Interview with Marla Isackson, Founder & Chair, Ossa Collective Inc, United States

Listen here or on your favorite platform.

 

CONVERSATION HIGHLIGHTS:

1. The Importance of Financial Empowerment

2. The Power of Podcasting for Underrepresented Voices

3. The Importance of Consistency and Community in Podcasting

4. Key Initiatives for Sustainable Social Impact

5. The Power of Networking and Partnerships for Growth

6. How to build and engage a virtual team

Time stamps:

• 00:20 Introduction and Welcome

  00:54 Meet the Host: Suzanne F. Stevens

  01:10 Introducing the Guest: Marla Isackson

  01:36 Marla’s Journey into Podcasting

  02:26 The Birth of OSSA

  04:03 The Role of Social Return on Investment in OSSA

  05:09 The Importance of Financial Empowerment

  05:30 The Growth and Evolution of OSSA

  06:35 The Power of Podcasting for Underrepresented Voices

  07:07 OSSA’s Unique Approach to Podcasting

  14:50 The Importance of Consistency and Community in Podcasting

  24:58 The Impact of Social Initiatives on Business Sustainability

  25:42 Key Initiatives for Sustainable Social Impact

  26:18 Growing OSSA’s Creator Community

  27:12 The Power of Networking and Partnerships

  30:46 Building and Managing a Virtual Team

  33:19 Engaging and Communicating with a Virtual Team

  35:49 The Future of OSSA and Social Initiatives

  36:48 Personal Insights and Reflections

  44:00 Promoting Diversity and Inclusion

  45:13 Final Thoughts and Contact Information

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Interview with Marla Isackson, Founder & Chair, Ossa Collective Inc; United States

Marla Isackson is a seasoned marketing executive with over 25 years of experience creating innovative marketing campaigns for world-famous brands, including Citibank, American Express, Barnes & Noble, and WebMD. A longtime, passionate supporter of women’s initiatives, Marla is creating a new movement to support underrepresented voices in podcasting. Marla is the founder of Ossa, an AI-driven podcast advertising marketplace that connects brands with untapped audiences. The Ossa platform comprises 1800+ creators and reaches over 36 million monthly listeners. Ossa is a platform for podcast creators to start, grow, and manage their advertising business. Ossa offers free community benefits to help our creators achieve their growth goals, such as free hosting programs with IHeart/Spreaker and Spotify/Megaphone; Amplify, our free 6-week accelerator program; Podswap, Ossa’s creator collaboration tool; educational resources, including our AMA program; and more. For brands and advertisers, entering the world of podcast advertising presents significant hurdles, including operational hassles, high expenses, and a steep learning curve. We empower Advertisers with a full-stack solution for unleashing the power of podcast advertising. Ossa makes podcast advertising easy.

United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal(s) addressed:
#5. Gender Equality

Social impact:
My company, Like a Boss Girls, offered women how-to advice, and I was exploring new marketing channels and platforms to expand its reach. As a result, I launched the Mind of a Mentor podcast in 2018 as a podcast dedicated to women's mentoring and leadership. Despite my awareness of this medium's potential, I found that women and non-binary creators were not gaining traction. Thus, OSSA was launched in Q1 2019 to solve a problem I encountered as a podcaster: how to produce, market, and monetize podcasts. Researching the industry, I found that, like many industries, women were underrepresented. Women hosted just 23% of podcasts in 2018. According to statistics, women and non-binary individuals produce 30% of podcasts- a slight increase since 2018. The critical issue still is the ability or inability of women and underrepresented creators to gain traction and monetize their content. A key reason creators stop creating podcasts is not knowing how or where to start when seeking ad placement/sponsorship for their content. Additionally, women and non-binary creators make the best brand ambassadors; women earn more than 85% of household consumer purchases in the US.

Website: https://ossacollective.com/

Acknowledgments:  

Marla is extremely accomplished and is acknowledged for her commitment to elevating women and their voices:

Finalist in the 20th annual Stevie® Awards for Women in Business
-Fast Company 2022 World Changing Ideas honoree.

https://medium.com/authority-magazine/marla-isackson-ossa-5-things-i-wish-someone-told-me-before-i-became-a-founder-42ebf6cb0133
https://www.blogher.com/community/the-networking-approach-thats-made-the-biggest-difference-in-these-high-performing-womens-careers-53273/
https://www.principalpost.com/in-brief/marla-isackson
https://ladiesgetpaid.com/blog/women-leaders-ai/
https://advertisingweek.com/3-steps-to-unlocking-the-power-of-podcasters-to-connect-with-your-consumers
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/women-leaders-on-how-they-are-disrupting-their-industries-2021-03-19

Connect with Marla: marla@OSSAcollective.com 

Interview with Marla Isackson, Founder & Chairman, OSSA Collective Inc., New Jersey, United States.

Note: This interview is transcribed using AI software, which means the transcription is imperfect. Watch the video or listen to the podcast to hear our guest’s wisdom in her own words. If you want to see more interviews like this, please comment below!

