The Value of a Varied Career Path: Professional Growth and Personal Satisfaction

Come along with Molly Baker Founder of Indie Consulting as she explores the highs and lows of a varied career path with a seasoned professional. Explore how Tayla Benjamin, the head of marketing at Alice Mushrooms, has experienced a variety of experiences that have enriched both her professional development, and personal fulfillment. Follow along to gain important perspectives on choosing a career in marketing, navigating various industries, and the many surprises that come along the way.

Molly Baker [MB]: Talk to me about what you’re thinking about professionally today. What are the challenges? What are the opportunities?

Talya Benjamin [TB]: I'm thinking about a lot of things when it comes to marketing, but I'm really thinking deeply about TikTok. On one hand I feel like it’s this thing that we need to really lean into and get working well. But on the other hand this big elephant in the room of, do we definitely need to do that? Is it gonna be here in a year's time? How important is this platform?

Sitting here today, I would say it’s very important, but it's just a matter of how much do we prioritize it over other things going on. 

MB: Since you think it’s important, is it something that your company is prioritizing today?

TB: It's hard to crack. However, I have a strategy for my company and we’re gonna see it through so hopefully it comes to life.

MB: Are you on the platform personally?

TB: Honestly tik tok is like the pain in my side, but yes, I do have a small platform of my own. It’s a strange thing because it’s one of those things that I can do, and am actually good at, but I sort of hate it as well. It’s a lot of work and I’m not sure I want to fully commit to it as a platform. 

MB: Brag about yourself. What are you really good at?

TB: Bragging is such a hard question to ask an Australian. It is so deeply ingrained in our culture to not brag. What I would say is, that even though my career has been windy, at every point I have performed really well, and I’ve been an asset to every team that I’ve been on. 

MB: Talk a little bit about your varied career path. Do you feel like it's led to greater job satisfaction by having such diversity? What have some of the benefits and challenges been? 

TB: Satisfaction, yes. The good thing about having a nonlinear career path is that it’s always really fresh and interesting. The benefit is that you're constantly learning new things, you're learning about new industries, and your job never gets boring because it changes so often.

MB: Talk about the types of jobs you’ve had prior to your current role. 

TB: My career started in law. But, I studied law knowing I didn't wanna be a lawyer. The reason I did that was because I got a really good score that determines what course you can study in an Australian university. With the score I got, you can get into law or medicine and those are the hardest to get into. 

So, I got my first job in law and moved up the legal ranks. Once I graduated I knew I didn’t want to practice law, so I got a job at a boutique management consulting firm. Then, my now husband moved to New York and I ended up joining him. 

MB: What was your path once you got to New York?

TB: When I got to New York, it was hard to breakthrough in the partnerships or business development roles due to my background in law. I ended up getting a job at WeWork where I started on the enterprise side of things and then made my way to partnerships. 

I went out for a little and tried to start my own thing which was in the gifting space. This led me to my next role in the event space, working with a close friend and Create Dinners. As you can see this windy path continued to inch closer and closer to marketing which is the role I am in now. 

MB: Sometimes it can be scary to go and do something totally different. How did you combat that? Was that ever something you faced, or were you always excited for something new?

TB: I think more of the latter. I've really enjoyed my past roles, but for various reasons, when my current role came up I knew it was for me. 

MB: So tell us who you are!

TB: My name is Talya Benjamin and I am head of marketing at Alice Mushrooms.

MB: Talk a little bit about Alice Mushrooms. Who are you guys? What do you do?

TB: At Alice, we make functional mushroom chocolate formulated for an instant feeling as well as long term health benefits. We have 3 types of chocolate at the moment which are brainstorm, for energy and focus, nightcap for sleep, and happy ending for arousal and pleasure. 

MB: Do you sell d to c as well as in store? 

TB: Yes. We sell online and through Amazon, and currently we are at over 300 retailers nationwide which means we are growing rapidly too.

MB: Talk to me about an average day for you. What does your role look like today?

TB: We are a small team who is spread across the country and all work remotely. We work very cohesively, so we're in constant communication throughout the day. We have a daily standing call, which I really enjoy because it creates more comradery when working remotely.  

When it comes to my role, I really touch all areas of the business. Particularly around marketing I'm doing email and SMS. I oversee our social media, any sort of partnerships, brand partnerships as well as events and gifting. I work hand in hand with our PR team and have also touched some operations.  

MB: When you saw the job description, what spoke to you about the role? Was it more about your feelings towards the brand or the types of activities and tasks you'd be doing? What stood out? 

TB: It was both. I knew about the brand because when Alice first launched, they were involved in a holiday market that I was producing with Create Dinners. So, it all started to come together. In the job description they literally said, we are looking for a jack of all trades, which fit well with my nonlinear career path.

MB: So, this is technically your first official job in marketing, what has been surprising to you?

TB: I would say the pace, which also comes with being in a small company. It’s constant, and never ends. You do one thing, and you have to move on quickly to the next. There's always more in terms of SMS, email, social, any sort of communications, it just it's it never ends.

You also have to keep things exciting all year round. Whether it's a new product launch, partnerships, or different sales and promotions that you're running, you need to constantly be rolling these things out. 

MB: What has been most challenging?

TB: We’re still figuring out exactly who our customers are, because we have different types of customers, and we’re trying to drill down how we speak to each one. For example, we need to use different messaging for a working professional who needs some more energy in the day than who needs extra sleep. 

Another challenge is that since we are a young high growth company, it is very founder led. This is great, but I am trying to figure out how to execute on their visions, while also bringing my own ideas to the table. 

MB: Would you recommend that people take more chances on having different types of experiences in their career, even if they aren’t necessarily linear? Would you do it again the same way? 

TB: It's hard for me to answer because I do think that someone with a varied experience has a certain value to bring to an organization that someone with a linear experience doesn't have. So in that sense, yes, I would recommend it to people.

But, if I'm talking about whether I would do it over again, I feel like I'm loving what I'm doing now, and I could have gotten into it earlier if I didn’t have such a nonlinear path.

MB: What brings you the most energy in your current role? 

TB: The growth of the company, it’s very exciting. It’s really cool to see things come to life and feel like an important piece of it. 

MB: At 21, did you ever think that you would be doing what you're doing now? 

TB: I actually did. Where I am now is definitely where I thought I would be. 

MB: What relationship has been most impactful on you in your career to date? 

TB: I have two answers to this. First, I would say my dad. My dad was so influential in me studying law, which maybe, you know, was not the best advice, but may have been the best advice at the time. He also is someone who has always believed in me and pushed me to dream big and have a successful career. 

When I moved to New York, I had a short interim job at a gym called Session. The leader of that studio Pat is another person who comes to mind. I took so much away from how he led the company because he included every single member of the team, and placed so much importance on every person of the team. He was able to bring people in so that they were invested emotionally which is something I will take with me forever. 

Trendy or Tragic

X- Elon’s back in the news and revenue is down

TB: I would say tragic, but I can’t see it going away so we’ll see what happens. 

NBC's advertisement for the Pairs Olympics- using Megan Thee Stallion

TB: I’ll go with trendy. 

“Chunky Dunkys” — Nike's collab with Ben & Jerry's

TB: The shoe sounds a little tragic to me. But, I am a big fan of out of the box partnerships so for that part I would say trendy. 

You can find Alice Mushrooms on Instagram and TikTok at @alice.mushrooms. Check out @talya.benjamin on Instagram and TikTok as well. 

As for us, follow @namedrop.pod on Instagram & LinkedIn and @molbakes on Instagram for all future episodes and insights.