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    a number-one best-selling author, success and book coach, and speaker on a mission to help leaders use the power of writing to uncover their unique stories so they can scale their impact.

    I'm Stacy Ennis,

    Hello there!

    Episode 150 | The power of self-reinvention, with Patrick Buchanan

    follow @stacyennis

    I'm a number-one best-selling author, success and book coach, and speaker on a mission to help leaders use the power of writing to uncover their unique stories so they can scale their impact.

    Hi, I'm Stacy

    Sometimes you meet people you automatically vibe with—and that’s how I felt when I met this week’s guest, Patrick Buchanan. In this episode, he shares his story as a Black, gay man in a lower-income family to becoming the VP of marketing at one of the top fashion companies in the US.

    Patrick has collaborated with some of the biggest names in the music and entertainment industry, crafting culture-defining campaigns. Named one of Brand Innovator’s Top 40 Marketers and earning a spot on Nice Kicks’ Future 50 list, Patrick’s passion for marketing shines through his numerous accolades.

    In our conversation, Patrick details some of the challenges he’s overcome and lessons gained from those experiences. Importantly, he explains how self-reinvention has helped him reach where he is today, and how you can lean into self-reinvention too.

    We also talk fashion design, thrifting, and minimalism—all topics I love!

    Show notes:

    Learn more about Patrick:

    Follow me on:

    To submit a question, email hello@stacyennis.com or visit http://stacyennis.com/contact and fill out the form on the page.

     

    Transcripts for Episode 150

    These transcripts were generated by robots, not writers.

    Patrick: I have had to reinvent myself so many times and I find that it’s really important if you want to continue to grow as a business leader, as a marketing leader. I’ve started as a social media manager and I worked my way up to do pr and then I did celebrity product placement. Then I was the head of marketing. Every role that I’ve had in my career, it’s required a different thing of me. And today, as a head of marketing, it doesn’t require me to do what I did when I was a social media manager, and it doesn’t require me to do what I did when I was a marketing director or even sometimes a vp. So I have to learn how to let go of the past and to see myself in the role that I am today.

    Patrick: And that takes reinventing and seeing myself through a new lens in order for me to see what my future success can be.

    Stacy: Welcome, welcome. I’m so glad to be with you this week. I’m really excited to get to share this week’s guest. I have had a fashion expert and stylist on the show before, Laura Tolle, who we will be sure to link in the show notes of this week’s episode. But I am bringing somebody else with a different angle in the fashion industry to talk about some concepts that are really important to me. We’ll be talking about minimalism.

    Stacy: We’ll be talking about Dei. We’ll be talking about his story and his journey. I’m just so excited to get to share this conversation with you. So let me introduce you to this week’s guest. With over 15 years of experience, marketing executive Patrick Buchanan has collaborated with some of the biggest names in the music and entertainment industry, crafting culture, defining campaigns, named one of brand innovators, top 40 marketers, and earning a spot on nice kicks Future 50 list. Patrick’s passion for marketing shines through his numerous accolades as a true leader and team builder. He has consistently delivered exceptional results, fostering a culture of collaboration, creativity and excellence. Patrick, welcome.

    Patrick: Hi. Thank you so much for the beautiful intro. I’m like, floor. Stacy:
    Well, I am really so excited to get to share your work and your story with our listeners, with our viewers today. I wondered if you could start with telling us a bit about your story. I know that you’re in this high role at this company in executive, in marketing, and that’s already a really difficult place to reach for anybody. But as a black gay man who came from a low income family, you had a lot more challenges along your pathway than a lot of people do. And I would love to hear from you a little bit about where you started and what some of the challenges and opportunities you had along the way to get where you are today.

    Patrick: Yeah. Well, hello. Hello. I mean, this life has been a wild ride. And, you know, I am from a small town in Lexington, Kentucky, and I’ve always had a. The odds against me. You know, I was born in a place where I was raised by my grandmother and not my mother. And like you said, I, you know, I come from a low income family, you know, and I was always the only black kid in most of the classrooms. And I don’t know what the opposite of a nepo baby because I had zero connections as I went out into the world and tried to forge my way into this career in marketing and living in Los Angeles. But I had a dream, and I was determined to make that dream come true.

