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OhHello - Stacy Bohrer
73 Plays2 years ago
Stacy is a people-driven leader who is passionate about developing new businesses. With decades of experience within the digital marketing and technology space, Stacy finds herself most proud of the teams she has built - both at early stage, Series A and Post-IPO organizations. With a sharp eye on results, Stacy insists that people are the most valuable asset of any fast-growing business.
Today, Stacy is Vice President of Sales for the Midwest and West Coast for OpenX, an adexchange platform in the adtech ecosystem. There, Stacy works with her teams, clients and agencies to ensure that high quality inventory is coupled with rich data for effective digital marketing campaign results. Stacy also consults organizations separately under the name, UpLift Consulting (her personal consultancy), helping fast-growing companies balance growth with cultural demands.
Stacy offers a vast history in marketing and adtech, holding positions within Radio, Print, Television, Social, and Programatic. Notably, in 2013, Stacy launched the Midwest business for The Trade Desk as the first Midwest employee, quickly building the company’s portfolio and establishing The Trade Desk as the platform of choice among programmatic buyers in the region. Stacy helped take the organization public in 2016 and oversaw the 150+ Midwest organization until her departure in late 2021.
Finally, Stacy is a never-ending student with an ongoing quest for knowledge. This past year, Stacy graduated from Northwestern University with a Masters in Communication, a degree which she insists is already paying dividends in her work. Stacy is also a proud member of Chief, an organization devoted to keeping women in leadership.
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Transcript
Introduction and Networking
00:00:22
Speaker
All right. Oh, hello, Stacy. Oh, hi. How are you? I'm doing well. How you doing, Jeremy?
00:00:32
Speaker
I'm great. I'm so happy to have you on the Oh, hello podcast and video. Thank you for being here, my friend. Humbled to be here. Thanks for including me. Of course, I know who you are. But I'm not so sure all the listeners and all the viewers know who you are, but a lot of them probably do.
Skillsets and Emotional Intelligence
00:00:49
Speaker
Who are you? Why are you here? It's a great question. I've been trying to answer for 40 years. I'm Casey Bohr. I am a mother of two living in Deerfield, Illinois. I am friends of Jeremy Bloom, and I've known you
00:01:09
Speaker
in the industry the technology advertising technology industry for what 20 years sorry to date us but it's been a while for a long time a big part of who i am and i think that brings us here today that that defines who you are i i appreciate that the a hard worker an innovator a mother well said for sure and and a friend of bloom
00:01:35
Speaker
that sounds weird saying it in third person, but nonetheless, how would you characterize your skillset, Stacy?
Advice to Younger Self
00:01:41
Speaker
Like, what would you say are some factors, some just true assets that you bring to the people you surround yourself, your teams, your family, your mentees, and the Oh, hello community that you're gonna be part of?
00:02:03
Speaker
Well, the first thing that came to mind is something that I fear other people will say when answering this question. But I have a fear. No, this is no fear. OK. No fear. Yeah.
00:02:15
Speaker
Listen, I think I know how to build teams as well as anyone, including Phil Jackson. No, but that's what I do. That's what I thrive to do to mentor younger, more junior sales folks, bring them up in the business and see how far they can get. That's what gets me out of bed in the morning.
00:02:40
Speaker
I respect that. Oh, please keep on going. Please. I was just going to say, when I think about who I am and what sets me apart or what assets you said, I'm definitely more EQ than IQ. So I lead with empathy and understanding above anything else. And that's kind of a good description of me.
00:03:04
Speaker
We'll take it. We'll take it. What would you tell your 20-year-old yourself, your 25-year-old self, your 30-year-old self, or a college stacy? What you have now done over the past 17, 18 years of your career, 20 years of your career, like looking back, what have you learned? What would you have changed? And what kind of advice, guidance, would you give the up in commerce?
00:03:26
Speaker
Well, I'm laughing because hopefully my mother never Googles me and sees this, but I distinctly remember her saying that I would never make it in Chicago by myself. I had forgotten to do my homework or something like that in high school. And she was like, Oh no, it must've been college. She was like, you're never going to make it. There's no chance. So I would tell my former self that everything works out and that there's going to be no linear journey whatsoever.
00:03:53
Speaker
and you're going to go on several detours that you don't expect that end up being exactly the path you're supposed to be on.
Bravery and Organizational Excellence
00:04:01
Speaker
I would also tell myself that bravery will later be defined by myself as doing things in spite of being afraid and that I should sharpen that skill above anything else that I do. When's the time when you've been brave in that sense?
