“Your network defines your career,” Meredith Brace from Samba TV

Meet Meredith Brace, Chief Marketing Officer of Samba TV. Although it took Meredith some time to enter the digital media space, she now thrives in this ever-changing world and actively seeks out ways to improve it. As a passionate brand builder, Meredith focuses on transformational advertising to make a real impact.

We had the pleasure of sitting down for a one-on-one chat with Meredith in our podcast booth at Advertising Week New York. In her interview, she shared how focusing on people and relationships throughout her career journey has helped her grow. From networking to flexibility, Meredith has some powerful wisdom to share—tune in below! 

Meet as many people as you can. 

“The best things that happened in my career, the most progress, were from the people that I've met that have impacted me and guided me. And I would have never done that if I hadn't gone out of my comfort zone just to meet this extra person, or go to this event, or go to this dinner. And just make sure that you're meeting just a broad spectrum of people that just become your network, and become your friends, and become your allies. So, I would just say, put yourself out there, meet as many people as you can, because those people will be your extended network. And your network is really what defines your career in my opinion.” – Meredith Brace

Find mentors.

“I tell people, always have a mentor inside your company, always have a mentor outside of your company, because there's things that you want someone to understand within a safe environment. And then there's someone that you just want to be really honest with about, like, here's what I'm dealing with, and you want to be able to give them all the little details. 

I've been at organizations and large companies that have formal programs, and those are great because it's a forcing function to get people to actually meet and create an agenda and what you'd like to get out of it. But it's the informal ones that are great, too. Just the people that you've met over your career that just, you know, are willing to help you and willing to lend an ear and you respect their opinion and that's your go to. So, whether you're making a career change, whether you're working on some big initiative, another voice that will give you an honest perspective on what you're trying to do. And I think that's super helpful. And if you don't have that, you should absolutely build that into your life.” – Meredith Brace

You need a flexible mindset.

“Always, you sort of need to be flexible. Because you never know when you enter a room, like if I'm in a board meeting or in an executive room, where you think you're sending this proposal. You think, 'It's going to go this way. This is my recommendation. You should love it. Let's go.' 

You’re never really prepared for people saying, ‘Well, this is why I hate it or this,’ you know? So, you just have to be able to, I think my ammo has always been, listen to their perspective, try to understand the perspective, and they either disagree or agree with that perspective. And sort of take it from there, and figure out what your next steps are. But you have to go into everything in a very flexible mindset because nothing ever goes the way you want to do. That's the number one rule.” – Meredith Brace

Treat people well.

“Treat people as you would like to be treated. That is like number one, whether they're above you, around you, below you. Because this is a very small world, and you're bound to, you know, run into people that you may have crossed or disrespected in a way, and it could bite you. And it's not necessary, you know, it's really not necessary in any capacity.” – Meredith Brace

Meeting Meredith was an absolute treat, and her powerful advice will be with us for a long time. Ready for more inspiration from formidable female leaders? Check out more Pass the Mic content.