Why you Need to Build Networks, Strong Teams and Support Systems — Interview with Lynn Power (MASAMI)
What separates entrepreneurs who succeed and those who don’t?
I interviewed Lynn Power — a former advertising executive (most recently CEO of J. Walter Thompson NY) who turned entrepreneur. Lynn Power recently launched MASAMI, a clean premium haircare brand with a unique Japanese ocean botanical for massive hydration. She loves building high performing teams, disrupting the status quo and helping women become the leaders they were meant to be.
Show notes
Katerina: So, I welcome Lynn to the studio.
Lynn: Oh my god, thank you. Hi. Thanks for having me.
Katerina: … Lynn, you have a bachelor’s in Criminal Justice. How did you get into advertising?
Lynn: You know, you’re like the only person that actually picked up on that, which is amazing. You’ve done your research. Um, yeah, so I was one of those, you know, Liberal Arts college students who didn’t know what I wanted to do when I grew up. So I had a double major of Criminal Justice and English and I was thinking of going into law school which would have been a disaster because that’s just not at all what I would be good at. And when I graduated, I was actually thinking of joining the FBI. And I was really interested in that and then I applied and went through the whole rigmarole, and they basically said there’s a hiring freeze.
So then I’m like, “Well, now what?”, you know? “What am I going to do now?” So I ended up meeting a recruiter. Back in the day when you had to cut ads out of the paper because they didn’t have, there’s no, there’s no, you know, online resource. And she basically said, “You’re gonna work in advertising. I’m sending you on an interview, take the job.” And it was for a receptionist at an ad agency and sure enough, she was right. She’s like, “You’re gonna love it.” So I took the job and that was it.
Katerina: And you never looked back…
Lynn: I never looked back, you know… I found it was actually a perfect career for me because when you’re in advertising, you get to work on lots of different businesses. And it just makes it interesting, right?… Because every day is different. And you get to learn about lots of different things so that’s that was super enjoyable for me.
Katerina: Yeah. So, and it’s been 30, you’ve been in the advertising industry for 30 years, so that’s quite a career.
Lynn: Well, I’m old, I mean, yes… 30 years… I was in the business, I was running agencies, kind of, towards the end which is a very different job, by the way, you know, you’re dealing with HR and finance and all that stuff. You’re not dealing with the creative part of it so much anymore, which I really enjoy the creative part of it. Um, so that was one of the reasons why I kind of thought, “Okay, I’ve done this as far as I could do it.” Like, “Enough.” I wasn’t really enjoying it. Um, but yeah, I left.
It’ll be, yeah, two, two and a half years ago roughly. I started a brand consultancy, and I was working mostly with startups, helping them figure out their brand story, brand foundation, that kind of stuff. And then I met my business partner in haircare James, and sometimes life just throws stuff at you that you have to take, right? You’re just, it was serendipity. He was at a point where he had these products, these formulations and he just didn’t know what to do with them. And of course I’m like, “Oh, I know what to do.” So we developed the branding and the packaging and the whole nine yards and launched in February.
Katerina: Yeah. Because you, you also, throughout your career you were sort of moving to different agencies and you ended up being a chief executive of a very famous company. How did you manage to get to that level? Because, you know, they talk about this, you know, ceiling, career ceiling and it’s especially difficult for women to get to senior management roles. How did you manage to get so high?
Lynn: Now, part of it is luck and part of it is making your own luck because I was at a large agency called BBDO for almost 10 years and I really loved it, but I definitely hit the ceiling. I was running an account or piece of an account, and you know, that was pretty much it. There was nowhere above me to go because the people that were there, the men that were, weren’t going anywhere. I mean, so, I would have waited and waited, waited and waited, so I decided, you know what, I’m going to go somewhere else so maybe there’s a little more opportunity. So, I left.
I actually went to McCann to work on L’Oreal, but I hated it. I really didn’t like it. The culture there was really difficult and toxic. So I did that for a year and then I was thinking, “Okay, what do I want to do?” And actually one of the creatives that I worked with at L’Oreal had gone to a smaller agency called Arnold, and she called me up and she’s like, “Oh my god, we need somebody to run the Hershey account. Will you come over here?” And my feeling was, well, yes and no like, I’ll do it if there’s an opportunity to take a bigger role.