[00:00:20] Suzanne F. Stevens: Welcome to YouMeWe Amplified podcast, where we have conversations with sheIMPACTpreneurs addressing the United Nations sustainable development goals. These entrepreneurs are transforming where we live and work with sustainable social solutions.

Each episode has an actual insights into what, why, where, and how to make a social impact to empower you, your organization,and of course, your community. It’s a great opportunity to be empowered on how to make your contribution count. Hello, I’m Suzanne F. Stevens. I grow conscious leaders, their businesses, and sustainable social impact.

I’m an international speaker author, sheIMPACTpreneur community builder and multi-award winning IMPACTpreneur. And of course, your host for YouMeWe Amplified.

Our guest today is Marla Isackson, Founder and Chair of OSSA Collective Inc. Marla is from New Jersey, United States. As a seasoned marketing executive with over 25 years experience creating innovative Marketing campaigns for world famous brands, Marla saw a gap in the marketplace and put her brilliance to work to close that gap. Marla created a new movement to support underrepresented voices in podcasting. Marla is the founder of OSSA, an AI driven podcast advertising marketplace that connects the brands with untapped audiences.

The OSSA platform comprises 1800 creators and reaches over 36 million monthly listeners. OSSA as a platform for Underrepresented podcasters creators to start, grow, and manage their advertising business. So, if you’re a podcaster or want to be be, want to listen up to Marla? Welcome Marla. Great to have you here with us today.

[00:02:21] Marla Isackson: Thank you so much for inviting me. It’s quite an honor. I’m really excited to be here.

 I need to thank you for creating OSSA and creating great opportunities for so many creators to get access to how to make fabulous podcasts from beginning to end.

[00:02:39] Marla Isackson: It’s definitely my pleasure and the pleasure of my team, so we’re always happy to help.

[00:02:44] Suzanne F: So, why don’t we start with what was the catalyst for you to start OSSA in the first place?

[00:02:50] Marla Isackson: Sure. I had developed a platform for mostly millennial women called like a Boss Girls. And we were doing very well. We provided how to content, how to get a job and find an apartment, et cetera, et cetera. And at that point, when Facebook was big, we grew our followers to over 1.1 million followers. So, we were cranking, Then my team in 2018 said to me, we’re always looking for different marketing channels for you to amplify like a boss girls, why don’t you try podcasting? And I’m like, what? It was not necessarily something I really wanted to do, but they forced me and I always listen to them. And, I decided to start a podcast, which I did. It’s called Mind of a Mentor and The mind of a mentor has evolved a lot. It started, first focus was talking to women and other underrepresented voices about their journey, and now we’re focusing a lot more on the industry. So, as I started to podcast, I actually fell in love. I’m, I said this is like the coolest thing. First of all, it gives me permission to be inquisitive, versus being perceived as being rude. And, that to me is amazing. And I just thought that it was just such a unique platform, just the power of the voice, in terms of how it can impact society. So, we did our research. Again, my background is corporate marketing, so everything we do is research to find out what was going on. in the industry with women and other underrepresented voices, and it was pretty abysmal. In 2018, 2019, I believe the number was under 22% of all podcast hosts were women or non-binary hosts, which I thought was horrible. And I realized, this is really interesting. This is an opportunity where I think we can make our mark, which is taking the concept of working with women to empower them, but pivoting and using a platform that I think is extraordinarily powerful. With a Boss Girls we always talked about be empowered, empowerment. And as we were developing this new concept, I realized something that, what real empowerment is financial empowerment. Thought a lot about that and realize that needs to be the crux of what OSSA is about. And essentially we help our podcasters make money. That’s what we do. So, in 2019 we started OSSA, I call it our paperclip and scotch tape phase, where we had, words, charts, and spreadsheets and all kinds of crazy stuff. And we started to get some traction. And I realized, we have something here. This is really interesting. And we decided to continue on, build it, build our technology, et cetera. So, that’s how I got involved with podcasting and how we started Ossa. I really wanted to make a difference and that’s what we’re doing.

[00:06:06] Suzanne F: And that’s why you’re on the show,

[00:06:09] Marla Isackson: Thank you. I appreciate that.

[00:06:10] Suzanne F: You, you’ve said something of many things that are very interesting, but the one I want to pluck out there is money for empowerment. And it has proven to

be the number one way to empower people and Often people end up giving, and I’m a big advocate of contributing, which encompasses more empowering people to be self-sustainable.

And, a key element of all social initiatives should be self-sustainable.

So,,why do you think it’s important for the underrepresented groups’ voices to have a podcast and to be heard for that matter?

[00:06:48] Marla Isackson: I think everyone needs to have a voice. We all have a story to tell and that’s incredibly important. Also, going back to the money piece of it. There’s an opportunity for podcasters to make money, using podcasting. But it’s about learning how to do that and to me that’s super important. And when we started OSSA, we actually did everything different than what people were doing in the industry. Everything different. So, first of all, we’re not exclusive, which means I don’t require any of our creators to sign a contract with me. They can earn money with me, they can earn money other ways.