    Patrick: And I followed that voice my entire career, and I still follow it today. And, you know, it’s been a lot of challenges along the way, but I feel like those challenges have just helped me and guided me and made me want to succeed, because where I come from, not many people thought very highly of me, and no one thought that I was gonna make it because, you know, they looked at my family or they looked at where I came from and they said, not this kid. And so I always felt like I had something to prove.

    Patrick: And so being able to move to LA graduate college, host my own, you know, tv show right out of college and work at some of the most incredible companies, and to create campaigns that people around the world have seen, and more importantly, campaigns that have helped change people’s lives that is just out of this world. And then to be here today talking to you and to be able to share any of my insights, it just feels like I could pinch myself, like, is this the same? It is the same kid who had that dream. So, yeah, I’ve just continued to fight every single day and fight towards making my dreams my reality.

    Stacy: It’s such a beautiful story, and I think you can stand in such pride at where you’ve arrived with all of that you’ve overcome along the way. And you got me thinking a bit about when I lived in Cincinnati during grad school, and I know because we lived right at the border, a lot of Kentucky and that part of Cincinnati are very similar in kind of the way that people relate to each other. We had moved there, having just lived in the Dominican Republic and then in Vietnam, and then we moved to Cincinnati. And I felt like I went back in time. When I moved to Cincinnati, I remember the first couple of weeks there, I just felt like there was something different in the air.

    Stacy: And I started learning about the history of the area and learned that it hadn’t been that long ago, that there were pretty intense riots, racial riots. There was still a lot of heavy discrimination in funding. So you would drive through. So I just have this really stark memory of driving in our car, and you would drive past a school in a black neighborhood that had metal detectors. It looked like a prison. And then you keep driving 1015 minutes and you’re in a white neighborhood, and they looked like universities, the public schools did. And it took me a little while, you know, just to kind of, like, figure out what the heck was going on in that area. I don’t think that a lot of people understand if you’re in an. If you’re in a place where it’s not so visible to your everyday life.

    Stacy: I came from Idaho, or as we call it, Whiteaho. It’s like 87% white. So I didn’t a lot of that there, even though certainly it exists, it’s just not as visible for you. Then you’re layering on your queer identity and then income. I imagine that getting through all of that and getting to LA and having this experience you had, there had to be a moment for you, or maybe a couple of moments where you kind of looked around at your life and you’re like, wow, this is pretty cool. Do you have a moment that stands out for you where it was just like such a. Such a moment where you really sat in the accomplishment of where you had arrived?

    Patrick: Well, it’s interesting you say that, because just last night I was looking at a photo of me and one of my best friends, and her name is Sunita. She’s been my best friend since. I can’t remember, since were kids. We’re family as well. So she’s my cousin, and it was her birthday. And during people’s birthdays, often, as you’re posting your Instagram recap for your reels to celebrate kind of your life together, you take a look through memory lane and looking at pictures of little Patrick and seeing the fight behind my eyes and, you know, just the sweetness and understanding what I felt then and knowing what the dreams I had then to then be here today and know that I’ve made a lot of those dreams come true. That feels insane. Like, I was in full tears.

    Patrick: I was like, I literally text my cousin and I’m like, I love you so much. And just so many amazing memories that just thinking about where I started and where I’ve come to. Because a lot of times when you’re fighting out of a situation, a bad situation, you don’t think about all of the different things that are against you because it’s not to your benefit, because it just will weigh you down. And I was always really optimistic and knew that I had to do more for myself and knew that there was something better out there for me. And it really created an environment where I had to make myself so comfortable with being uncomfortable. And that really was the beginning, is when I went to school, I was always the only one.

    Patrick: And I knew I wanted to learn and to see as much as I could possibly see, because that would be the resource, that would be the freedom for me, is to know what I didn’t know and know what my parents couldn’t teach me were the things in my neighborhood I was limited to. I was eager to see what was beyond the line that you could so clearly see was drawn and to figure out how I could get on the other side. So it’s really just been a long fight and to sit back and to try to enjoy it these days and take a trip and to celebrate, have a glass of wine and to go to Napa Valley. I just came back from Napa and ran a half marathon from Sonoma to Napa or Napa to Sonoma.

