So This Is My Why – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Jonathan Mildenhall is the former Managing Director of TBWA, Senior Vice President of the Coca-Cola Company, first CMO at Airbnb and Independent Board Member at Peloton Interactive, Co-Founder of TwentyFirstCenturyBrand and current Chief Marketing Officer at Rocket Companies.

In other words, someone at the very top of the marketing industry.

Who was once treated as an experiment.

Growing up in Leed, Jonathan faced tremendous physical and racial abuse. It got so bad that he once ran to his mum, telling her that he didn’t want to be black!

But his mum responded by saying, “Unfortunately, there are ignorant people who will always be frightened because you look different. And they're going to say hurtful things and sometimes they will do hurtful things.

You can't change your packaging but they can never ever damage what's inside of your packaging.”

Eventually, Jonathan found his calling - in marketing!

Even though the odds were stacked against him: he was from a polytechnic, grew up in a council estate, was black and had no family name to fall back on.

But as it turns out, he had a spark.

And that spark was what drew people to him.

Allowed him to rise to the top of the London marketing scene and dominate the global scene later as he became a Senior Vice President at the Coca-Cola Company and the first CMO at Airbnb.

If ever there was a story of someone who has triumphed against all odds, it would be Jonathan.

So are you ready to learn how he did it?

Let’s go.

Highlights

• 3:23 The 8-year-old Jonathan
• 8:08 Keeping a childlike wonder
• 12:01 Show a bit of leg!
• 15:51 Protecting his mum’s independence
• 19:12 Advertising is NOT for you?!
• 22:03 The awkward “oh my goodness, you’re a black guy”
• 24:22 The energy of the 80s advertising industry
• 26:17 You’re an experiment
• 30:43 Meeting John Hegarty of BBH (Bartle Bogle Hegarty)
• 35:35 Cindy Gallup dragged him out of the closet!
• 43:47 Living authentically
• 45:10 I was shit scared
• 50:10 Phil Mooney - Director of Heritage Communications for 40+ years at the Coca-Cola Company

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📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/150 

🍿 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cumagnVOlRQ&t=1s&list=UULFSZlcS5ooyCjj_MkrmH_WhQ 

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Rodney Wong is the CEO of Munchy's, one of the largest Malaysia-based snack food manufacturer with presence in over 60 countries globally.

Which makes him the Willy Wonka of Malaysia!

And he's had quite the varied career.

From tobacco to Coca-Cola, Petronas and now the world of snacks and sweets, Rodney is testimony to the fact that we all need to take charge of our own career and personal development to get to where we want.

The question is... how?

While everyone's path is different, Rodney's shared his personal journey, highlighting the people who were significant in his journey, why paying forward is so important him, what it's like working with founders on their 'baby' and his vision for the future.

Want to hear what one of Malaysia's top entrepreneurs has to say about building success career?

Stick around and you'll find out!

Highlights

• 2:41 Rooted in family
• 3:18 Being an archaeologist
• 6:21 Structured way of working
• 7:23 Connecting the dots
• 8:45 Take charge of your own development
• 11:41 What success looks like
• 13:43 I have a hard rule
• 15:05 Paying it forward
• 16:28 Major learnings
• 18:35 Gen Z
• 23:31 Being in Shanghai
• 25:11 KOLs
• 27:07 Do you want to expand the market or improve the bottom line?
• 29:03 The challenge of working with founders
• 31:58 We're going to sell...
• 34:50 Progression & growth
• 36:38 Personal growth
• 42:35 Soka Gakkai
• 44:38 How can people help you?
• 48:53 Do you feel like you've found your why?
• 48:54 What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?
• 50:47 What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful person?

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🍿 YouTube: https://youtu.be/dx_ePevgoRU&list=UULFSZlcS5ooyCjj_MkrmH_WhQ

🎙️Show notes/transcript for this episode: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/149

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Meet Lucas Lu - Head of Zoom Asia.

And also a fellow Sarawakian!

Lucas has had an illustrious career going from GM of Systems Technology Group at IBM Malaysia where they closed large deals within the first 6 months, leading to Lucas winning ASEAN Rookie of the Year - his first big recognition.

