turns out mel robbins and I go way back...

my interview with the "Let Them" guru | April, 2009

I hate the question we all are guilty of asking…. “What do you do?”

Personally, I tend to downplay my background. Why? As I sit here writing and reflecting - it’s probably because the “work” I have enjoyed most over the last few years has been unpaid. I’ve done tons of charity work, which I am very proud of, participate on various Boards, mentor young people and connect people I know to further them along on their desired personal and career paths. All of this has kept me busy, engaged, mentally challenged and personally very satisfied.

A little background on me, for those of you who don’t already know….I ran my husband’s medical office for many years (a paid position!) but that was really a labor of love. Back in 2007, I went back to school to complete my unfinished Master’s Degree coursework in Media Studies. I graduated from the New School For Social Research with my degree in 2008 and launched my web & graphic design company, Mutt Media that same year. This was a busy time as I was raising my two children who often saw me at the dining room table doing my homework right alongside them as they did theirs.

I’ve done websites, branding and rebranding, run social media campaigns, created logos, print ads and the list goes on. All of that has wound down in the couple of years as I began to take my writing more seriously as my focus and interests have evolved.

While Mel Robbins has seemingly appeared like a rocket out of nowhere for some, she has had a long and interesting career that I’ve been following since I learned about her in the Spring of 2009 when I was asked to appear on her radio show.

I had never heard of Mel before. At the time, the dot-com stock market crash was fresh and many people found themselves out of work. It was a dark time economically. I had written a marketing piece for an event that I was doing for a client. This document was all about how to conduct a job search in the (then very new) age of social media. I talked about how to market oneself and how to navigate and clean up an online footprint. Even then, I saw the dangers of oversharing in the digital age.

I suppose this piece got circulated widely and so, I was approached to appear on Mel Robbin’s radio show.

Here is a link to my then-daily blog post that I wrote under the umbrella of Mutt Media. If you have the time and would like to hear a younger (and very unrehearsed) Donna Schlessinger - please click here to read and give it a listen.

I have followed Mel off and on since then and I think she’s brilliant. I love where her career has taken her and I truly applaud “The Let Them Theory”. (We should all subscribe to that). If you aren’t yet familiar with this concept, there is a link on my original blog post to her website. This is not Mel’s first book, but arguably, it’s her most successful.

My interview is in the final 15 or so minutes toward the end of the audio, but the entire show is worth your time.

I think we all are much more interesting than the paid jobs that we do, don’t you?

Comment below please if you are so inclined. I’d love to hear what you think of Mel and my somewhat cringey interview from all those years ago!

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