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So I love talking about food, I love eating food, I like photographing food, sort of I kind of find that annoying because then you're producing your own meals and that becomes disruptive. Also, a lot of you like me talking about food in general, food trends. Some food trends are served where they cook and bags are plant based would be a food trend. But food fame is totally different. The most famous food trend right now, the Lady Gaga in the food space, it's truffle, truffle salt, truffle hot sauce, truffle popcorn, truffle butter, which is also a song.

And that's like a dirty thing. But but truffle in general is like what Madonna was back in the day. It is just having its moment. Some people are personally offended. It's too much truffle everywhere. Truffle, Caesar, truffle, mac and cheese, truffle lobster, mac and cheese, truffle mushrooms. I live for this trend, but I could tell it's going to be like red velvet. By the way, red velvet was a trend. Red velvet is no longer red.

Velvet is like Danny Bonaduce from The Partridge Family. It's funny because Danny Bonaduce had red hair and I didn't mean that. But anyway, Red Velvet was the biggest deal in the whole world and you never, ever hear about it. And that was something that came out of nowhere, became a craze. And I ate it so much when I was pregnant and I can't look at it again. And Truffle feels like it's heading towards that truffles overexposed. Truffle is overexposed.

I like it now, but I feel like in two seconds I just feel like it's going to do something wrong. Like this hot sauce I'm my friend told me is not good and it's going to get canceled.

Other food, famous trends, avocado, toast, avocado used to be illegal. It was fattening. It was very high in fat. You weren't allowed to like it. It just was not OK. Back in the fat free days and avocado toast is famous if truffle is Lady Gaga and really truffle should be Nicki Minaj because she has a song, Truffle Butter, which is not about the food. If truffle is Nicki Minaj, avocado toast. Is Khateeb.

It is everywhere, you cannot go into a restaurant, not see it on a menu, it is done in many iterations, it's done over sour dough. She's always confusing because it's supposed to be healthy and now it's over sour dough. So is it healthy? If it's over multigrain, you can market it to be healthy, but it's always got cracked egg and oil and all this other stuff. And it's probably super fattening if you care about calories.

I do not. But Avocado Toast is having its moment right now. Moccia is also having its moment matches. Major, I don't know that it's as famous as avocado toast. I think Moccia is probably like not as famous as Gaga. Nicki Minaj or Taylor Swift might like Meghan in the style.

And she's in a big, big, big, big, big moment right now. But I don't know, green juice is also very, very, very famous at and these are all celebrities that came from nowhere, meaning truffle came out of nowhere. Trussville had no fame, and now it's Lady Gaga. Avocado toast was nowhere and nothing, and it sustained its fame. And avocado toast could even be like Adele is very relevant, but has sustained an avocado toast, has sustained much, much.

I might be making the stallion green juice is someone who's famous and lasted for a long time. It's not Beyonce. They don't get a twisted green juice is more like Kelly Clarkson. It's been around for a while. It's very good. It's good for you. It's quality. There can be not quality green juice. There can't be really not quality.

Kelly Clarkson. But you know, I'm only one woman and vegetables that have just lost their farm completely.

Vegetables that still exists, obviously, but have lost their fame completely. Ah, asparagus, green beans. Broccoli is not that famous right now. Green beans are like Neil Diamond. They're still very talented and great, but they're not you know, they're not famous. Well, Neil Diamond is famous, but, you know, he's not very current. And then celebrity foods that you see. But they really need a new PR campaign. That's green beans.

That's asparagus. Octopus had a moment of major fame. It lasted a while. It's sort of waning now. Kobe beef had a big moment. It's also waning now. Burrata Barata had a big moment before that. It was buffalo mozzarella. Buffalo mozzarella was the star burrata took its place. And now maybe because of dairy free culture, it's sort of losing its moment, too. But I just want to ask a question. It's very important. Who is more famous?

Kale, truffle, cauliflower or avocado toast? Who is the most famous? I think that mainstream fame. Kale and cauliflower are like Jaylo and beyond say they are mainstream, famous. Truffles, a diva, Mariah Carey, is the truffle of pop stars, we all agree. Carl is a condition I've said before, the Kardashians, it's OK as a Kardashian, it's everywhere and it's in so many iterations is beyond, say, cauliflower. Because she's just quality and is like a flower that blossoms.

