Mindfulness, Gratitude, and Career Resilience with Aileen Casmano

Overview:

In this episode of Tea Time with Tech Marketing Leaders, host Kerry Guard sits down with Aileen Casmano, a seasoned marketing professional with extensive experience in demand generation and team leadership. Aileen shares her deeply personal and inspiring journey of navigating a layoff, rebuilding confidence, and finding alignment in her career. With practical advice, mindfulness practices, and actionable insights, she discusses how to manage job loss's emotional and professional challenges while maintaining resilience and gratitude. This conversation offers invaluable lessons for marketers and professionals facing uncertain times.

Transcript:

Aileen Casmano 0:00

I mean, within the last year or two, I've heard people, I've experienced people deny candidates not want to move forward with them because they were laid off. Yeah,

Kerry Guard 0:16

Hello, I'm Kerry Gard and welcome back to Tea Time with tech marketing leaders. I'm so excited for today's show, today, today, today, today, I have the wonderful, wonderful, wonderful Aileen cosmano back on the show. She was with me a few years ago where we had such a powerful, wonderful conversation about bud, fear, uncertainty and doubt and how it did not belong and does not belong in our marketing and messaging. She was one of our first to start pushing this mindset, and I'm so proud to see how so much of the industry has really evolved and adopted it. So hats off to you, Aileen for making that happen and being on the forefront. Today, we're going to use a bit of that messaging, but not for marketing, but for our mindset and how to reframe things through uncertain times. Aileen, I'm so excited to have you here. Welcome back to the show. Thank you, Kerry, I'm so happy to be here. So before we get into our conversation, you've had an incredible career, from being a founding marketing hire at cytar to your current role to your previous role at Fauci trust, and you're being a founding team member of cybersecurity marketing society, which is a wonderful, wonderful group. If you are not part of it, go hit them up and get in there. It is awesome. What's going on over there?

Aileen Casmano 1:35

Yes. So I was at cyvatar for a little over two years. Helped build out the marketing and go to market function there. Then I went on to join a series a startup called Fiso trust. I was the first demand gen hire lead there, and got to work with awesome, our awesome head of marketing, Jenny Duong there. We were there for two years. We again built out and scaled the demand gen and marketing function, and unfortunately, in July, I was laid off from Fiso trust, so I I just started my new role on Monday at blink ops as the director of demand gen, which I'm so grateful and happy and loving it so far, but it was my first layoff, so I went through that roller coaster and of emotions and feelings, and we're going to talk a lot about it today, because I want to spread positivity to other Marketers experiencing a layoff, but also share that you're not alone and it doesn't last forever. So I never thought I'd be excited to talk about it, but now that I'm on the other side, I think it's important to talk more about it.

Kerry Guard 2:53

Definitely we are going to dive into all of that way to rip off the band aid and give the game. I'm here for it before we get there, though, I know you're all on the edge of your seats. Start, start thinking of all the questions you have for alien and get them ready. Because right now, why don't you share a challenge with us in terms of what you're currently facing? You know, you just started a job. What's going on over there?

Aileen Casmano 3:15

I would say, I'm I'm diving in, but I'm being intentional about it. I'm really taking the time to understand, you know, what exists and what needs to be built on from the demand gen, you know, side, using data where I can as a source of truth, and just asking a lot of questions. I'm telling my manager, just put me on meetings. Let me listen. Let me ask questions, just trying to dive in and just incredibly thankful and grateful for this new chapter that I'm starting this week.

Kerry Guard 3:50

July, you said, Yeah, laid off. Okay, so walk us through what happened. It was it just a company wide decision. How'd that go down? Because that's always an interesting story of how companies handle that news. So what was, yeah, yeah. How did it unfold?

Aileen Casmano 4:10

Yeah, it was a it was a company wide layoff. So it affected multiple departments. Had a few days of heads up that the layoffs were coming. I wasn't sure if I would have been affected or not, but I started mentally preparing myself, talking to my family members, friends, my partner, like, you know, just really trying to take care of myself mentally first, because it's, it's, it's a really scary concept to grasp, that there's an end to, you know, your your benefits, your paycheck and site and so first and foremost, I tried to put my mental health first. And then on the, you know, another side, like a plan, like. From what I know, what, what can I do to start prepare financially for this? So, so, yeah, it sucks. Some, you know, some, I loved working there. I loved my co workers. And we I didn't get to see a lot of things I put in place. I didn't get to see those through which I'm which I was bummed about, but we all leaned on each other, everyone that was affected, and people that were still there, and we still have, you know, lasting relationships beyond the layoff. So I'm happy that brought me that as well.

