“Get out of your comfort zone” Mindie Kaplan from MediaMint

Meet Mindie Kaplan, VP of Innovation at MediaMint and creator of the MaleRoom Podcast. She was the CEO and founder of Rated VR, which is now a part of MediaMint. Although Mindie had no prior experience in the VR world, she began to see an opportunity within the space and did the digging to really understand it. She utilized the connections she created over time and began building her empire. 

Mindie popped into our podcast booth at Advertising Week New York last month for a Pass the Mic interview. She explains how she found workarounds to take risks and overcome challenges. Get ready for some inspiration as she talks about creating magic in your life by getting out of your comfort zone.

What ifs are worse than failures.

“I think the biggest thing I can recommend to anyone is just getting out of your comfort zone. And that's where I think all the magic is. And if you have a foundation, whether it's a corporate background or you come from the startup world, if you have skills that will translate, then to me the what if, not the failure, but the what if I had done it and it worked was worse than what if I try and it doesn't work. But I can never get that time back if I just stay in my comfort zone.” – Mindie Kaplan

Find workarounds.

“I had a role that still haunts me today where I would go out to automotive dealerships. So, think of stereotypes, and it was just not being taken seriously in multiple fronts. And over time I just got thicker skin. And I think you can be very feminine, but you can have masculine qualities. 

So in that case, I just kind of also being very young and green, I just started asking them more and more questions because I was never going to get their respect being very young and coming in and trying to talk to them about their business. So, I think all I could really do is listen at that time and then come back and kind of restate, ‘Well, you said these were your pain points in your business, and here's how we can fix it if you do these few things.’ And then over time, I gained the respect. But you know, looking at the situation you're in and working around it, like finding the work arounds basically. And then over time, you know, things like that just kind of bounce off. Now that it's been a while. And I think I have some good hacks.” – Mindie Kaplan

Try anything for a year.

“I would just say one other newer rule that I like to live by is like, try anything for a year. It makes it more manageable than these huge life decisions that sometimes we’ll overthink and then just feel stuck.” – Mindie Kaplan

We’re in—we’re going to try Mindie’s advice for at least a year. If you’re ready for more powerful wisdom from an amazing (and growing list) of kickass female leaders, check out more Pass the Mic content.