OK, so Beyonce's cauliflower and then what is gaga avocado toast with the cracked egg, the spicy. To be continued, it's very important and we want to hear all of your thoughts on this, please rate review and subscribe. My guest today is Melissa Grady, Cadillac's chief marketing officer, that is a monster brand with a strong woman leading the charge.

She has been the CMO since September twenty nineteen. She has led global marketing for the luxury automotive brand, including pivoting the brand to address the covid-19 pandemic. Today, we talk about the importance of organizing your time wisely, the myth of balance in your life and the power dynamic needed between men and women to make relationships work. You're going to love this episode.

Welcome, and the reason I wanted to have you on is because the show is really people who've broken through, who've succeeded on their own in their own way, not always sort of taking the easy road, no pun intended, because of your business. In my estimation, the automobile industry is largely male or has been it was more of a man's game. And I think about that because in getting into the liquor business years ago, it was marketed to men.

It was run by men. So that's just an interesting juxtaposition. How prevalent are women in the car industry now? Not not about who their cars are being marketed to, but as the sweetners leaders?

It's definitely growing and getting to be more prevalent. I think our CEO, Mary Barra, is one of the most incredible and inspirational women I know. And she's really set the standard, I think, for women in leadership. So I started an automotive a very long time ago, and there weren't really a lot of women in the C suite that you could look up to today. It's very different.

You know, you are effectively by being the CMO of Cadillac, you are a new car saleswoman. You're always a used car salesman. You are a new car saleswoman. It's such a competitive landscape. And I know you have to think about social consciousness and you have to think about economics and the pandemic and it changes every day. So how do you sell cars now?

If you look at my career, I have gone across a lot of different industries in sort of a very strange way, almost, and it's always the same thing. We start with the human insight for me. I always start with data. I learn to love data modeling years and years ago. So you start with the data and then you move into an insight. And once you understand that insight, then you can start to develop creative. That makes sense.

There's two parts of it. There's the creative and then there's the understanding who you're selling to and how you target them. So whereas we used to do a lot of linear TV advertising, we're now in a lot more nontraditional types of media like we do a lot of addressable or connected TV. So if you're on Hulu or watching something on a Samsung TV that's connected, then you'll see our ads that are targeted to specific people. And we always talk about like advertising can be so annoying, but at the same time, when advertising is good, people love it.

And I think the best example of this is the Superbowl. Everyone wants to watch the ads in the Super Bowl. So when advertising is good, people like it. And that's what I strive for, to make people want to see our ads and interact with our brand.

Is the Super Bowl the biggest advertising time of the whole year? What are the most cars bought of the year? And when is the most money spent on advertising during the year?

The last couple of years have been very interesting from a when is money spent just given where the world has been, especially with the pandemic. Things shifted a lot, but really the end of the year. So December, if you think about all the holiday ads for cars, they really work. People really buy a lot of cars at the end of the year. The advertising dollars tend to follow that, although the Super Bowl is one of the most expensive spots that you could buy.

And when do people get the best deals on the cars? It depends what you're looking for. So end of model year, which tends to happen end of year, is we switch over in the mid to late year. So the end of the model year, you're going to get the best deals. But then if you want the newest car technology, that happens a little bit earlier. You have to check out the no fucks given podcast with Sarah Knight, Sarah Night is The New York Times best selling author known as the Anti Guru because of her know best approach to self-help.

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So you in a relationship, I just got married two months ago. Oh, congratulations. Can I ask you what your husband does, what business he's in? Yeah, he is a banker. He's a banker. So does he have crazy hours and work the way that you do?

Yes, he's in the mortgage business. So the past year with where rates are and everyone moving has been really insane. How long have you been together? Almost three years. What's the dynamic within your relationship, you being so powerful and busy and, you know, in a very competitive industry and I'm sure it's high pressured and intense. I'm kind of trying to get to how gender relates to business in a relationship, meaning there has to be some sort of a balance and some sort of a dance within a man and a woman as it pertains to gender and power and success and how you navigate that.