Kerry Guard 5:40

Are you guys all still taught like, are you have you stayed connected through the whole experience? Or was it just initially and you fell off with sort of, you're still talking.

Aileen Casmano 5:48

We're still talking. We had a group chat going. We were sharing jobs with each other as some of us got new jobs, we were, you know, trying to recommend jobs at our company to to each other, so it was really just like a support system, sharing the the ups and downs of interviewing and navigating a very uncertain job market. So I have to say, every company I've worked at, I've left with lifelong friends, so it's, it's, yeah, thankful for them, absolutely a

Kerry Guard 6:26

blessing. So that was July. So what did you you said you made a plan. How did that what initially went into that plan, and did you actually execute that plan, or did the plan totally change?

Aileen Casmano 6:38

I mean, I was just when it happened. It was, how can I take care of myself mentally? You know, you start to take it personally. I'm not, you know, I wasn't good enough. I wasn't smart enough. You know, a lot of narratives going on in your head, and it's simply just not true. It's a business decision, and I took it really personally. I'd never been laid off before, so I was like, Well, you know, there's something wrong with me, like they would have kept me if they really, you know, cared about me and whatnot. So the first thing I did was find someone to talk to, like a mental health therapist, to navigate one that's had, had, has experience and helps helps clients navigate layoffs, and so I am still working with her today, because I just started to have a lot of negative self talk, negative thoughts. My confidence was really low, and that was that was affecting me from moving forward right and trying to focus on the future. I'm really glad that I that I seek that help out from the start, because I think if I didn't, I would be in a different spot. Today, I leaned on my friends and family. I cried on the phone with my mom a lot and my sister. And, you know, the plan was, just take care of myself, and then, okay, financially, like, you know, what can what areas can I cut back on, figure out unemployment, stuff like that. So, so, yeah, that was the kind of immediate action plan things changed over time, which were in a good way. But I would say, if I could look back and change one thing, it would have been to take some time before looking for a new job. And I did start consulting right away, and I mean, like, literally the week after, I got laid off. And I really wish I'd given myself some at least a week or two to grasp and process everything, because I think I was just trying to forget it happened and just throw myself into doing other things, and I think I needed some down time to process it all. That

Kerry Guard 9:08

is a really good insight, because I do find that it's really hard to sit with really hard feelings, and so we find it easier to keep moving and avoid

Aileen Casmano 9:23

right feeling.

Kerry Guard 9:27

So you went into consulting. How did you, you know, at what point did you decide to get that mental health specialist, and when did you start facing some of those feelings? Yeah, so

Aileen Casmano 9:36

initially, um, right away, while I still had health insurance because I did get a severance package that my health insurance continued for a certain amount of time, and thankfully, I found someone that worked with me. We figured out a an agreement of when my insurance went away, you know, so that I was able to continue. You to still get that counseling and, um, you know, I know not everyone is in a position like that, so that was like my saving grace, honestly. So I highly recommend it if you're in a position to do that, just even if it's once a month, having a safe space and someone to coach you through and give you tools that you can use to just get through. Everything was so helpful.

Kerry Guard 10:29

I have a coach. I've had a coach for last three years. Before that, I had a mentor, and I also am a big believer in therapy, so yes to that safe space, you definitely want to be able in my experience, that I haven't been laid off, thank goodness. So I'm not speaking from that place, which is a whole other world I have hope to never experience, and I'm so you know, I can't imagine. But for the things that I've gone through, having a space outside of my family has been huge, because they get into the thick of it with you, and they feel with you, and that's good, and you need that. And you need somebody who's can create space where they're not in the thick of it with you, and they can help you reframe that. So talk to me a little bit about what that coach sort of taught you in moving through and sort of facing those feelings and then getting over the hump, like

Aileen Casmano 11:24

I mentioned, I had a lot of negative thoughts and negative self talk in my head about the layoff and like, oh my gosh, I'm never going to find a new job. They're going to look at the layoff as a negative and layoffs are so taboo. Still. People say they aren't, but they are. And I was just like, totally beating myself up, like, I

Kerry Guard 11:48

want to pause there. Tell me more about why you feel like it's still very taboo, and tell me about we need to, I hope everybody's listening.

