Hello everybody, and welcome back to if I'm honest, and I am so, so excited and ready to be back in conversation with really cool people. My first guest being someone that I have known for basically 20 years, which is crazy to think about, but Yasmin Shahida is the Senior Director of PR at Oatly, and she leads external communications across North America. In her role, she oversees brand storytelling, corporate communications, executive visibility, media relations and strategic PR initiatives that help shape oatly's presence in culture and the marketplace, something that is so important for every company, it's a really cool company. And before Oatly, she was at away and she was also at the wing in New York City. She worked at chef's club by food and wine, and she started her career in broadcast journalism at CBS News. So she has so many different experiences, I can't wait to dive into her experiences, her life story, how she is building her career in corporate communications, and how that carries over into other elements of her life. So I hope you really enjoy this episode. Yasmin, thank you so much for joining me on, if I'm honest,

thank you for having me.

How are you doing?

I'm good. I'm good, just busy time, always in the spring, but very happy to be here. And so good to see you.

It's so good to see you too. I'm so honored that you are my first guest of this new season,

and I'm

honored

in this wonderful studio. It feels so professional, so really, really happy about that. And I mentioned in the intro that we've known each other for 20 years, basically,

if

I did the math properly,

long time, and

we went to middle school together, which was so cool. Our school combined, loved meshing our friend groups, and then you went to school in North Carolina. I obviously lived in North Carolina. We didn't overlap, though, I don't

know. I think you came to North Carolina after we graduated, because you were in California, obviously for school. And then I thought about staying around and ended up actually leaving North Carolina just for job purposes after school. So we missed each other.

We did miss each other, but lots of synergies, and it's been so fun to follow you on Instagram. We're gonna get into your Instagram a little later, @traveleatnyc, but there's great food, great travels. It's been so fun to keep up with your life that way. But before we do that, I want to talk about everything you've been building in the communication space, because communications are obviously so important, corporate, personal. We all communicate all the time, whether it's written, text, emails, body language, social media, everything, right? And it's so it's super important. And you're currently the senior director of PR at Oli, and I read in an interview that you described your role as sitting between brand culture and competition, which I thought was a really interesting descriptor. So can you share what corporate communications is so that we're all on the same page as we get into this discussion?

Absolutely, yes. I will say, like, it is definitely, you know, I think taking a step back PR in general is something that people don't really have, like, a firm grasp on a lot of the time they're like, does that mean you're just pitching stories, or does that mean you're just dealing with crises? And I think corporate communications in particular is interesting. It's, it is a little more interesting to me than consumer comms, because consumer comms tends to be more of what you think of when you think of traditional PR. It's really the like, you know, product storytelling, talking about what the thing is that you're working on to the consumer, but corporate comms is really more like the connective tissue between what a company does and what the world understands it to do or be. And so it doesn't just mean that traditional earned media, which is those the pitching of those stories, but it also means executive visibility, it also means crisis management, it also means internal alignment and working with the internal comms team to ensure that everything that you're sort of talking about externally, and the way that you're presenting yourself as a company aligns with what You're actually doing as a company internally. So it's there are more layers to it, I'd say, than just sort of the traditional consumer comms, which I think is what oftentimes people associate PR with.

Yeah, no, that makes sense. And I now have a few years of corporate under my belt, and I think that piece of kind of like that external language with the internal language is so important, hard to capture, and you have so many different types of people working at a company. I don't know how big is Oatly

only. It's like around 200 or so people in North America.

Okay, okay, and so you were telling me that it's, it's a remote company in North America. And so what like layer of complexity does that add to that kind of matching internal and external communications and those synergies?

Yeah, it's so funny, because I've worked at big companies before, but I've never, I've never done comms at a big, global company, and there are so many nuances when you think of. Out. You know how companies work in France versus Sweden, versus the United States versus Canada, and so it's not like you can just sort of do this one size fits all, blanket approach. You really have to be nuanced on the way that you you know what products you have. We have different products in different markets, the way that you're marketing those products, you're talking about those products, what executives, you know, you're you're sort of utilizing, and then you know, what are the topics that are really important to that specific environment? So in the United States, people really care about health and nutrition. That's something that's been really big over the last couple years, and a big focus for us. Whereas, you know, some of the the narratives around health and nutrition are very different when you go to Sweden, which is where the company is based, but yes, as you said, we're fully remote, which is, which is really great. And I, I was a little wary of it when I first started. I was like, Is this going to be really challenging as a new employee, you know, getting to know people, but Oatly is just so fantastic. It's like, truly the best job I've ever had. I love it so much,

great.

And they've made it really easy to connect, whether it's just like meeting up at a shared workspace, or flying to Sweden, as I did a couple weeks ago, to meet with the team over there. So it's been really, really seamless, I want to say, because, despite the fact that we don't have a physical office space,

that seems like such a huge feat for a company to achieve, which is really cool. So I want to go back to something that you said about how the different different countries where Oatly works and where the offices are have different priorities. And so the US has wellness and nutrition. What other pillars are we focused on here?

Yeah, the US market's super interesting. And I think, as we all probably know, you know, the news cycle is really crazy. There's a lot going on in the world, and I think social media adds a whole other layer to it, because you're not just getting your information from traditional news sources, it's also from people you follow and trust on social media. And sometimes they have, you know, the they have the background, as you know, medical doctors and nutritionists, and sometimes they don't, but they are very passionate about their opinions of things, and that can have the ability to sway a lot of people. So I think the unique dynamic at play here is health and nutrition is definitely top of mind. There's so many trends that we're seeing right now. You know, protein is in pretty much any food product you could ever imagine, and I think that really is something that stemmed directly from social media. And a lot of what people were talking about about health on social media. And so for us, it's the same, you know, we're looking at issues of health and nutrition, our products are fortified and very good for you. And we've had to, sort of like, you know, educate people to a certain extent, because not all, not dairy alternatives, are created equal, and even not all oat milks are created equal. So that's something that, you know, I think we've put a lot of focus on over the last couple years, but there's so many, you know, things that are constantly changing in the US.