    Patrick: So I feel really proud now because, you know, although it was a lot of work, I’m trying to celebrate and to just enjoy my life and realize that I don’t have to fight the same way that I did when I was that little kid in the picture.

    Stacy: That’s so beautiful. And I did see your run on instagram. It looked very fun. I did a wine run for my first half marathon as well in Idaho wine country. And it was super fun because you got a wine glass at the end and you could go enjoy wine.

    Patrick: That was the only way I was going to do it. I said if we could go wine tasting after, I would do it. But it was very challenging. I don’t know how you felt when you did your run, but towards the end, those last three to 4 miles, it felt every step. I was wanting to quit. And so the fact that I finished it was a major accomplishment. And I love to buy new ways to try to challenge myself, even today.

    Stacy: Yeah, I know those. I love just having those things on the horizon that I’m working toward. And same. I was, I think I was like seven months postpartum, I think, when I did it. So I was, I nursed before the run and then I nursed after the run as well. And I just remember sitting there like, all sweaty nursing my baby after this half marathon and feeling, like, so bad a for, like, doing that, you know, I was like, okay, I feel pretty good right now.

    Patrick: That’s incredible.

    Stacy: Yeah. I would love to switch gears a little and talk about your thrifting and minimalism and this approach that you have in your overall life. And I’m going to anchor, actually, us to my daughter as I ask about this and talk about this, because she is a budding fashion designer. She’s actually, she’s eleven, but she’s designing dresses already. She’s currently creating patterns for matching dresses for us with, like, a great goddess vibe. And I love that learning from a stylist or, sorry, designer who does reclaimed fabrics. So they’ll go to the thrift store together and they’ll buy these fabrics and they’ll come back, design the dresses and then create the patterns and sew them. So it’s been really, really cool to watch. And it’s just this whole different mindset.

    Stacy: Even over the weekend, went through some clothing and rather than getting rid of her old pants, I just gave them to her and said, hey, why don’t you turn these into shorts for the summer? So she does it all on her own. She has the skill to just go and turn pants into shorts. And it’s just such a different mindset and such a different way of functioning in the world. And I’d love to know where that comes from with you and how that plays out in your own life. And then I’m going to ask you also a follow up question in a minute. Specifically for my daughter and her budding facet career.

    Patrick: Yeah, I think I’m a recent minimalist. You know, I, as I get older, I am looking to just focus on quality over quantity, and I want things in my closet and in my life that are special. And so it takes me some digging and looking around to find the clothing that I love, to find the pieces of furniture that I love to really kind of decorate my life. And instead of buying a lot of new clothes these days, I’ve been going through my old clothes, and I have a seamstress right down the street from my house, and we go and we just have a great time. And I turn, similar to what you said with your daughter, I turn old things into something new.

    Patrick: So looking at turning shirts into tighter shirts, there was one shirt that was like, just make it tighter or finding other ways to, you know, reinvision things that are in my closet. But I think mostly the focus is on just less is more and changing this lack mindset. I think that as I begin gotten older, I realized that it was the lack of having things that drove me, and that’s why I was holding on to so much. And when I started to let go and to realize that there is going to be another meal ahead of me, there is going to be another couch ahead of me, you know, like, also, like, letting go, because I was just taught to hold on to everything because you just never knew when your next one would be or when the next.
    Patrick: Where, where the next one would come from. And so I think that’s been a big transition for me. And I have to make a mental note where it’s like, go to the goodwill this often and I it makes me donate something. And I put a series of processes in place that ensure that as many things as I bring in, I am taking the same amount of things out and either donating them or taking them to something like crossroads or wasteland and seeing if I can get some money back. But I think that trying to be minimal or as minimal as possible is something that I’m just exploring and rebuilding on. So I can’t promise that I’m always going to be this minimal because I do have a little bit of a gaudy side of me, too. So, you know, it could change.

    Patrick: But today I try to keep things pretty simple. It keeps things clear and easy for my everyday life.

    Stacy: Like minimal lux. I like it.

    Patrick: Like, I’m a little extra. So extra, but minimal at the same time, if that’s possible.