The point is to help you make money, not to put any barriers in the way. There are no minimum download requirements. I said, there we’re host company agnostic. We really want to talk to people all over the place. So, those pieces were very important to me because I believe that this gives our, our, podcasters the ability to grow their business in a way that they don’t feel constricted.

And we don’t want to do that. We want to be supportive.

[00:08:00] Suzanne F: Yeah, that is a huge shift. That’s one thing I really noticed is that there weren’t those requirements and it allows you the freedom for creativity and also to take your time to grow. Now I’ve

had my podcast for 12 years, but it’s been focused on different markets, and now I’m in North America, I’m focusing more on the North market, It didn’t feel like I was pressured and I, and very much felt supported.

Wherever you are at, we want to get you to the next phase.

Which is absolutely brilliant. So, how do you make that sustainable financially

for you to continue to offer the services that you do and many services for free, whichmore specifically, how do you financially able to keep this afloat with that model where there’s not download requirements or anything along those lines?

 Essentially what we say is, and we’re very straightforward with our our creators. Look, you probably need to get to around a thousand downloads or impressions a month before you actually make some money,and it’s not gonna be enough to pay your mortgage. But we want you to start somewhere. And I always think about why I started a podcast to amplify my brand. That’s why we’re supporting women who start podcasts. Now, you can decide that you want it to be a hobby, or you can decide you want to professionalize. So, that’s a really important thing. In terms of making money. We’re an agency, so essentially what we do is we match brands, with creators enable creators to do podcast advertising. And when we do a campaign, again, we are very straightforward with our creators,in terms of our pricing, our requirements. We try to be as flexible as possible. But we’re able to cobble together a group of amazing women that don’t necessarily have to have millions of downloads. In fact, what’s so interesting is that we’ve been doing these campaigns for a while, and some of our most productive campaigns are smaller. Podcasts because they have such loyal audiences that the conversion rates are incredible and that’s important to me as well. And an interesting statistic that,we just looked at is roughly 88% of all podcast advertising is going to 500 podcasts. That’s ridiculous. So, what we’re trying to do is say, not right.

[00:10:36] Marla Isackson: And we want to get the other group of people and help them. Um, start to monetize. And what we do is, so we have podcast advertising. We also have two,free, two different free hosting programs so if you’re interested in being on Spreaker, that’s one program. If you’re being on Megaphone, that’s another program. But it also enables you to do programmatic advertising, which is a little bit. It’s just another revenue stream that, a lot of our podcasters like not required at all. We just offer that opportunity. So, between, advertising as well as programmatic, that’s we make money.

[00:11:14] Suzanne F: So,, for the benefit of, I’m on Spreaker by the way, so

of the opportunity that was provided, but, programmatic, just explain that so the audience understands exactly what that was. ’cause I didn’t,

[00:11:29] Marla Isackson: So, I’m gonna keep it super simple.

Oftentimes when you’re listening to a podcast, you hear an ad that’s prerecorded and, it could be, General Motors. It tend to be, tends to be some of the bigger advertisers where they want to make sure that their message is delivered in a very specific way so that file is, given to the creators to insert in their podcast. So, that’s one piece of it. The other piece of it is that,it gets very technical. So, with programmatic, it can dynamically inserted, which means that, a you’ll hear a, an ad, but then once the podcaster gets to a certain number of Impressions, that ad goes away giving the podcaster a lot more flexibility. So, it’s another technical way of giving podcasters the way to do advertising and essentially to connect with some of the bigger brands, who they may not be able to connect with on their own.

[00:12:30] Suzanne F: So, let’s dive into that a little further with, hurdles, particularly the underrepresented groups that you provide for. What sort of hurdles do women and other underrepresented groups have to establishing a podcast and establishing the audience. So, probably there’s three pieces. Theestablishing the podcast, establishing the audience, and then getting brands to follow them.

And I think you may have just answered that question.

[00:12:56] Marla Isackson: I think about when I started one of the, couple of areas that I did some research on and realized that the reason why that number of the 21, 22% 2% was not larger because let’s say women underrepresented voices, may, and this is not being sexist, may had a fear of technology. Men were way ahead in terms of, a lot of the podcasts were sports podcasts. I think that was a key barrier is technology, it’s scary, or where do I start and where do I find information and what do you mean I can make money? And let’s face it,we all have many other responsibilities. So, if you don’t go in podcasting with some, what I call a recipe, then it becomes very challenging to manage the podcast as well as the rest of your life. So, I think that’s been a big issue. That was an issue to which was, I don’t know how to do it. Where do I find help? How do I find help?

How do I make money? So, those are the kinds of issues that we were trying to address when we started

[00:14:06] Suzanne F: Yeah. (START) it’s interesting that you say that. I think of all the podcasts my husband listened to for Sports and now we, now he’s watching it on tv, but it’s a podcastTv, but it’s a podcast so.

