Marketing Happy Hour

What does it take to market a product that people only buy once, in the most emotionally charged moment of their lives? Kiara Kempski, VP of Global Consumer Marketing at The Knot Worldwide, leads a team of 80+ across a $250B+ industry and has the battle scars to prove it. In this episode, she breaks down how to build a data-informed brand strategy (not data-led — there’s a difference), why she aba...

What happens when a non-tech founder decides to stop “pushing” prompts and starts “pulling” solutions from AI? Kahlea Wade, creator and founder of Alora Society, walks us through her “aha moment” — building a fully functional internal onboarding app from 500 pages of documentation in just a weekend — and explains why she now treats Claude as a strategic teammate. From streamlining soul-crushing ad...

In this episode, we sit down with Alli Lloyd, Global Director of Marketing at Peoplefinders, who spent twelve years at Match Group building and marketing some of the most recognizable dating apps in the world — from owning brands holistically to standing up an internal creative and creator agency to running full-funnel marketing for The League. Alli brings a sharp, channel-agnostic perspective to...

In this episode, we sit down with Angela Trotti, founder of Jelly Seashells and social media consultant, for a conversation that spans agency life, in-house brand management, and building a creator business from scratch. Angela started her career in a nonprofit, found her way into social media through an agency — where she and Cassie first crossed paths — spent six years leading social for Mental...

Kamara Turner is back for her third appearance on Marketing Happy Hour, and this time she is bringing insights from her newest chapter: Supervisor of U.S. Enterprise Communications at McDonald's, where she has been navigating the world of internal and corporate communications after years of brand and external PR experience at Walgreens, PepsiCo, Ulta Beauty, and The Coca-Cola Company. In this...

In this solo episode, Cassie and Ally pull back the curtain on the career strategies they have been teaching inside their Denison Edge sessions and the MHH Collective, and share how they got there in the first place. From navigating the overwhelming landscape of marketing paths as a student, to making the ask in a way that actually works, to building a LinkedIn presence that keeps you top of mind,...

In this episode, we sit down with Allie Hartman, founder of Creator Partnerships Lab, who spent 16 years building influencer and creator marketing programs for brands like Dr Pepper, Snapple, Core Hydration, BaubleBar, and more before leaving her comfortable corporate role in April 2026 to go out on her own. Allie walks us through the career arc that took her from the Ad Council to Ogilvy to Keuri...

In this episode, we sit down with Julie Zukof, VP of Brand Marketing at Lucky Strike Entertainment — the umbrella brand behind Lucky Strike, AMF, Bolero, and the Professional Bowlers Association — to talk about one of the most interesting brand stories happening in culture right now. Julie brings a background spanning advertising agencies, brand strategy, wellness, and in-house marketing, and she...

In this episode, we sit down with Ashley Johnson, SVP and Chief Marketing Officer of Visit Newport Beach, who has spent twenty years building some of California's most beloved destination brands, including sixteen years at Visit Laguna Beach, where she became President and CEO at just thirty three years old and won an Emmy for a children's educational campaign that used storytelling to cha...

In this episode, we sit down with Brianna Keefe, founder and CEO of Toastique — a fresh, made-in-house cafe concept that started as a single 1,000 square foot store in Washington D.C. in 2018 and has grown to over 65 locations across 25 states, entirely through franchising and word of mouth. Brianna opened her first store at 24 with no formal marketing plan, no app, and no third party delivery — j...

In this episode, Cassie and Ally are fresh off attending D23, Disney's biennial fan expo in Anaheim and one of the largest brand-driven community events in the world, and they're breaking down everything they observed through a marketing lens. From Crocs building a racetrack-themed booth to Marvel turning a line into a fully immersive story experience, to Disney transforming what could hav...

In this episode, Cassie turns the mic on co-host Ally Golden for a candid, long-overdue conversation about her career journey — from a PR degree she couldn't quite use, to a wealth management firm where she cut her marketing teeth, to brand management roles that clarified exactly where her passion lived, to a layoff that forced her to rethink everything she thought she knew about her own worth...

In this episode, we sit down with Lauren Schulte Wang, founder and CEO of The Flex Co., the brand behind the menstrual disc that has sold over 185 million units, holds 88% market share in its category, and is now carried in over 30,000 retail locations including Target, Walmart, and CVS. Lauren built Flex from scratch in 2016, creating an entirely new product category with zero search volume and a...

