{"id":1510,"date":"2019-01-26T00:10:09","date_gmt":"2019-01-26T00:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knowyourteam.com\/blog\/?post_type=podcast&#038;p=1510"},"modified":"2025-04-21T15:07:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T22:07:20","slug":"episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/","title":{"rendered":"Episode 22: Interview with Aynn Collins, Director of Talent Strategy at MailChimp"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe width=\"1400\" height=\"788\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/L4-0tigOX5A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-an-expert-on-employer-brand-and-recruiting-at-the-900-person-company-mailchimp-aynn-shares-what-she-wishes-she-learned-earlier\">An expert on employer brand and recruiting at the 900+ person company, Mailchimp, Aynn shares what she wishes she learned earlier.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Every few weeks as part of&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/theheartbeat.news\/\"><em>The <\/em><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/knowyourteam.com\/blog\/podcast\"><em>Heartbeat<\/em><\/a><em>, I asks one question to a founder, CEO, or business owner I respect about their biggest leadership lesson learned. This week, I interviewed&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/amix3k\/\"><em>Amir Salihefendi\u0107<\/em><\/a><em>&nbsp;is the founder and CEO of&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/doist.com\/\"><em>Doist.\ufeff<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/aynncollins\">Aynn Collins<\/a>&nbsp;is the Director of Talent Strategy at&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/mailchimp.com\/\">MailChimp<\/a>, a now 900+ person company, where she leads efforts to amplify MailChimp\u2019s employer brand and employee experience. In our interview, <g class=\"gr_ gr_6 gr-alert gr_spell gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace\" id=\"6\" data-gr-id=\"6\">Aynn<\/g> shares how she wish she knew how to approach failure earlier, and what companies should be doing to be thinking about their&nbsp;<em>own<\/em>&nbsp;employer brand in the right way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Claire<\/strong>: Hi, everyone. I\u2019m\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/clairejlew\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Claire Lew<\/a>, and I\u2019m the CEO of <a href=\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/?utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=post&amp;utm_campaign=heartbeat-podcast\">Canopy<\/a> (formerly Know Your Team\/Know Your Company) and today, I am so excited to have with me,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AynnCollins\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Aynn Collins<\/a>, who is the Director of Talent Strategy at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/mailchimp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">MailChimp<\/a>, possibly one of my favorite companies and a lot of people\u2019s favorite company. I happened to meet Aynn at a conference this past year in Austin, and it was amazing to hear, first of all, what her role is in the organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the Director of Talent Strategy, with MailChimp now being 900 people and counting, she manages employer brand and the employee experience. I\u2019ll let her talk a little bit about that, but really excited to have her here and to ask her this one question about leadership. Aynn, thanks again for joining me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Aynn<\/strong>: Thank you for having me, Claire. I enjoyed meeting you at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/culturatisummit.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Culturati Conference<\/a>&nbsp;as well, so I\u2019m flattered you wanted to talk to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Claire<\/strong>: Oh my gosh. Of course. All right, Aynn. I\u2019ve got this one question for you about leadership, and it\u2019s if there\u2019s something you wish you would have learned earlier as a leader, what would you say that is?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Aynn<\/strong>: That\u2019s a really good question, so kind of talking to my to my younger self about leadership, it sounds like you\u2019re asking me. That\u2019s funny you asked me that because here at MailChimp, I end up talking with a lot of employees here about things I learned early in my career, whether it be leadership management style, feedback, what-have-you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I think I would tell my younger self to really embrace failure. You learn much more from a single defeat than from a thousand victories.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Obviously, nobody\u2019s excited about failure or not meeting a goal, but not sweeping that under the rug and talking about it, so just really embracing failure and understanding how you learn and grow from those failures, I think is what I would tell people to learn early in their career. They can own failures, talk about them, debrief with your team on, even if the whole project wasn\u2019t a failure, what that have done better, and not try to just make everything shiny and pretty. Because we know business and leadership is not always perfect, and shiny, and pretty. We all have failures all the time personally and professionally, and I think that\u2019s something that I really encourage people to talk about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In fact, yes we introduced a really cool program here last year. Part of my role is employer brand, so really amplifying what makes MailChimp a special place to work to the outside world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I think the key to an authentic employer brand is making sure that you\u2019re really telling the true story, like don\u2019t make it too perfect. Make it who you\u00a0are.