This relationship is one of the better ones that I've ever had. With that, I think that we're both very busy and sometimes get very stressed out. So we respect each other very well with that. And we both really try to take care of each other. And I think we almost joke about housewife and house husband and when we get into those roles. But there are times when we can see that the other one's really stressed and we really try to take care of each other.

And then this is really funny. Our friend, who is a psychologist said at one point, because we both get in business mode. So sometimes when we're talking to each other, we're just like kind of checking off a to do list and then very much like, OK, do this, this. No, I said this, this. And we're very like. And she said, you guys get into a mode where I don't know if you could talk to anyone else that way, but you just know you're getting business done and then we're like, kiss on the cheek.

OK, great. See you later so you can turn it off. Yeah. And you can turn it off at home. You can have a good balance in family and work life. You've managed to do that.

So this is one of the things that is, I think, really important. I strive so hard for that. I speak out a lot on meditation. I started meditating probably fifteen years ago, not because I was so happy with you. I'm a lot more like that now, but because I was spinning out of control and one of my friends was like, maybe you need to breathe. And I think that this idea of balance is almost dangerous because there isn't ever really balance and it's all about trying to figure out how you make all the things work for you.

And I think when we talk about how we have it all or how we have balance, like I'm never totally in balance and I'm always trying to understand where am I, when am I spinning, how do I stop the spin? And I think I used to spin a lot more when I was younger. I was really trying to prove something when I was younger and I was not taking care of myself and then not taking care of the people around me because you were striving.

It's not that easy to get to the top. And if you had to have children, that's hard to do. And so it's interesting that you've sort of front loaded this before. I don't know if you want to have kids, but what you're describing is sort of that white knuckling I call getting activated. And I agree with you. That's the number one question about balance. And it's not really balance. It's being present in what you're doing. I think it's about time and the use of time and how people are using their time where you scramble, you know, getting in panic mode versus using your time wisely, prioritizing, deciding that you just can't be social ten, thin, successful, a good parent and have sex at the same time.

Like, you got to pick your spots and how you're going to use your time. So I'm always in pajamas and like I'm literally doing the podcast with you in pajamas because I'm not really social. I'm completely a homebody, but I care about my daughter and my work and philanthropy and peace and sleep. And that's you know, you choose the buckets that you can handle at the same time, exercise, not one of them. I just can't fit it in.

So later on it'll fit in. And that's exactly right. I think it's so interesting of the, you know, trying to figure out what are my priorities right now. And then when those things start slipping, how are you going to make it work? And I think especially today, you go through social media and you're looking at someone's story and you see them working out in the morning. Here's my juice. Now I'm here. Look at this glamor shot and you're sitting there in your pajamas like I didn't have time to work out this morning.

And I don't know the last time I had time to go get a juice. And I'm just trying to get all this done right now. But then I think, you know, when people look at me or you, they see totally put together being able to do it all and you're never doing it all because to your point, you're allocating your time and that changes. And then you have to make sure that you're doing what you need to do and that you're not being too hard on yourself.

So my top priority, besides my daughter, I'm not talking about a person. I mean, like a construct in life, a bucket, whether it's exercise or food or my no want to sleep.

What is yours when I exercise and meditate? Everything else is much better because it helps me get the gist like that angst out of me so you could exercise and meditate and not get a great night's sleep or you could get a great sleep and not exercise and meditate.

And it would still those that's on the forefront if I don't exercise and meditate enough sleep is very, very difficult for me. OK, so connected. You are very connected. I love good sleep. It's something that I strive for it. I don't know how so many people just are able.

Well yeah, the lambs are screaming but you have it. But I would say people for people at home who want to be very successful and either be a maverick on their own or be in the corporate world as you are, Melissa, I think that, you know, sleep is one of the casualties. You have to have serious structure, try to go to bed at a similar time every night, not to get activated at night. Not even that could even be online shopping.

I could get activated over an Ottoman or like island kitchen. Stool's like it doesn't have to be state of the world or a TV show or a book or it could be over an ottoman, because if you're an obsessive person, you'll just obsess or think about anything. So for those of you who have lambs that scream, set yourself up for success, whether it's meditation or exercise or not having caffeine or not eating steak or getting the phone out of your room, it's a discipline.

