better, but having timelines of when I would like to reach one by one of those awards. Okay. Timeline of when I would like to reach the next one of by it kept me on track.

And then from there, those were external opportunities that I was able to then share on LinkedIn and share with colleagues and highlight those areas. So it didn't take a lot of work, but it was just something that I had to get organized with and really map it out. So that [00:07:00] I'm listing out the goal and then the result that I want and when I want them by.

And then secondly, I also just, you know. Reiterate to people, not only just pring yourselves, but, also just ensuring that as you're moving up, whether it's the corporate ladder or doing different things, don't forget about volunteer opportunities.

I'm a huge advocate for community service. So whether that's on the weekend, volunteering with a local charity or, you know, participating in a food drive, sometimes those opportunities, you never know who you'll meet there as well. And it's both self fulfilling, but it also gives you an opportunity to, in that way, do the work and show them, Hey, this is the type of work I enjoy doing.

This is what I, this is how I like to give back. And volunteering on different boards and committees as well that align with your passion as well. So for when I was first coming up, I sat on a lot of boards where I was maybe just a committee member at the time in communications so that I'm actually doing the work and being able to highlight that work that I'm doing, [00:08:00] even if it's not something that I'm necessarily getting paid for, but it's fulfilling both personally self fulfilling from a community give back standpoint, but also give me an opportunity to actually put some work into action.

Jolie Downs: Absolutely. I love this too. I think volunteering is such a powerful boost to your career in so many different ways. And I can't tell you how many people I've spoken with who had their volunteering experience actually shift their life in different ways or their experience. It just had such an impact.

So this is really great advice. And when you talk about being on committees for different organizations and such, how do you get yourself on those committees for people who might be interested in doing something like that? 

Alex Ebanks: Definitely. So I'm a big advocate of LinkedIn. If there is something that I'm interested in our organization, I signed up to be a member first.

So I'm actually able to go to the general body meetings and understand. Oh, hey, this is something that you know, I'm interested in. Are there opportunities that way? But then also reaching out to people that are in those organizations on LinkedIn has been very helpful to me just to ask, Hey, can we hop on a 15 to 30 minute, you know, [00:09:00] informational call?

Yeah. I'd love to learn more. I'd love to see how I can raise my hand and volunteer my time. And then once you get the opportunity to speak to someone, then mapping out, what is it that you're interested in volunteering for based on what they share and then what your time commitment could be. One of the biggest things that I always tell people is don't

over volunteer yourself, actually map out what time you have available because the worst thing that could happen is you volunteer for too many things and you're actually not able to dedicate time to it. And then that leaves a poor impression. So one of my goals is I map out at least no more than two boards or committees a year to ensure that I have the time to dedicate both to my professional life, personal life, but also to community service, give back opportunities as well.

Jolie Downs: Really smart. And, that's an incredibly important point that everyone needs to keep in mind to, to only promise as much time as you're able to give. Like you said, you want to leave the best impression. So that's a really important point. I also want to just take note of your first point of creating a [00:10:00] timeline and a calendar.

I think this is also. Very, very powerful in making your goals happen. I've, I've, I've witnessed it myself. You know, I was struggling to, to reach a goal and it just kept getting farther and farther away until someone pinpointed me. They're like, well, what, what's your date? Like, what's your end date? And it was, he made me pick an end date.

And then just having that end date, it was in the back of my head. And, you know, I was just, I had to make things happen to. to get it done by the end date. So it really is a great psychological hack. I'm just curious, do you have any goals that you're working on right now for the, like your next six months?

So 

Alex Ebanks: it's funny is in December. So in a couple weeks, some of my friends were actually getting together to write down our goals. So we've charged each other to each have at least three to four goals that we're going to write down. And then we can talk about them as a collective because there are opportunities may come up where a friend say, Oh, that's a great goal.

I actually know someone that could, I could connect you with on your way to reaching that goal. [00:11:00] Yes. So it's my first time doing it with friends, but I think I have a starting point of my three to four goals, but I'm going to think about a little bit more before we get ready for that, goal made up session.