    Stacy: It is interesting how I was just. I’ve been going through every summer, about every summer, I go through, like, every room in our house and, you know, get rid of things and reorganize. And it’s just, for whatever reason, my brain wants to do that in the summer. And there was something in our house that I was like, removing. I was like taking something off of another thing. And it was a something I might use again. And I found myself going, oh, I should put this in a bag and put it somewhere in case I need it again. And I stopped myself. I was like, what? That’s crazy. Like, just. It’s old. Throw it away. You’re probably not going to need it in the next year, so if you need it, you can just. It’s okay. Like, you’re probably not going to need it anyway.

    Stacy: But I realized, actually, that a lot of my own mindset around saving things came from my grandmother, who lived in the Great Depression. And she passed these practices down to my mom, and my mom passed these practices down to me. And it’s not that it’s bad. In fact, I really admire my mom’s ability to save and reuse things, and she’s very organized, so it doesn’t become cluttered. But I found that those practices didn’t hold for my life. And so even just developing that awareness around it’s so powerful just to stop yourself in that moment and go, where did I get this from?

    Patrick: I mean, you hit the nail on the head. That’s exactly the same for me. And learning to let go of things that are not useful to your life is just such an amazing thing to do and to reflect on. And I. It’s just one of those things that I always say. The thing that got me to where I am today may not be the thing that I need to get me to where I’m going. And so oftentimes I have to learn to let some of these things go, because it doesn’t suit me for today, or it doesn’t even maybe suit where I live. I live in a fairly small place, and so it just doesn’t make sense to hold on to a lot. If I had a lot more storage, then I’m sure that I would hold on to much more things.

    Patrick: But, you know, it’s like a half of it is just kind of impractical with the place you are in your life. And at every stage in life, it might require a different version of yourself or a different skill. And so you might want to hold on to the skill that your grandmother passed to your mom and then she passed to you, because it might come in handy in a different way in a different time of your life. But today clearly is just not that. And I feel the same.

    Stacy: Those are all such great principles to apply to our lives, everyday lives. Okay. I promised I would follow up with a question from my daughter, and I did promise her last night that I would ask this. I know you’re not a designer. I know your areas in marketing, but you work in fashion, and she’s a really cool and interesting kid with all kinds of things that she wants to do with her life. But certainly she really has just this interest and talent in art and creating things. And I wondered for her and for other young people that are pursuing a career in the fashion industry, wherever that is, a designer marketing, what advice do you have for them?

    Patrick: The best advice I could give for someone who is looking to start a career in fashion is to just be themselves. What I love about meeting young people who aspire to be in fashion, or who look to make their name known or for their brand to be something that people wear, is this perspective. And I think that having a perspective and being unique is just so valuable. There’s too much. There’s too much of this idea that we all have to be the same. And if you look at social media, if you look at life in general, we’re all striving to do the same thing, to look like someone else, to be like someone else. And so I love that your daughter has this love for fashion, because it’s a way that you can express yourself.

    Patrick: And since I was a young kid, I use style and fashion to express myself and to bring out things. If I wanted to be crazy or if I wanted to make a statement and I wanted to do something bold. And she gets to create pieces that help change people. It helped transform people and bring them into the world that she wants to create, into the little space that she wants to create into the world. So what I would say to her is to be as wild as possible. You know, create her community, and don’t be afraid to just be her true self, because that’s what we need. We need her perspective in the world. And don’t be afraid of that internal voice or even what somebody detractors might say, because there’s going to be a hater out there.

    Patrick: And no matter, you know what they say, they’re just afraid of to take the steps to do what it takes to become their own brand and to create their own brand. And so I just salute all the young creatives who are looking to create a space in the world and to start, hopefully, what is going to be the next movement. Fashion.

    Stacy: I love so much of what you said. It got me thinking about my clients who are not kids, they’re adults, and how a lot of the process of writing their book is actually, there’s so many layers to it, but part of it is unearthing themselves. From my daughter’s eleven, she’s already getting messaging that she shouldn’t stand out, that she needs to be a certain way. She’s getting messaging about her body, she’s getting messaging about her value. There’s so much that I’m constantly trying to deal, like mitigate within our home of shifting the messaging that she’s receiving from the outside world. And it’s around this age, data shows, especially with young girls, that they start developing low self confidence, a lot of mental health challenges.