And you sounds like you're taking self care very seriously, particularly now, I presume, during the pandemic for mental health. Right now, they're living with their own minds too much. And now's a great time for self care.

I totally agree. And I think the the pandemic has been so hard. There's so many things that concern me. I think people spending too much time with their own thoughts. The other thing that I've been really trying to voice a lot within GM and we have a lot of conversations, is especially women who've worked so hard and now don't have a school to send their kids to, can't have a nanny or a daycare. They're trying to multitask all day.

And I have so much admiration for the people who are doing this. And I'm not sure. I mean, I have several people on my team who are struggling with that. And we're outperforming. You know, last year was one of our best years that we've ever had a Cadillac. So when you look at that and these people are doing all these things, it's just amazing to me. And I just worry as this drags on what that's what people are afraid and stressed and haggard at this point.

And the truth is, when people have a lot to do, they do more. That's what's crazy. It shouldn't be under these circumstances. But I'm finding that a certain type of person is pulling themselves up from their bootstraps. And just because we're all in mode, the program is set and there are so many people suffering and so many people the unemployment rate and and it's horrible. But then some people are really just not stunned and not stuck and just saying, OK, I've got to do all this, so I'm going to just do more.

And that's very common of women. The more you have to do, the more you get done.

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So it's a crazy time, so you talk about data before. What percentage of your decisions as the CMO of such a major brand are data and what percentage is gut instinct?

When you look at I think data really sets the table and sets you up for the gut decisions that you're going to make. For instance, you start to learn about something. You get all the facts that you need, and then you use insights to help you understand when something is right and resonates. And I'll give you two of my favorite examples. But first one is about vacuuming. And one of the major vacuum companies is really having trouble. Their ads weren't tracking well and people were starting to lose share.

So they did some research. And what they learned was as people are vacuuming, they like the sound, the ticking sound of things coming up from the carpet. And they also like satisfying, so satisfying. And the lines that you make in the room, like on the lawn mower. Love satisfying. Yes, exactly. So that's the insight. You don't need to hear that it's going to be 50 percent cleaner. You know that when you hear that sound.

So they change the whole advertising campaign and started gaining share again. My other favorite one is just because it's so personally relatable to me and I don't know the back story of it, but Starbucks recently started putting on their cup that first sip feeling. And if you drink coffee, you know that moment in the morning, the before and after that first sip. So those are the two things. Once you understand that, you're going to know when you're doing the right thing.

Both of those things are relatively emotional. That's very interesting. And also because, well, I am the opposite. Had I known anything, I would have never gone into the liquor business. I didn't know one thing. I didn't understand the industry. I didn't understand. It was there. It was not there. I'd never been into a big box liquor store. And I just had an idea. My gut instinct said it was good as a woman, as a person who wanted this.

And that's how truthfully that's how I operate, completely going with my gut. But I have people around me now not being on my team. For example, this summer I saw a certain type of sunglass and I said to HSN, I want to do this, and I think this would be great. And then they were later saying, would this be good on a skinny girl or Bethenny? And I said, Well, Bethenny is a woman and skinny girl was a girl.

And so I want to do it under Bethenny. But like, I guess I'm relying on them to do their data to see that they've never done that before. Same thing with swim, which I'm going into on HSN, for example, but it's my gut instinct. And then I guess if there is data that doesn't support what I want to do, they'll probably shut it down. But my entire brand really goes on gut instinct. Do you have any examples of that, like total daytime steaks?

You thought this was going to happen and you were dead wrong.

So it's funny because as you're talking, I think what I relate it to more is my own career, which has I've just followed my passion all the way and starting from all my life. I knew I wanted to be in advertising from the time I was very little. I used to watch Who's the Boss and I was like, I want to be like Angela. That was what I wanted to do, by the way, school. I wanted to be a copywriter my whole life.

Live for it. Funny you say that. One hundred percent. Yeah, yes.

That was exactly the inspiration of my childhood and what my vision of it was. Then going into grad school, someone asked me, do you like math? And I do really like math, but I didn't want to be an engineer. I didn't even really want to be that much in technology, although I am a lot in technology now. But with that question, I was like, well, that's actually interesting. I do. And he said, there's this whole new kind of marketing coming up that's data driven marketing.