Yeah, okay, so that stems something that I want to go to, because you had a LinkedIn post, and it was what you're seeing in the beverage CPG scene, consumer packaged goods space. And a couple of the things that you pointed out, you said, protein is still king, which you talked about, gut health is having a moment. Sour is going mainstream. Guava is the new it fruit flavor. And you had some stuff on pickles and the sour stuff. So when, when you see these trends, and you learn this this material through work, how much do you apply to your personal life, your personal consumption life, or or is it more like education that you then make informed decisions about?

So I try not to be like a walking Trend Report, but I do love, to stay on top of the trends. And that post in particular that you're referencing came out of Expo West, which is the largest natural foods conference that happens every year, year in the United States. It's in Anaheim, and I went for the first time this year, and I was just kind of blown away by the scale of it. But there are three, I think, over 3000 food brands that come together and they set up booths. And so it becomes, if you walk the floors, or have the opportunity to walk the floors, you can very quickly pick up on what those trends are that are happening in food, because they're, you know, the really new companies that are doing, like I saw three or four different versions of these sort of sugar coated sour candy dates, which I had never seen before in my life, and all of a sudden there were four companies doing the same exact thing. So it's very it becomes very evident, like, what those trends are in food, whether it's the new companies or the legacy brand.

Months.

But I would say, as it applies to my personal life, I have implemented a few things over the years that I think are probably reflective of what we're seeing more broadly in trends. Probably the biggest two things being drinking less alcohol and also less caffeine. So that's another really big one right now that I feel like I was at the forefront of I stopped drinking caffeine about a year and a half, two years ago, and I will stop like, full stop. Yeah. I went,

no

tea, no decaf.

So I moved over to decaf, which does have a small amount of caffeine in it, but I pretty much cut it out. I was drinking like, full blown black coffee every single morning for years and years and years,

one cup or how many, like, what was your how many equivalent cup?

It was

typically a, like, large cold brew. Which cold brew actually has more caffeine than even just like a traditional drip coffee. So I was like, maximum amount of caffeine on an empty stomach before working out, which like, spikes your cortisol levels even more. And I was just like, in this heightened state that I thought was good for me, but it really

was

not serving me. And I realized that quickly after I cut caffeine out, which was challenging at first, but it honestly only took, like, a couple of weeks, and now that I've been on the decaf train, it can be a little bit annoying, and I know it annoys some of my friends. They've expressed this to me, but when I do have caffeine, which has happened a few times, like if I'm traveling, I'll have something that's like the equivalent of an espresso, and I just don't feel great. It just doesn't feel good in my body. And it's something that I predicted would be a trend as I started to implement this and see how much better I felt. I was like, this is something that I think more people are gonna lean into and really pick up on, because there's so many conversations around, like, anxiety. Yeah, you know, online, I'm constantly watching videos about people like, trying to, you know, alleviate their anxieties. And then the trend away from alcohol, you know, I think this is like a natural progression of that. So it's something that I've been keeping an eye on. And I have definitely noticed more and more brands.

Yeah, did you have you also fully cut out alcohol or

so alcohol is, like, I probably have the equivalent of, like, two cocktails a month,

okay,

like, I'm, I'm like, very Yeah. It's not sparingly, it's yeah. It's less of like an intentional and more of like a lifestyle shift, I'd say. But again, it just, it's about how I feel, you know,

and as we get older,

yeah,

we don't feel as good.

No, it's a lot harder to recover even from a glass of wine. Yeah,

I know that, like in high school, like at the end of high school, I knew I was having two cups of coffee in the morning, and then, like, we would get a coffee after school, I pretty much went down to one cup of coffee a day in college, like, milk and sugar and stuff. But I noticed more recently, the last few years, if we're traveling or if we're going out, like, with some people are getting a coffee in the afternoon, I feel like shit afterwards. Like, like, it's something, like, in my gut, it's not so much anxiety, but like, that's like, jitteriness. It's almost like I'm feeling low blood sugar, and then I need to eat something, which happens easily to me, but yeah. And then with I've been traveling a lot this year, and the alcohol is really real, yeah.

And

I've also, like, almost 100% stopped ever having alcohol on a plane.

Oh, yeah, that's the worst,

the worst.

That's the worst.

But yeah, no, you're

already dehydrated, and then it just, like, takes it out of you. But I think what's nice is, like, now there's so many alternatives. And I used to, I think that transition was harder for me, because I I wanted to stop, like, towards the alcohol towards the end of my 20s. I was like, you know, I really don't feel like I want to be out and drinking multiple drinks every night, but I want to still hang out with my friends, and I want to still be social and, do you know, fun things, and I felt like I couldn't just be, like, I want to have a sparkling water or, you know, there weren't a lot of also options. Now, there's so many mocktails. There's so many like, you know, low alcohol options on menus, which is great, and that has really helped. But also, I think I've grown up and I just don't really care anymore. And I'm like, Look, if someone's gonna judge me because I didn't get a drink at this, like, you know, happy hour event, then, like, let them judge me. It's, that's not your Yeah,

that is not your problem. Yeah, I still I love wine. So that's my well, we'll keep working on

your husband. French,

yeah, doesn't help, like we both, because we also back to the coffee real quick. So we were recently talking about how, you know, you probably don't want to have coffee right when you wake up, like maybe an after an hour after you. Makeup. So we were talking about that. And so, like, we want to, we recognize that we want to implement these things, but it's a process. You're breaking habits, and just it takes time.

Yeah?

Wine, I'm not sure he's entertained. I mean, we talk about it, and, like, when you track sleep, you see the difference.