Jolie Downs: That is a great. Great advice to everybody, to do that with your friends. A, that's fun. Like you said, B who knows how people can support each other in their goals. I know there's this company called mind Valley that does this with every new employee, they have them spend a lot of time working out what their goals are, both personally, professionally in all these different areas, and they do a comprehensive thing that they share with the whole company so that everybody can be aware of what people want to do so that they can all support each other.

And I think that's really beautiful. So I love how we can bring this to our own lives and do this with our own friends, get together, support each other with each other's goals. And then you can talk about those dates, right? Together. 

Alex Ebanks: And then they'll keep you on track too. I have a friend and we constantly are stay on top of each other.

Hey, I know you said you want to do this by this time. [00:12:00] You know, how are you tracking towards it? Okay. You know, I may hear something and say, Hey, I know you're tracking towards the school by this date. Here's what's come up, you know, sharing with them. It's really great to have a really strong network, of just people that you trust and people that.

Want to see you succeed as much as you would like to succeed. 

Jolie Downs: Oh, yeah, I completely agree. And, and having that accountability partner makes a huge difference. I would say in fact, those two things that you just shared, , creating a date, and publicly stating the date, and having an accountability partner, were two of the.

Biggest key motivating factors that got me to finish my book. It is, it is a very powerful, one-two process. So I highly suggest that to everybody. Now, what about a story? Cause I love stories. We learn so much from them. Is there something that's happened to you in your career that turned out to be an impactful lesson because it happened to you and by sharing it, other people could learn from it as well.

Alex Ebanks: Definitely, definitely. So I think for me, over the course of my career, [00:13:00] I, I've gotten to travel and go to a lot of great opportunities and trips and, and all sorts of things. But for the biggest one for me has always been the people I work with. And when I first started out early on in my career at an agency.

 I met some people that are some of my best friends to date. And so one of the people that I met, actually when I was coming over to Essence is a person that hired me. And so we hadn't worked together in several years, but an opportunity came up on her team and she said, Hey, I love the opportunity to work together again.

Would you be open to coming over? So just building a strong network, and that was even earlier on in my career, never thought, you know, when, we would run into each other and we were friends, but never thought, you know how we would circle back professionally in a way. And when I went off and went into different industries and different career paths, but it was not only that moment that got me to where I am today at my current company, but then I through that was able to then reach out to some other people that we work with there as well [00:14:00] and bring them actually over and still work together in various ways.

So it's just for me, it's really always been about the people I've worked with. I got to work with some amazing people. I think at every job I've had thus far. I have close friends that I talked to, if not weekly every other day. So those were the moments for me that I think really stuck out and for that moment to happen so early in my career and be able to continue as a thread throughout.

Yep. That has been one of my most impactful, I think, and moments that I personally treasure in how that's worked out. 

Jolie Downs: Yes. I love it. And you know, well, I don't believe we should ever put up with toxicity types of situations. Um, it is really important just keeping good relations with everyone that you come across and, you know, really doing your best not to burn bridges because it is amazing how often I hear about these

amazing opportunities that come from a relationship that came from so much earlier in the career, right? And for young people, it's not always at top of mind what these [00:15:00] relationships, how they could impact your, your future career or your future life. And so I like to remind everybody that, that it is a small world, even if, even though it's really big, these things come around way more than you realize.

And it's always best to going back to be kind to you when you're going to come back around because look at those connections all paid off for you and for others, as you move through the years, we 

Alex Ebanks: bring each other up with us, um, whether the opportunity is to come join us at the company we're in, or uh, You know, an opportunity where we're traveling and there's an event that someone else may be doing.

I say, Hey, come, you know, come over and have a good time with us over at this event. So bringing each other up is really important. 

Jolie Downs: Right. And then we can all do that. I always want to point that out. We can all bring each other up. Yes. It's free and easy. It is. It is. So now what about a challenge?

Oh, you, what's been one of your bigger career related challenges and how did you overcome it? 

