Strands of Genius: Perfectionists, Brown Girl Therapy, Strategy Jumpstart
Guest curated by Mariana Cotlear Vega
This year we’re aiming to highlight 50 creative thinkers that have inspired us, by giving them the opportunity to guest curate this newsletter, Strands of Genius. Rosie and Faris met Mariana at Stratfest in 2017, and she’s a Strategy Director at Edelman in DC.
:: A BIT MORE ABOUT GUEST CURATOR, MARIANA COTLEAR VEGA ::
LOCATION: Washington, DC
PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT: Edelman
Hi! I’m Mariana Cotlear Vega, a Strategy Director at Edelman based in Washington, D.C. I met Rosie and Faris at Stratfest in 2017 and I followed their smart thinking ever since. Earlier this year I launched the District Strategy League, a community of strats based in D.C., and while COVID put a damper on our grand plans for in-person meet ups, it reconnected me with Rosie and inspired us to think more about how we could help nurture strategy talent outside the main geographic hubs, the main agencies, and the mainstream career paths.
As a career pivoter and a recently appointed team lead, I think a lot about how people learn this discipline, how we nurture talent, and who gets access to strategy roles. I feel deeply that our profession desperately needs more BIPOC and multicultural representation, and in general, voices from those who come from outside the traditional paths.
In our interview, Rosie asked me if my path into the strategy field felt linear, and my answer was OH HELL NO. Frankly, I didn’t even know this was a career until I was 30. But I had the mindset, which I largely attribute to my multicultural upbringing. My parents moved our family here from Peru when I was four, and the experience of growing up with a foot in either culture turned me into a natural anthropologist who tried to mimic each in an ill-fated attempt to fit in.
I think there is a huge amount of untapped talent out there who may come up through other outsider or non-mainstream routes; “natural strategists” who intuitively code-switch… the original audience-based communication.
Yet many of us, also empaths by nature, also struggle with chronic self-doubt. It’s hard to build a strong sense of self confidence when you’ve never felt the acceptance of belonging, and it can manifest in a never-ending need to prove ourselves. The below are a few resources that I’ve found helpful along the journey as I strive to be a good strategist and leader of a strategy team.
The below are a few resources that I’ve found helpful along the journey as I strive to be a good strategist and leader of a strategy team.
Editor’s Note (Rosie): Can I just say that I am feeling especially pumped about this edition?! I’d been meaning to reach out to Mariana for a while, and who knows if you’ll be surprised to hear this, but I sometimes struggle with finding or figuring out which men to feature. We try to be good about the gender split, but my bias tends to be skewed towards women whose thinking I want to highlight. My list of wonderful women is long, and continues to grow fairly quickly. (It’s one of the reasons why I get so confused when conference organizers tell me they can’t find women. Um… where are you looking?!) Mariana is an absolute pleasure to follow Twitter, but what she failed to mention is that she’s also an artist!! I’m not kidding. I went down the Mariana rabbit hole weeks ago, and while I don’t have walls to hang art on right now, I want to own all of the things she makes. I gave her some hard balls for her interview, which will be published over on the School of Stolen Genius on Monday, and her answers… (Italian chef kissing fingers!) Thanks so much for being here, Mariana!
:: THE LINKS ::
HOW PERFECTIONISTS CAN GET OUT OF THEIR OWN WAY
It is great to have high standards. But perfectionism is a strategy failure and a misuse of resources. Yet all of the strategists I know have strong perfectionist tendencies, which makes it really hard to ever feel like our work is good enough, or that WE are good enough. Perfectionism drives the impostor syndrome that so many of us feel and that can hold us back from pursuing the types of roles and projects we’re really passionate about. HBR provides some good suggestions on how individuals can help overcome perfectionism barriers to help us stop getting derailed in our path to happiness and great work. (Harvard Business Review)
BROWN GIRL THERAPY
When people ask me what’s the ONE greatest thing I have done for my career as a strategist, my answer is always therapy. My number one strategy mentor is my therapist, who teaches me that emotions can be read and how to dig for the story under the story under the story. Many of us in this field struggle with our mental health -- it may be that very tendency to be stuck in our heads that makes us good at our jobs – and there are unique challenges facing BIPOC and multicultural individuals in our field. The community Sahaj Kohli has built around exploring these struggles is full of useful insights that I find myself applying to my own life constantly. (Instagram)
STRATEGY JUMPSTART
Starting a career in strategy can feel crazy overwhelming. It’s hard to figure out where to find information, community, resources etc. So my colleague Janine Perry just put them all together on her website for your perusal. (Janine Perry)
Looking for more from Maraina Cotlear Vega? Those enrolled in The School of Stolen Genius will receive a deep dive from him in their inbox shortly! You can access all our expert interviews for SOSG here.
:: AND NOW… SOME FAST FAVORITES ::
:: Game :: Pictionary
:: City :: Madrid, Spain
:: Book :: When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron
:: Podcast :: Radiolab: the Birthstory episode
:: Album :: Nick Hakim: Green Twins
:: MANAGING YOUR EMPATHY ::
This Twitter thread from Aisea Laungaue felt like a direct line into my brain.
(From Rosie: +1! Aisea was also a colleague of mine and Mark Pollard’s at Saatchi & Saatchi, and I treasured the short time we got to work together. Follow him on all the channels. He’s freakin’ awesome.)
Thanks for making it this far! If you identify as an aspiring strategist looking to make it in the field (and especially if you come from an underrepresented community) I will be hosting monthly office hours this fall to chat resources, portfolio development, networking and all that good stuff. If you’re interested, send me a note on Twitter or LinkedIn.
Mariana Cotlear Vega
mariana.cotlear@gmail.com
twitter | linkedin
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It's called Genius Steals because we believe ideas are new combinations and that nothing can come from nothing. But copying is lazy. We believe the best way to innovate is to look at the best of that which came before and combine those elements into new solutions.
Co-Founders Faris & Rosie are award-winning strategists and creative directors, writers, consultants and public speakers who have been living on the road/runway since March 2013, working with companies all over the world. Our Director of Operations is nomadic like us, our accounting team is based out of Washington, our company is registered in Tennessee, and our collaborators are all over the world. Being nomadic allows us to go wherever clients need us to be, and to be inspired by the world in between.
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