    Stacy: And I guess what you got me thinking about with the authors that I get to work with is that the only way we all go through this loss of our voice and we’re always here within ourselves. But our ability to communicate that and to share our story authentically and to speak up and be heard and be seen, that is really scary and really hard for people. And before we hit record, we started talking a little bit about the fact that in this day and age, we are all brands. And that’s kind of a scary concept for people, especially for authors who are like, can’t I just write my book? And people will buy it.

    Stacy: But I think we can actually pull this through line from the advice that you gave an eleven year old to really, a 40 year old, a 50 year old, a 60 year old. Can you talk about this idea of seeing yourself as a brand and unearthing that authenticity, that uniqueness within yourself?

    Patrick: Yeah, 100% for any brand that I work for. One of the first exercises that we do is looking at what is the brand, who are our people, what is our community, what is our vision, what is our purpose? And these are questions that every single person can ask themselves, even if you just write it down in prompt what is my vision? What is my purpose? What is my mission? Who am I trying to connect with? And if you know that it makes it a lot easier to understand what your brand is. And looking at yourself outside yourself is a very difficult thing to do. And I have struggled with this for a long time as well, to the point that I realize some of the things that I have to do in order to get out of my way.

    Patrick: A lot of times I have to hire people who handle my personal brand because I realize that sometimes I can’t take a step back and look at it in a way that is not biased. So I have to sometimes let somebody else help me create a plan and I may edit that plan. I also go to people that I admire and that I love, and I ask them to help show me what they see in me. What is it that you. What stands out in me? And how do I tap into that, to just start to build on that as well?

    Patrick: And I know it can be really scary, but I think it almost becomes like a character you can play, because if you’re doing it in the name of the brand, you create some sort of distance from yourself in order to be able to do that. So I think that if someone is out there and they’re struggling with that concept of, it’s just like when I went to therapy and my therapist said to me, there are millions of people who feel like that. And that just acknowledgement of not being the only one made me feel so much better. And for anyone who’s out there struggling with being a brand, you can take a sigh of relief because you’re not the only one. That’s weird. It’s awkward. It’s like, what? Why am I talking about myself? Like I’m not myself, like I’m this brand.

    Patrick: And when you get to the bottom of what you’re trying to do, and oftentimes I imagine if you’re an author, you’re wanting to tell beautiful stories and you’re wanting to share your experience and you’re wanting to connect with other people. And a part of doing that sometimes is showing them who you are so they have you to put the experiences with so they understand what it means. If you didn’t see my face when I’m telling you what my experience is, maybe you wouldn’t understand what it would be like to walk in my shoes. So I think that we have to kind of build up this empathy for each other. And a part of our story is telling what we’ve been through.

    Patrick: And it is scary because you have to be prepared to talk about it and you have to be prepared to be vulnerable and you have to be prepared for people to potentially judge you. But it’s not an easy thing to do. And it has taken me a lot of work, a lot of practice, a lot of reading, a lot of therapy, and I’m still a work in progress because, you know, it is something that I want to do to achieve my goals and even to talk to you today. You know, I had someone reach out, set it up, tell you why I would be a great guest so I could share my experience, because this is something that I really love to do. And so if you have any struggle in the way I use marketing to help power my life.

    Patrick: Marketing has taught me so many amazing principles, from building a mission and a vision, to also just executing a plan. And what I try to do is just use everything that I’ve learned in between to apply it to my personal life. It’s a shame when we go to work and we use all of our best skills for someone else, and then we come home and we don’t have the energy or the desire to do those things for ourselves. So if you have a dream of being something and just being a brand is the thing that’s standing in between you and sharing your story, you just have to get out of your own way.

    Patrick: And what I found coming from Lexington, Kentucky, and interning at MTV and working for the Kardashians and now today, holding that position as the head of market and Lulu is always uncomfortable. It’s just uncomfortable. Life is uncomfortable sometimes, and you just have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, because when you can learn to do that, soon it won’t be that uncomfortable anymore because it’ll just be something else that you’re just doing. So I know it seems like a tall hill to climb, but if you just put a plan in place and you practice and you keep at it, eventually something that you were so stressed and struggling about will be nothing. And it will seem like, you know, it will be in the review mirror.