Alex Ebanks: That's a really good [00:16:00] question. I think for me, I'm always open to learning. And so I would say over the course of my career, there's been moments where, I've experienced something and I've had to learn from it.

And after I've learned from it, it's something that I actually go back to a lot, even just as I've matriculated. So it could be, you know, Yeah. A situation that's occurred. And, you know, I think back ago I would have handled that differently now that I've sat and thought about it. So one of the things I think from those challenges of just things I learned as I was matriculating is how I manage my team that I currently oversee now.

So I have a team about six people and those earlier career lessons and challenges I experienced has actually brought me to understand how my leadership style, needs to be implemented. So one of the first things I do when I get new team members is I like to listen and learn from them, hear their thoughts, hear what, their quirks, what makes them excited, what makes them happy, what, what makes them sad, you know, what are the things that they want to do and, you know, they continue to grow and then form more of a [00:17:00] partnership

then it feeling very hierarchical. So being able to make sure that they feel like I'm in it with them. We're doing the work together. I'm supporting them and that there is an open door policy around transparency. And I think I wouldn't have learned that and how I apply it today to the teams that I oversee if it wasn't for some of the challenges I experienced over the early parts of my career as I was growing.

And so, you know, that's probably the biggest things I I've. get most excited about is working with my teams and really helping them, elevating them and supporting them, in the work that they do every day. 

Jolie Downs: Yes. What, the way you just described how you work through the team, and this is to me, how all managers should be working with their teams.

This is the way of successful, thriving teams that are creative, that are are going to basically reach those goals, right? I mean, it's the old paradigm of the authority figure, you know, it just, the best talent doesn't want to [00:18:00] work under these types of leadership.

Exactly. And so I love hearing about, Forward thinking leadership, 

Alex Ebanks: being a good partner. That's what I've always been. There are hard conversations. I always just encourage people don't do it in a large group setting. People will very much take it much better if it's more of a one on one conversation.

My teams know we'll do lunch. You know, we'll, we'll have chats, we'll talk about, okay, this may have happened, instead of harping on what occurred, maybe how do we improve from it, what did we learn? And then just more relaxed setting sometimes always helps and more conversational style versus it feeling more of a reprimanding situation.

Jolie Downs: Yeah. Now, have you had to get to a situation where you've had to let someone go because whatever was, was not working? 

Alex Ebanks: I would say yes. You know, those are the times it makes me sad because I'm really big on like growing versus situations that turn into something where, it's more of a challenge that can't be solved.

But I think, [00:19:00] I, I very much like to give it many chances, like to, which sometimes I fault myself for because I'm like, Oh, I probably should have solved that a little earlier, but just trying to figure out, are there any other options before getting to a point of that nature? But 

Jolie Downs: yeah, if you're going to err on a side, I think it's always better to err on the side of.

being a good human. Um, so, but I wanted to ask that because I, I really liked your style. And so I was curious if there was, if there was a way you go about those difficult situations, with an employee where, it gets to the point where you kind of have to let them go. 

Alex Ebanks: Mm hmm. Yes. And I think one of the things that I've learned in situations like that is giving.

various opportunities to see if, if there's just, you know, maybe a fit issue, before having to get to that point. So sometimes, you know, giving people different types of projects, you know, working with different cross functional partners and leaders and seeing how they thrive in those environments before, it gets to that point.

And then if it's, if it's the point where none of those puzzle [00:20:00] pieces fit and work then, the more difficult conversations have to happen, but yeah, when it 

Jolie Downs: sounds like you're having those conversations regularly throughout, so it's not like the employee would be surprised. That's the same. I mean, I'm 

Alex Ebanks: super transparent.

I'm like, yeah, we will talk about something way before it will ever get to that point. And oftentimes, you know, once you talk to someone about it and they understand, you kind of work through a plan of how to get back on track, it works out really well because they now trust you and they can take that feedback and apply it.

