💥37: How I Pitched This: Kendra Scott x Cheval Live Podcast Event

💥 Welcome back to Modern Mavericks, the newsletter help you make a career pivot, grow a personal brand, and build a portfolio career. Whether you’re a corporate go-getter or entrepreneurial spirit, you’re in the right place! I’m your career coach, Janel Abrahami.

Simply put: I strongly believe that the fulfilling careers of our future will be a combination of an Aligned 9-5 and a Profitable Personal Brand. 

Earlier this year, in a major pinch-me moment, I hosted a sold-out live podcast event at Kendra Scott Soho interviewing Cheval on her career pivots, confidence, and making your own luck.

At one point in the evening, I looked around the at-capacity room and realized, “None of this would have happened if I hadn’t said something.”

It’s a really cool feeling to have the confidence to raise your hand for an opportunity because you’ve built the personal brand credibility to back it up.

And that’s exactly what I want to teach you in this new series, “How I Pitched This,” highlighting the vision-board moments that you can create for yourself with a strong personal brand.

So, how did the Janel Abrahami x Kendra Scott x Cheval live podcast event come to life?

Let’s breakdown how I went from inspiration to action, including:

• Who I contacted & what I said

• The timeline

• The prep & execution

• The lessons

💥 The Idea and Outreach

September 2023: I had the ah-ha moment on Twitter. I don’t post much on the platform, but I scroll for inspo every now and then.

I saw a recommended Tweet promoting a panel discussion hosted at a Kendra Scott store in Austin, Texas. What surprised me was the fact that the event was focused on building in-person community, a topic that didn’t seem that relevant to the Kendra Scott brand niche in jewelry.

But that made me think: If Kendra Scott is the kind of brand that’s willing to collaborate on initiatives outside of their obvious wheelhouse, there may be an opportunity for my niche to make sense for them, too. 

I also remembered I had a second-degree connection to the Kendra Scott brand: a friend-of-a-friend who works on the corporate side.

So, I asked for her phone number and sent her a text asking to chat about a broad idea for collaboration.

Her response? I kid you not:

When we got on the phone later that week, I mentioned the community-related event happening at the ATX store and told her I’d hosted multiple panels and events around career development in the past.

“Is that something you think the team would be interested in?”

“One hundred percent. We could do it at a store in New Jersey or the Soho store! Let me connect you with the store manager via email.”

Once I was connected to the Soho store manager, I did my research on Kendra Scott’s philanthropic arm and learned that they often host events in partnership with charitable foundations. With that in mind, I came to the meeting with the Soho store manager with specific ideas on 

• Event format (panel discussion vs. keynote vs. live podcast interview)

• Ideas on other featured speakers (drawing inspo from their roster of philanthropy partners)

• Specific details that would tie into KS merchandise

The manager mentioned Cheval and “A Girl You Might Know Foundation” had already expressed interest in collaborating on a shopping event– why don’t we combine forces and spotlight Cheval’s story of career empowerment and how her brand and Kendra Scott help women embody their most confident selves.

He downloaded my podcast and agreed that a live interview to be published on the show was the most compelling event idea that would draw in the most interest!

✅ Pro Tip: People often need to see it to believe it. It helps to pitch a project you’ve successfully done in the past, so you have “proof of concept,” and let the plan evolve naturally from there. Even if your past wins are from your day-job, that still counts!

💥 The Timeline

We initially discussed a November event to capitalize on Black Friday… but the holidays, as to be expected, made scheduling much more difficult.

So, I actually went from September to December without hearing back from the Kendra Scott team, so I thought they’d lost interest or forgotten about the idea. I’d planned to circle back at the beginning of 2024, but then…

They popped into my inbox the last week of December with a, “Cheval is in! How does early January sound?”

So like, in two weeks?!

OK!

💥 The Prep & Execution

Prep call with the Kendra Scott and Cheval teams.

Align on live interview timing and audience participation.

Research every detail available about Cheval’s story and weave in Janel’s career coaching expertise to create ah-ha moments for the audience.

Draft and share interview questions with Cheval.

Secure reliable recording equipment.

Pick out She Is Cheval shoes to wear to the event (!)

Promote the event on all social channels.

Request a half-day off from work.

Gape at the 3-city-block line outside of the store upon arrival. 

Step into hostess mode and facilitate the most inspiring conversation possible.

Interview Cheval again at her Seaport pop-up store the next day.

Edit and publish podcast episode to the Modern Mavericks feed.

Phew! Now…

💥 The Lessons

• People need to know you exist and what you’re great at.

• If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.

• Come with a specific, researched idea for a collaboration, and then be open to the idea evolving.

• Compound on past wins for the brand. I knew that Kendra Scott had already hosted an in-store event (aka it got the green-light from their leadership), so I proposed the same format for a different niche. This was a lower risk for the team to take than something they’d never experimented with before.

• Your personal brand is your business card. Because I had built personal brand credibility as a career expert and as a host, all I had to do was direct the Kendra Scott team to my podcast and LinkedIn and let the consistent content I’d created prove that I could do it.

Let me know– was this first installment of “How I Pitched This” helpful? What else should I include in the next one?

KGYGT (keep going, you got this),

Janel

💥 Ready to take your career power back? Here are 3 ways I can support you:

• Pivot With Purpose: The proven roadmap to clarify your career goals & land an aligned 9-5 role that fits your values and lifestyle. Definition of working smarter, not harder. Alumni have landed flexible roles at Hilton, Skillshare, Nike, Mayo Clinic and more (as recently as 2024)!

• Personal Brand strategy session: You’ve conquered corporate, but you want more on your own terms. With a powerful personal brand, you’re ready to create new dream career opportunities that your 9-5 just can’t give you. Agency over your income, visibility, and fulfillment— it’s in your personal brand. ​

• Workshops, events, and brand activations: Have an audience you want to motivate around career empowerment, the business of personal branding, and carving owning your path? Let's create an unforgettable experience together!