Aileen Casmano 11:58

We need to fix that past experience working with people and hiring and looking at resumes and linkedins. I mean, within the last year or two, I've heard people, I've experienced people deny candidates not want to move forward with them because they were laid off. Yeah, so experience that on the hiring end, and then I was on the other side right, and I'm like, Oh my gosh, this is like a nightmare. How am I going to what story am I going to tell? Like it was almost like I felt like I had to fabricate why, you know, like, defend myself. And I that's not authentic at all, right? And I did tap into the cyber marketing society and I joined cyber job therapy calls, which are which are bi weekly calls of a group of people in the community that are experiencing a layoff or just looking for, you know, their next role. And learned I wasn't alone in that, but going back to the tools and working with the therapist, I think her first and foremost, like her priority for me, was like, What are you going to do to take care of yourself? What does that look like? And that for me was limiting, you know, screen time and scrolling and incorporating mindfulness into my life. So I started a daily gratitude practice in the morning, like five minutes or less, and she would send me certain prompts or gratitude like meditations and practices to use. I would write down what I still do every morning now, what I'm grateful for. It could be like the cup of coffee that you drank, or the color pink or the smell of a flower, right? But like finding pieces of your day that you can be grateful for with this like this doom that you're experiencing, I started journaling my feelings, and honestly, the talk therapy just helped. And like, she has other clients that she works with and has helped them navigate a layoff so she kind of knew what to expect and had things, had tools and practices lined up, that really helped me, I think, to the biggest like, one of the things I struggled with was that, like imposter syndrome, and I was getting myself really worked up before interviews and really nervous and anxious, and that was hindering my my my performance in the interview, because I was so anxious, and so we incorporated routines that I would do before interviews to really settle In and ground, and that looked like deep breathing exercises, making sure I was emotionally ready and prepared, making sure that I did my due diligence to prep for the interview and had answers to questions like prepared and top of mind. And so that was just like invaluable. Up to, like, helping me get to a confident mind, helping me get to a place where I was confident. And it took, it took a lot of time. It did I was just knocked down.

Kerry Guard 15:13

Yeah,yeah, I can imagine I, I mean, I know so many stories of people being laid off, and it is does take that initial sort of pummel and then you got to pull yourself up from your bootstraps. I love the breathing aspect because it's so underrated. I when I first moved to Guernsey, it rocked my system really hard. I didn't even realize it. And when I finally found a therapist here, the first thing he made me do was breathing. He's like, you're going to breathe like it's your job, like five to 10 times a day. You're gonna sit, you're gonna breathe for seven in and 11 out, five times, like five to 10 times a day, ready go homework assignment, you're gonna breathe and honestly like, wow, I was so surprised at how much calmer I was, and I could feel and I could be just by that. The other thing I love when I feel like I have to walk into a moment like an interview, is this Superwoman pose? Apparently, there's been studies that show that if you stayed in the Superwoman pose for like, a few minutes before you walk into any sort of important meeting your confidence, like, really, I have to chat. Your postures change. You're upright, you're making yourself big, yeah, and you're breathing, and it's all those things and yeah. So that helps too, of if you've ever seen Ted lasso, so when she talks about making yourself big, right? Yep, you know, go looking in the mirror and, like, really making yourself big, to take up that space. And, you know, find those moments of empowerment as you walk into those into those meetings. I just, I love those tips and tricks. They're they're underrated and are awesome. So I love that, that you sort of had a little bit of a routine of that breathing and that calming before you entered those meetings.

Aileen Casmano 17:17

Yeah,and I don't want, for those listening, I don't want you to feel intimidated by, like, building this crazy mindfulness practice, like I'm talking 20 minutes before an interview, for that, like mental prep and breathing and grounding, and then for gratitude, a gratitude routine five minutes in the morning. Like, nothing crazy, I'm busy too. Like it's possible,

Kerry Guard 17:42

yeah, studies show with gratitude, it grounds yourself in the moment of feeling your environment around you and thinking about something positive as well. So there's been huge studies show that it helps tremendously in your mental health. I think it was Brene Brown, I know I heard her talk about the research on that, and I think that's really helpful. Of again, just how it it's all about grinding, it's all about grounding you in the moment and helping you feel present to be able to tackle anything.