And if you learn these skills, then you'll have them and you can always go back to advertising. But if you don't learn them, then you may be left behind. And I was like, that sounds good. So I literally in that moment from this guy who's supposed to be showing me where the computer lab is, I change the course of my life because of his question. As I went through grad school, I just followed this passion. There were a lot of times when I think I did make decisions on my gut, like my first job coming out of grad school.

I wanted to go to American Express because they were the best at data driven marketing in the late nineties. And I happened into an interview with Jaguar who said, hey, we want you to come in and build out a database and acquisition and retention programs. And I was just sitting there listening to this and thinking, I've only taken classes on this. I've never done this. But what came out of my mouth was sounds great. Let's do that.

And then I learned very early on, I really like to build things and I like to figure out how things work. You know, I was in automotive for quite some time and then ran my own business for a little bit, went back into automotive and then switched over, was working at Motorola. So I was in tech. Four years from there, I decided to work at MetLife and Insurance and then I had the job where if we're looking.

Data and how things line up. I had a job that was really good on paper, it was I thought exactly what I wanted and it was the wrong thing.

It's not that easy to work for a multibillion dollar company that's a leader and just go and wing it. So you have to be relying on data. But I that you're in the corporate landscape, which is a very different trajectory. You're not standing in pajamas braless right now, presumably like I am at your office. So that's a specific path. And people who I speak to often try to decide who they are. Are they a person that needs to have the structure that support that hierarchy?

That's really a team. And there's a lot more power behind that than being sort of the individual that wants to go out and maybe has partners that are external like I do, or people to call upon or conciliators. But it's not quite the same. So how do you handle getting a raise? How do you handle being seen, being known and being heard within the corporate landscape, moving up the ladder? You know, that's a big thing, because if you work with me and you're great, you're going to be noticed because there are three people here.

If you work a Cadillac, it's not going to be that easy to get noticed because there are thousands of people. So wherever people work, even if it's one hundred percent off as a 20 person office, how do they get noticed? What makes a difference? And then, I guess take it to the next level. What makes a difference as a woman and as being a woman helped you in ways in business because everyone talked about how being a woman is challenging.

But has it helped you? That's a multiple part question.

The best advice for getting noticed. And I wish that someone had told me this earlier in my career. Is it set up conversations and go talk to people? And I think that I was probably more intimidated or felt like I would be bothering people if I were to do that. So if there was someone that I admired, I feel like they're very busy. I'm not going to take 30 minutes out of their day when they're running around and just talk about what you're thinking for yourself.

And if that conversation this is also, I think, very important, make sure that you have your talking points and your structure set up going into that conversation because you don't want to get on the phone with someone who is taking 30 minutes out of their day. Right. Well, I just get your act together, get to know each other. What's interesting to me, I think it's done two things. It's really helped me, you know, mentor people, tell people what will help them, but also then that person's on your mind.

And as you're in conversations, because in big corporations, there are a lot of conversations that happen about people's careers when roles open up all of those things. And if someone knows that you're interested in something, if someone knows that you want to move, then it really helps and you have to let people know what you're thinking. So I think that's the best way going through all this. As a woman, how has that helped or hurt me? I think especially over the span of my career, women have started helping each other more and helped understand how to act.

I think it was definitely harder earlier on. And I think earlier I was trying so hard to prove myself and to almost, I guess, not be female. And now I lean into that more. And I think that that helps because one of the things that was so interesting is during the pandemic, if you looked at female leaders and how well they manage the pandemic, you really start to understand what being a female really does. And one of my favorite examples is Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand, who, first of all, just locked everything down.

She stuck to what she said. And then my favorite thing that she did was that she said, don't worry, the tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny don't have to quarantine. So, kids, you're OK. And I was like, what a human thing and what a way to make someone more comfortable. And it's something I think that now I aspire to be more like that than this. You know, I'm I'm just charging through person.

Your whole entire business is messaging. So how do you know what to get in the game, when to sit back? You know, it's very easy for somebody to say, be fearless until you're fearless and then, you know, then it's not great. So you have a big weight on your shoulders. And how do you honestly navigate that? Like not corporate, just as a person, like really in your own mind, in your own head, emotionally, are you like, holy shit, I hope I don't screw this thing up or this is nerve racking.