00:04:18
Speaker
that where you've sharpened that skill, that trait. Yeah. I mean. Especially being on the Oh, hello podcast. Yeah. Well, seriously. I would say.
00:04:29
Speaker
I am a squeaky wheel in the context of an organization. So when something's broken, it's impossible for me not to point it out. That's not always popular. And it does require bravery to point out imperfections in an organization when otherwise everything looks perfect. But if you want to achieve perfection or excellence is a better way to put it, you have to be open to hearing where you can grow.
00:04:59
Speaker
Profound. That's really
Mentorship and Personal Board of Directors
00:05:01
Speaker
well said. I appreciate that. The squeaky wheel needs to be looked at. The squeaky wheel is making the noise because over time if that squeaky wheel is representing her or his team, the community, the culture, essentially fostering a business unit and it doesn't have the same
00:05:25
Speaker
TLC doesn't have the same eyes and ears it could fail and you've absolutely threat your career of in this case of
00:05:36
Speaker
not this particular case, but just you are the first person at a now incredibly well-respected, well-oiled machine like the trade desk. You were a very early employee. You started everything in the central US between New York and California. Peers running parallel paths a decade ago. And watching you form into yourself has been fun just as a real life friend and industry friend in that sense.
00:06:04
Speaker
Thank you. Who are a few different mentors that you've had in your life? Who are some people you look up to?
00:06:11
Speaker
So I was thinking about this in general, and I talk a lot about my board of directors. I don't think I invented this, although I thought I did about 10 years ago. But it's an aggregate of people that I respect in the industry. You're on my board of directors. It's three to five people whose aggregate opinion will help guide me as I make hard decisions in my career or challenge me to be better.
00:06:38
Speaker
So I always say when one of my friends has a baby for the first time, the only advice I'll give you is to have a board of directors because everyone has an opinion. So stop with all the noise and just focus on the people's opinions that you actually value. Another mentor would definitely be my mother.
00:07:00
Speaker
She I get my work ethic from her. She is a retired second grade teacher. She is a workhorse. She slays. If there was. A contest for the best teacher, it would be her. So I grew up learning both the value of dollar of a dollar from her and the value of hard work. Mrs Bogart, the second grade dragon slayer, exactly. I would have won or it would scare me, but.
00:07:28
Speaker
Anyway, those are some of my
Health, Safety, and Self-Esteem
00:07:30
Speaker
mentors. That's great. That's great. As a hello, you're going to be able to donate to over 40 different charities and causes within the US. Outside of the US and future pods, we'll have some international folks. They're going to be a plethora of different options to give back. And also the way that you and I have talked about mentorship for so many years, being an expert or just pretending that you're an expert, same with me.
00:07:57
Speaker
and constantly innovating oneself, what is something that we both share that's near and dear to our hearts is just being able to give back, whether it's mentoring folks on our teams, if it's helping the community, if it's volunteering, or if it's supporting a cause that's near and dear to your heart. With that said, Stacy, what are some causes that are near and dear to your heart?
00:08:24
Speaker
Well, two things come to mind. So one, I'm a carrier of the BRCA gene. I don't know if you're familiar with that, but the BRCA 2 gene gives you a higher chance of breast and ovarian cancer. So there's a lot of charities associated with, oh, hello, that would help
00:08:47
Speaker
solve some of those problems and preventative care. So that's a huge, huge passion of mine. So thank you for being associated with them. And the other one is security on campus, which prevents and improves safety on campus across the country for college students. So important, especially as our audience and so many different mentees, people getting into the space, getting into tech, marketing, advertising, SaaS,
00:09:16
Speaker
that are still in college, that just graduated college, safety is so frickin' important. I tell my children just how important just knowing your surroundings, being aware of your surroundings, being aware of the people that you're with, just constantly
00:09:32
Speaker
I hate to say, but looking over your shoulder, so to speak. And the best advice you can give them is to work on their self-esteem. Because on US college campuses, 75% of college rape is by someone that you know. And if you have the confidence to either be sober or get yourself in the right situations, you have a much better chance of being safe for the duration of your time there.
Joining Oh Hello Community
00:10:00
Speaker
Thank you, Stacey. Any parting words to our audience, to our guests? We appreciate that you're here. We appreciate you. Likewise. Thank you for being my friend. I'm excited about being a part of the Oh Hello community. Thank you, Stacey. All right, everybody. Until next time, Stacey, thank you. It's so good to see you. Thank you, Oh Hello listeners. Until the next one.