Aileen Casmano 18:14

Yeah, and it really did help. I noticed, like, every day, I became an inch more positive, like about the interview I had upcoming or applying to jobs. Like, I'm still working on it today. I'm not like fully, you know, but it literally like felt each day, improvement, little bits of improvement. So highly recommend it. It also you really start to appreciate what you have, especially in a time of loss or layoff, like you really look at what you have that's solid, and you're like, God, I'm very lucky. I have a roof over my head, I have a car. I have nutritious food like you really start to appreciate it, because being laid off, just like you experience how quickly something can be taken away from you.

Kerry Guard 19:11

We do at MKG. I love this. We do every Friday. We've known it forever. We end our Friday retro with gratitude, where we all go around and say one thing we're grateful for, and then one of our employees started doing something personal and something professional. And so now we do one personal grateful, one professional grateful, which is nice too, because you get to hear where other people are at, both personally and professionally too. So sharing your gratitude with others. I would also highly recommend so if you're in a if you know of somebody being laid off and you know, to take a moment and share a gratitude moment with them, of asking them what they're grateful for, and it's just yeah, it says to be in that moment together. So talk me through that transition. In of, you know that pot you said it was sort of the the you were sort of gaining an inch every day. Where did you finally see like, oh, it's working. Did you have an aha moment of, I actually feel kind of better. Where did that happen?

Aileen Casmano 20:18

It totally correlated with my performance in the interviews. So in the beginning, when I first started interviewing, I was overly anxious, because I was so my confidence was so low that I was almost sabotaging the interview, like before, you know, before I even had a chance, like I was just so, so anxious and, like, nervous of the interview and how my the layoff was going to come off to the person interviewing me and like that, I feel like I was, you know, in turn, it was affecting my performance. And literally, as I started using the tools from counseling and incorporating them over time, I was getting more interviews and progressing more with those interviews. I would say it took from like July to probably October, November to get to a like a spot where I felt stronger and confident and didn't wake up every day like doom and gloom. Oh my gosh. This is like, I'm going to be laid off forever. There's no end in sight. I also started learning I was just taking any interview I could get. In the beginning, it was like a trauma response, right? Like, oh, I just need, I need a job. Like, I'll take any job. Um, and working with my counselor, she was like, you don't want to end up in a similar position that you were in. Like, now is a great time to reset and really think about and she had me list out qualities in a company and in a role that I wanted, and if we agreed that if you know, a company didn't align with that, whether it be after like the first or second interview, I wasn't going to move forward with interviewing with that company. And that really helped me put my time and energy into like value, like companies that I saw myself at, and it helped me manage my time better and, like, prepare better and focus on like potential opportunities that I actually wanted, instead of just taking interviews and progressing out of like a feeling of desperation.

Kerry Guard 22:38

Did you find yourself turning down a lot of those like, or,

Aileen Casmano 22:43

yeah, there were, there were, like, I would get reached out to by recruiters. I would just be like, yeah, let me take this. And I found myself turning, you know, turning down recruiters like, hey, this company profile just doesn't fit what I'm looking for, or after interviewing with the team, whether it was like culture fit or whatnot, just feeling like I'm not this, this doesn't match up with what you know I want.

Kerry Guard 23:12

What were some of the attributes you were looking for when you were going through the interview process to say, Yes, this feels good. Or no, this is a terrible idea. Yeah.

Aileen Casmano 23:20

So I did not want to be the sole marketer, or the first time marketer, like no marketing team, starting from scratch, been there, done that, and it was, it was interesting, saying, you know, I don't want to do hard work. I'm just looking to, you know, expand my, my, you know, marketing portfolio and skill set with more established demand gen and digital programs. When you're the first time higher, usually it's very like entry level foundational things. So that was one another. Was I really wanted a mentor in marketing, or mentors. So, you know, CMO, Senior Director, VP, I wanted people, you know, people above me that I can continue to learn leadership skills from strategy skills, and that comes down to a culture, fit and work style, fit and leadership. Style, fit. So I would ask questions in interviews about leadership style, you know, dynamic of the team, and could get a feel for if it was someone I wanted to learn from and work for. And then those were, like, big ones. I mean, there's company demographics, you know, things that I, you know, had on my list, stage of of the company employee size, whatever they could share with me about, you know, the maturity of their revenue and their sales team. So, yeah. So those. Are some other other things on my list.