And same thing I've, you know, experienced even in my career growth with managers I've had, like taking feedback, applying it. I always tell people I'm really big on like getting gut checked. I'm always like, okay, gut check me on this. Am I being crazy? Does this make sense to you? Whether it's peers or managers to just understand, you know, The feedback aspect is a big thing for me.

It's like, I know I'm not perfect. No one is. So what are some ways that I can even improve, um, in my own different settings? 

Jolie Downs: Yeah. Which is incredibly important, isn't [00:21:00] it? To be open to the feedback yourself as well. Yes. We all, we all can use improvement always. People who are willing to give, constructive feedback only helps us be our best selves.

So, yeah, I love it. Now, and if you, okay, I was curious too, because you have won a lot of awards and you've gotten a great deal of recognition for your work. And I know there's people out there who want that for themselves. I was just curious if you had any advice or, any insights for someone who wanted to gain a little bit of recognition for themselves.

Alex Ebanks: Definitely. So I, it's funny because I, I said it early in the conversation, I had set my goal this year. I was like, well, I'd love to like, just, you know, focus on two awards and apply to those and see if I get them. And then in a great way that I did not expect, I started getting all these additional awards that I, some of them I didn't even know existed.

So I was like, even better. Um, or some were, you know, first time awards, you know, and so things like that. So that's been a blessing this year, but I would say. I [00:22:00] always tell people when they're looking to get that recognition to start in your industry. So one of my first awards, well, two of my first awards was one, as a top HBCU alumni, um, on behalf of HBCU Buzz, they do an annual list every year of top 30 under 30.

HBCU alumni and what they're doing. So I started looking at the profiles of people that had been previously selected. And as I was building my application, it was kind of figuring out what areas of experience, you know, have I built that aligned with what they were looking for. And so, you know, really looking at, okay, where did I go to college first?

Cause I was like, I can't go for the big awards yet. I'm still early on my career. So looking at those aspects. And then, when I got the PRSA Georgia award, I You know, lived in Georgia. I think going on 17 years now in Atlanta. And so looking at, okay, you know, I've been working in the PR industry for a while in Georgia.

You know, there's an award opportunity for that same thing. Looking at profiles, people that have previously gotten the award. I knew some of the people that have previously received the award. So asking them questions [00:23:00] and then preparing my application in the best way possible to then apply and be selected for those.

So I always say, start with your industry and then anything related to your experience, whether it's College or, you know, I know a lot of colleges actually do those like top 40 or 40 awards for alumni as well. So starting there and then as you continue to grow, look out for some of this additional awards that you may really want to set your eye on.

And then there's opportunities that are to come that you may not expect. So those are always really exciting, too, because you're like, wow, my work is actually being recognized. And those are words I did not apply for necessarily. 

Jolie Downs: That's awesome. I'm really, really good advice. Thank you for that. So this has been such a great conversation.

Before you go, I'd love to ask a couple of my favorite, my favorite questions. Yeah, of course. So I love to ask people about how they proactively feed their mind, because I think it's very important that we are constantly. Well, because we're constantly being fed information. I think it's important that we we are proactive about feeding our mind in the most positive way [00:24:00] possible.

Is there anything that you have read, watched or listened to that's had a positive impact on you that could potentially have a positive impact on other people? 

Alex Ebanks: Yes, definitely. So I read the year of yes. Rhymes and that was one of my favorite books because it got me a bit out of my comfort zone around, you know, things that I probably would not have said yes to.

 And by doing that, I learned a lot of new things. I met a lot of new people by that because they were like, Oh, I, you know, I'd love to explore going to South Africa one day and it was just on my list. But I was, but then when I got asked by friends, Hey, do you want to go to South Africa?

Normally I would've been like, no, I'll probably wait a few years. Then I was like, no, I'm going, yes, I'm going this year. So that was a big one for me. And then I love the first 90 days, which is another book. It's really great when you're starting a new job or sometimes just when you need a refresher, if you get a new role on your current company, because it really resets your mind on how to think differently in a new organization or in a new [00:25:00] role, how to, you know, really work with new team members, whether they're, you know, people reporting to you are also peers and how to manage up.