    Patrick: But that’s probably the long answer to building a brand because I know full well how difficult it can be, but how exciting it can be if you start to tap into it as well.

    Stacy: That was great. So much richness to that answer. And I love that you finished with this. I think you didn’t say this, but part of what I heard underneath of it is just kind of go. Just get started, just do it. A lot of times when I’m talking with authors and they’re kind of working through a lot of fear around putting their voice out, their ideas, I tell them, like, just get something up and just post something. It’s okay. Just do it. And it’s not going to be as hard in the future. Just get the first one up. It’s going to be awkward. It’s going to be a little weird. It’s okay. And I’ve kept, I think of the first video I recorded because I’d never done any video content. It was many years ago.

    Stacy: And I keep all that stuff up, you know, it’s like, you can go back. This is a tip that I often give people. Go to the whatever brand, your personal brand you really love. Go to the beginning, like, of their earliest stuff. It’s super awkward. It’s not well produced there, you know, like, there’s a journey that you have to go on, but you have to actually get started to build to that.

    Patrick: And it’s challenging. I feel like I’ve had that challenge a lot because in marketing, I’m always dealing with much larger budgets, and I’m able to create and craft these beautiful experiences for other people, other celebrities, other talent. And when you get home, and that’s the level that you’re used to creating with. And I’m left with the budget that I have, which is obviously far less than what I could, to tell some of these stories. Sometimes it feels like, it just doesn’t feel like I’m executing at the level that I want. And so I delay and delay until I can make it look like what I dream in my head. And to your exact point, I’ve been learning a lot lately to just go, to just do the thing that you think is so important today, a week from now, will not even matter.

    Patrick: And it’s really repetition that makes the person that makes you successful. It’s really like going at it every day. And it’s not the thing that you think will hit, that will actually hit. That’s the thing in marketing, is that we just do reps. We just go out every single day. And the thing that I invested in and I think, oh, this is going to be the biggest thing. Sometimes that doesn’t do anything, and then it’ll be something random that we did that people really are into. You have to give your audience the opportunity to choose and not try to choose for them and to let them see it and help you guide you along the process. I think in marketing, what we do, what I do a lot of is just fine tuning.

    Patrick: Okay, we like this, but we like this a little bit more. Next time we’re going to do that but we’re going to turn a little bit more. And if you put yourself out there and you let yourself be seen, the feedback is good because maybe you’ll see people hate it. Oh, my gosh, they hated it so bad. Okay, why did they hate it? They hated it because they just didn’t like this part. Okay, well, that’s easy. I can change that. Or I like that they hated it because it made them think. You know, sometimes until you get people pushing on you, hearing about you, listening to your ideas, you can’t have anything to respond to. So I think it’s a healthy practice to have people respond, especially if you dream to publish or you dream to sell your work.

    Patrick: And at a certain point, you know, if you want to be an artist and you just want your art to stand alone and you don’t want it to be tampered with, it all that’s different from if you want to be a business creative or business author or, you know, a famous author who is selling a lot of books. Because I think there’s two. There’s two ways you can do it. You could, if you want to be a singer who is like, I’m trying to think of a singer who just kind of like, it was the art over everything, and then there’s someone like Taylor Swift who, you know, she’s mass producing it, but there’s a huge audience for that as well. So, you know, you just kind of have to find what feels the best for you.

    Patrick: And there’s no shame in either way, because maybe the little writings you’re doing are just meant for you and you want to be able to read those to your close friends and family. But if that’s not what you think, then I think you have to start taking steps to figuring out how you can share your voice, share your story, and to not sit on such amazing talent.

    Stacy: That’s so good. And I love that you worked in Taylor Swift because I try to do that at least once an episode. I just been.

    Patrick: Okay, I just watched this documentary that was on Netflix, I believe. And, you know, I haven’t typically been a huge Taylor Swift fan, and I didn’t know a lot about her, but to learn about her story and to see how talented she is, to see what an amazing marketer she is and what a great storyteller she is, it totally transformed the way I even look at her. And I love looking at people who are the best at what they do. And yeah, if you study the best and see what difference differentiates the best from the rest. I had to watch her documentary because you can’t deny that she’s one of the best at what she does. And so I’ve kind of become a recent Taylor Swift fan just because of her story, her work ethic and what she’s using our platform to do.