[00:14:20] Marla Isackson: And again, I’ve read research, men weren’t quite as, scared, I’ll use that word of technology, so they glummed on podcasting. So, again, it’s my perspective is, let’s move it ladies and other underrepresented voices, let’s grab our fair share, and that’s a core part of our mission.

[00:14:42] Suzanne F: Now, do you have any strategies that you can share that make a successful helpful podcasts from your perspective.

[00:14:50] Marla Isackson: Yeah, I think there are a couple of things. One is to be consistent. This is a biggie, which is decide how often you want to broadcast and publish and don’t deviate. That’s important for a couple of reasons. First of all, let’s say that you’re building podcast and you want to advertise.

If you’re not consistent, then a brand is not gonna want to work with you because they want to make sure that their message gets out consistently. That’s a big piece of it. The other thing is, from an audience perspective, they’re gonna get confused. Like, when am I supposed to hear the next, episode? And when you’re building an audience, it’s good. And they’re expecting to hear from you. They’ve decided to, engage with you. Connect with you. So, it’s about building that loyalty. Now that leads me to the whole concept of the relationship that a, podcaster or creator needs to build with her audience. That’s so important. And that’s a key benefit of podcast advertising or podcasting at as a whole. Remember, we all have choices. We, there are probably 5 million plus podcasts out there, but when you select a podcast, you like the host, you trust the host, and that’s an important relationship that is developed between a host and an audience. So, making that’s super important. And then building on that by building a sense of community. And there are a lot of marketing tactics that you can use in terms of community building. Why is that important? Field of dreams, you actually have to build it. And if you you have to move things forward ’cause they’re not gonna just show up. So, leveraging your community to get very engaged to tell other people about it. That’s word of mouth is huge. That’s one of the key drivers of growing your podcast. You gotta be out there and making sure that you are connecting with, people who can advocate for you. And recommend you to other sources to me, that is, that’s really critical.

[00:16:56] Suzanne F: Is there any other strategies that you would recommend to grow your audience?

[00:17:02] Marla Isackson: I think to start with, one of the key things that you need to do is really understand who you want to reach. you really need to understand your audience, so you need to think about, who am I talking to? Who do I want to connect with and what message do I want to communicate? And you want to super super consistent about that.

Understanding the needs of your listeners, you get a good handle on where they are. So, for example, if they’re in, bicoastal Chicago, and they’re interested in engaging with you a lot, maybe you do some live events. Again, it depends on the needs of your audience and how they’re engaging with you. I think that’s very important. In terms of social media, it’s tricky there. There’s not a lot of consistent research that says that social media is actually driving people back to podcasting. So, I think you need to test, test, test. But probably the most important thing to do, again, going back to the community, is get emails and be consistent about communicating to your community with, newsletters. It’s a really good way to create that relationship and grow your audience because they’re listening to you, they want to hear from you. So, to me, that’s golden. And people should not forget about email addresses, and you have to be respectful in terms of how you communicate with people. So, you always want to make sure that you’re offering value, but to me that’s a key way to continue to grow your audience because again, They’re gonna really want to engage with you, and they tell their friends. The other thing to do in terms of growing your audience, which I think is super important, is a key way to grow to your audience is to be a guest on other similar podcasts. And that’s a fact. So, get out there, network, find other podcasts with similar niches. And do a swap. we have a program called Pod Swap. I go on your podcast, you can come on my podcast, I do an ad supporting your podcast. You do an ad supporting my podcast. So, that’s gotta be part of your strategy.

[00:19:17] Suzanne F: Really great advice. And I love the fact that you mentioned about grabbing those emails because as we all know, whenwe post on social, it’s they . that’s not, we don’t own that.

So,, grabbing those emails to make sure that you can maintain, contact with people and find out who they want to hear from too, right?

It can bevery powerful. Let’s hit the pause button for these messages.

And we are back. Let’s delve in.

[00:19:45] Suzanne F: Being

a marketer? Do you measure what what is called social return on investment? So, particularly with your beneficiary being

the underrepresented, do you measure that impact and how if you do measure it?

[00:20:00] Marla Isackson: So, I think just a key factor, and I guess it’s a measurement, is the number of underrepresented voices we can put in, podcast ads. To me it’s, again, it’s about helping people make money. We try to brands that will actually want to reach these voices and what we to people is,and to brands is, remember, 85% of all US household consumer purchases are made by women. let’s get real here. So, we try to, connect the brand with women and other underrepresented voices. So, I think that’s pretty important, uh, in terms of what we do. and our objective always is to, Create a as diverse as possible slate of creators in any, ad campaign that we do. And to me, it’s about making money. Are the, are our podcasters making money? So, how many podcasters are, we, are we able to put in deals? Um,how much money are they making? It, to it’s a financial empowerment

issue. When we talk about that, I want to make sure that our slate of creators are really becoming successful. So, it’s, again, it’s a financial success. And then we also do some programming. Again, not so measured, but we try to touch on some of the key areas that we know. Of could confusing or of concern to people. We did Amplify and you were, a member of that. So, it’s about programming to reach out and bring, our creators into our fold so we can talk to them, understand what their needs are, and then,create programming around that. So, I guess technically financially, measurement is, did you make money? Did you not make money? Are you making money consistently? How much did you make this year versus last year? What percentage of our diverse slate is actually getting these deals? How can we do better with that slate?