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The best way you do that is to get employees out in the wild talking about MailChimp, whether it be technical talks or speaking about our culture or just being an ambassador when you\u2019re out a conference or out in the wild.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.knowyourteam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/59e3d-1trxrsrn4qb5dstliy9ahcq.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>We have this really cool speaker training program at MailChimp, and one of the things we did last year is introduce an internal program called Fail Tips. It\u2019s basically a lunch and learn format where six to eight employees do a five-minute or less talk on a personal or professional failure. You wouldn\u2019t believe the waiting list I have for people that are willing to talk about their failures and how they learned and grew from that. Yeah, that\u2019s definitely something I think we\u2019re doing well at MailChimp is looking at how we can do things better and not sweeping the things that didn\u2019t go well under the rug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Claire<\/strong>: Absolutely. I love this topic of failure when it comes to leadership because I think you talk to some entrepreneurs and some leaders, and they\u2019ll tell you that they actually don\u2019t really even believe in the word failure and that there\u2019s no real failures but all they really are really expensive mistakes. A lot of leaders actually even reframe the way they look at failure as just saying, \u201cWell, no. This is just how you actually learn.\u201d Failure has just such a negative connotation, and so I love your emphasis on this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m curious, Aynn, so for you personally in your journey and career as you become a leader, when did this click for you? Did something happen or did you watch something unfold or did you experience something where you went, \u201cOh my gosh, I need to wake up and make sure that I\u2019m not sort of sweeping failures under the rug\u201d? When did it really hit you how important this was?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Aynn<\/strong>: I\u2019m not sure there was a specific \u201caha\u201d moment. You\u2019re still feeling the pain of the failure about four or five different things but I can remember, at a different company, this is not at MailChimp, where I was head of recruiting. We had to hire. We were hiring a leader in a role that was sort of struggling. It was a young startup, and we felt like we needed somebody with a stronger personality to really motivate people. We interviewed and hired a woman that had a very strong personality that, at the time, seemed like the fix. Once we got her in and on-boarded, it became apparent quickly that her style was just too different than our cultures and that she wasn\u2019t listening to that culture and sort of adjusting her style, and instead of motivating the employees, which is what we really wanted her to do, she was demotivating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our executive team at that company made a really good quick decision to go ahead and terminate that relationship, and then talked to that team about our failure to them. I think being very, very clear about we made a mistake and this is what we\u2019re going to do differently in the next hire, we\u2019re going to listen to your feedback because there was some concern from this person\u2019s direct reports during the hiring process that it was too different than our style, and we glossed over that. They were very appreciative of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I always feel like, that even here at MailChimp, when we push something too hard and didn\u2019t get the right feedback, when we stop and listen and say, \u201cWow, you were right. We really should have asked you before we implemented this policy. Let\u2019s change it,\u201d you get this level of forgiveness and trust from your fellow employees when you admit that failure and adjust that you just can\u2019t buy. That\u2019s probably the best way we\u2019ve built trust here and in other roles is by admitting our shortcomings and adjusting quickly.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s a story of many years ago where a hiring failure sort of taught me a lot. I actually, in between that company and coming to work for MailChimp, I had a small business failure, so I started a line of clothing for mothers. It was clothing and fun accessories. It was going very well, and then 2008 happened. I decided to close that business. It was very painful because I had really aligned myself with that brand. I was very proud of that, but I made a tough decision to quickly get out of that, and that was that. It was really hard for me. It\u2019s still sometimes hard for me to even see references to that part of my life and be like, \u201cOh, that was so&nbsp;\u2026\u201d but what I realized actually when we did this fail tips program, and I bared my soul to the MailChimp employees and told them how hard that was is that, well, it led me to MailChimp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>MailChimp\u2019s vision is to empower small businesses. It\u2019s to empower the underdog, which in our definition is small businesses, so I feel that pain. I can empathize with small businesses now, and even though my role is not directly product focused, it makes me really aligned with the company I love. If I hadn\u2019t had that small business failure, I wouldn\u2019t know the things small business owners have to do every day just to keep the lights on. That failure led me to MailChimp. I know I\u2019ll have more failures, right? I think I\u2019m that more resilient. It made me that much more humble. It makes you think. It makes you get more input and feedback before you make decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I am not a failure but I embrace\u00a0failure.