Kerry Guard 25:03

What I love is, you know, I've had so many people on the show over the years when I met so many of you in person at cyber marketing con, and it's just so cool to see so many people know what they do and don't want so there are so many folks out there who do want to be that first hire. They're like, Yes, I get to build from the ground up. This sounds awesome. Team together. Like there are lots of those folks. And there's also one you know, folks in your position too, who are like, I want to be part of something bigger than me that's already underway. And what I loved about something that you said was that the the mentor piece, I think, is just underrated. I don't I don't know that a lot of people think about what it could mean in sort of working with not only a bigger team, but to have the right folks above them that they can connect with. So what were some of the attributes in terms of that leadership that were important to you? To say, oh, I can totally learn from this person.

Aileen Casmano 26:10

This is gonna be great hearing their sort of vision for the role, instilling autonomy in me and the other team members, ownership autonomy. You know, I didn't just want to join and be told what to do, or, you know, follow a set of, you know, bullet points on a job description. That was one, the mentality that, you know, we don't expect you to know everything and know how to do everything, but we expect you to put the effort into figure it out if, if it comes up. I felt like there were some hiring managers that everything demand gen you need to be an expert at. I just like, want to ask, you know, engineers or product managers, like, are you an expert at everything you do. I doubt it. You know, there's, there's obviously familiarity and experience that I have with all parts of demand gen, probably every part of demand gen, but what I call myself an expert at every single thing? No, I, you know, bring in experts like contractors or agencies or hire, you know, more team members, if that's a possibility. And I have my area of expertise, but I wouldn't say I'm an expert in everything, because that's just that sounds like a big a tall order to fill.

Kerry Guard 27:40

I feel like everybody has a superpower in terms of marketing, of what they're great at. But to ask, I love telling the story. I was in the case with my husband the other day, and he was asking about our marketing efforts at mkg, and I was explaining to him this sort of content motion that I was getting going, and he's, he's like, okay, and he just left the room. And I was like, are you okay? Like, oh, we're done. Here. Are you okay? He was like, just too many moving pieces. So yes to that, I mean to be to get a demand gen motion in motion takes a huge amount of resources, not to not say from an expense standpoint, but just like you need the right people who know the right thing to get the right thing going. So yeah, I just needed to double down with you on that one. That's insane. They expect you to do everything about everything. Yeah, in terms of the of how you found your current company, what was the sort of aha moment of, pick me, pick me. Or congratulations, I'm picking you. Um, you know, what was sort of, you know, when did you know you wanted to be there? And then what was sort of the vibe and and walking into, like, thinking about your journey of, you know the layoff, I mean, that's a six month journey that's that's an evolution in terms of how we can change in time. So what, from where you were feeling when you first got laid off to that experience of feeling like you found the thing?

Aileen Casmano 29:17

I made it to final rounds with a few companies and didn't get selected. Obviously, everyone kept saying, like, you're going to end up at the company that is meant for you, like you don't want to end up somewhere where your second pick or whatever. And I feel like it really did happen like that way, and it I didn't believe it while I was going through it, but now that I'm again on the other side, it's couldn't be more true. I think what was, what was most like, helpful in that through that process, was the feeling like gut feeling, almost obviously, the recruiter reached out about the role, and it was, it sounded exciting. Writing, and I agreed to, you know, learn more. And with each person I met with each step, I sort of checked in with myself after and was like, am I excited about this? Like, am I dreading the next interview? Or am I like, let's get this next interview scheduled, like I want to. Let's go like I want this job, and with with Blink ops, every person I met got, you know, I got more excited, and it got better, and I got just being able to hear, like, dig, get deeper into like, what the job would entail, and who I would be like interfacing with, and some of the immediate projects got more and more excited, and I just kind of felt in my gut like that. It was, it was going to be the one like I tried to not get my hopes up too much, but I I had a feeling that they felt the same that I did.

Kerry Guard 30:59

You just gotta vibe. Gotta follow the vibes, the good

Aileen Casmano 31:04

vibes, on the same page with a lot of our our strategy, like, mindset, cultural like, definitely culture fit like, felt it right away. So, so yeah, I would say it was a feeling and also a skills match, strategy match, mindset match.