Yeah, do it. If you genuinely want to do it. Don't do it, because everybody else is doing it, and you feel this pressure to, like, you know, go with the trends, like, do it because it actually serves you, and

naps for that, like in life in general, do it because it serves you,

yeah,

bringing it back to communications and public relations and kind of, kind of what you've built, because I think the professional side is just so interesting. I think specifically, you've primarily worked in high growth industries, right? Like fast growing from the early days, with, with the wing, with a way. Do you think communications, or like the Corporate Communications at those types of companies, differ from a legacy company?

Yes, absolutely. I think, first of all, everything differs at a company like that versus at like a big legacy brand. But the way that I would describe it is sort of like you're building the plane as you're flying it. So things are really chaotic. Things move really quickly. You have a lot less control over, you know, I think how quickly things can spiral when things do spiral. But what's really great is you do have the ability to from just purely a communication standpoint, you have the ability to shape the narrative, and you have the ability to also shape the culture as well, in a way that, you know, I think at legacy companies, there's a little bit more rigidity, and you have probably less opportunity to shape those things, because they're already formulated and in place. So, yeah, it can be really intense, but it's very fun. There's, you know, always a new iteration of a product. There are always things that are changing and moving really quickly. And I personally enjoy that. I think it lends itself to more interesting storytelling. And it also isn't just like, you're not put in this box of like, well, you do PR and you have to stay in PR. Like, I think there's a lot of cross collaboration, and, you know, working with other teams and helping to build something collectively together, which I love,

yeah, and so with any of the teams, and if you don't want to answer those, fine, but if with any of the teams that you joined, did you join at a time when, like, maybe executives were like, we want to shift our corporate discussion, or our comms, our messaging, and like, you were part of that shift at some of these new companies, or was it pretty established and you kind of continued building off of what was there?

I mean, I think there was a there were definitely things, I think things I wouldn't say it was like a shift. It was more like we need to develop this and figure out where we want to take this. And so, you know, I remember, on my very first week working at the wing there were, there was a lawsuit that had been brought to us about, you know, not being able to allow men in the space.

Oh, yeah, I remember,

and it was like a gender discrimination thing. And we were like, Oh well, we thus far in the, you know, basically year that this company has been alive, we've been saying it's a women only space. And so we had to quickly, kind of look at our language through that more legal lens and be like, Well, it's, you know, a women focus space versus a women only and that was something that I had to kind of like retroactively work with people to correct. But no, I think there, there have been plenty of examples at these companies away being another example where, you know, we were launching into new categories. It wasn't just like we're luggage and we're luggage only like we wanted to be we away is, like, really focused on being this one stop shop for all of your travel needs.

And

so whether that's, you know, your traditional suitcases, or other aspects of the travel experience, you know, the walk that you take to the gym, or, you know, a weekend trip you take with your friends, like we really wanted to have the products for all of those unique needs, and that was a little bit of like an evolution of the messaging as well. I'd say no,

that makes sense. And kind of like, almost like almost like a seems like it would be a different challenge, in a way, because it's like, you, you're working with what was established, but kind of solving modern, current moment

exactly, yeah, and I think that's like having that cultural fluency, like understanding, like, what is the product that you have, or what is the thing that you're building, and Then how does it relate to what's happening in culture? How is it relevant to today's, you know, to Gen Z, to today's like consumer and that also applies to getting, you know, media attention as well. It's you could do something amazing and awesome and cool and super intentional as a brand. Years, but it might not resonate with traditional media just because, you know, their budgets are slashed, they don't have the ability to cover every brand story. So it's really about like figuring out what is how is this thing that we're doing relevant to what's happening more broadly in culture, and is there a way to connect those dots and make it therefore more, you know, translatable into a media story.

We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back. You

Julia,

we are back on, if I'm honest with Julia Landauer, and do you do kind of that outbound pitching of stories to these other medias, or do you work with an agency? How does that work? At Oatley,

I've always had an agency partner, and

that feels pretty Yeah, that's businesses in general,

yeah, typically. So I've only ever worked in house, and I have only ever worked on teams of two PR myself and one other person, so I've had a pretty consistent kind of like,

yeah,

team dynamic. And then I've always had that external support with different agencies over the course of my career.

Because again, like, again, I'm still fairly fresh in corporate but like, learning how much our external partners, external stakeholders, agencies, creative help, what goes on there is kind of eye opening, and that leads me to, kind of another question that I had for you. I find the people dynamic, Whenever someone's building something, and the team dynamic super interesting. And, like, I'm fascinated by, you know, as people build their own businesses, when do they bring on other people? And so you've worked on teams of two, right? And so, so I guess, like, what other people in a company do you typically lean on? Like you mentioned that you work at the intersection of brand and competition, but so if it's you and your teammate and you're responsible for all of this, all of this work, who do you interface with the most in terms of, like, kind of giving you direction as to what to do? Yeah,

I would say on the consumer comm side, it's really the brand team. Since I've worked at these very sort of like brand led companies, Oatly away the wing, they all had very strong brand identities, so people on the brand marketing side and then on for the corporate comms work that I do, that would be the executive team, okay, so I have worked very closely with executives in all of my roles, which is great, because it gives me just a deeper level of insight into, you know, some of that stuff we were talking about before, that's like, what's happening within the company. And I think that's really important, yeah, this kind of role,

yeah,

yeah. So

cool, so cool, so cool to learn about. So for anyone who's listening, who might want to get into corporate communications, or if we have people who are graduating college, what did your kind of career path look like? But also, what did your personal interest path look like in terms of how you got here, how you got these times, types of jobs, like, if you're comfortable sharing detail, as like applying, or if you were intro to like how that works, I think it's can sometimes be reassuring to kind of hear the personal story

totally so it's actually interesting, because I started my career working in news, sort of on the other side of things, news and PR to go very hand in hand. But I was really adamant about being a journalist. I specifically wanted to work in broadcast journalism. I went to a really small liberal arts school where they didn't have a broadcast journalism program, but I created one for myself, and I interviewed at the local Charlotte news station

WW

and W, CB,

CNC, WCNC,

yeah, it's whatever the like, CBS affiliate is there. I'm forgetting. Yeah, that's okay.