[00:22:04] Suzanne F: I would be remiss if I didn’t ask, is there any other way. That I know empowering women has been something that you’ve done throughout your life. Is there

any other way that you build a social initiative into your business beyond what we’ve been discussing?

[00:22:21] Marla Isackson: Again, it’s really about making sure that we are when we do our talent acquisition, which is looking for podcasters that we really focus on creating as divert a slate as possible to ensure that we’re giving voice to as many underrepresented voices as possible. This is the most important thing that we do, and I think the way we make the most impact, which is bringing Ossa to voices that may not have had a home.

[00:22:52] Suzanne F: Why is this social initiative so important now, right now?

[00:22:57] Marla Isackson: I think that, we’re still in a situation where, There are voices that are not being heard, for many different reasons. There is, there’s economic reasons, and I’m thinking about podcasting globally. People may not have the technology, the knowledge, whatnot. So, I think now more than ever, with, so many issues that we’re all confronting, you know, climate change and a whole,host of various issues. This is where we really want to get voices talking about these issues. ’cause to me it raises awareness of the the issue that we have. and It’s a way to actually create suggestions, for improvement. So, you want to get a whole lot of voices bubbling up to get to, to amplify the issues, right?

[00:23:51] Suzanne F: It’s interesting that you’re saying that this, weekend in Canada we have, a day for our Indigenous Peoples, which just started

 couple years ago and I listened pretty much to the radio all day and they were really talking about land and how they use the land and climate change and how it’s impacted.

It was such a different perspective we just don’t get an opportunity to hear from.

It was just fabulous. So, I couldn’t agree with you more that we need those voices heard, but we also need people who want to listen to those voices.

you.

 (STRAT Nov 6 23)

[00:24:30] Marla Isackson: So, that’s where audience growth is important, which is,each creator needs to findtheirtheir people. And,there are a lot of ways of doing that. But you gotta find people that have, common interests and common concerns and start the dialogue going. But also it’s about inviting your listeners to communicate with you, so rather than being a monologue, it becomes a dialogue between you and your listeners and your listeners and you.

[00:24:58] Suzanne F: So, what impact do you think your social initiatives has on your business sustainability and its growth?

[00:25:05] Marla Isackson: Our focus is on underrepresented voices and there’s so many of them. Getting more and more of these voices heard is incredibly important. That’s our focus and that’s one piece of it. And enabling them to make money and have financial independence is critical to me. That’s what it’s all about.

[00:25:32] Suzanne F: What do you see, as three most important initiatives to make your a social, anybody’s social initiative sustainable, what would you suggest?

[00:25:42] Marla Isackson: First of all, figure out what is your passion, what you have to qualify and quantify the thing that you’re thinking about, which is what is it that you care about? Why is it important to you? How does this issue impact society? What are other people doing? So, competitive research and what can you do to actually get in there and help accelerate the change? And again, that to me is why podcasting is so cool because again, when you get a whole lot of voices going, um, it’s gonna impact change.

[00:26:18] Suzanne F: It’s interesting I asked you about how to grow an audience earlier, and I now I’m curious of

how does OSSA grow its

creators and capture the attention of their creators?

[00:26:30] Marla Isackson: So, yeah, we’re busy bees. So, we have, a couple things. Number one, we have a talent acquisition team. and they go out there, do their research and look for creators that have similar values and interests. And we connect with them and tell them about OSSA. And also why we make it so flexible, to join OSSA. ’cause we really want to make sure that these people are joining. so so making it flexible, going out That’s one piece of it. Number two,we go to all the podcast conferences we’ve been exhibiting. That’s a huge piece of it. We meet a ton of great creators at these conferences. So, if anyone’s listening who’s a creator and wants to really grow their business, go to a podcast conference because not only can you network and meet cool people, but you’re gonna learn a lot. It, there’s a lot of great information that’s communicated. The other thing that we do is, we have a lot of partners, so I didn’t even talk about the technology that we created. Very quickly to get out of the paperclip phase, we created, a campaign management product technology. I decided to go all in and, build the technology and make it so that we actually execute campaigns in a flawless way very efficiently. And the way we did this is we created the box. It’s kind of like, what,the automobile industry does. So, we created the big technology, but we work with a lot of other companies, to help support us. So,, for example, we work with, a company called Pod Scribe because they have great attribution tracking, right? So, they’ve become a partner. We have a bunch of other partners, but through that partnership we talk about, who we are, what we need, Our partners recommend other creators, that may be,interested in joining OSSA. It’s so interesting, I didn’t anticipate this, but as we create partnerships,

that’s been a great way to, to grow our community. And again, doing, the,partnership with Spotify slash Megaphone and iHeart slash Spreaker. That’s been another way for us to, grow our audience. Basically, we look at everything. How can we find our people and what do we need to do to get there? So, again, technology, partnerships, talent acquisition, Google. That’s, that’s how.