    Stacy: Yes. Love it. I love her as a poet as well. I think she is such a beautiful writer. Well, there’s so many more questions that I’d love to ask, but I think I’ll close. I’ll ask my last. Well, I’ll ask you another question about or to find you and all that stuff in a minute. But self reinvention. A lot of our listeners and our viewers are in a transitional space in their life. Maybe they want to embark on a new endeavor. Maybe they want to move abroad. Maybe they’ll have reached a certain level of success. And now they’re looking out and asking, what is my impact? And they’re questioning and curious about what the next phase of life can hold for them. And I know this has been a theme for you and just this ability to shift, to change, to reinvent.

    Stacy: And I’d love to hear a little bit about that in your story and any takeaways that you can offer from your own experience.

    Patrick: I have had to reinvent myself so many times, and I find that it’s really important if you want to continue to grow as a business leader, as a marketing leader. I’ve started as a social media manager and I worked my way up to do pr, and then I did celebrity product placement. Then I was the head of marketing. Every role that I’ve had in my career, it’s required a different thing of me. And today, as a head of marketing, it doesn’t require me to do what I did when I was a social media manager, and it doesn’t require me to do what I did when I was a marketing director or even sometimes a vp. So I have to learn how to let go of the past and to see myself in the role that I am today.

    Patrick: And that takes reinventing and seeing myself through a new lens in order for me to see what my future success can be. And similar to what I said earlier, the thing that brought you to where you are today might not be what you need to get where you’re going. Reinvention, to me is so important, and it can be very difficult. And I don’t want to make it look like it’s just so easy. It’s a work in progress. You have to acknowledge the areas where you need to improve and then I oftentimes am really honest with myself and say, this is what I have to let go of and be really intentional of that.

    Patrick: But I do think that in order to continue to change with a very changing landscape, the world that we live in, the way we market, the way we storytell, you have to be open to bringing in new inspiration and to continue to see things differently. And I like to work for disruptive people, disruptive brands. And in order to be disruptive, you also have to kind of just let your heart be a little different and to constantly want to challenge the status quo. So, for anyone out there who is considering a new phase or going to a new chapter, I think it can be really freeing and really powerful, and it can be the star of something really beautiful. And it doesn’t mean that you don’t celebrate everything that is of the past or that you’re not the same person. But I.

    Patrick: It does kind of allow you to go into that new chapter and to better understand what your purpose is and what your mission is and what you’re coming to do, and it allows you some guardrails to make sure that you stay on track.

    Stacy: Oh, what a beautiful closing message, Patrick. Where can our listeners and viewers learn more about you, follow you, and kind of be in Patrick World?

    Patrick: Oh, my gosh. Join the world. I’m on Instagram, and TikTok is Patrick Glee speaking. You can connect with me on LinkedIn, Patrick Buchanan. And, you know, feel free to send me a DM, a message, an email. I would love to find ways to connect. And thank you, Stacy. I think that having these kind of conversations, they are the joy of my life. And, you know, one of the things that I been focusing on lately is to meet other people who love to have these type of conversations. And, you know, sometimes you got to get on a podcast to do it. Yeah, I think that, you know, it’s just so exciting for me, and I hope that people enjoyed it. And I love what you’re doing with your message and how you’re helping to, you know, change people and to bring resources to people.

    Patrick: And resources are the key to change. And for the communities you saw that had a lack of resource or for anyone out there looking to transform their brand, finding the resource or finding someone who could help do that is always really helpful. And we have so many resources now. You have Instagram and social media, and you have so many people doing podcasts. I just wanted to thank you for allowing me to share my story and to be a part of your world.

    Stacy: Thanks Patrick, it was such a great conversation and I’m so glad to get to share your work and your message. We’ll be sure to link to all of the things that you mentioned in the show Noah’s but thank you for joining me today.

    Patrick: Thank you.

    Stacy: Have an amazing day and thanks to you, the listener, the viewer for joining us. I always so appreciate your time and energy and I’m very grateful to get to spend this episode with you. Thanks as always to Rita Domingues for her fine producing skills. This podcast absolutely could not happen without her and I am so grateful. I will be back with you before you know it.

     

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