Laila Arain & Kelly Mason | How'd You Do It & Why Should I Care?

Laila Arain: 0:00

Hi, everyone. Welcome to the next episode of the Bay Street Capital Holdings podcast titled, How'd You Do It& Why Should I Care? This series aims to highlight women doing amazing work in various industries. So today, we are so lucky to be joined by Kelly Mason, who is Director of Corporate Communications at Levi Strauss. Hi, Kelly, lovely to have you on the show.

Kelly Mason: 0:19

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

Laila Arain: 0:21

So I guess we could first start off with a quick introduction about yourself and also an answer to the main question of the podcast, which is How'd you do it? And why should I care?

Kelly Mason: 0:30

Absolutely. So I've been at Levi Strauss and Company for about two years, and I've worked in communications for gosh, going on 20 years now. And my path here was really is really rooted in what I loved as a kid, which was story, you know, I was, I was the kid, I grew up in Virginia, you know, under the covers reading books late at night past my bedtime. And I've always loved reading and writing. And, you know, when I, when I was in college, I didn't know if that was going to be a viable career, but was really interested in just continuing to write to write for a living. And after I graduated, I started working in marketing, communications, that's been sort of my career path. But I decided to, you know, kind of make a bet and go west, I moved to California, when I was in my early 20s. And I wanted to get my master's in business administration. And I went to Haas Berkeley. And that experience was incredibly formative for me, you know, both in the people that I met. And that's a theme for me, right, like people and how they sort of shaped your career over the years. But it was also a chance for me to get exposure to this idea of business as a force for good. And that's really been the through line for me and all my career experiences. My first job out of business school, I worked in marketing communications at a video network, the philanthropic investment fund was started by Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay, and this idea of, of business, having a social impact in the world, it just really inspired me. And so in some of my subsequent positions, you know, in communications@google.org, and not say Levi's, which is very much a company that leads with its values. It's been sort of the the engine that that's helped me decide where to go into my career and what companies to work for the kinds of people that I wanted to work with.

Laila Arain: 2:28

That's awesome to hear. And obviously, you touched on what inspired you to join this industry. But I'm really curious, you mentioned that you are at Haas, studying marketing for an MBA. I was just also wondering, aside from schooling, what were the best resources that helped you along in your journey?

Kelly Mason: 2:43

Absolutely, I mean, I think for me, the best thing I can, I can say is that the people that I have met, and the that I've gotten to know over the years, that's been just the best resource that I could think of. And it's not always the people that you expect, right? It's not always the person who has the career you want 510 years from now, it's your classmate who's studying a totally different topic. It's, it's somebody that you meet at work, who's on a completely different team that exposes you to some different ideas and ways to think about things. So, you know, for me, Business School is really interesting, because it wasn't just about learning Finance, Accounting strategy, it was also about how to approach a problem and how to think. And it was really about connecting with other people. And those were, I think two of the most valuable things that you could ask for

Laila Arain: 3:33

that's really important is connections with people and, you know, speaking to people before you even enter an industry, I think that the more you know, the more that you will be prepared, I guess, and sort of following on from that being prepared for joining the industry. Were there any lessons that you wish you would have known before starting in your field of work?

Kelly Mason: 3:51

Yeah, I mean, I think I didn't set out to end up exactly where I have. So it's sort of interesting, right, like things I wish I had known. You know, it would be great to have sort of accelerated my timeline for understanding certain things. But when I took my job at a video network, I had no, you know, prior knowledge of the company before I heard about the job posting. And so for me, I think just like having openness to new experiences in different industries is actually really helped me one of the pieces of feedback I get quite a bit is oh, your, your resume is really interesting. I don't see this particular progression a lot. And, you know, I really tried to lean into that as a strength. And a lot of the reason I think that I have that is it's, you know, I've looked for teams, I've looked for companies that that aligned with my values that as sort of like priority number one and just offered some interesting, interesting work and ideas and concepts, you know, whether that was in technology or something like philanthropy. that were there will be a huge opportunity on the communication side of things, right? Like we're this is really, really important. So so those are, those are a few of the things that I think were really formative for me.