He ended up staying at IBM for 10 years and won 2 Global Golden Circle Award before moving on to become:

• General Manager, Astro
• GM (Tech Sales Malaysia), Oracle
• Senior Director (APAC Enterprise Commercial Sales & Industry), Microsoft

Prior to his current role heading the Asian arm of Zoom, covering ASEAN, South Korea, Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan.

While at first glance, Lucas appears to have had a very varied career, he has also been very intentional about every career move he’s made. 

And has had no zero regrets with how it has turned out.

So we dive deep into this episode into all things career development:

❓ How has Lucas chosen the roles that he has? 

❓ What is his secret sauce to climbing the corporate ladder? 

❓ How should one find mentors/career sponsors? 

❓ How does he plan his career & life (he has a plan for everything, including for his family members!!)?

Please do listen & leave a rating & review!

Highlights:

• 1:50 My first 15 years
• 2:27 Shell City
• 4:22 No one leaves Shell, but I did…
• 5:26 Getting the call from IBM
• 6:05 Switching to tech
• 6:59 Lucas’ unfair advantage over other people
• 7:50 Lots of planning & reflections
• 11:55 What should you do when you first take on a regional role?
• 14:06 Career sponsors
• 14:41 Secret to landing career sponsors
• 15:22 The first time doors opened for Lucas?
• 16:15 Moving on after 10 years
• 17:14 Bringing a corporate mindset to the startup world?
• 19:09 Measuring returns for media projects
• 19:41 Moving to Oracle
• 21:01 Kilimanjaro
• 22:55 Element of luck
• 24:16 Dealing with failure
• 25:55 No regrets?
• 27:37 Moving to Microsoft
• 29:14 Takeaways from being fully immersed in a country 
• 32:00 Did hiking change how he approaches sales and work?
• 32:25 Why Zoom?
• 33:43 Checklist for Lucas’ next career move (no compromise)
• 34:24 How to determine if someone is the right person to work for?
• 35:33 Most influential person in Lucas’ career
• 37:28 Managing the strawberry generation
• 39:15 What Lucas hopes to achieve at Zoom
• 43:58 The second act in Lucas’ career
• 46:45 What STIMY listeners can help Lucas with

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📍Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/142 

💌 STIMY Newsletter on the art of storytelling + building your personal brand (+snippets of STIMY behind-the-scenes): https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/acd5bd1062

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Michael Lints is currently a Partner at the Singapore-based venture capital firm Golden Gate Ventures. He joined the firm in 2013 and is currently leading growth venture efforts, which include LP fundraising and portfolio management for Golden Gate Venture's investments at Series B and beyond. He has helped to raise over USD $60M for Golden Gate Ventures and its portfolio companies, including helping to raise later stage rounds from external investors as well as leading two early strategic acquisitions. 

In this episode, we uncover what Michael was like as a child (he took apart the first computer he received), how he convinced his dean to let him skip a year at university, before selling his house and car to start his first IT managed services startup. 

That startup was acquired by a large data and telecom company six years later. 

In 2007, Michael founded a venture fund focused on Dutch small- and medium-sized enterprises to help them with capital financing, business development, and strategy. During the same period, he was invited to join the Economic Development Board Rotterdam as Vice Chairman. In that role, he launched the Young Economic Development Board where he brought together a highly influential Dutch network to develop a sustainable framework for public-private relationships that increased local business investment while leveraging the public infrastructure.

In this episode, we cover all things startup, investments and also his recent documentary, Broken Chains - mending the missing links in the racial wealth gap.