This is a weird time or I'm learning as I go like that kind of thing. Overall, I'm probably less nervous than I used to be. I'm like, take a breath now. I tend to, especially when I'm uncomfortable, I tend to pass out what what's the worst thing that could happen? That's great. By the way, everybody at home, that's a great thing to do. Before I did this podcast. I literally said, how am I financially?

I'm going to say something that's going to piss someone off. Am I prepared for that? I usually come from a place of yes, but it's good to go to the lowest common denominator to know if the shit hits the fan. What am I dealing with? And you are a damage control business, so that's good.

I've really started to like. Think about leaning into the uncomfortable and what I mean by that is like I think we spend our lives thinking everything should be perfect and easy and it's more perfect and easier for other people. And we're sitting here struggling through every day. And why is it so much harder for me? Right. And I think that really it's as we're going through things that are harder, that we learn the most and learn that what the shit is going to hit the fan.

And I can take it because that's happened before. And here's how I got through it. So I feel like when I'm uncomfortable, it probably means I'm doing something I need to be doing. And so I don't want to. That's really good. Everyone that's really, really good because I always say when you jump, you fly. And I equate a lot of things that have been difficult in my life, whether it's been a bad divorce or bad press or that you feel uncomfortable, but you're always learning something from it, like you're not being panicked or manic.

You are saying, OK, sit back, take a deep breath, think about it. It's happening for a reason. This is a golf game. This is the second hole I just got to get myself to the third, then to the fifth. And I like that because what doesn't kill us make does really make us stronger. Honestly, we get tested, but to be afraid and to be so tentative, you're never going to grow and do anything.

And I think that people who are making changes are taking chances. And I think that's really great. Great advice.

So you also you had an interesting trajectory, which is fashion and beauty and jewelry.

Right? It's funny because I've started to jewelry companies and one was after my first stint in automotive and the other one was actually a few years ago right before I came to GM. And it's not anything that I would say is a particular passion point of mine. The first time it was in two thousand four, I think. And so it was my first foray into e-commerce. And I was teaching myself how to build a website and trying to figure out how to run an e-commerce business myself.

So jewelry was an easier way to do that. It was just a product that I could hold inventory on, put on this website and figure out the last time that I got into it was with a very good friend of mine. And it was more about I like to wear jewelry that has a meaning to me. You know, I have a lot of mantras that I'll say in my head and it becomes almost comforting. And so we were going to start a jewelry business that was surrounded around that.

Then I got this job.

Oh, interesting. OK, well, there's two things I want to say. First of all, what is your mantra? If you had to give a mantra, my mantra is you are exactly where you're supposed to be, even when it's really, really hard.

Oh, my God, that's perfect. That's perfect for so many people right now. But also, you've literally talked about doing well and being passionate about jewelry, Web creation, insurance and the marketing of cars. So for people at home, don't be so constricted in what you need to be doing. You are I wrote in my book A Place of Yes, all roads lead to Rome. I have had so many different types of jobs. I have worked at a bakery.

I've worked as a hostess in a restaurant. I've worked for PR companies. I work doing events. I've worked doing so many different things. It doesn't matter. It's part of your path that gets you to where you need to be, which is sort of what you're saying. So if someone offers you an interesting opportunity or a job, it doesn't mean you're breeding insurance policies all day. You might be marketing insurance company. It doesn't mean you're making jewelry.

It's a product. You might be marketing the product or you might be making jewelry. Years ago, I remember interviewing for a bunch of different jobs and one of them was to work at Activision long before it was this multibillion dollar company. And, you know, maybe I would have gotten a job as an assistant and gotten stock options and, you know, been living in Roy Crock's secretary at the time. Her house is the biggest house in Palm Beach because she was the assistant to the head of McDonald's.

Point being, you're on the road. You don't know where it's going to take you, whether it's jewelry, cars, insurance, Webbs liquor, reality TV. You'll get there. No, you won't get there. And the journey will be so fun. What car do you drive and what does your husband have?