Laila Arain: 5:12

That's really interesting. And you've been in this industry for a while now, I was curious to find out across your career span of your career, what was your biggest failure? And what did you learn from it?

Kelly Mason: 5:24

Yeah, I mean, I think, and I should caveat this by saying, you know, I've been in different I've been in the same career field, right? I've worked in communications for a couple, you know, going on two decades, but I've been in different industries. And so I actually think that's really important. So if you're somebody who knows you want a certain kind of role, or you want to do a certain kind of job, but you don't have experience in a certain industry, my, you know, I would say, don't be afraid to stick up for what you do and what you know, and how it translates to the new space. You know, frankly, when I started working at Google, I had, you know, background in philanthropy, and, and, you know, policy issues, but I had very little background in true tech and working with engineers, but I was able to learn about new industries, you know, on the fly during my time there. To answer your question about biggest failure, I would say, you know, something that happened to me early on that, you know, I've actually reflected on a lot in the last couple years is, I had seen, you know, something at work that bothered me from a values perspective, I felt a teammate of mine was, you know, was being harassed basically. And I remember, I was very early in my career, and it took a lot of guts to say something to the executive, to a couple of the executives that I worked with, and I won't say it was shot down, but it was sort of like, diminished, right? Like, oh, no, it's not what you think it is. And, and I sort of questioned myself, I think today, like maybe, you know, there, there are words for this kind of treatment. Right. But back then I really just second guessed myself, and I still think about it today, as you know, a how brave is it when people do stand up at work and say that this is, this is not right, right. Like, this is not how we treat each other in the workplace. This is not how we treat each other, treat each other anywhere. That takes a lot of bravery. And I think, you know, for me, I look back on that and feel a little bit like, I failed my co worker. And I wish I had stuck up for myself even more, but it's something that was formed for me and just helped me, you know, cement my voice as I got more seniority and experience in the workplace.

Laila Arain: 7:44

For sure, for sure. And I think that that's a very, like, a very common theme amongst most women, you know, entering the workforce, it's that, you know, shyness, and their hesitancy because when you're a new hire, it's just like, how far can you go with making your voice heard?

Kelly Mason: 8:00

Yes, yes, yeah, I felt like, you know, when I, after I graduated college, there's the sense of like, well, I don't want to I want to learn, right, I'm not here to rock the boat, I'm here to learn. But part of learning, right is also like speaking up and going through these tough experiences and learning from it.

Laila Arain: 8:17

So, ya know, that's a really good piece of advice and sort of speaking about advice, what is one piece of advice you would give to somebody who was wanting to pursue a career similar to yours?

Kelly Mason: 8:29

You know, I would say that you just cannot discount the kind of basics of investing in good communication, writing being, you know, clear and an argument I've worked with, you know, some of my colleagues who I have been so impressed with and are so talented, some of them came from backgrounds in the legal profession. And I think one of the reasons they're so good at what they do in sort of the communications and policy world is that ability to articulate an argument. And so I think one of the things that's great about working in communications is it's, you can translate different backgrounds Intuit, it's really about having that ability to find the story and having that ability to construct an argument in a way that makes sense and is persuasive.

Laila Arain: 9:19

Yeah, no official, and I think I definitely resonate with that. I was very shy with that. But when I started to do that, but I think the more confidence you get is through speaking to lots of people and seeing, you know, how they do it and you know, emulating that.

Kelly Mason: 9:33

Yes, absolutely. I, I once read from a very, very, you know, powerful female politician that she had this experience of not speaking up in meetings, and then a man would say what she was going to say and get kudos for it. And it was just a sense of like, Oh, if if that happens to her like that, that is really, you know, validate I mean, validating it away also, like, that's, it's sad. That's true for so many women, but I it for me, it was just, you know, have that confidence in yourself, you know, the the benefit of being, you know, full throated in your participation in the meeting and sticking up for your perspective, even if you're wrong sometimes, right. And even though it can be hard to do, it really does make a difference.

Laila Arain: 10:28

I definitely agree. And then, obviously, you've been in lots of different industries, but you've been in the same career field. So I'm just curious, what is one common myth about your profession that you would like to debunk?