Highlights:

• 2:53 Taking apart his first computer
• 3:59 Being on the Dutch National Karate Team
• 5:00 Skipping a year at university
• 6:20 Getting into insurance & realising he never wanted to work for another corporation again
• 8:14 Selling his car & house to co-founder his first IT startup
• 9:40 Pivoting from being a comparison site to a data center
• 10:51 Being on the same board as the CEO of ING & Unilever, Prime Minister of New Zealand & Head of the UN
• 15:53 Obsession with focus
• 17:00 Studying at Harvard
• 17:53 Discovering the venture scene in Singapore/Southeast Asia
• 19:38 How can I be helpful?
• 21:29 Raising over USD 60 million
• 22:54 Getting a foot in the door
• 24:46 Experience fundraising in the Middle East & Europe
• 26:20 How the Southeast Asia startup scene has evolved
• 29:39 What Michael looks for in a founder
• 31:54 Importance of local knowledge
• 34:32 Getting deal flow
• 35:46 Investment mistakes made 
• 36:59 Investment thesis
• 37:49 Areas of interest to Michael
• 40:17 How the pandemic has impacted Michael’s portfolio companies
• 41:37 Fundraising in the pandemic/post-pandemic era
• 43:44 Framework for maintaining focus
• 45:36 How to find good mentors for yourself
• 47:06 Broken Chains

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/74        

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🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy 

Lee Williamson is the Regional Editorial Director of Generation T, Tatler Asia Group and currently oversees three of Tatler’s flagship brands: Gen.T, Front & Female and Asia’s Most Influential. He was previously the Editor at Time Out Beijing and Editor-in-Chief at That’s China and was selected as a WAN-IFRA Young Media Leaders Fellow 2020.

If you’ve ever wanted to know what it’s like to work as a foreign journalist in China, dealing with state censorship, producing “controversial” editorials and also producing media products like the Generation T list, then this is the episode for you!

Highlights:

• 6:48 Moving to China
• 8:58 Working as a journalist at That’s China 
• 11:33 “You’ll Never Be Chinese”
• 15:19 Censorship in China
• 17:26 Relaunching 
• 18:21 Being Editor at Time Out Beijing
• 21:12 Publishing Ai Wei Wei’s first interview following his detainment in China
• 23:14 Working at Tatler
• 25:05 Why Gen.T?
• 26:21 Defining success, influence and power
• 27:17 What’s the point of another “list”?
• 29:42 Building the Gen.T community
• 34:48 Gaining trust
• 35:52 Getting people to share what they really want even after they say “I don’t really need anything”
• 39:05 Seeing Gen.T’s brand value increase
• 43:11 Deciding who gets on Gen.T
• 45:08 Tribes
• 47:21 Safeguards
• 48:57 Trends among Gen.T honourees 
• 50:22 What’s in it for Gen.T?
• 51:09 The Crazy Smart Asia podcast 
• 56:21 Planning for the future of Gen.T

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/73     

💌  Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605 

🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy 

Vincent Wei is the Head of Growth (Product & growth) at VEED.IO, one of the fastest growing startups by revenue in the world. 

He was first introduced to the world of startups when he began CodeCreate, one of Australia’s first coding school for kids, while still at university. The school generated 6-figure revenue but his next startup unfortunately didn’t do so well.

Burnt out, Vincent decided to take a break and travel the world before returning as Employee #3 on the growth team at AirTasker - which later became one of Australia’s largest marketplace for services. That was no mean feat, given that the startup was burning $35 million annually and on the verge on collapse then!

They managed to turn the startup around but Vincent left before AirTasker IPOed in 2021 (and we discuss why in this episode!) to join VEED.io - the Canva of video editing - as Head of Growth. VEED recently raised $35M from Sequoia and is currently going through an exciting growth phase, so this is definitely a startup to keep an eye on!

Highlights:

• 3:32 How Harry Potter helped Vincent learn English
• 5:20 Being driven to succeed
• 8:41 Not wanting to be a dropkick
• 13:51 Founding CodeCreate to teach kids how to build Minecraft
• 18:48 How CodeCreate’s cohort went from 3 to 86 kids
• 23:00 Getting a contract role at Suncorp
• 29:29 Founding his 2nd startup
• 32:37 How Lambda School inspired them
• 35:48 Why Cody failed
• 38:16 Travelling the world
• 42:35 The power of LinkedIn outreach & chatting with James Clear
• 47:26 Joining AirTasker when it was burning $30 million annually
• 49:27 How they turned AirTasker around
• 54:51 Why Vincent left AirTasker
• 56:25 How Vincent’s role at VEED has evolved over time
• 59:09 What Vincent looks for when he hires
• 1:01:08 Influencing others virtually

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/72                

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🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy 

P/S: "Dropkick" is an Australian slang that refers to someone who isn't very smart & hasn't made it very far in life.

