0:00

Hi, everyone.

0:00

Welcome to the next episode of

0:03

the Bay Street Capital Holdings

0:03

podcast titled, How'd You Do It

0:06

& Why Should I Care? This series

0:06

aims to highlight women doing

0:09

amazing work in various

0:09

industries. So today, we are so

0:12

lucky to be joined by Kelly

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Mason, who is Director of

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Corporate Communications at Levi

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Strauss. Hi, Kelly, lovely to

0:18

have you on the show.

0:19

It's great to be here. Thanks for having me.

0:21

So I guess we could first start off with a quick introduction about yourself and

0:23

also an answer to the main

0:26

question of the podcast, which

0:26

is How'd you do it? And why

0:28

should I care?

0:30

Absolutely. So I've

0:30

been at Levi Strauss and Company

0:34

for about two years, and I've

0:34

worked in communications for

0:37

gosh, going on 20 years now. And

0:37

my path here was really is

0:44

really rooted in what I loved as

0:44

a kid, which was story, you

0:47

know, I was, I was the kid, I

0:47

grew up in Virginia, you know,

0:51

under the covers reading books

0:51

late at night past my bedtime.

0:54

And I've always loved reading

0:54

and writing. And, you know, when

0:57

I, when I was in college, I

0:57

didn't know if that was going to

1:01

be a viable career, but was

1:01

really interested in just

1:04

continuing to write to write for

1:04

a living. And after I graduated,

1:11

I started working in marketing,

1:11

communications, that's been sort

1:14

of my career path. But I decided

1:14

to, you know, kind of make a bet

1:19

and go west, I moved to

1:19

California, when I was in my

1:23

early 20s. And I wanted to get

1:23

my master's in business

1:26

administration. And I went to

1:26

Haas Berkeley. And that

1:30

experience was incredibly

1:30

formative for me, you know, both

1:33

in the people that I met. And

1:33

that's a theme for me, right,

1:36

like people and how they sort of

1:36

shaped your career over the

1:39

years. But it was also a chance

1:39

for me to get exposure to this

1:44

idea of business as a force for

1:44

good. And that's really been the

1:47

through line for me and all my

1:47

career experiences. My first job

1:52

out of business school, I worked

1:52

in marketing communications at a

1:55

video network, the philanthropic

1:55

investment fund was started by

1:59

Pierre Omidyar, the founder of

1:59

eBay, and this idea of, of

2:04

business, having a social impact

2:04

in the world, it just really

2:08

inspired me. And so in some of

2:08

my subsequent positions, you

2:12

know, in

2:12

[email protected], and

2:15

not say Levi's, which is very

2:15

much a company that leads with

2:18

its values. It's been sort of

2:18

the the engine that that's

2:22

helped me decide where to go

2:22

into my career and what

2:25

companies to work for the kinds

2:25

of people that I wanted to work

2:28

with.

2:28

That's awesome to

2:28

hear. And obviously, you touched

2:31

on what inspired you to join

2:31

this industry. But I'm really

2:33

curious, you mentioned that you

2:33

are at Haas, studying marketing

2:36

for an MBA. I was just also

2:36

wondering, aside from schooling,

2:39

what were the best resources

2:39

that helped you along in your

2:41

journey?

2:43

Absolutely, I mean,

2:43

I think for me, the best thing I

2:46

can, I can say is that the

2:46

people that I have met, and the

2:51

that I've gotten to know over

2:51

the years, that's been just the

2:55

best resource that I could think

2:55

of. And it's not always the

2:58

people that you expect, right?

2:58

It's not always the person who

3:01

has the career you want 510

3:01

years from now, it's your

3:04

classmate who's studying a

3:04

totally different topic. It's,

3:09

it's somebody that you meet at

3:09

work, who's on a completely

3:11

different team that exposes you

3:11

to some different ideas and ways

3:14

to think about things. So, you

3:14

know, for me, Business School is

3:18

really interesting, because it

3:18

wasn't just about learning

3:21

Finance, Accounting strategy, it

3:21

was also about how to approach a

3:25

problem and how to think. And it

3:25

was really about connecting with

3:29

other people. And those were, I

3:29

think two of the most valuable

3:32

things that you could ask for

3:33

that's really important is connections with people and, you know, speaking

3:35

to people before you even enter

3:38

an industry, I think that the

3:38

more you know, the more that you

3:41

will be prepared, I guess, and

3:41

sort of following on from that

3:44

being prepared for joining the

3:44

industry. Were there any lessons

3:47

that you wish you would have known before starting in your field of work?