Kelly Mason: 10:41

Well, I mean, I think that, you know, working in communications and corporate fair, a corporate affairs there is, you know, it is public relations is a huge piece of the pie and, you know, PR can be considered spin, and by some that, I think it is considered to be that, but I have very, very rarely in my entire career, you know, including working with larger companies felt like, that's what I was doing, right, like I and that's partly, you know, my decision to work for places and teams where I felt really strongly in the values. And so it was easy for me to stick up for the stick up for a company. But it's, you know, it's not a lot of that, right, it's more about cutting to the heart of an issue or story and making sure that that's that information is available to the audiences that you care about.

Laila Arain: 11:36

Definitely. And I'm sure you're very busy, obviously, Director of Corporate Communications, but I'm curious in your free time, what have you read or listened to recently that's really inspired you.

Kelly Mason: 11:47

I recently read a memoir called educated that I loved by a writer named Tara Westover. And she has this amazing journey of basically not having any access to education for most of her life, and then finding a way to get into college and then just have this really amazing story of becoming, you know, a doc, a PhD and, and, you know, career and writing, that's just very impressive. So I loved that I loved her story. I've also been really into particularly during COVID, you know, listening to more podcasts. And I love any variety of podcasts that kind of takes a you know, a song or a movie or a piece of information and just breaks it down into such detail, sort of that idea, when you have all this information coming at you to take something and examine it really closely. And in such detail, I find it very, I find it very soothing. And I always learn something or hear something that I hadn't examined before. So an old coworker of mine started a podcast called switched on pop. And that's one example. I love the episodes where they like dissect one song and pull it apart. It's fascinating. Wow, okay, I'll

Laila Arain: 13:07

definitely make sure to check it out. Because I'm a big music fan myself. So I'd love to sort of hear what they have to say about each of the different lyrics.

Kelly Mason: 13:14

Yes, it is definitely worth lesson.

Laila Arain: 13:17

Oh, listen. And also thinking about your life, who are three people who have been the most influential to you?

Kelly Mason: 13:24

Yeah, I mean, I would say these days. You know, I'm a mom, my son's pretty influential in my day to day he really shapes you know, how I spend my time and what I prioritize and in a wonderful way. You know, I think someone else who was really influential to me, I think back on kind of those early years, like the formative college years, I had a professor who I took a class that she taught and it was on Lord Byron, like just on Lord Byron, just that one writer.

Laila Arain: 13:56

Interesting character, I will say,

Kelly Mason: 13:57

Yes, he is. He is yes. mad, bad and dangerous. No, I loved how much passion she had for, you know, for many things, but for him as a writer, and you know, she had a lot of these zany ideas that sort of connected pop culture and literature and I just, I would say, like her curiosity and sort of fascination and passion for these unusual topics, make an impression on me, right? Just like reminded me to be curious and to find connections and things that maybe weren't so obvious.

Laila Arain: 14:36

That's great. And then sort of finally to wrap up our compensation. What is one piece of advice that you wish you gave yourself at any point in your life?

Kelly Mason: 14:46

Um, I mean, I really one of my first managers told me that to have a thicker skin and she sort of you You know, I think she sort of hit the nail on the head. And I really wish I could go back in time and just be a little bit less harsh on myself because, you know, perceived mistakes or failures, right? Like they really at the end of the day, most of the time they see much larger in your own mind thing than they do anyone else's. And I think taking that to heart and, and living your life in that way, right, where you're moving on. You're learning and then moving on is one of the most valuable things you can do. So that would be my advice to myself is Don't Don't be so hard on yourself.

Laila Arain: 15:35

Oh, yes. I think at any stage in your career, that is definitely a very important piece of advice that you should keep in the back of your mind. Yes. Well, great. Well, thank you so much, Kelly, for taking the time to speak with me. This was such an engaging conversation, and I really appreciated you talking about your career and also how you got there.

Kelly Mason: 15:51

Absolutely. Thanks for having me.

Laila Arain: 15:53

Thank you. Bye. The