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Claire<\/strong>: Absolutely. I mean, I think both those stories are sort of amazing windows into understanding how unexpectedly, failure leads you to your point of greater feedback, greater insights, better decisions, and then also just ultimately a better path for what you want to be doing. In the moment, it never feels like that. Let\u2019s be clear so that everyone who\u2019s watching, it never feels like that in the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Aynn<\/strong>: It feels terrible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Claire<\/strong>: Yeah, so my question to you, Aynn, is then for current leaders and aspiring leaders who are watching this and who struggle with being vulnerable, who struggle with&nbsp;\u2026 who maybe, I mean let\u2019s be real. They\u2019re in a high-pressure situation. There\u2019s maybe a lot of money on the line. There\u2019s a ton of competitors. Everything needs to be moving really quickly. They\u2019re trying to attract and retain the best talent. How can you afford to be admitting all the time all your mistakes? What would you say to anyone who\u2019s watching who\u2019s skeptical about sort of doing this in practice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In theory, it\u2019s great. It sounds good. Maybe doing it here and there once in a while is good, but you\u2019re talking, I think about being a lot more rigorous about admitting shortcomings and failures. What would you say to anyone who might be sort of skeptical about doing this in practice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.knowyourteam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/c050d-1-qfigedp5kinhjs2da7gja.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Aynn<\/strong>: Yeah. I think with anything, you have to apply sparingly. Your team needs to have confidence in you, and we certainly don\u2019t have to show every bit of vulnerability but vulnerability goes so far in leadership, I think. I think what I found is when I have leaders that I work with or support do admit failures or shortcomings or missteps, sometimes it\u2019s just a misstep, it\u2019s not a full failure, that you really get this loyalty from your employees that, again, I think I said earlier, you can\u2019t buy or you can\u2019t teach. It really rallies them to get behind you and help you and the entire organization not let that happen again because failures should not be repeat failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>You should learn from every failure and think about how you\u2019re not going to let that specific failure happen again. If you have confidence in saying, \u201cThis is where we screwed things up. Here\u2019s how we\u2019re not going to do it again,\u201d I think you get the most amazing engagement with the people you manage and\u00a0lead.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Claire<\/strong>: Absolutely. I think as leaders, we can be often hyper self-critical so to sort of admit every single small dent in the porcelain isn\u2019t what we\u2019re going for here, but to your point, I think one of my personal greatest sort of moments of progress that I\u2019ve made as a leader is I remember we made a really big mistake with Canopy maybe three or so years ago with our code base. We accidentally revealed all these private answers that people weren\u2019t supposed to see. It was this huge mistake, and it affected hundreds of CEOs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There were two options. We could either tell folks that this happened because people weren\u2019t aware\u200a\u2014\u200ano one noticed it. Or, we could just not say anything and just fix it and move on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We had a really big debate about this with our team internally about what we should do. I remember what we were faced with was, well, do we admit it publicly or just, yeah, is it fine and should we just gloss over it? What I ended up doing is I remember calling Jason Fried who\u2019s the CEO of Basecamp, and he sits on our board. I remember calling Jason and telling him the situation. All he said is he asked me this question, Aynn, which he said, \u201cWhat kind of company do you want to be?\u201d He said, \u201cI love situations like this because it forces you to ask that question.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The minute he said that, that\u2019s when I knew what I was going to do. I decided to be really transparent about what happened. I told all our customers exactly what happened, and the response was fascinating. I braced myself expecting it to be angry, and to your point, it was the exact opposite. People were so appreciative. They said, \u201cClaire, thank you so much. Mistakes are made while you\u2019re doing work. Don\u2019t even worry about it.