369. The One DM that Led to a Multi-Million Dollar Partnership: Why Boldness Matters with Marina Middleton

·44 min·4 clips

Marina Middleton felt guilty for her gritty CEO intensity until she realized it was her foundation for success.

Renée Warren introduces Marina Middleton, CEO of Create & Cultivate, the largest events and media company for women in business. Marina recounts being laid off from Yahoo in 2019, which pushed her to start her own consultancy. She discovered Create & Cultivate by searching for women's conferences and attended an event, impressed by its production. Marina pitched herself to speak, had founder Jacqueline Johnson on her podcast, then slid into her DMs with an idea for a mastermind. This led to the Blueprint Mastermind with Jacqueline and Allie Webb, founder of Drybar. Four months later, Jacqueline proposed buying Create & Cultivate together, with Marina as CEO. Marina discusses the challenges of operating the business, including different visions for growth and deciding to raise VC funding. She highlights the upcoming festival in LA with 2000 attendees, 200 speakers, and performer Doechii. Marina reflects on her intense, gritty leadership style, initially feeling guilty but later embracing it as her foundation. She talks about handling daily rejections by asking 'why' and reframing them as not personal. The conversation covers balancing motherhood with a nine-year-old son, setting boundaries like blocking pickup times on her calendar, and prioritizing energy management. Marina explains the festival's Connect program, an AI-powered matchmaking tool for networking. She defines a 'wild woman' as someone with grit and resilience who figures things out despite obstacles.

As heard by us

A direct leadership story about using preparation and conviction to make a big ask land.

This episode follows a CEO rethinking qualities she once treated as liabilities: directness, ambition, and resilience. The point lands cleanly, because it suggests those traits do not need to be sanded down to count as leadership.

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Why you'd press play

When one direct ask could change the whole room.

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