3:51

Yeah, I mean, I

3:51

think I didn't set out to end up

3:57

exactly where I have. So it's

3:57

sort of interesting, right, like

4:01

things I wish I had known. You

4:01

know, it would be great to have

4:05

sort of accelerated my timeline

4:05

for understanding certain

4:08

things. But when I took my job

4:08

at a video network, I had no,

4:14

you know, prior knowledge of the

4:14

company before I heard about the

4:18

job posting. And so for me, I

4:18

think just like having openness

4:22

to new experiences in different

4:22

industries is actually really

4:25

helped me one of the pieces of

4:25

feedback I get quite a bit is

4:30

oh, your, your resume is really

4:30

interesting. I don't see this

4:33

particular progression a lot.

4:33

And, you know, I really tried to

4:36

lean into that as a strength.

4:36

And a lot of the reason I think

4:40

that I have that is it's, you

4:40

know, I've looked for teams,

4:43

I've looked for companies that

4:43

that aligned with my values that

4:48

as sort of like priority number

4:48

one and just offered some

4:51

interesting, interesting work

4:51

and ideas and concepts, you

4:56

know, whether that was in

4:56

technology or something like

4:58

philanthropy. that were there

4:58

will be a huge opportunity on

5:03

the communication side of

5:03

things, right? Like we're this

5:05

is really, really important. So

5:05

so those are, those are a few of

5:09

the things that I think were

5:09

really formative for me.

5:12

That's really

5:12

interesting. And you've been in

5:14

this industry for a while now, I

5:14

was curious to find out across

5:18

your career span of your career,

5:18

what was your biggest failure?

5:20

And what did you learn from it?

5:24

Yeah, I mean, I

5:24

think, and I should caveat this

5:28

by saying, you know, I've been

5:28

in different I've been in the

5:31

same career field, right? I've

5:31

worked in communications for a

5:35

couple, you know, going on two

5:35

decades, but I've been in

5:38

different industries. And so I

5:38

actually think that's really

5:41

important. So if you're somebody

5:41

who knows you want a certain

5:45

kind of role, or you want to do

5:45

a certain kind of job, but you

5:49

don't have experience in a

5:49

certain industry, my, you know,

5:51

I would say, don't be afraid to

5:51

stick up for what you do and

5:56

what you know, and how it

5:56

translates to the new space. You

6:00

know, frankly, when I started

6:00

working at Google, I had, you

6:03

know, background in

6:03

philanthropy, and, and, you

6:06

know, policy issues, but I had

6:06

very little background in true

6:09

tech and working with engineers,

6:09

but I was able to learn about

6:12

new industries, you know, on the

6:12

fly during my time there. To

6:17

answer your question about

6:17

biggest failure, I would say,

6:20

you know, something that

6:20

happened to me early on that,

6:25

you know, I've actually

6:25

reflected on a lot in the last

6:27

couple years is, I had seen, you

6:27

know, something at work that

6:33

bothered me from a values

6:33

perspective, I felt a teammate

6:36

of mine was, you know, was being

6:36

harassed basically. And I

6:41

remember, I was very early in my

6:41

career, and it took a lot of

6:44

guts to say something to the

6:44

executive, to a couple of the

6:48

executives that I worked with,

6:48

and I won't say it was shot

6:53

down, but it was sort of like,

6:53

diminished, right? Like, oh, no,

6:57

it's not what you think it is.

6:57

And, and I sort of questioned

7:00

myself, I think today, like

7:00

maybe, you know, there, there

7:04

are words for this kind of

7:04

treatment. Right. But back then

7:06

I really just second guessed

7:06

myself, and I still think about

7:09

it today, as you know, a how

7:09

brave is it when people do stand

7:14

up at work and say that this is,

7:14

this is not right, right. Like,

7:18

this is not how we treat each

7:18

other in the workplace. This is

7:20

not how we treat each other,

7:20

treat each other anywhere. That

7:23

takes a lot of bravery. And I

7:23

think, you know, for me, I look

7:26

back on that and feel a little

7:26

bit like, I failed my co worker.

7:32

And I wish I had stuck up for

7:32

myself even more, but it's

7:35

something that was formed for me

7:35

and just helped me, you know,

7:39

cement my voice as I got more

7:39

seniority and experience in the

7:43

workplace.