So, I went into that saying, “Okay, you might be hiring me for this particular job but I really want a bigger role to, you know, manage the office kind of thing.” And it took two or three years to get me in that role but I, but, but I did it. They, you know, they promoted me into that role and then, you know, it was just really successful. We grew the office like five, fivefold in five years. And it was just a really, really fun, great job.
So, what I found was, and probably not so unique to the ad industry, but, you know, companies are reluctant to give you the big job unless you’ve had the big job. So, how are you going to get the big job if you’ve never had the big job, you know what I mean? So it’s like you got to put yourself in a position where you can get promoted into that but it’s tricky because it took a lot longer than I thought it would take. There were two other guys that wanted that job, you know?
It just, you just have to like, kind of put your head down and do your work and, um, also ask for what you want. You make it clear up front. If I probably hadn’t said that going into that job that, you know, my expectation was that I would be elevated, they probably wouldn’t have done it because, you know, there’s other squeaky wheels, other people that would have been demanding things. Um, so, that’s sort of how that happened, yeah.
And then, and then of course, like I said, once, once you’ve done that kind of job, then you get calls for all kinds of jobs that are, you know, running agencies and all sorts of things and, and that’s, that was my, you know, moving to JWT was. It made such a big vulnerable, venerable agency as you, as you said, you know, the oldest ad agency in the world. That, that just seemed like a good challenge to try to turn that around.
Katerina: Yeah, cuz you were in charge of the turnaround of the company, right? When it was struggling? How did it go? Um, what changes did you…
Lynn: Well, yeah, I mean, I really ran, I ran the headquarter office so I wasn’t in charge of everything but, um, it was really, it was tricky because, um, so, I had a boss, the global CEO was named Gustavo Martinez. And there was a very public MeToo lawsuit, um, that happened.
Katerina: I’ve heard about it.
Lynn: Yeah. It was crazy.
Katerina: There were some articles online about it.
Lynn: I know. So, that happened like, two years into my job there and we had been doing really well. We, you know, we were winning business, things started to turn around, and then that happened and everything screeched to a grinding halt, you know? He resigned after a week. And because it wasn’t going away, this was sort of the first sign of “Oh, this is here to stay”, this MeToo thing. And he, um, so he ended up leaving and then, I mean, I was dealing with the lawyers, the clients, you know, the HR issues and, you know, we had a lot of clients that were questioning, “Well, what kind of culture do you have there that that goes on?” I’m like, “Well, our culture is actually a really great culture.”
Um, you have to let that investigation, in that case, play out but that’s not everyone’s experience, trust me, you know? Um, and it just made it incredibly difficult to get traction. So, the company really struggled and suffered and now, JWT doesn’t exist anymore. It was folded into another agency called Wunderman so it’s called Wundeman Thompson which, you know, for me, it was sort of sad.
Katerina: Yeah. So, what did you like the most about your corporate career?
Lynn: I liked the variety and the people, you know? You get a lot of energy from working with interesting people and creative people and that’s, um, that was super enjoyable for me and I like, like I said before, like working on different businesses. I always found myself circling back to beauty. That was always one thing that I worked on throughout my career and then I’d end up, you know, I worked on L’Oreal and then all sudden I’m working on Clinique. And then I’m working on Nexxus, and you know, you just, that was always something that I enjoyed. Um, but I liked working on lots of different things, you know? Kept things interesting.
Katerina: And I guess you, you feel like it’s something you’re passionate about, to work on your own sort of brand, the Masami brand. I actually did some research about what it means and “masam” means “becoming”, “become”, and “mi” means, gosh, it’s “beautiful”. That’s it.
Lynn: That’s right, yeah. Yeah. Well, oh, I was just gonna say it means, it means that which was great, but it’s also a nod to our muse, Masa, who is my partner James’s husband.
Katerina: Okay.
Lynn: Yeah, so he’s from Japan. And he’s the real reason for the ingredient that we use, that’s the sort of secret to our hydration. Um, it’s just a seaweed, it’s an ocean botanical um, that basically, you know, he was eating everyday. He grew up in north-east Japan so to them, it’s like the way we eat kale or avocados, you know? So, um, so Masa really was the inspiration so he, so the name has really two meanings.