Kerry Guard 31:24

So did you feel that way about any other company where it didn't go through, or was this the one and only like checked all the boxes

Aileen Casmano 31:34

I felt so I was interviewing with a company outside of cyber this fall, and their process was, like, literally, 10 rounds, and I made it to the last round, and I was like, I had to do a presentation. And I was like, I've got to have this like, they wouldn't have strung me along to the 10th round, like, and I knew someone that worked there, and she had referred me, and I I felt like I had the I was the top pick. And it just came down to, like, industry experience. They were looking for someone. It was a martech company, and they were, they were just like, honestly, we, we wish we could bring both of you on it, just like the need for this role, like, we just want someone with industry experience, so that they can just, like, on board and move quicker. And it was disappointing, because I was like, Well, you've known this all along. This isn't a surprise. I get it like you, you know you need options. There's never, like, the perfect candidate, but, but, yeah, I would say that there was one other company that I had my hopes up about, but I'm happy that it didn't work out. Because I'm happy where I ended up.

Kerry Guard 32:51

What was the difference in feeling between the two? Where like it? Because it just sounds like you You thought you had the other one. Because why I agree 10 rounds is, yes, I thought we were getting away from that, folks, I'm a little disappointed that we're having this conversation, but that's a different podcast. So was there a different feeling between those two of where you felt like with this one, this was definitely going through and this was it? This was awesome, or was it still a little bit of those jitters, a little bit of feel, you know, taking the feelings from the previous one and bringing that into this one? Or like,

Aileen Casmano 33:29

yeah, I would say, I would say I was just like, I didn't want to get my hopes up. I didn't want to I wasn't 100% sure, because I was just like, anything can happen, right? I could, there could be four people in the final rounds. I don't know you. You're only basing your, you know, your guess off what the recruiter is. You're hearing from the recruiter, I would say, given my like background and I was in the same industry and at similar sized companies, I felt like I was, you know, had an advantage. I didn't know what I was up against, but, um, but yeah, I think, like, when you're, you know, when you're knocked down, and like, it's you kind of, you do still doubt yourself a little of like, Am I good enough?

Kerry Guard 34:21

Yeah, yeah, oh, man, pack on, unpack that all day. It's that imposter syndrome is real. I love where you are, though, in terms of your mindset, and kudos to you for doing the hard work it is hard. You know, I know we're I don't want to say we're sugar coating it. Um, we're definitely not, and maybe we're making it sound harder than it sound harder than it is. I loved what you said in the beginning, Aileen, of like, don't be discouraged by you know what we're talking about. It's easy to to just start with these baby steps of gratitude and breathing, and you know all that helps you towards the a better mindset. You being a wonderful because Anne. Both of all of that, but it is the consistency and the waking up every day and putting that one foot in front of the other that is tough work. And so hats off to you for making it happen and and for the joyful place that you're in. I can feel it. I can just

Aileen Casmano 35:15

Yeah, I don't want to sugar coat it at all. It was, it was a roller coaster. I had my days. I cried to my like, I said, my mom and my therapist like it was not easy by any means, but I think what helped was hearing success stories from people, from peers, from people in the community, reading stuff on LinkedIn. LinkedIn was like a it was a good and bad. It was a necessary evil for looking for a job. But also, I would come across these posts that people I wasn't even connected to that would post like, I've been laid off for a year. I've been through 100 interviews, and I still don't have a job, and I had to, like, separate myself from LinkedIn and put boundaries around using LinkedIn, because I would read those posts and spiral from them. So, like, I said, you need to take care of yourself and, like, make sure that you're doing the things to support your mental health

Kerry Guard 36:20

you do, and you did, and it's awesome. I want to, I want to pivot to understanding in terms of your success story, of how you found your job. But before we get there, I think we need to spill the tea on what's going on, because it's, that's, it's a different conversation. And this is like a perfect spot, perfect spot

Aileen Casmano 36:44

for spilling it in tea time. We are, we are spilling

Kerry Guard 36:49

it. It's going to be awesome. So alien and I met at cyber marketing con in Philly in December, and had a mind meld. And I'm going to let you tell the storyline, because it's really yours, and I just, I get to be along the ride and support you in it. So, yeah, what are we what are we up to?