[00:29:07] Suzanne F: So, you’ve relied a lot on collaboration to, to

grow and expand and provide offerings too

for your

creators. While we’re there, any suggestions on,

how to be an

[00:29:23] Suzanne F Stevens: effective collaborator?

[00:29:25] Marla Isackson: Yeah, so I think you need to understand it’s a two-way street. So, it’s kind of like give, give, get. What we like to say is, what are you going to bring to this relationship? What do you hope to get out of the relationship? You can’t just be a taker. It has to be mutually supported. You gotta think about the partner, what their needs are, what you can do to support the partner, as well as what your expectations are of the partner. And that’s the way we look at collaboration. Just it’s mutually supported.

[00:29:57] Suzanne F: Yeah. And now do you write out those expectations, confirm what those expectations are so everyone feels they know exactly what this relationship is about? Or is it more informal?

[00:30:11] Marla Isackson: I think it’s more informal and it depends on the partnership. what, how they approach their business. So, again, it goes back to research. You gotta understand who are these partners? How do they function? What are their needs? What can you give them or provide to them that they will find valuable?

And what do you need from them?

[00:30:33] Suzanne F: Now you said give, give, get. Gives one get and I love that philosophy.

We were touching on your team earlier and you have a team of 17 people, and I understand that they are virtual team.

[00:30:48] Marla Isackson: Yes, they are.

[00:30:49] Suzanne F: So, I’m gonna ask you two questions that we don’t get an opportunity often to discuss.

One of them is do you have any suggestions for people to hire a virtual team? Because that hiring people that are not in your backyard has become more prevalent.

Do you have any recommendations that you could provide to how to hire a virtual team that it will be aligned with your mission?

[00:31:11] Marla Isackson: So, I think it’s almost the same as how do you, how do you find a good team? ’cause most people work virtually anyway. So, it’s figuring out what do you need, in a team, what capabilities, what attributes, what skill sets, how do you put that together? So, understanding what the needs are what the needs that you have from your team, and then it’s word of mouth. It’s asking people in the industry we’re looking for, a technology person who do you know? And then,talking to them and trying to understand if they have similar values. Everybody with OSSA, we’re all very focused on our mission, so nothing’s gonna work unless you come to OSSA and really believe in what we’re doing. But I would say to you, building, building a virtual team is so similar to building a team. A regular team. There’s certainly an issue, which ’cause I work corporate, there is something to be said towalking to somebody’s cubicle and chatting. So, what’s super important is making sure that communication is beyond amazing. So, over communicate and the way we do that, we use technology. So, we use tools such as Slack. Slack is a great tool. We’re unable have conversations with each other. .Even though there people are not around. So, we get information out, we get information in. There’s that piece. Any tool we can think of,zoom, we use Zoom a lot and try to use it as best as possible. So, it’s two things from my perspective, building a good team and understanding how to best manage them when they’re virtual. And to best manage them when they’re virtual, we rely on tools and over communication. Probably that’s the best way of saying it.

[00:32:59] Suzanne F:  In regards to engagement, because there is something to be said in a lot of organizations that I have

that lack of engagement because they are virtual is quite a concern. Are they working? Are they excited?

 Do you have anything besides communication and utilizing tools to engage your team in unique ways?

[00:33:19] Marla Isackson: Sure. So, we do a couple of things. One is definitely working with the tool, which is we require people to do their daily standups, which is, everybody reports what’s going on, what are you doing today? Any issues? How can we help you? So, that’s done every single day. That’s number one. Number two, we have sales meetings. Once a week, with the entire sales team. We have, I would say operations team meetings the other part of our group. when we talk about initiatives such as Amplify, for example, making sure that, everyone’s on the same page. We use, project management tools when we’re actually having the meetings such as Asana to make sure that, we’re tracking people’s progress.

Everybody understands, what steps they need to do, that’s definitely important component as well. let’s see. We do, we just started to, do town halls, which is now actually beyond my team. It’s also for our listeners and our investors. So, we just did our first one. It was very successful and we talked about We’re OSSA. Let’s show you our technology. This is we care about. these are some of the initiatives they’re working on. We invite, feedback. So, any possible way we can over communicate or create forums to actually share information, we definitely look at doing. And we do silly things like, during the holidays because we’re, we are so spread,, we do like cocktail, virtual cocktail parties, virtual holiday parties. And also when people, I’m in the New York area, so there are a few of us in New York, but when other people come into town, we go to dinner. However I can, sustain the relationship. That’s what we try to do.

 Great. I’ll like to go to one of those cocktail parties. I missed the town hall.