WARNING: This episode may have some trigger points as we talk about things like depression, suicide and death. 

Sabrina Ooi is the co-founder and CEO of Calm Collective Asia - a community that was established during Singapore’s first circuit breaker to talk about all things mental health in Asia.

To understand how Sabrina ended up establishing Calm Collective Asia, it’s necessary to dive into her story. She shares why she felt like an imposter while studying at Raffles Girls’ School (Singapore’s top school), how she started DJing for the likes of Dior & Rolls Royce, getting through debilitating depressive episodes since the age of 11, how she was initially misdiagnosed as being depressive only to discover that she was bipolar, being “arrested” for attempting to end her life and her journey to recovery. 

This is STIMY’s first mental health episode and I felt that Sabrina’s story is so incredibly powerful and important. It is time to destigmatise discussions around mental health and I hope that this episode contributes a little to that ongoing conversation, particularly in Asia.  

Highlights:

• 3:41 Being told by her mum to be “average”
• 5:23 Having her first depressive episode at age 11
• 12:33 How her DJ career began 
• 17:35 Triggers for her depressive episodes
• 21:59 Going for therapy
• 23:55 Not going for private practice
• 25:05 Having suicidal thoughts
• 27:36 Taking antidepressants 
• 29:52 Depression v Bipolar
• 31:49 Survive, Live and Thrive
• 35:11 Journey to recovery
• 36:52 “How I went from Leaving to Living”
• 42:36 Starting Calm Collective Asia
• 47:24 The vision
• 51:13 Symptoms to look out for
• 52:31 How to find the right therapist

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/71                

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🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy 

Please leave a review & rating here! - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/so-this-is-my-why/id1521191442

London has plenty of incredible food. Italian, Greek, Middle Eastern.. And the bakeries are something to behold too. So it makes sense when you’re in town to try some of its best offerings and Beigel Bake should certainly be at the top of your list!

Which brings me to today’s guest: Daniel Cohen, Managing Director of Beigel Bake Limited - one of London’s most iconic Jewish beigel shops, located along Brick Lane (also an iconic location in the City).

Beigel (or bagel, depending on where you’re from) is a second-generation family Jewish bakery that Daniel’s father began with two uncles back in 1974. Serving 7,000 dense and chewy Jewish beigels daily, 24/7, it has since been rated 3 stars by Time Out London in 2010 (4 stars by its online users) and featured by the photographic pictorial Life in the East End by London-based cabaret duo, EastEnd Cabaret.

In this episode, Daniel shares how Beigel Bake first came to be, what his father was like, how he got involved in the family business, the story behind its “rivalry” with a neighbouring Jewish beigel shop, how it fared during the pandemic and so much more.

If you’re ever in London, I’d recommend a visit to Beigel Bake!

Highlights:

• 4:10 Growing up with Beigel Bake as a prominent part of his life
• 5:01 The Jewish history of beigels (or bagels)
• 7:02 Brick Lane history
• 8:57 How Beigel Bake began & its ongoing “rivalry” with a neighbouring Jewish beigel shop
• 10:34 How Beigel Bake went from being a wholesaler to serving the public
• 12:37 Growing by word of mouth (no advertising!)
• 14:24 Most popular fillings
• 14:43 The story behind the salt beef/pastrami filling served at Beigel Bake
• 16:26 What was Daniel’s dad like?
• 20:28 Did Daniel feel obliged to join the family business?
• 21:55 Why Beigel Bake started serving sandwiches 24/7
• 24:14 Realities of running a family business 
• 25:54 Becoming managing director
• 28:58 Why Daniel released the recipe for their Jewish beigel
• 29:49 Will Beigel Bake ever open a branch?
• 30:53 Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic
• 34:34 Launching their own delivery app (and some mishaps!)
• 38:38 Working with charities 
• 40:12 Having the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge come to visit
• 42:23 How the business is currently faring

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/70               

💌  Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605 

🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy 

P/S: For recommendations, try Beigel Bake’s hot salt beef with mustard and gherkins, and/or cream cheese and salmon flavours!