I'm forgetting too, but

Yeah, somewhere on my braid, on my resume, but you're good. I interned for them, and I, you know, I worked at NPR over the summers. I kind of just, like, got myself in any door I could, and I had a radio show on campus with a friend of mine, so I tried to do as much as I could, despite the fact that there wasn't a proper broadcast journalism program at my school. And then when I graduated, I knew I wanted to work in news, so I was fortunate enough to get a job. It was it's this program that CBS News has where they it's called the news associates program, and it's kind of more of like an entry level. It's not a little bit more than an internship. You're a full time employee. But it was a way in and I took it. It meant that my first job was working for CBS This Morning, where I was arriving at work at three o'clock.

Say it sounds very early.

Oh, my goodness.

I was working in the control room. I was arriving at three o'clock in the morning. It was really tough. As a recent college grad, all my friends were living in their first apartments in the city and going out for drinks after work. And I was like, I have to be in bed by five o'clock. You know, I can't What?

What did

your

day look like, they're like, what were the hours

it was I was arriving at the studio at three o'clock in the morning. That's when my day started. And I would typically end around, like, one o'clock in the afternoon. So I'd try and make it to the gym, but sometimes I would be really tired, and I would try and get to bed by like, I think it was, like, around 5pm but that was really tough too, because I started in the summer, and it's light until, you know, 8:39pm, in the, you know, the heat of the summer. And I lived on Amsterdam Avenue, where there were a bunch of bars right below where I lived. And I could just hear people, you know, oftentimes I'd be going to work the next morning. People would still be out at the bars, and I was just like, this is rough, you know, as a somebody who just graduated, but the energy was incredible. And working at CBS at that time, they had just relaunched the morning show, and there was just incredible energy in the control room. And every it's like this. From the second I walked in, it was just like, go, go, go. There was no stopping.

Can you describe what the control room is like? Like, is it like what we see on TV, where it's like this, like, dark room with tons of screen, yeah. Like, how many people like, what does that look

like? Looks just like that. What you see in all those What is it the morning show? Yeah, if you watch that show, it looks pretty much exactly like that. And yeah, there are tons and tons of screens. One of my jobs was delivering the scripts, so making sure that the anchors had the latest scripts. And the scripts are always evolving. They're moving things around. And then I had to actually sit in the control room and log what the other news stations were covering during each specific segment. So if you know we were running at this 8am hour, if we were running X piece, like, what was NBC doing? What was ABC doing? So

you're

getting the dirt on the competitors.

I'm sure AI can do all of this for them now, but at the time it was like I had to just be focused. I had to be on and I loved it, but I knew, I knew, long term, that it would be really difficult for me to maintain that. And so I ended up switching over to the national desk, and then eventually the evening news, which was a really amazing place to land. I worked in the research department. It was an incredible, smart, brilliant group of women that I worked with, and our job was essentially to fact check. So each day, I was learning so many new things, because I would have to become essentially an expert on whatever the subject matter was. Of the, you know, handful of segments that got handed to me at three o'clock in the afternoon, and I had to find primary sources and get the facts checked and make sure that everything was accurate,

and

I had to have some really awkward and weird conversations with lots of different people on the phone. But it was really fun, and I enjoyed it, but my approach has always been to, like, look, you know, try and envision myself 30 years down the line. Is this something that I really see myself doing? And when I took a look at what was happening in broadcast news in particular, I kind of saw a little bit of the writing on the wall of like, this whole industry is going to change a lot over the next decade, and I love working in this environment. I love the energy of it, I love the storytelling aspect of it, but my passion has always been in food, and so that was the first kind of, like pivotal thing for me, was figuring out, okay, I like this, but I think I need to try something else, because I've only ever worked in broadcast and is there an opportunity for me to follow my passion in food and pursue that as a career that isn't the traditional like working as a chef, or, I don't know, is there an opportunity to basically translate this?

And so you're thinking about this. How many years were you at CBS? I

was at CBS for like, two years. So

you're like, 24 ish at this point. You're like, All right, what's Yeah, okay, so what was next?

Yeah. So I started thinking about what I wanted to do next, and by sort of like, kiss my best friend, Natasha. We want to say names, but she had, she had a connection to, she had just randomly met at a restaurant, the editor in chief of Food and Wine Magazine. Oh, cool. And so this amazing woman, Dana Cowan, who was, she's sort of like the Anna Wintour of food. She had been editor in chief for 21 years of food and wine, and she was moving into the role of creative director of this. New restaurant concept called chefs club that was designed in partnership with with food and wine. And so the idea was to be a physical space to feature the Food and Wine best new chefs. And I hopped on it. You know, Tasha was like, You should chat with Dana. She's, if you're interested in exploring something in food, you should definitely talk to her more. It's just like an open ended networking conversation. So I met Dana, and we just connected. And I was super interested in what she was doing and what they were building. And, you know, I kind of said to myself, like, if this is an industry I want to get into, there's no better place to be than tied to this person that is, you know, so instrumental in shaping the careers of so many chefs and restaurants, and she has just such deep knowledge. So I met with her at the beginning of the week, and by the end of the week, I was leaving my job in news.

That's so amazing. I also think that's just to take a pause to emphasize the importance of talking about your dreams and goals and wants with your friends and with people who are around you, because almost no one can, at least my experience is that no one can accomplish all the cool stuff they want to do on their own. And I think that I'm so happy with this, like, with the younger generation, I feel so old, but like the like, I think you're embracing ambition more and like talking about what they want and being vulnerable like that. Like, had you not talked with your bestie about, like, what you're doing, she might not have known to put the connect the dots. And so just a shout out to everyone. Like, talk to your friends about what you

want to do.

Not every friend. Like, yeah, you got to know your outlet. But that's like, who you surround yourself with is so important.