[00:35:11] Suzanne F: I missed the town hall by the way, which was Friday. And

I’m hoping, I was hoping there would be a recording, but nonetheless there’s not. Is there?

[00:35:20] Marla Isackson: yeah. No, I think what we want to do is get out there fresh

every month, give people the information and then move on. ’cause we change. Change is every day things change. It evolves like crazy. So, maybe something we talked about Friday is we’re not even doing anymore. So, it’s more updating people to date where we are and where we want to go.

So,

[00:35:43] Suzanne F: that leads to another, the next question before we jump into our 10 and 10 is what’s next for you in regards to the social initiative?

[00:35:52] Marla Isackson: A couple of things. First off, it’s continuing to grow. Our creator pool and making sure that we are connecting with and identifying creators that share our value in our mission so that we actually can help them, elevate their voices. It’s the development of our technology, which I think is incredibly important. And why is that important? Not only does it help us create better, more efficient campaigns, but we’re also going to be offering the technologies, a SaaS product for other networks and other agencies in the industry. Why is that important? Everybody else is gonna be more efficient as well and will be able to serve their, constituency is much more efficiently.

So, that’s, so it’s two things really leveraging technology andjust the outreach that we’re doing.

[00:36:42] Suzanne F: Fabulous. Sounds very exciting. Okay,we’re, dive so it’s 10 questions.

 What is one thing you wish you knew prior to engaging down this path?

[00:36:54] Marla Isackson: So, couple  (START Nov 11)

of things, to be even more flexible than I anticipated because change is the reality. And although that’s great, it still can be a little unnerving when you realize how much change you need to do, how you need to evolve. I also think the power of networking, I’m a little bit more of a behind the scenes kind of person, but I realized I have to so totally be out there connecting with people in the industry. That’s a real big thing. And also, even though I did this in my corporate life, it’s sustaining a team culture and being even more clear about our mission and hammering it as consistently as possible. That’s important as well.

[00:37:40] Suzanne F: Okay. Thank you. What is the worst piece of advice you’ve ever received?

[00:37:45] Marla Isackson: Follow your passion and you’ll be successful. okay, that’s only part of it. In order to be successful, you actually have to do the work. It’s great that we all want, are interested in things and are passionate about things, but it actually requires you to do stuff to actually make these things happen.

 So,, can’t do one without the other.

[00:38:05] Suzanne F: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

[00:38:09] Marla Isackson: So, an executive at one of the big companies I worked for said, “Marla, high risk, high reward, low risk lower reward.” Now that helps me frame everything I do, which is ask myself questions.Do I want to put myself out if I really want to get that big thing I do, I have to do that. It’s gonna be more of a risk. So, to me, that framework has been so helpful.

[00:38:38] Suzanne F: Good advice. What is one piece of advice you would give to an entrepreneur who wants to have a social impact?

[00:38:45] Marla Isackson: Be super clear about your motivation and your intention. I think have to have laser-like focus, understanding what you want to do and what you hope to achieve. Because I don’t think you’re gonna get there if you’re fuzzy about it. So, it does start with having a passion, a commitment, a desire that’s burning, and then you’ll figure out how to get there. But if you don’t have that passion, it’s really hard to impact and do great things in the, universe if you’re just not sure what floats your boat. So, I think that’s super important.

[00:39:25] Suzanne F: Yeah. Because when you get hit hard, it’s hard to stand back up. Exactly

What is one recommendation you would suggest to promote a culture within your organization in someone’s organization of contribution?

[00:39:40] Marla Isackson: So, I think it’s a couple of things. It has a lot to do with the relationships with the team, which is definitely celebrating diversity, encouraging an inclusive environment, making sure that you’re giving your team members the opportunity to give input and actually listen to that input and give feedback. Encouraging open and honest communication is really critical. and encourage, fostering, collaboration, you can’t do it by yourself, so I think that those are really important things. And if you do all that stuff, you’re certainly gonna help move the needle forward.

[00:40:18] Suzanne F: Great. Thank you for that. Now, I don’t know if you have children.

[00:40:23] Marla Isackson: I

[00:40:23] Suzanne F: Do you have a daughter?

[00:40:24] Marla Isackson: They’re adults though.

They’re adults.

Suzanne F:Okay, pretend today she’s 10 years old.

[00:40:31] Marla Isackson: right.

[00:40:31] Suzanne F: What advice would you give to your 10 year old daughter?

[00:40:36] Marla Isackson: Embrace your uniqueness.

 You don’t want to be a cookie cutter. You have skills and attributes that are very special and lean into it. I think that’s important. learn and explore. Like be don’t be afraid to explore things and try things. I. I think it’s important to be kind and respectful. That’s a big thing for me. gratitude is huge, which is understand, be grateful for what you have and understand the concept of gratitude. Ask a lot of questions. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. And, you’re gonna make mistakes, but you’re gonna learn from them. And that’s important to pay attention to learning from your mistakes and also, Dream big. Now, going back to what I said earlier, you can dream big now. You have to know that if you’re dreaming big and you want to go there, you’re actually gonna have a lot of work to do to get there. But dream as big as you can. If there’s something you really want to do, put it out there in the universe and then you’ll figure out how to make

it happen

[00:41:41] Suzanne F: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Love it. That’s a lot of advice.