Nnenna Nwakanma is the Chief Web Advocate at the World Wide Web Foundation. 

She is also a Nigerian FOSS activist, community organiser, co-founder of the Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa. In 2018, she was chosen as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in the field of digital government and has over 15 years of experience working with the UN in areas such as the information society, gender and digital equality.

In this episode, we learn about what it was like growing up in Nigeria - and why she wasn’t even given a name for the first 3 months of her life because of her gender! - how she became one of the very first to use the internet in Africa, why she views the internet as a tool for social justice, how she has learned to walk with her adversaries (as Mandela used to say), and what drives her to create an internet that is free and open to all.  

Highlights:

• 2:40 Why Nnenna was born & not given a name for the first 3 months of her life
• 4:43 Being human is enough
• 7:21 “Nnenna from the Internet”
• 8:57 Being one of the first Africans to be exposed to the internet
• 12:08 Use of the internet in African villages
• 16:44 Being a FOSS activist & walking with your adversaries
• 18:31 Attitudes are like ass holes
• 22:39 The mission of the World Wide Web Foundation
• 25:01 Running the global coalition, the Web We Want
• 28:39 Backstory to Brazil’s Internet Bill of Rights (first in the world)
• 32:56 How close are we to an open and free internet for all?

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/69              

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605 

🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy 

Neal Freyman is the Managing Editor at Morning Brew, a new media company that provides informative and digestive business news to over 3 million subscribers. He oversees Morning Brew’s flagship product - a daily newsletter, as well as the weekend light Roast edition and native advertisements. 

The Morning Brew happens to be one of my favourite newsletters so I was excited to dive into the behind-the-scenes with Neal!

Highlights:

• 4:43 Studying at the University of Maryland College Park
• 7:16 Teaching geography and urban studies 
• 8:07 Applying to work at Morning Brew as a writer (and being rejected!)
• 9:00 Sending a nice rejection letter
• 10:05 The newsletter industry in 2017
• 13:05 Working as a young newsletter startup out of a room in NYU
• 14:41 Morning Brew’s ideal customer and how that definition has evolved over time
• 18:12 Having readers get super pi**ed at them
• 18:45 Creating a political newsletter
• 20:18 “Write, grow and sell” as the tactic for Morning Brew’s explosive growth from 2016-2019 
• 22:51 Writing continuously for 5 years 
• 24:24 Milestones that contributed to Morning Brew’s growth
• 26:19 Main reasons for Morning Brew’s subscriber count going from 100k to 1.5 million in the 2018/19 period
• 27:01 The importance of Morning Brew having its own in-house referral system
• 29:40 How Morning Brew manages to get 25% of its signups from its referral program
• 32:29 Capitalising on momentum, as Alex Lieberman discussed
• 34:24 How Morning Brew launched the Emerging Tech newsletter
• 37:18 The importance of having a strong online following like Alex Lieberman & Austin Rief
• 41:44 Checks & balances
• 42:49 Becoming Managing Editor of Morning Brew
• 44:23 Maintaining a close knit working culture
• 45:43 When Neal felt that they had created a great product with the newsletter
• 47:59 Staying relevant
• 49:35 Retaining talent staff
• 51:40 Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
• 53:01 The Essentials
• 54:02 Impact of Morning Brew’s reported $75 million acquisition by Business Insider
• 54:35 Creating the podcast arm of Morning Brew: Business Casual & Founder’s Journal
• 56:23 Building in public
• 59:39 Entering the education space with the MBA Accelerator

📍Show notes: www.sothisismywhy.com/68       

💌 Sign up for the weekly STIMY newsletter: https://sothisismywhy.ck.page/ebf231f605 

🪙 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sothisismywhy