In this throwback episode, we sit down with Elizabeth Thompson, Senior Manager of Social Media at National Geographic, who leads strategy for one of the largest social ecosystems in the world — over 400 million followers across platforms. Elizabeth shares the career journey that took her from Army brat and freelancer to running social for one of the most iconic storytelling brands, including how s...

In this episode, we sit down with Erica Small and Nikki Huganir, the co-founders of Yes Way Rosé — a wine brand that started as a $200 tote bag and an Instagram account in 2013 and has since grown into one of the top rosé brands in the US, with over 13 million bottles sold and retail placement at Target, Publix, Total Wine, Walmart, and beyond. What makes their story so compelling for marketers: t...

In this episode, Ally sits down with Meredith Mills-Merritt, founder and CEO of The Original Southside, a premium ready-to-drink gin cocktail inspired by her mom's summer recipe that has grown into 20+ markets, landed on shelves at Whole Foods and Total Wine, and seen shipments grow more than 370% in its second year. Meredith brings a background in prestige beauty brand management that shaped...

Cassie sits down with Elle Rudnick, Manager of Integrated Marketing at Rare Beauty, to talk about what it really takes to build a community-first brand in a category that's saturated with brands claiming to be exactly that. Elle brings a unique lens shaped by nearly a decade across fashion and beauty — from merchandising to brand marketing — and walks us through how she's translating that...

In this episode, we sit down with Brieane (Brie) Olson, CEO of PacSun, for a conversation that is equal parts brand strategy masterclass and career inspiration. Brie has spent nearly two decades at PacSun — moving from design and product to marketing and digital before stepping into the CEO role three years ago — and has led one of retail's most remarkable transformation stories, taking the br...

In this episode, we sit down with Mady Lanni, Senior PR Strategist at Manychat — the social media automation platform powering those viral "comment to get the link" moments you see across Instagram and TikTok every day. Mady's path to PR wasn't linear (criminal justice degree, anyone?), and that outside perspective has shaped a refreshingly sharp, social-first approach to a field...

Five years ago, Marketing Happy Hour was launched from scratch — Canva logo, Google searches, and zero podcasting experience. In this milestone episode, Cassie walks through the full arc of her career: from a self-pitched internship at a Florida restaurant group to a pivotal move to New York City, from leaving a stable agency job to start her own business in 2019, to building MHH into the communit...

In this episode, we sit down with Jeff Lee, CEO and co-founder of DIBS Beauty, one of the fastest-growing color cosmetics brands in the country, now carried in over 1,300 Ulta Beauty doors with a product waitlist culture that generated 17K+ sign-ups before their mascara even launched. Jeff's path to beauty CEO is anything but conventional: Yale Law, Wall Street, Stanford MBA, Alex Rodriguez, a...

How do you breathe new life into a legacy brand without losing the clinical authority that made it famous? In this episode, Blair Lancer , CMO of Lancer Skincare , pulls back the curtain on her journey from a fashion-focused career at Saks Fifth Avenue to leading the strategic evolution of her family’s dermatology-backed empire. Blair discusses the nuances of the "multigenerational" appr...

In this episode, we sit down with Elijah Khasabo, co-founder of Vidovo — a UGC and influencer platform connecting brands with creators — who started his entrepreneurial journey at 17, built a Discord community of 30,000 organically, and is now weeks away from graduating college while running a bootstrapped platform with 300+ brand clients and 25,000+ creators. Elijah breaks down why the creator ec...

What happens when a non-tech founder decides to stop "pushing" prompts and starts "pulling" solutions from AI? Kahlea Wade, founder of Alora Society, returns for her record-breaking third appearance to share how she is reinventing her luxury talent agency through the power of Claude and AI agents. Kahlea walks us through her "aha moment"—building a fully functional in...

In this episode, Cassie and Ally dive into the high-level strategies shared by Disney’s top creative and marketing leaders during a standout session at SXSW. They break down the "Disney Blueprint for Brand Relevance," exploring how a century-old icon manages to capture the hearts of Gen Z and Gen Alpha without losing its core "Purist" fans. From the "Disney Flywheel"...