Aileen Casmano 37:08

Yeah. So Kerry and I were catching up, and I was kind of sharing where I was at, and I hadn't had my offer yet for my current role, but I was just like, you know, I have this idea of not only for people laid off, but also for marketers in general. Of like having a conversation around mindfulness, we're under as marketers. We're under an extreme amount of pressure and stress with KPIs and goals and spend and budget and ROI, and also into being in tech with layoffs. And so I was talking to Kerry, and I was just like, I have this idea, this, like, pull to do something with mindfulness and marketing because of sort of the practices that I implemented in my life, with being laid off, and even even before being laid off, like, just the burnout I had, I have experienced, and like, not taking care of of myself and just letting pressure and whatnot, you know, kind of wreck havoc on on my anxiety and stress. So I was sharing this with Kerry, and I was just like, you know, maybe a podcast or something, or a LinkedIn live, like, the conversation just needs to start happening more around this. And that's sort of how this episode came to be. She was like, come on the podcast. And, yeah,

Kerry Guard 38:38

well, we are starting our own show called the mindful marketer, and it kicks off on Monday with the wonderful, wonderful Anthony Viera, who will be joining us as our special guest, and him and Aileen will share their journeys once again, on the path to success in finding that job after being laid off. So you'll be able to re hear alien story. You'll get to hear Anthony's story, and then from there, we're going to have one a month, and we are going to bring on experts around mindfulness. It's not going to always be about marketing, which I think is great. I think we get to take a brain break from thinking about our jobs for a minute, and we get to hang out with really great people who do this for a living on a regular basis. And we just look forward to bringing you resources about how to tackle your jobs, which are really hard, and to tackle the in between spaces of when you're finding that next thing. So we are stoked. Please join us. I will drop a link to the episode after this show, and then you can go and join the event, and we will see you on Monday, which is a holiday in the US, MLK Day, so it's a perfect day to hang out with us for an hour and have a cup of tea and get ready for the week. Yeah,

Aileen Casmano 39:59

just. Just to add on to that, we'll be bringing on, you know, other marketers to share their stories, their mindfulness practices, and then also, we'll be looking to bring on therapists, counselors, coaches, mentors, and bring resources and tools to marketers to make them more successful in their role, build their confidence, manage stress, and just have resources to leverage to say happy, healthy, less anxious. So if you're interested in if you have a story you want to share, if you're interested in coming on, definitely. Message Kerry, message both of us on LinkedIn, or one of us doesn't matter, and we would love to, we would love to talk to you about it. Love,

Kerry Guard 40:45

love, DM, us for sure. Yes, wish before we I was about to read Kathy before we call it a call it a day here, alien, I could talk to you forever, and I'm looking forward to continuing the conversation on Monday, but I do want to share the success. Do want to share the success side of your story. We talked about the mental sort of gymnastics you did through the journey of the six months leading into your job. But how did you find your current position? What was sort of the process you went through in in getting to work with blank ops,

Aileen Casmano 41:21

yeah, so I had read a ton about optimizing my LinkedIn profile for recruiter, you know, searches and talent sourcing and whatnot, so I did some work on that once I got laid off, like, updated my headline, updated my roles and what fell under them, and really tried to tie numbers and and ROI to programs I built. And that resulted in a ton of recruiters reaching out to me, which was really exciting. And so the recruiter that was working with blank Ops had reached out about the role, just good old LinkedIn, DM, and obviously I researched the company and the founders and the CMO and everything. And it, you know, it was, it was a match, which was really exciting. But I, throughout the process of interviewing, I think, you know, having a community you can tap into for I was, I was in the rounds with a few companies in the cyber security marketing society, which I would have loved to, you know, work with, Had this not worked out. Reach out to people that you've worked with, like old co workers, ask them if their companies are hiring. There's so many, there's so much value in building a network in times like this, um, that usually, you know, can be a good shoe into a new role. Yay.

Kerry Guard 42:49

Networks, yes to that. And cyber security, marketing con. I mean, what a wonderful group of people. Gianna and Maria, have really taken that and run with it. It's, it's awesome. So hats off to them. And good call. And really tapping into your folks, I don't know, organic stories quite like this, in terms of finding a job. So what a moment to take a leap and send a DM and it sounds like I there's so many other DMS you probably sent leading up into that moment to so many other companies, it was it had you optimized your message, which just happened because somebody you knew, like, what? What do you feel like? To

Aileen Casmano 43:30

clarify, the recruiter reached out to me, but it was because I optimized my LinkedIn profile for the role that I wanted. So I made sure to have a really strong headline. You know, that was like a term that a recruiter would search to find to source candidates for, like a demand General, I made sure to go back and update each job I've been at have like outcomes that I produced for them, and there were like tweaks here and there. Mimi Gross is a great resource to optimize your LinkedIn profile. She's a she's a recruiter slash coach for for hiring and talent sourcing. So that was that. After I did that like profile optimization, I definitely saw an uptick in recruiters finding me and reaching out to me for roles that they were hiring for. So I highly recommend doing that, and it's free to do it's not like a paid feature or anything in LinkedIn, obviously, the recruiters pay to use the recruitment tool, but for you as a individual, it's completely free and LinkedIn can just be, like, really powerful with, with for looking for a job.