Totally. No, I'm a big believer in manifestation. I'm not like the most woowoo person, but I actually do believe like manifestation is just like a way of explaining, like, exactly what you just said. It's it's putting into the universe and talking to people that you know about things that you want, and inevitably, you're creating luck for yourself by doing that. It's not just like, because you're saying it, it becomes true. It's like, you're actually, like, getting yourself one step closer to that thing because you're letting people know about it, and you're also internalizing it, but you're taking, like, the action of telling someone about it, is doing something about it.

You summarize that so much better than I've ever summarized. So thank you for that. Do it on my show, but Yeah, and like, and by whether, and I think talking about it out loud is important, I journal a lot, so like writing it down, like it kind of brings it to life, and then, and then it becomes more at the forefront of your brain, instead of in the background, and it becomes part of your daily life that you then inevitably will work towards, and, like, see opportunities for and,

yeah, yeah,

I love it. I'm glad you did that. So you, you worked at chef's club. You were you left broadcasting. How long were you there for?

I threw myself into the world of food, and I was like, doing all kinds of crazy things and meeting all kinds of amazing people who worked in the industry, which was, like a really good starting point for someone who was interested in that industry. And I was there for, I want to say, about three years. It's so bad, I should have looked at my resume before. That wasn't a fact check. It was around three years, and that was a great example of, like, working at, you know, a startup like it. Things were changing constantly. We were opening new spaces. We were changing what the concept was. It was evolving over time. So it not only gave me, just like, a great exposure to the food industry, but it also was like, you know, really good training for what it's like to work at a startup,

and then you

worked

in startups,

yes. And so then from there, I did like, I would say, like, I brought a lot of my expertise as a storyteller into that role, and it showed up through, you know, marketing, social media, event support, everything that we were doing on a day to day basis to build that business. And then from there, I really kind of honed in on that calm side of things, and when it was time for me to think about what my next opportunity was, it's like, you know, I love this space of hospitality. Maybe working in food and restaurants is maybe a little bit too hectic for me. How can I translate this and the kind of work that I really love doing here, which is, like the comms work, how can I, you know, find an opportunity that that fits those things, and the wing was, you know, super hot. It had just sort of raised a ton of money, and it was the highest funded female founded business at the time. And there was a comms role that opened up, and I just applied like I did it

good for you. I

didn't know anyone there. I just literally applied for the job. But the thing that has always guided me is as I'm in that phase of looking for a new opportunity, it's creating that luck that I mentioned before, talking to as many people as I could, I. Yes, I ended up getting that job from, you know, seeing it on, posted online, and applying. But I also remember talking to a lot of people during that period of time and reaching out to folks who worked at all kinds of companies. It wasn't just like squarely within this space of, you know, hospitality and or even food. It was, it was like, pretty much all over the place,

yeah. And so you were saying that you you've had several of these moments where you're assessing where you're at and thinking about future you think about current. You. Is that something that you like have a reminder that goes off every so often? They're like, let's do, let's do an internal assessment. Or is it a gut feeling like, how do you how do you have those conversations with yourself, or get the ball rolling? To do that?

It's for me, it's a feeling. So if I feel like I'm getting a little bit stuck somewhere or stagnant, that's typically when I take a step back and I'm like, Okay, is it time for maybe something new? Is this just like me having a shitty week, or is this because I'm really feeling like maybe I've exhausted this opportunity for myself, you know? And if it's the latter, then typically what I do is I think about, if I stay any longer in this place, am I going to look back in the future and regret having spent more time here. You know, think a lot of people feel like, well, I've put X amount of years into something, like I have to see it through, or I have to keep going. I have never been afraid of starting over again. You know, I think whether it's like in my professional life or my personal life, that's something that is a guiding force for me, and I think it's motivated by this fear. I hate to call it a fear, but it is a little bit of a fear that, you know, life goes by really quickly, and I don't want to look back and be like, shoot, I should have done that thing, you know? Why didn't I at least try it? Yeah, and it's scary to do that, but I feel like I have gained so much confidence from doing it, and I just trust myself so much more,

yeah,

because of it,

yeah. And I think, I mean, I think you're really, maybe Lucky is not the right word, but the fact that that's your mindset, I think, is such a gift be and, like, I don't know if you've had it forever, if you kind of, like, if you look back on your childhood and growing up, as a kind of that as well, but it's such a it's so important. And I think, like that fear of, like, the the cost benefit analysis, or like, what you might give up, or, you know, it sounds like you've thought about these things and, like, made these moves with conviction, but you also just mentioned, like, it being a little scary. Did you feel always ready to make the move, or did you know it was a right move? And you would figure it out.

It's always scary, and it takes me time. It's not like I just wake up and decide overnight, like, Okay, I need to do this thing and change my whole course of life by making this decision. There's always a pretty lengthy thought process for myself where I have to, like, internalize, you know, really, and figure out, like, is this just because I'm feeling, you know, bad for a couple of weeks, or is this like something deeper, where I actually do desire a different course for myself, and it's scary, because for me, change has always actually been hard. So this isn't something that's like comes naturally to me. But I think the feeling or the fear of regretting not trying something outweighs that fear of or like, the discomfort of change.

Yeah,

you know, I'm more afraid of, like I said, getting the end of my life and regretting staying in X job for however many years, too long, or x relationship, or whatever it is. I'm more afraid of that than I am of, like, the discomfort that comes with change, that that ultimately is the thing that pushes me to do it.