7:44

For sure, for sure.

7:44

And I think that that's a very,

7:48

like, a very common theme

7:48

amongst most women, you know,

7:51

entering the workforce, it's

7:51

that, you know, shyness, and

7:54

their hesitancy because when

7:54

you're a new hire, it's just

7:56

like, how far can you go with

7:56

making your voice heard?

8:00

Yes, yes, yeah, I

8:00

felt like, you know, when I,

8:04

after I graduated college,

8:04

there's the sense of like, well,

8:07

I don't want to I want to learn,

8:07

right, I'm not here to rock the

8:09

boat, I'm here to learn. But

8:09

part of learning, right is also

8:13

like speaking up and going

8:13

through these tough experiences

8:16

and learning from it.

8:17

So, ya know, that's

8:17

a really good piece of advice

8:19

and sort of speaking about

8:19

advice, what is one piece of

8:22

advice you would give to somebody who was wanting to pursue a career similar to

8:24

yours?

8:29

You know, I would

8:29

say that you just cannot

8:33

discount the kind of basics of

8:33

investing in good communication,

8:39

writing being, you know, clear

8:39

and an argument I've worked

8:44

with, you know, some of my

8:44

colleagues who I have been so

8:48

impressed with and are so

8:48

talented, some of them came from

8:51

backgrounds in the legal

8:51

profession. And I think one of

8:54

the reasons they're so good at

8:54

what they do in sort of the

8:57

communications and policy world

8:57

is that ability to articulate an

9:00

argument. And so I think one of

9:00

the things that's great about

9:04

working in communications is

9:04

it's, you can translate

9:07

different backgrounds Intuit,

9:07

it's really about having that

9:11

ability to find the story and

9:11

having that ability to construct

9:15

an argument in a way that makes

9:15

sense and is persuasive.

9:19

Yeah, no official,

9:19

and I think I definitely

9:22

resonate with that. I was very

9:22

shy with that. But when I

9:25

started to do that, but I think

9:25

the more confidence you get is

9:27

through speaking to lots of

9:27

people and seeing, you know, how

9:30

they do it and you know,

9:30

emulating that.

9:33

Yes, absolutely. I,

9:33

I once read from a very, very,

9:38

you know, powerful female

9:38

politician that she had this

9:43

experience of not speaking up in

9:43

meetings, and then a man would

9:47

say what she was going to say

9:47

and get kudos for it. And it was

9:52

just a sense of like, Oh, if if

9:52

that happens to her like that,

9:55

that is really, you know,

9:55

validate I mean, validating it

10:00

away also, like, that's, it's

10:00

sad. That's true for so many

10:04

women, but I it for me, it was

10:04

just, you know, have that

10:07

confidence in yourself, you

10:07

know, the the benefit of being,

10:13

you know, full throated in your

10:13

participation in the meeting and

10:18

sticking up for your

10:18

perspective, even if you're

10:22

wrong sometimes, right. And even

10:22

though it can be hard to do, it

10:25

really does make a difference.

10:28

I definitely agree.

10:28

And then, obviously, you've been

10:31

in lots of different industries,

10:31

but you've been in the same

10:34

career field. So I'm just

10:34

curious, what is one common myth

10:37

about your profession that you

10:37

would like to debunk?

10:41

Well, I mean, I

10:41

think that, you know, working in

10:44

communications and corporate

10:44

fair, a corporate affairs there

10:47

is, you know, it is public

10:47

relations is a huge piece of the

10:52

pie and, you know, PR can be

10:52

considered spin, and by some

10:57

that, I think it is considered

10:57

to be that, but I have very,

11:01

very rarely in my entire career,

11:01

you know, including working with

11:04

larger companies felt like,

11:04

that's what I was doing, right,

11:09

like I and that's partly, you

11:09

know, my decision to work for

11:13

places and teams where I felt

11:13

really strongly in the values.

11:17

And so it was easy for me to

11:17

stick up for the stick up for a

11:21

company. But it's, you know,

11:21

it's not a lot of that, right,

11:25

it's more about cutting to the

11:25

heart of an issue or story and

11:30

making sure that that's that

11:30

information is available to the

11:34

audiences that you care about.

11:36

Definitely. And I'm

11:36

sure you're very busy,

11:38

obviously, Director of Corporate

11:38

Communications, but I'm curious

11:42

in your free time, what have you

11:42

read or listened to recently

11:44

that's really inspired you.