Kerry Guard 44:47

Got it. So thank you for clarifying that i Man what I imagine you get hit up by recruiters all the time. So like, how did you know? You said you did. So you do research every single time that a recruiter would hit you up. And then this one was, you know, happened to be the right fit. I mean, that fact that feels grueling,

Aileen Casmano 45:12

yeah, and there were, there were a ton of examples where, um, I reached out, a recruiter reached out to me. They would do the screening call I would do, like an interview with someone from the team, and either I wouldn't move forward or they wouldn't move forward. And then I would get reached out to by another recruiting agency, different recruiter for that same role. So there I started to develop this negative mindset around LinkedIn recruiting practices. Because, from experience, you know, over the last few months, there were some really, just like, meh practices going on that I was experiencing. But, you know, I gave it a, you know, I did my sort of due diligence on the company before I agreed to move forward. And I had a fantastic experience. It was through Stanton house, and they were very professional, communicative, like just fantastic to work with. So

Kerry Guard 46:17

very happy. You don't hear many great recruiter stories. So yay for that. Yeah for that. And it sounds like you definitely had a few doozies leading up to that. So thank you for sharing the company. Oh so good. All right, Aileen, we are going to be chatting on Monday at our mindful Marketing podcast. I'm so excited. I can't wait. Grateful for Anthony for joining us before we go. Where else can people find you? They want to stay connected. They want to learn more about your journey. Where can

Aileen Casmano 46:49

they Yeah, LinkedIn, you can message me, request me on LinkedIn, if this, you know episode resonated with you, if you're going through the motions of a layoff or just looking for a new role, and want to chat and and swap stories, please reach out DM me. Part of my sort of mindset going forward is paying it forward. So many people helped me out in my community and my network while I was laid off, so I want to pay that forward now. So

Kerry Guard 47:26

main thing amazing, and we're going to pay it forward on the show, we will have tons of resources for folks looking for jobs, from job boards to connections to all of those things. So that will be part of our movement over there. So definitely come hang out with us. Last question for you, Aileen joy, what is currently outside of work, which I know is probably a little hard to think about, because you're probably absorbed by your job right now as it's new. But outside of work, what is currently bringing you? Joy?

Aileen Casmano 47:57

I'm getting married in August, so wedding planning is, I think, bringing me joy. Now, it's exciting and there's so much to look forward to, but, yeah, it's really exciting, and it's bringing me a lot of joy. I obviously like do event planning in my career, so being able to apply that to, like a personal project, is really fun. Picking out colors and color palettes and mood boards and whatnot. It's it's bringing me lots of joy. We're getting married at a farm in Connecticut, so it'll be like rolling hills and cows in the background and, yeah, just fulfilling all of my life vision that I've always had.

Kerry Guard 48:45

So farm weddings are so pretty. I cannot wait to see pictures I will be stalking. It'll be great. Very excited, amazing. Oh, thank you for coming back on. Thank you for choosing me as your as your co host partner in our upcoming show. Cannot wait everybody. I'm, I cannot say it enough. I'm, you're probably sick of hearing it. I don't care. Join us on Monday. It's going to be wonderful. Join us on Monday. All right, here we go. Thank you so much for listening. If you liked this episode, please like, subscribe and share to this episode to help us reach more amazing viewers like yourself. This episode is brought to you by mkg marketing, the digital marketing agency that helps complex brands like cybersecurity get found through SEO and digital ads. It's hosted by me Kerry Guard, CEO and co founder of MKG marketing, Music Mix and mastering wizardry done by the amazing Elijah drown, my podcast sidekick. And if you'd like to be a guest on the show, I'd love to have you DM me. Let's hang out. I look forward to sipping and spilling more tea with you next week. I look for Shane. You.