Thank God

she’s not 10 anymore.

[00:41:47] Marla Isackson: Yeah. she’s an adult. She gives me advice, so yeah.

[00:41:51] Suzanne F: What is one thing that you had to do that made you uncomfortable, but if you didn’t do it, you wouldn’t have the impact that you are having today?

[00:42:01] Marla Isackson: I know this is a common thing, but I am not a lover of being out there and doing a lot of public speaking, although once I start speaking I’m fine. But promoting myself, I really, I, I’d rather focus on promoting the company. But I came to the realization that promoting myself is promoting the company. So, that’s a change I

had to make.

[00:42:23] Suzanne F: Great So, who’s the greatest female influence in your life and why?

[00:42:27] Marla Isackson: It happens to be my daughter.

[00:42:29] Suzanne F: okay.

[00:42:30] Marla Isackson: She’s remarkable. She embraces challenge. She’s inquisitive, she’s an explorer. Oh my gosh, she’s gone to so many countries. This is who she is and, I’m in awe of her, because, I think she’s very courageous. I don’t think she necessarily understands how courageous she is, but she is very courageous.

[00:42:53] Suzanne F: What three values do you live by?

[00:42:57] Marla Isackson: Most important is integrity. That is most important. Let’s see, tenacity, because you have to be tenacious or else it’s never gonna happen. So, you have to Keep on looking forward. And I think compassion,

And that to me is important because whenever I think about things, I think about it from an emotional perspective and a more rational, tactical perspective. You can’t have one without the other. And if you’re dealing with people, you need to understand their motivations and you need to be compassionate, when you’re dealing with people. So, I think that’s super important

[00:43:36] Suzanne F: Compassion’s. Such a big thing. Such a big thing for me. I appreciate everything you’ve just said there. So, be because you are amplifying the voices of the underrepresented, this question could be difficult, but it’s a very important question. So,, beside yours, which beneficiary do you think needs the most investment of time, research, and money?

[00:44:00] Marla Isackson: So, I think that there I think there are certain groups within, podcasting that have started to grow nicely. So, the Bipo community, the Hispanic community, and we do a lot of work supporting these communities. I think that there’re Is not enough activity supporting,Asian communities. And I think that’s an opportunity because look, we all have something to say and for some reason, I’m not seeing the engagement from that community that I would like to see. So, whatever we can do to help make a difference, we’d like to do that.

[00:44:36] Suzanne F: How about outside the podcast world?

[00:44:39] Marla Isackson: Communication. it we’re just yelling at each other and, really taking a step back and, really listening to what other people have to say and not consider people as “the other”, their people. They may have different interests and needs. But what do you need to do to bridge the gap so that it’s not us versus them? And I think that’s incredibly important.

[00:45:10] Suzanne F: Yeah, absolutely. Couldn’t agree more. So, where can people reach you or follow you,

Marla?

[00:45:18] Marla Isackson: So, they, OSSA collective.com

is our website. you can reach me, at LinkedIn, which is probably a good place to reach me. It’s more Marla Isackson. Just look for my name. and you can email me marla@OSSAcollective.com.

[00:45:32] Suzanne F: And we also will have that on your exclusive page with your website and connections as well. So, do you have any words of wisdom for our audience regarding making a conscious- contribution to society.

[00:45:47] Marla Isackson: I think you just said it. Conscious contribution, which means you need to think about what you want to do. So, there’s one thing to say, oh yeah, this is important, but you actually need to give it some thought and be very serious about what you think you can do to help make a difference. So, to me, that’s

[00:46:12] Suzanne F: Oh, thank you Marla, and thanks. ’cause I coined conscious contribution, so I appreciate that.

[00:46:18] Marla Isackson: Oh, I think that’s great. I’m gonna start using it, but I’ll definitely reference you. I love conscious contribution. Because to me, that’s what it is. Conscious contribution. You can’t have one without the other.

[00:46:29] Suzanne F: Yeah. And that story of how I came up with, that’s in my book, so I appreciate you saying that, how that journey of doing that. So, thank you so much Marla, for sharing your insight, inspiration, social impact with us today. It was very inspiring. And to discover more podcasts with sheIMPACTpreneurs, transforming where we live and work with sustainable social solutions.

Visit podcast.youmewe.ca As I mentioned, each guest has their own page, so you can watch their video, you can listen to their podcast, but you also can listen to their podcast on Spreaker or your favorite platform. And it also is transcribed, so you’ll get it all. We’d like to share the love, so please share, and review and subscribe.

Until next time, I’m Suzanne F. Stevens, and I hope we empowered you to make your contribution count for You. Me, We.

To read about difference-makers internationally, check out Suzanne’s book Make Your Contribution Count for you, me, we. 

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