Katerina: Yeah, yeah. Do you think that your experience, uh, you know, working for an advertising, for a number of advertising agencies actually helped, um, you know, establishing this business? Because it’s been going for two and a half years? Or something like that?
Lynn: Yeah, it’s about two years but we just launched in February, so, you know, all the time leading up to that was the development of, you know, the formulations, the packaging, the name, all that stuff. Um, oh, absolutely. I can say my experience helped. I mean, I’ve done this for other brands, numbers, numerous times. And it just always felt like I’m helping other people build businesses and make money and now I’m like, I want to do it for myself.
Katerina: Yeah.
Lynn: You just start to feel like, why am I doing all this for everybody else? Um, but, yeah, now my experience is um, beyond branding and marketing, you know, go to market strategy, you know, um, figuring out distribution, all that stuff. And so, it works out great because James and I have very complementary skill sets. He’s like the, you know, super passionate, product development guy. So he’s always cooking up like, what’s next. So we already have three new products in the pipeline.
Katerina: Yeah.
Lynn: And I’m like the business, the business person, you know? So it’s a really nice partnership.
Katerina: Yeah. So, what will be your advice, um, for people who think about becoming an entrepreneur? Is it best to start working for someone else and gain experience, or just jump into starting up your business?
Lynn: I think it depends where you are in your life. I think there’s always a benefit to working for other people and seeing what they do.
Katerina: Yeah.
Lynn: What you don’t like also, because there’s a lot to learn from even like, the bad bosses. Um, and, but I also think if sometimes people do that they get stuck, you know, they just, they just get stuck in these jobs and then all of a sudden, years go by and you missed that opportunity. So, um, I always do encourage people, if you have an idea, if you have this vision of doing something, don’t wait too long. Um, you know, I think the trick is if you’re going to do it on your own and you don’t have a lot of experience working for corporations or for other for other types of companies, um, then you just have to be really mindful of finding people around you, surrounding yourself with skill sets and capabilities that maybe you don’t have. So, you just don’t want to have that blind spot. Um, and, you know, I think, um, a lot of the entrepreneurs I’ve worked with and startups I’ve worked with, um, you know, they, they’re a little more reluctant to find mentors or find, you know, um, build a network, I guess, of resources. But that’s super important, you know? It’s like you can’t do everything.Um, and I don’t even pretend to do everything and there’s stuff that I really don’t even like to do. So, that is like, I know I don’t really like it so, yeah. I’m not gonna, I’m not gonna try to figure it all out.
Katerina: Do you have a mentor?
Lynn: Um, I probably have several, actually, and I would say, I would say I also have people that I work with, that are, they wouldn’t call, they wouldn’t be considered mentors because they’re much younger than I am. But I learn, but I learn from them everyday because they know things that I don’t know. I mean, my kids even, you know? They, they’re teaching me what to do on TikTok, you know? I have no idea. So, it’s, um, I always feel like even, you know, we had a program when I was… reverse mentorship, where it was like the old people learn from the young people and I think that’s really valuable, actually.
Katerina: Yeah. So, on the, on the stress level, I guess, you know, you’ve been working for advertising as several advertising agencies. And I guess you were managing someone else’s money, how to spend them, right?
Lynn: Yeah.
Katerina: Someone else’s budget. Now you’re running your own business, and now you have to make all those decisions. How is it different? Or do you find any problems, figuring out what you should be or shouldn’t be spending or is it, is it easy because you already have this experience?
Lynn: Well, the big differences, we have, like, two nickels, because we’re self funded as opposed to my clients who had, you know, huge budgets. So, when you have such limited resources, you just have to be really, really mindful of what you’re doing and what you’re spending and, um, it’s been actually pretty easy for us because we have a, you know, a plan. We kind of all are aligned on what we need to do. We know what products we want to put out next so, um, there’s no squabbling about the budgets, it’s like, you know, this is, this is sort of what it is. Um, but yeah, I would love more money. I’d love to have more money to spend.
Read the full interview
Originally published at Katerina.Thomas.com
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About the Author:
I help entrepreneurs to build their emotional and business resilience. My mission is to teach business owners the critical action steps for building entrepreneurial resilience, surviving business challenges, and using powerful strategies to review, reinvent and relaunch their business.