\u201d It created this greater sense of loyalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Almost what that story to me makes me think about is it\u2019s not just asking the question what kind of company do you want to be, but it\u2019s also asking the question what kind of leader do you want to be. To your point, Aynn, when you\u2019re in those moments of, \u201cOh, should I say something or should I not?\u201d asking that question can hopefully help people decide whether or not to divulge something, so thank you for, yeah, for sharing that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.knowyourteam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/a2cb8-1n3qmstamqusgjfifhuy80w.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Aynn<\/strong>: Yeah. I think that\u2019s a great story, I always tell I have two teenage daughters, and I tell them a lot. I\u2019m sure they get annoyed by it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I always say, \u201cDon\u2019t just be good on paper. Be good in real\u00a0life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>That is an example of being good in real life. I think people trust you. I mean, your customers probably have this greater sense of trust with Canopy when you\u2019re going to tell them something like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Claire<\/strong>: Yes, absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Aynn<\/strong>: It\u2019s such a great story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Claire<\/strong>: Well, thank you. You fall flat on your face and you learn from it. One last question for you here, Aynn, because you are such an expert around thinking about the employer brand and how you, to your point, take what already exists within an organization and expose that outward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When it comes to being vulnerable, when it comes to failure or just in general, what should leaders who are watching this who unfortunately don\u2019t have you on their team and a director of talent strategy on their team, what are some things that they should be thinking about, small things, big things, to create an employer brand that really reflects what their true experience as employees are?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Aynn<\/strong>: I\u2019ve been in this role two years at MailChimp, and I handle things from what does our jobs page look like to from a social perspective, how do we show what life at MailChimp is like, to how do we show up at conferences. For instance, we are a huge fan of the Grace Hopper Conference. It\u2019s all female engineers once a year. How do we show up there authentically and really support, not just hiring people but the community? MailChimp\u2019s very into community and supporting community side of things, and how do you do that in a way that attracts people that would be a great cultural compliment to MailChimp but that is true to who you really are?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Knowing your company. There\u2019s a little pitch for you. Really understanding what your values and vision and mission are and making sure that\u2019s woven into everything you\u2019re putting out there about your employer brand. Really, I think the mistake a lot of companies make is making it glossier and prettier and idealistic like what they want to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I think it\u2019s much better to put a great realistic view of what it\u2019s like and how people get here, decide to join you and buy in that it\u2019s actually much better than they even thought and that you really are living true to those\u00a0things.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Not pumping things up too much, not selling perks and things that aren\u2019t that important to your culture but really selling like, for us, it\u2019s that connection with a small business owner. It\u2019s being really engaged in community. It\u2019s giving employees impactful things to work on. It\u2019s not the ping-pong table because we have that. It\u2019s not the benefits that we have are great. It\u2019s really the type of work and the type of people, and the engagement you\u2019re going to get here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We constantly ask new hires. We have a great onboarding program. We constantly ask them like what brought you here, and what surprised you now that you\u2019ve been here for a month? We get great answers. Sometimes like, \u201cYou know, I kind of thought I\u2019d be working on this, and once I got here, I figured out this is how you do things.\u201d We love it when an employee feels comfortable enough after 30 days to say, \u201cIt was not quite what I thought. Maybe you shouldn\u2019t put this out there about yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Claire<\/strong>: Yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.knowyourteam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/8ade1-1adplfxoe_edzqy8przkwkw.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Aynn<\/strong>: Talk to your new employees. You\u2019ll get a great feel how your, what your employer brand is like if you get them in the first week and then say three months later to say, \u201cAre aligned to what we\u2019re putting out there?