11:47

I recently read a

11:47

memoir called educated that I

11:52

loved by a writer named Tara

11:52

Westover. And she has this

11:56

amazing journey of basically not

11:56

having any access to education

12:01

for most of her life, and then

12:01

finding a way to get into

12:06

college and then just have this

12:06

really amazing story of

12:10

becoming, you know, a doc, a PhD

12:10

and, and, you know, career and

12:18

writing, that's just very

12:18

impressive. So I loved that I

12:20

loved her story. I've also been

12:20

really into particularly during

12:24

COVID, you know, listening to

12:24

more podcasts. And I love any

12:29

variety of podcasts that kind of

12:29

takes a you know, a song or a

12:34

movie or a piece of information

12:34

and just breaks it down into

12:38

such detail, sort of that idea,

12:38

when you have all this

12:42

information coming at you to

12:42

take something and examine it

12:45

really closely. And in such

12:45

detail, I find it very, I find

12:49

it very soothing. And I always

12:49

learn something or hear

12:52

something that I hadn't examined

12:52

before. So an old coworker of

12:56

mine started a podcast called

12:56

switched on pop. And that's one

13:00

example. I love the episodes

13:00

where they like dissect one song

13:04

and pull it apart. It's

13:04

fascinating. Wow, okay, I'll

13:07

definitely make sure to check it out. Because I'm a big music fan myself. So

13:08

I'd love to sort of hear what

13:11

they have to say about each of

13:11

the different lyrics.

13:14

Yes, it is

13:14

definitely worth lesson.

13:17

Oh, listen. And

13:17

also thinking about your life,

13:20

who are three people who have

13:20

been the most influential to

13:22

you?

13:24

Yeah, I mean, I

13:24

would say these days. You know,

13:27

I'm a mom, my son's pretty

13:27

influential in my day to day he

13:30

really shapes you know, how I

13:30

spend my time and what I

13:33

prioritize and in a wonderful

13:33

way. You know, I think someone

13:38

else who was really influential

13:38

to me, I think back on kind of

13:42

those early years, like the

13:42

formative college years, I had a

13:46

professor who I took a class

13:46

that she taught and it was on

13:51

Lord Byron, like just on Lord

13:51

Byron, just that one writer.

13:56

Interesting character, I will say,

13:57

Yes, he is. He is

13:57

yes. mad, bad and dangerous. No,

14:02

I loved how much passion she had

14:02

for, you know, for many things,

14:07

but for him as a writer, and you

14:07

know, she had a lot of these

14:11

zany ideas that sort of

14:11

connected pop culture and

14:14

literature and I just, I would

14:14

say, like her curiosity and sort

14:21

of fascination and passion for

14:21

these unusual topics, make an

14:26

impression on me, right? Just

14:26

like reminded me to be curious

14:30

and to find connections and

14:30

things that maybe weren't so

14:34

obvious.

14:36

That's great. And

14:36

then sort of finally to wrap up

14:38

our compensation. What is one

14:38

piece of advice that you wish

14:41

you gave yourself at any point in your life?

14:46

Um, I mean, I

14:46

really one of my first managers

14:51

told me that to have a thicker

14:51

skin and she sort of you You

15:00

know, I think she sort of hit

15:00

the nail on the head. And I

15:03

really wish I could go back in

15:03

time and just be a little bit

15:05

less harsh on myself because,

15:05

you know, perceived mistakes or

15:10

failures, right? Like they

15:10

really at the end of the day,

15:14

most of the time they see much

15:14

larger in your own mind thing

15:18

than they do anyone else's. And

15:18

I think taking that to heart

15:22

and, and living your life in

15:22

that way, right, where you're

15:25

moving on. You're learning and

15:25

then moving on is one of the

15:30

most valuable things you can do.

15:30

So that would be my advice to

15:32

myself is Don't Don't be so hard

15:32

on yourself.

15:35

Oh, yes. I think at

15:35

any stage in your career, that

15:38

is definitely a very important

15:38

piece of advice that you should

15:40

keep in the back of your mind.

15:40

Yes. Well, great. Well, thank

15:43

you so much, Kelly, for taking

15:43

the time to speak with me. This

15:45

was such an engaging conversation, and I really appreciated you talking about

15:47

your career and also how you got

15:50

there.

15:51

Absolutely. Thanks for having me.

15:53

Thank you. Bye. The