Stacy Taubman

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Beth Chesterton: Hi, this is Beth Chesterton, and this is the ABC to CEO Preparing for the Possibility podcast. We have a fantastic guest today, Stacy Taubman, the founder and CEO of Spritz Media. Stacy has a proven track record for building profitable businesses. She's a serial entrepreneur, a former med spa owner, digital marketer, and a revenue generator. She's been recognized by NBC News, USA Today. Good Morning America, ELLE Magazine, and Bloomberg. She has won countless awards for her leadership abilities and her innovation. Too many awards dimension right here. Welcome Stacy, we're so glad to have you.

Stacy Taubman: Thank you, it's always a little awkward when your bio is read, but it's very kind of you and great to see you, Beth, I miss you.

Beth Chesterton: It's great to see you too. For the record, Stacy Taubman is one of my favorite people and a woman that so many women and men admire. Stacy, tell us what Spritz Media is.

Stacy Taubman: On Monday, I launched my fourth company like you mentioned, I'm a serial entrepreneur and I'm really excited about doing it the fourth time, Spritz Media is a marketing and media agency focused on growing aesthetic brands through content creation like TikTok, Reels, and YouTube shorts. So, a really fun company that I'm really excited about.

Beth Chesterton: Okay, so who should hire Spritz Media and why would we hire Spritz Media?

Stacy Taubman: Oh, such good questions, aesthetic brands or things like skincare, aesthetic startups that are serving med spas, and then actual med spas or plastic surgeons. I ran a med spa for a couple of years and definitely saw the needs in terms of marketing and look, med spas are a business that takes a lot of work. While a lot of these people are great at marketing, to do it yourself is hard to juggle all the things. So, outsourcing it to someone who specializes is a really good idea.

Beth Chesterton: That's a great idea. I mean, Stacy, your med spa was so well received in Denver, and I know you had a national presence. And it's great for you to take that marketing ability and the revenue-generating ability and marry it to the med spa industry. I love that.

Stacy Taubman: Oh thanks. And then it's a lot of fun because TikTok and Instagram reels. I mean, when TikTok started everyone thought it was a kid's app and maybe that's how it started. But the marketing capability of that app today is just mind-boggling and people haven't seen it yet. So, really helping the aesthetic industry to jump on it and capitalize on the opportunity.

Beth Chesterton: And help businesses really use such an incredible tool as TikTok and reels on Instagram. Fantastic. I wish that I was running a med spa right now, I'd be hiring you.

Stacy Taubman: [laughs] Well, one day maybe Bath, you never know.

Beth Chesterton: Never know. So, lots of people who are watching this know you, Stacy and know how you've worked tirelessly through your career to advance women in their careers. And so, ABC to CEO is all about preparing young women for the possibility of CEO. What advice do you have for young women?

Stacy Taubman: Yeah, wow, how much time do we have Beth? [laughs] I think giving you a short answer. The short, best answer is win as you. I think as women as teens we get these messages that who we are isn't enough and that our quirks are negatives in some ways. But what I've really found through the years is that the same things that make us quirky and different are also those same things that make us special and unique and really sets us apart. And so, I think when we stop trying to be a second-rate version of somebody else, and really lean in and own who we are, then we just are going to perform at a much higher level.

Beth Chesterton: I love that because it is so hard when you're focusing on what your weaknesses are, instead of embracing who you are so much lost time and so much lost energy. So that's really cool.

Stacy Taubman: Something else I talk a lot about is that your strengths are also your shadows and your shadows are also your strengths. This idea that the same things that set you apart and make you a huge success can also at times be a little bit much and problematic too. So, there is no all good or all bad. So, it's really about embracing and leveraging your strength as much as you can and making peace with the shadow side of it.

Beth Chesterton: Oh, I love that. Now let me ask you this. When you were coming along, what do you wish you had known?