Yeah, I actively find regret agonizing, like, like, it's a it's a sharp feeling, yeah, and maybe part of that's because, like, a lot of my earlier regrets are, like, on the racetrack where it costs to win, or it's expensive and you crash and, like, you know, but like, that feeling of regret that you could have done something different. Like, I find it's like, it's such a strong feeling for me, so also a motivator. Do you feel that same way, or is it like, kind of more, like, you just don't want

it? It's funny, because I don't feel, I don't like to, I think I'm I just hate regret,

yeah,

and so I don't, I don't even let myself, like, linger on regret, or like, I don't believe in regret. So it's like, think what I'm describing is, like, I just avoid it all together, because if I feel that there's a chance that I might regret something, I immediately course correct,

yeah,

because I don't even, like, subscribe to regret,

amen,

I'm

sure there are things that I should regret as a human being on this earth. But like, I don't even let myself linger on it, because it's like, what are you gonna do? You know, it's already happened. Like, the only thing I control is what will happen. Or, well, I can't control what will happen, but you know what choice, the choices that I can make for the future for myself, and those are motivated by not wanting to make decisions that are, you know, keep me in the stale place that I ultimately regret,

the self awareness piece must be super strong too, because I think to be in that position to to kind of be able to sense that and get that feeling, and have the forethought to to know that that could come is just incredibly self aware. Have you always been like that?

Yeah, I do. I do think I'm pretty self aware, and I've been told that before, but I'm wondering if I think about that as like, self I think you're right to say that it is self awareness. But, yeah, I guess there is a sense of, like, knowing oneself, you know, and knowing how I am, and like, maybe part of it is just like avoiding, you know, future pain.

I love that, you know, we want to minimize

that,

minimizing pain. Yeah, future but yeah, I think it's, I think it's maybe less like self just, just like self confidence, yeah, like trust in oneself, because the most agonizing periods of my life have been when I have internal conflict. So when you know part of me is like, I want this thing, and then there's another part of me that's like, well, maybe I want this thing and I don't have that internal resolution, that's when, typically, I have the biggest struggles. Because I don't, I can't trust myself, because there's there's this version of me and there's that version of me. So the only way how I have found confidence is by finding internal resolution, and that's having those deeper conversations with yourself. For me, it's like it could manifest in running a marathon, right, which it did at one point in my life, and it was like, I had to literally wake up every Saturday morning and run like, dozens of miles in order to get myself to that place of resolution and understand, like, what is it that I actually want?

Yeah.

And then from there, once I've made that decision, it's very easy,

yeah,

it's to implement that change and action upon it, yeah,

and thank you so much for sharing that, because I think that's that resonates with so many people, and I think that also, like the more that the more that you act, and the more action you have, and the more that you then make those changes that, in and of itself, builds that much more confidence, and like, you trust that internal note from yourself to have a terrible word choice, but that's okay, that's really cool, that's really powerful. So

good

for you.

Thank you.

We're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back.

You.

We are back on, if I'm honest with Julia Landauer, one more thing with PR and comms, and this was more just like a kind of trivia kind of thing. But is there a PR crisis from history that you wish you could have worked on. I mean, a wish is a or that could have been really satisfying to have been forced to

work on. I think a fun one that I reference a lot when I talk to people about PR is the whole like peloton and just like that. Do you remember

that?

Oh, yeah,

where's the Sex and the City reboot? Exactly. Spoiler alert.

Spoiler he

also came out

long time ago. You can

spoil by one of the main characters dies on his I think it's like his 1,000th peloton ride. And peloton was, like, clearly involved in this whole, you know, episode. They had their branding everywhere. They had one of their instructors, like featured in the episode. But the result was that the next day, the stock price crashed 11% so it was a pretty bad crisis,

yeah,

but I think it's a good it was, it's a good example of that cultural fluency that I mentioned before, which is like they moved really quickly to try and, you know, really take hold of the situation. They worked with Ryan Reynolds company to produce an ad that came out, I think, within 24 hours of this whole debacle. And it was sort of like a spoof on what had happened. They worked with, I think, a cardiologist on getting, like, a statement out that actually talked about, like, how, you know, with his big specific condition, riding on the bike actually helped prolong his life, rather than So, like, there were some, I think. Way in which they approach that is, is something that is interesting to me, because it's not just like your typical company statement, like PR crisis or like legal statement. It's like they worked to come up with creative solves. Because the thing that had resulted in the crisis, which was a very like big crisis from like, a monetary perspective for their company. The thing that had caused it was, was, like culture to begin with. So how do you respond in a way that that exemplifies that cultural fluency, but makes sense for,

yeah,

for what you're doing and for your company?

Oh, yeah, I totally forgotten about that, yeah, like, and it was, it was so fast. And I feel like I assume communications, and especially crisis communications, has to move really quickly, but that seems like so much happened.

Oh, yeah,

in such a short period of time.

Yeah, I can only imagine what that poor team was having to deal with.

It was a long week for them.

It was definitely, definitely. They thought it was just a Sex in the City reboot, and they were probably really like, yeah, and then

not yet, yeah, oh, that's funny. Okay. Well, before we get to our closing segments, I can't believe so much time has gone by already. Keep chatting forever, but you talked about your love for food and your Instagram at travel eat NYC is incredibly well curated. It's so been so fun to watch your content evolve, also from like photos to videos to like really well edited videos. And you highlight restaurants, you highlight specific products. Think recently you had like, a chocolate chip cookie, the best one in the city and and it's like, can describe it as, like, honest, mouth watering content. And can you share just like, kind of, was that originally something you want to dive into head first? Was it a fun outlet for you to creatively story tell? Like, how did you start that up?