I have the new Escalade. He has an X T six. OK, so the car behind you is called the Lyric IQ and it's the first Cadillac. Every electric vehicle. It's called the lyric and it's spelled l y our IQ. Oh. So how is the transition into being EV brand? So Cadillac will be the leading brand at GM that will be all electric. And as Steve Carlyle says, it's going to be the end of the Ice Age.

So ICE is an internal combustion engine and Cadillac will be leading the charge from internal combustion to EV. So we are going to have an all electric lineup by the end of the decade. Oh, wow. Yeah. Wow, that's amazing. All right. Well, I'm going to jump on that bandwagon, too. Amazing. It's your job to know what people are feeling, thinking, doing, saying, buying. What was happening six months ago is not the same as now.

So are people in the doldrums because it's enough already and it's depressing. Are people wanting entertainment and superficiality? Are people hopeful because some of their family members are getting a vaccine? Do people have deal fatigue? Where are people? What are they doing, saying, feeling and buying right now?

I think people definitely have fatigue with this situation, but they're definitely feeling more hopeful and starting to venture out and do things more. It's been very interesting. Normally we launch an ad campaign and that ad campaign will go for several months. And during the pandemic, things were changing so quickly that first of all, we produced a TV spot in less than seven days because we had one on the air that was just not right for when everything went into lockdown, you had to have the somber music.

Here's what we're going to do for you, like quiet commercial. And we were one of the first to do that. I was extremely proud of my team for how quickly they pulled that together and got that on air. We then were changing our messaging about every two weeks because the way people felt and what was going on and all the different regions was changing so quickly that we had to change the messaging. Because if you had your pre pandemic commercial on on week two of the pandemic, you sounded totally off.

If you had your we're so sorry this is happening. Here's what we're going to do with the sad music. If you had that on four weeks later, you were way off. So it was really interesting to follow consumer sentiment and to make sure that our messaging was on point. But right now we're definitely way more into hopefulness.

I admire what you're doing. And I think you're I mean, first of all, I have an Escalade. I have for a long time. My new show, The Big Shot with Bethenny, is going to be on HBO, Max, and it's littered with an Escalade. And I literally said to them, this is like a free commercial on a major hot streamer. And the Cadillac is like a star in the show. So you're welcome. Anyway, it's so nice to meet you and I'm so glad you took the time to be here.

I know you're very busy and it's great what you're doing and it's good how you're being so socially conscious of what's going on. And I just love the conversation. Thank you so much.

So that was Melissa Grady, the CMO of Cadillac, and to be the chief marketing officer of a brand like Cadillac is a big, big, powerful job in what many people really deem to be a male driven, no pun intended world, the automobile industry.

So I like to have women on who are in power positions and what has traditionally been a man's world. And for you to just hear what their path has been and how their path and their trajectory has been nontraditional and circuitous and interesting. And a woman going from jewelry and creating a website to being in the insurance industry to working at Cadillac and, you know, being in a creative role there.

So sometimes, you know, I'll have Dave Portnoy or Dana White, the head of the UFC, then I'll have Hillary Clinton or Chelsea Handler. It doesn't matter what they have done or where they work, it's about their path. And I think that you can find something interesting everywhere. And here to go from all of these different industries to working at Cadillac to go that corporate path is very different than my path.

So I can speak to you about my path. We do not know the corporate path. We don't understand what it means to navigate working in a man's world, working in what they call the C Suite. I still don't even know what that means.

Someone will tell me, working in a conference room, playing the game, having to run it up the flagpole park that no pun intended because it works a Cadillac and all of that corporate lingo and language and temperature and not being tone deaf and all that matters now.

So I think it's important for us to hear conversations from people who have really navigated very different industries. And I think Melissa helped with a lot of take away that self care and taking chances. And there are many chances to be taken within the corporate landscape. So I think that's always interesting to hear. GSP is hosted by me, Bethenny Frankel, our managing producer is Fiona Smith and our producer is Stephanie Stender. Sarah Cattanach is our assistant producer and our development executive is Nayantara.

Would just be is a production of B Real Productions, an Endeavor contest. This episode was mixed by Sam Bare. To catch more moments from the show, follow us on Instagram and just be with Bethenny.