Stacy Taubman: [laughs] You know that it's okay to do things that scare you. When I was younger and even upwards of into my 20s, I only did things that I knew I was good at and that I wasn't going to feel insecure about because I didn't like looking stupid. I didn't like not doing things that I was amazing at. And what I learned when I started my first company in my 30s is that's not how it works. If you want to go big, you're going to have to do things that scare you. I started saying yes to things that I had never said yes to before. It's interesting how your confidence grows more and more when you do things that scare you.

Beth Chesterton: Now, people you need to know Stacy started as a math teacher [Stacy laughs]. One of her math students is on our team, in fact who just admired her so much and now actually works with Stacy quite a bit. So, Stacy, did you ever dream of being a CEO? What were your thoughts [Stacy laughs] when you were young?

Stacy Taubman: Yeah, it's a funny story. So, I've always been the ADHD kid. So, a daydreamer having a hard time focusing, I can remember sitting at Mizzou, my college that I went to, in a math class and just staring out the window and thinking, you know I either want to be a CEO of some company or I'll go be a principal by the time I'm 29. I had these very opposing different views. But for both of them, I was driven to be a leader from a young age. And so, I did start my path down the education path as you mentioned, but ultimately, I was destined to be a CEO, so I did both. I was dreaming of which one I wanted to be and I just ended up doing them both.

Beth Chesterton: So, ABC to CEO is all about becoming the leader. So, you were imagining yourself being the leader, it was just am I going to be an entrepreneur? Am I going to be the principal?

Stacy Taubman: Education or business? Which thing am I going to pursue? Instead, I just did both.

Beth Chesterton: I know, so did you cease early signs of leadership tendencies in yourself as you were growing up?

Stacy Taubman: I mean, I think yes and no. I always wanted to be the first in line and I was a competitive gymnast and I always wanted to strive to be the best I could be. So, I mean, there were definitely tendencies like that but I think there's a perception that leaders are always super outgoing, and never shy. And that's the farthest thing from the truth for me too, it's interesting, the dichotomy of my personality. While yes, I was dreaming of being a CEO. I'm also the shy kid, that in groups, I shrink a little bit. So, I think it's important for young people to hear that introverts make great leaders as well and just because you are an introvert doesn't mean that you can't be a CEO of a company.

Beth Chesterton: It also doesn't mean that you can't stand in front of 100s or 1000s of people and facilitate conversations. That was one of the things I saw that you became so great at facilitating conversations on stage. And I think because a person with a preference for introversion can listen so well and thread things together. You had real ability in that way to look and to speak.

Stacy Taubman: Well, and it was fun for me what you're speaking of some of the events we put on. It was fun for me because I felt like I was back in a different version of my classroom. So, while my path has been windy, there still have been these threads, I never would have predicted that just keep coming through.

Beth Chesterton: It's really incredible. So, Stacy, one of the things I wanted to ask you about is how do you-- and how do you recommend young women deal with setbacks. The path to CEO is more of a zigzag right, you go forwards, sometimes sideways, sometimes backward. How do you deal with setbacks?

Stacy Taubman: I think that's such a good question. But because I think there's this misnomer that if you're not facing setbacks in your success, and really the reality is to be a success you're going to have countless setbacks. And I would love to give you this magic formula that made it so easy to face setbacks. But really, it's about building up a muscle. It's about building up a muscle and facing them and experiencing them and maybe the first setback isn't the biggest deal in the world, maybe it's a minor setback. But you take the time you need to sort of have your moment, I am a crier so take your time to have the tears of your crier like me and then reach out. I think a connection can really help you during times of lowness and fear and feeling shame. And so, reach out to your trusted sources of people who are going to be there for you and pick you back up and seek connection. I think connection can often help you during your time of setbacks. And then also look, it's a muscle, you're going to build it up and you're going to lick your wounds, and it's going to hurt but you just keep getting up because the people who are successful don't have a magic formula. It's just that they kept getting up and that's all it takes.

Beth Chesterton: I think that tenacity is so powerful and important and for sure you have it and the ability to move over speed bumps right and to keep going forward. And if you ever listened to how I built this and you listen to these entrepreneurs who build the biggest brands in the world. They're almost always on the jagged edge of failure right before they make it.