I started it years ago, before Instagram and like, food influencing was even really a thing. I've had that page for way too long, but it started as a way for me to share recommendations for people in my life. So Instagram was, like, just sort of a thing. I started when I was in college. So it would have been around like, you know, maybe 2012 2013 and it was when people would post those, like, highly filtered photos that were all kind of blurry and grainy and weird. But I, you know, I was like, everybody's constantly asking me, they know I love food everywhere I travel and go to they want recommendations. I actually decided to start it when I was in Amsterdam on a trip with my family. And I was like, I'm having all these amazing meals. And I know people are going to ask me for my Amsterdam recommendations, but I'm not going to remember. So let me, and I, you know, I had a smartphone, I was like, let me just like, create a separate page that isn't my personal Instagram account, where I can post the photos from these restaurants, and then people can go back when they're like, Well, what did you order? And where should I go? And, you know, what were the good dishes and the bad dishes? And I can just share it. Here is my, like, visual diary of my food and travels. And so that was the starting point. And for many years, I kind of just kept it up as that just that. And then what happened was, as I got more into this world of, like, you know, working in food and working with different chefs it became, it evolved into, not just like here, here's like exactly what I ate. It's more of like a review of, here are the things that I loved. Here are the things that maybe I didn't love. And then as reels became a thing, you know, we moved more into video, which has definitely been, it was a little bit of an uncomfortable transition at first, but I think, like that broadcast journalism side of me from the beginning, came back out, and it was like, I actually really love this is a combination of so many things that I love. I'm not doing it for anything. I don't do it for, you know, I don't get paid from it. I don't like I just do it because I love to do it and it's fun for me. And I don't care if five people look at a video or 100,000 it doesn't matter. But I just want to authentically share the experiences I'm having at the places that I go.

Yeah,

and I think the number one thing that I try and do, from like, a unique perspective on my page, I think there's so many people creating amazing food content. But the one thing that I do try and do is be as honest as possible, even if it means that sometimes I'm, like, posting things that maybe aren't. So, you know, fabulous. And I'm not trying to, like, knock anyone's business or say anything bad, but people spend a lot of money on food these days.

Thing, yeah,

in New York in particular, it's very expensive here to eat out. And I think there are a lot of you know now, in the world of like, influence, influencers and creators, like, there's so much noise around a small subset of places, specifically in food, and they get a lot of attention and a lot of love, and there are a lot of lines, and people wait a lot of hours. And it's like, you kind of want to give the honest take.

You

know on What's is it worth your time to wait two hours or two for me? I posted something about polo bar recently. I'd been dying to go there for years and years and years. I tried every year for my partner's birthday to call, and I waited online and on the phone for over an hour, and I just couldn't get a rest. And finally, I got a rez through a friend of a friend of a friend, and I went, and I was like, You know what? All that effort wasn't worth it

to me? Yeah,

so

no, but I love that, because you need that. It's almost like toxic positivity. Like, we don't need toxic positivity around all seven to your point, like people are investing their time and money and, like, I always appreciate because, like, at the same time, like, when you do like something, it's like, it's so clear in your voice that you like it, and is clear when it wasn't, when it wasn't amazing. But I think that to your point, it gives you credibility. I know I can trust your reviews. And as I jump back into the city, is very important and and I think that's good because, like, yeah, the restaurant scene here, it's rough. It's just, it's It's tough. It's like, there's like, a in some ways, it seems like a lack of spontaneity, almost like you have to have a reservation. It's hard to roll up somewhere. So we have, we the people appreciate your honest reviews and and I'll link it and share it. But it's like, it's just really great content. So what? What's like. The next thing you want to try out, if you're able to share this, will come out a little bit after so it might be out

there already. But,

I mean, I've been really into the bakeries Recently, because of my recent trip to Copenhagen.

Are there

ample amounts of bakeries, so I've been trying to visit as many of the new bakeries as I can here. I just went to this afghan bakery over the weekend in Brooklyn Heights called Dil John.

Okay, I

think that's how you say it. And it was amazing. Just really unique pastries, not like anything I've been able to find before. So that was really great. I think something I would like to do more of is, like, more of those, like hidden gems in neighborhoods that I don't go to as frequently. So trying to do there's an account that I love. I think his handle is New York Turk. Do you know this guy?

Oh,

he's an Uber driver who he's got, like, so many followers, but he just, he goes to different restaurants in the city, and he he, like, really shines a light on businesses that are struggling, yeah, okay, yeah. And then he goes back and he revisits them after he posts his videos. And it's amazing to see the kind of impact that he has. And I just think, like, affecting that kind of positive change on small businesses is, like, such a beautiful thing. And I would, I don't have that kind of scale or reach, but like, it would be, it doesn't matter, you know, I think it's about like, just showing up and trying food from a new place that maybe isn't the place that everybody else is talking about. And I think that's really amazing. And I definitely want to do more of that.

Oh, well, that's so cool. Well, I will be cheering you on and supporting all of your content, and can't wait to try out all I have, like, so many of your recommendations saved. So so cool that you get to do that and to, as you said, like bring in knowledge from your broadcast journalism and from you know, I'm sure your comms and PR professional work can kind of help tweak some of that. And so that's really cool overlap in the personal and professional. So to close out, listen to the show. Know, I have my closing if you're honest, rapid fire segment, but before we get to that, I want to add something new this year, which is asking you to complete the sentence if I'm honest, and I'd love you to share anything that you want to be honest about, and kind of viewing it as wisdom that you're sharing with our listeners.

Yes, if I'm honest, sometimes the most powerful thing you can do for yourself is to start

from scratch. Yeah, and we talked about a little earlier, right? Like not not being afraid of change, and knowing when to jump in, but it's like to start from scratch. It's scary. I think especially as you get older, it gets scarier. Yeah, I would say,

Yeah, life gets more real. You know, they're real. They're always a million reasons why you shouldn't do something. But if you have a gut instinct or a feeling that you want to try something new or change course, you shouldn't be afraid to do it. And I think it's been some of the most powerful decisions I've made for myself in my life that have led to the most incredible opportunities have come from that being my sort of guiding light,

and

that means also, like, kind of being okay, being uncomfortable for a little bit most likely, I would assume, yeah,

yeah. I mean, I've learned to embrace discomfort, because change is always uncomfortable, whether it's physical change or emotional change or professional change, it's always going to be uncomfortable. Comfortable, but the worst thing ever is feeling too comfortable for me. You know, I like my routine, I like consistency, but I want to feel challenged. I want to feel like I'm growing. And there's nothing more satisfying than looking back and saying, Wow, I got through this really tough transition, but I ended up on a whole other level. And I think that professionally especially, has really driven me to these these new places and these new spaces. And I've grown so much, and maybe even more quickly than other people that I know, that, you know, did stay in broadcast journalism, and then 10 years down the line, they were like, oh, you know, there's maybe no future here for me. So what do I do now? And they've actually, I've had conversations with former colleagues that, you know, stuck it out a little bit too long, maybe, and wanted to leave, but they didn't.