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Claire<\/strong>: Right. No, I love that asking that question two to three months later of what surprised you now that you\u2019ve been here. That really uncovers what\u2019s the disparity between your perception of the company and then the reality and then doubling down on, okay, what\u2019s real. I think that\u2019s immensely helpful. Well, Aynn, thank you so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Aynn<\/strong>: Yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Claire<\/strong>: For your thoughts. I\u2019m sorry. I kind of cut you off there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Aynn<\/strong>: No. No. I was going to say like I think especially today when so many are so focused on diversity and inclusion, and especially the inclusion side of things, that\u2019s really important, your brand. Did people feel like they\u2019re part of the story when they get here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Claire<\/strong>: Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you so, so much for everything you shared. It\u2019s so helpful to think about and rethink failure, and make sure that we\u2019re prioritizing how we talk about that. Then, so many great insights about making sure that our brands as companies are true, and not just what we want them to be but are real so thank you so much again, Aynn. We so appreciate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Aynn<\/strong>: You\u2019re so welcome. Thanks for having me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.knowyourteam.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/a818e-17cdalqxkilr_zamkyk3rtq.png\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"newsletter-post-form-container\">\n  <h3>Never miss a post \u2013&nbsp;get our latest leadership insights, as they&#8217;re released&#8230;<\/h3>\n\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/newsletter.canopy.is\/embed\" width=\"850\" height=\"150\" style=\"border:1px solid #EEE; background:white;\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n<br\/>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An expert on employer brand and recruiting at the 900+ person company, Mailchimp, Aynn shares what she wishes she learned earlier. Every few weeks as part of&nbsp;The Heartbeat, I asks one question to a founder, CEO, or business owner I respect about their biggest leadership lesson learned. This week, I interviewed&nbsp;Amir Salihefendi\u0107&nbsp;is the founder and&hellip; <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/\">Read the full article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"https:\/\/chtbl.com\/track\/D44D5\/https:\/\/knowyourteam.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/aynn-collins.mp3","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"18:32","filesize":"16.97M","date_recorded":"29-06-2018","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"22","itunes_title":"Interview with Aynn Collins, Director of Talent Strategy at MailChimp","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"full","filesize_raw":"17789595"},"tags":[],"series":[3529],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/59e3d-1trxrsrn4qb5dstliy9ahcq.png","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast-download\/1510\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp.mp3","player_link":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast-player\/1510\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp.mp3","audio_player":"<!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-1510-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast-player\/1510\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast-player\/1510\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp.mp3\">https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast-player\/1510\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp.mp3<\/a><\/audio>","episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":[],"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/feed\/podcast\/the-heartbeat","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"oMgKWnxh6g\"><a href=\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/\">Episode 22: Interview with Aynn Collins, Director of Talent Strategy at MailChimp<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/embed\/#?secret=oMgKWnxh6g\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;Episode 22: Interview with Aynn Collins, Director of Talent Strategy at MailChimp&#8221; &#8212; Canopy | Blog\" data-secret=\"oMgKWnxh6g\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/* ]]> *\/\n<\/script>\n"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v20.1 (Yoast SEO v22.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Episode 22: Interview with Aynn Collins, Director of Talent Strategy at MailChimp<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Episode 22: Interview with Aynn Collins, Director of Talent Strategy at MailChimp\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=L4-0tigOX5A An expert on employer brand and recruiting at the 900+ person company, Mailchimp, Aynn shares what she wishes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Canopy | Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/knowyourteamhq\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-21T22:07:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/59e3d-1trxrsrn4qb5dstliy9ahcq.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"333\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@KnowYourTeamHQ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"15 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/\",\"name\":\"Episode 22: Interview with Aynn Collins, Director of Talent Strategy at MailChimp\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/59e3d-1trxrsrn4qb5dstliy9ahcq.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-26T00:10:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-21T22:07:20+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/59e3d-1trxrsrn4qb5dstliy9ahcq.