Stacy Taubman: [crosstalk]. I was going to say a minute ago that being a high school math teacher, the question I got more times than not was when am I ever going to use this? Like, why do I have to learn this if it seems so stupid. So, like for example there's a skill called factoring. Every year, when you got to that topic, you would hear that question over and over and over, because let's be honest, very few people, if anyone is truly going to be using the skill of factoring in their day-to-day life. So, it was a very fair question. But here's the reality, factoring is hard because there's no clear path and you have to just try something, you just have to put something on paper and give it your best shot, which is really scary. And the reality is, you're going to get it wrong. And then you have to erase and you try it again. But it's just taking that step and giving something a try that makes the difference. And I think that that skill and those skills of problem-solving is what set me up for success as a CEO.

Beth Chesterton: Ooh, I love that. Now, you're the first math teacher I've ever, ever heard explain how we're going to use obscure math skills. So, it looks like a career, a path towards CEO can look a little bit like problem-solving does in math.

Stacy Taubman: Yeah.

Beth Chesterton: You'll put something on paper and give it your best.

Stacy Taubman: And then you're going to iterate. Look, I think where a lot of leaders go wrong is that they let perfection get in the way of good, you need to understand that you're going to get it wrong, you got to put something on that piece of paper and start the process of "factoring." And make peace with the fact that it's not probably going to be right, but just taking that step is what creates the momentum and eventually gets you to where you need to go.

Beth Chesterton: It's really good advice and I think also for women and young women with feedback, so many times we'll hear of a young woman being sort of paralyzed by getting some negative feedback and it sounds like if we could apply that approach to feedback [crosstalk] through that as well.

Stacy Taubman: Yeah, I mean it's unrealistic to think that you're going to get it right out of the gate. With anything understanding that this is a process and by getting it wrong per se initially doesn't mean that you're less likely to end up getting it right. It's just part of the journey and recognizing that it's a journey is I think a really important part of this process.

Beth Chesterton: Well, I think those are wise words for young women and for all of us, Stacy, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us today. If somebody wants to find you online, where should they go?

Stacy Taubman: Well, they can follow me on LinkedIn at Stacy Taubman and then in terms of my business Spritz Media is on Instagram, TikTok soon. LinkedIn and Facebook and the website is spritzmedia.co.

Beth Chesterton: Okay, fantastic. Thank you for taking the time with ABC to CEO Preparing for the Possibility Podcast. I want to remind you that ABC to CEO is a not-for-profit organization. We are in place to mentor and develop the next generation of female leaders. Check out abctoceo.com to look for ways to join us in our mission and also to support us along the way. Until next time, I'm Beth Chesterton, please follow ABC to CEO on social media. We promise you, we will provide daily inspiration and tips for success.

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Stacy Taubman has a proven track record of building profitable businesses using emerging digital marketing tools and leveraging social capital. A serial entrepreneur, former medspa owner, digital marketer, and revenue generator, Stacy has been recognized by NBC News, USA Today, Good Morning America, Bloomberg, and ELLE Magazine, and received countless awards for innovation and business leadership.

As Founder/CEO of Spritz Media, Stacy draws on her decades of entrepreneurial and marketing success to help aesthetic practices and brands grow their businesses using the highest ROI social media marketing strategy: short-form video content. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are powerful tools to grow a company’s bottom line, but creating content that breaks through to ideal clients is time consuming and requires skillful strategy. That’s why Spritz Media has a team of the most talented TikTok and Reels creators and specializes in short-form video content creation for top brands in the aesthetics industry.

An accomplished speaker, mentor, and business leader, Stacy has presented or interviewed some of the biggest names in business including TEDx Cherry Creek, Sarah Friar the CEO of Nextdoor, fashion designer and business mogul Nicole Miller, Wells Fargo, IKEA, Microsoft, the Girl Scouts, Ladies Who Launch, and the Sisters First Book Tour with Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush, among many others.