Yeah, it's an important feeling and like mindset I think to embrace. And I think I love that you say, embrace discomfort, because that's also how I discuss that in my keynotes a lot and and I think what's important to remember, that I have found is whether it's personally, professionally, whatever it is, like a breakup is always the same. And like, for me, this was my racing, right? Like it, it can be a really tough grieving period for a while, but time heals everything and and I remember being so surprised by, like, you know, remembering heartbreak from high school college and, like, post college life, and then when I stopped racing, even though it was a decision I made, it was like the same gut wrenching feelings. And so I think it spans all elements of our lives. And easier said than done, obviously, but so important to to think about

it, yeah.

Nudge yourself to do

Yeah. And I think you appreciate also, like, the good times, then a little bit more. Yeah. When you look back and you're like, wow, I got through that, yeah, saying, and I'm proud of myself,

yes. And being proud of ourselves is

like

one of the best feelings ever, and everyone should want to be proud of themselves. Oh, what uplifting way to to go into our closing segment, the rapid fire, if you're honest. Okay, so what is your favorite Indian food in New York City?

I just went to the ambassador's clubhouse, which is incredible. But I also do love Musa fear and I love Kanye Kumari, which is, like a little bit more of a less spoken about place, but it's amazing.

Oh, excellent. Okay, adding them all to the list, what's your favorite farmer's market in New York City? And these are somewhat self serving rapid fire questions.

I like mcgulrick Farmers Market. It's in Greenpoint, so it's like a little bit of a walk from where I live, and it's on Sundays. There's also a McCarran Park Farmers Market, which is great, but I prefer going to a farmers market on a Sunday so Michael Rick is great,

excellent. Okay, thank you. Would you rather host an eight person dinner at home or have it in a restaurant?

Oh, definitely at home. Okay, do

you like hosting? Like you're

I love hosting, and I think eight people at a restaurant can be very stressful. Trying to get a reservation for eight people is incredibly stressful. Most restaurants will probably ask you for like, a down payment or a credit card or something like that. But hosting at home is fun for me, especially eight that's like a good size maybe if you said 15, I would have a different

answer. That's fair. I can't imagine. You know, we just moved to New York, and we have a much smaller apartment than we had a house in Charlotte. And I can't imagine having 15 people in the apartment, but I am now manifesting a future invite to a Yasmin dinner hosted at home.

Absolutely

sorry to invite myself

over.

What's the best hotel you stayed at?

I think it's probably this place I stayed in Venice called cimarosa. It's a very small boutique hotel. It's a 15th century Palazzo on the Grand Canal, but like, on a more quiet section of it, and it's run by a husband and wife, they have five rooms total. It's like, very BNB style, but it is gorgeous, and it is so, like, low key. It's such a hidden gem. If you go to Venice, I hate to kind of blow up the spot, but it is, I think

other people blew up Venice a little bit. Yeah, definitely like stay there versus some of the other spots that everybody stays in. I It's amazing. It's magical. Okay, two more for you. What is your favorite thing to do with your siblings?

Well, I have two siblings that are very, very different from one another, so it probably differs depending on the sibling, but I'd say, like, when I think back at our childhood, we did a lot of hikes. Growing up. My dad loves to be outside in nature, and we spent a lot of time in nature. So probably, you know, I was just with my little brother in San Francisco, and we went on some great hikes. So probably hike, yeah,

San Francisco's so great for hiking.

I

know I. Know, last question for you, what is something that you're grateful for right

now?

Well, I will quickly say that gratitude, I think, is one of the most important things. I have a practice where I say three things I'm grateful for every single day, and it's not like my family and my friends and my job, like it has to be specific to that day, and it could literally just be like, I'm grateful for the sun in the you know, like the sunshine, or the like, five minute walk that I got, or the matcha I had in the afternoon. Like, it can be really kind of, like specific and silly, but I'd say, if you're asking me today for the three things that I'm grateful for, you know, I think being able to have the opportunity to speak about my experience is something I'm really grateful for, and I think also that, like what I talked about before, that inner confidence that I've get, I've gotten to this place now where I have this internal piece, and that's something that you know bleeds into everything I do, whether it's like sitting here with You, or like walking outside and being able to navigate the streets of New York City,

right, right? That is so cool. And I haven't seen you in person for a little while, and it's really cool, because you, you have, like, such a grounding presence. It feels like, and you feel so calm and like, I think the amount of, I would assume, it's like some work and just like, what focusing on yourself and your needs and how you're walking through the world and how you're living it is coming out, and I think that clearly will touch other people as well. So I'm so grateful also that we got to have this conversation. And thank you so much for kicking off this season. Where can people find you? Not in person. I have one person say, like, What do you mean? Where do I live? No, not, where do you live? Like, where can people find you online? They want to connect.

They want to connect. I would say you can follow me on at @traveleatnyc on Instagram, or Tiktok, and then just more on the professional side, LinkedIn. You know, if you want to connect, feel free to add me on LinkedIn.

I love LinkedIn. We will link all that, Link, all that. And Yasmin, thank you so much for coming on. If I'm honest, I was so happy to have you here.

Thank you for having me. It's so good to see you, and this is awesome. So congrats. Thank you

team. Thank you for joining us on, if I'm honest, with Julia Landauer, I hope you enjoyed listening to this conversation as much as I enjoyed recording it with our guest. And if you liked the episode, please subscribe to the podcast on your preferred platform to get new episodes when they drop. It would also be a huge help if you can leave a rating on that page, write a comment and share the episode with someone who you think might enjoy it as always. Thank you for letting us be honest with you, and I'll see you next week.