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/59e3d-1trxrsrn4qb5dstliy9ahcq.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":333},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Episode\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Episode 22: Interview with Aynn Collins, Director of Talent Strategy at MailChimp\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Canopy | Blog\",\"description\":\"Thoughts on how to become a better leader, and avoid being a bad boss.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Know Your Team\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/knowyourteam.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Artboard-1@2x.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/knowyourteam.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Artboard-1@2x.png\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":1024,\"caption\":\"Know Your Team\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/knowyourteamhq\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KnowYourTeamHQ\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/knowyourteamhq\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCLmMSaIY8JfjiJnwYSfYeuA\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Episode 22: Interview with Aynn Collins, Director of Talent Strategy at MailChimp","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Episode 22: Interview with Aynn Collins, Director of Talent Strategy at MailChimp","og_description":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=L4-0tigOX5A An expert on employer brand and recruiting at the 900+ person company, Mailchimp, Aynn shares what she wishes","og_url":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/","og_site_name":"Canopy | Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/knowyourteamhq","article_modified_time":"2025-04-21T22:07:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":333,"url":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/59e3d-1trxrsrn4qb5dstliy9ahcq.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@KnowYourTeamHQ","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"15 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/","url":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/","name":"Episode 22: Interview with Aynn Collins, Director of Talent Strategy at MailChimp","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/59e3d-1trxrsrn4qb5dstliy9ahcq.png","datePublished":"2019-01-26T00:10:09+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-21T22:07:20+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/59e3d-1trxrsrn4qb5dstliy9ahcq.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/59e3d-1trxrsrn4qb5dstliy9ahcq.png","width":600,"height":333},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/episode-22-interview-with-aynn-collins-director-of-talent-strategy-at-mailchimp\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Episode","item":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/podcast\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Episode 22: Interview with Aynn Collins, Director of Talent Strategy at MailChimp"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/","name":"Canopy | Blog","description":"Thoughts on how to become a better leader, and avoid being a bad boss.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/#organization","name":"Know Your Team","url":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/knowyourteam.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Artboard-1@2x.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/knowyourteam.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Artboard-1@2x.png","width":1024,"height":1024,"caption":"Know Your Team"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/knowyourteamhq","https:\/\/twitter.com\/KnowYourTeamHQ","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/knowyourteamhq\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCLmMSaIY8JfjiJnwYSfYeuA"]}]}},"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/59e3d-1trxrsrn4qb5dstliy9ahcq.png",600,333,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/59e3d-1trxrsrn4qb5dstliy9ahcq.png",600,333,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/59e3d-1trxrsrn4qb5dstliy9ahcq.png",600,333,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/59e3d-1trxrsrn4qb5dstliy9ahcq-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/59e3d-1trxrsrn4qb5dstliy9ahcq-300x167.png",300,167,true],"large":["https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/59e3d-1trxrsrn4qb5dstliy9ahcq.png",600,333,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/59e3d-1trxrsrn4qb5dstliy9ahcq.png",600,333,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/59e3d-1trxrsrn4qb5dstliy9ahcq.png",600,333,false]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Claire Lew","author_link":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/author\/claire\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":false,"rttpg_excerpt":"An expert on employer brand and recruiting at the 900+ person company, Mailchimp, Aynn shares what she wishes she learned earlier. Every few weeks as part of&nbsp;The Heartbeat, I asks one question to a founder, CEO, or business owner I respect about their biggest leadership lesson learned. This week, I interviewed&nbsp;Amir Salihefendi\u0107&nbsp;is the founder and&hellip;&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast\/1510"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/podcast"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1510"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1510"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=1510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}