So that's another one of the books that I think I like to read as a refresher. Not only when I've, um, you know, went to different companies, but also even different roles. 

Jolie Downs: Yeah, no, that's really interesting. What's one of the key lessons they have in the book for the first 90 days? 

Alex Ebanks: Hmm. It's a lot of good ones.

I think if I summarize it, I would say it's just how to approach things differently and thinking differently. So instead of taking what you previously may have done in a past company, um, you know, maybe looking at a new opportunity differently on how you can apply. a different ways. I think for me in the course of my career, how I've utilized it is I've I've been in various industries.

I haven't stayed in just one industry like just entertainment or just, you know, consumer packaged goods or just tech. I've really explored various industries, and I think that's taught me through just reading that book of like the transferable skills that I've had and how they can be applied in different [00:26:00] organizations that are very different, just very different types of organizations and how to best apply those leadership skills and ways of thinking in various ways.

Jolie Downs: Interesting. Yes. Okay. Now, my, my last question that I love is the superpower question because I believe that we are born with superpowers and that we develop superpowers over time. And I'm curious, is there, I mean, you can share one of each, but I always love to hear about a developed superpower over time because these are things that any of us can, can learn to develop.

What is your personal superpower? How has it helped you in your life? 

Alex Ebanks: I would say networking. I am a huge networker. But I really started just because I like, I was one of those kids in school. We were in elementary, middle school that your parents would come to parents at your conference and was like, Oh, you know, Alex is talking too much.

So that was always like my, my little piece, but it worked out in the long run. But for me, I love talking. I love meeting new people. I love, you know, catching up with friends. And [00:27:00] so I've turned that in as I've been, you know, as I got to college and I started matriculating through my career into how I network.

And so what I've really think is the superpower there is, as I shared earlier, you never know who you're going to meet. It could be an opportunity that you meet someone that's a great friend, someone that, you know, personally helps you with something you may be going through, someone professionally, but just that art of networking and having like a great group of people that you know, that you can reach out to and say, Hey, I'm traveling to a city that I've never traveled to before.

And I'm looking for great restaurant recommendations. What do you think having those just that, that great network for various things really, I think has been my biggest superpower and one that I truly cherish because it has worked out. amazingly for me on all aspects of, of life over the past, I would say more than 10 years now.

Jolie Downs: So good. Now, when you don't know someone and you're just meeting them, is there something that you do that helps you break the ice with a new person? 

Alex Ebanks: [00:28:00] Definitely. I think for me, I like to dress up in clothes. I love clothes, clothes and shoes. Um, as a lot of us, as a lot of women do. And so I think that's one of the.

the biggest things that I, um, utilize as a talk track. If I meet someone new, um, you know, Hey, love your blouse, you know, um, you know, love your shoes, you know, purse, whatever it may be. Um, that's always a great way to kind of kickstart the conversation because previously to me kind of getting out of more of my comfort zone, this form of networking, I was a bit shy.

So I really would only connect with someone if, you know, there was a commonality there or someone introduced us. Uh, but now I'm like, you know what? Here I am, you know, hello, you know, starting up a conversation and then, um, you find some of those commonalities that you never would have thought of from those sorts of conversations.

Jolie Downs: Exactly. And I, you know, a compliment is a great way to make that, to, to kind of break that ice and do that introduction. You're making them feel good. Even if it doesn't fit into conversation, you just made someone feel good. Like 

Alex Ebanks: I said, I love clothes and shoes and purses and all the [00:29:00] accessories. So, someone always has one of those things on.

Yeah, it's helpful. Yeah. 

Jolie Downs: This has been wonderful. Thank you so much, Alex, for joining us on the Career Wanderlust podcast. I really appreciate it. This has been so exciting, so thank you so much. Oh, I loved every minute. Thank you. Thank you for joining us on the Career Wanderlust Podcast. If you find value in learning from others, give us a like and subscribe.

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