Mom Founder Imagination Hub

Are these 5 resume mistakes secretly slashing your shot at a $250K marketing role in 2025—while others snatch the offers you deserve? In this must-listen episode, Melissa Llarena—career coach to Fortune 500 execs—unveils the blunders sinking corporate moms and their partners in today's brutal job market. Don't get caught out—tune in and snag a free fix before March 21st!

Episode Description: Struggling to land a top-tier marketing or advertising role in 2025—or know someone who is? Melissa Llarena, host since 2017 (with interviews like Beth Comstock and Gary Vee under her belt), dives back to her 2011 roots to help corporate pros thrive. After 13 years coaching agency leaders and execs—pre-Fertile Imagination fame—she's uncovered 5 resume mistakes tanking even the sharpest marketers. Burned-out CMOs, blindsided managers, and guilt-juggling leaders are scoring 15/60 on resumes when 50+ is the winning mark. In this episode, learn:

• The 5 resume killers—missed revenue wins, weak storytelling, and more—costing you big.
• How networking strategies and AI smarts flip flops into $250K offers.
• Why the Marketing Leader Scorecard (free till March 21st) is your DIY ticket to 50+.

Melissa's also booking interview preparation services—think Last-Minute Interview Prep for video interviews and in-person interviews, or her 9-week deep dive with multi-stakeholder interviewing strategies, cross-cultural interviews, and interview presentation support. Ready to shine? Grab her free tool and fix those mistakes now!

Landing Your Dream Marketing Role in the #RemoteEra

Most marketing execs are getting ghosted in 2025—but the ones scoring Director to CMO roles are doing way more. I'll show you the exact moves that land $250K calls, even remotely.

Hi, I'm Melissa Llarena, and welcome back to the podcast. For over a decade, I've helped ambitious marketing executives and advertising leaders land their dream careers through my global job search coaching firm, Career Outcomes Matter, launched in 2011. I'm back, better than ever, with strategies that work right now—and today, we're tackling how you can stand out in this cutthroat #RemoteEra or #Hybrid job market.

Let's get real—this isn't your average job advice. In 2025, landing those rare, high-stakes marketing roles isn't about just sending a resume, cover letter, or even thoughtfully updating applications. It's about outworking and out-strategizing the competition. Let me ask you something to set the stage…

Would YOU have stayed on the Titanic, knowing you had a chance to get off before the last lifeboat was filled? Hoping you'd survive icy waters isn't smart—and neither is letting your marketing career sink when you could turn it around. You wouldn't watch a campaign fail if you knew how to save it, right? The same goes for your career, especially in today's #RemoteEra or #Hybrid world. As a high-performing marketer or job seeker, you're in a race—and it's tougher than ever to land Director-level and above roles, especially if you're a working parent or world-class aunt eyeing flexibility.

But here's the truth I've seen and helped my clients achieve: the marketers getting interviews and calls in 2025 aren't just applying—they're bringing market analysis, SOPs, portfolios, and 90–100 day plans that blow hiring leaders away. That's how you prove you're worth multiple rounds and a salary at the top end of $130K–$285K+.

Imagine cutting your job search short, writing that resignation letter, and avoiding a layoff. That's the edge I give my clients—and I'm sharing it with you today."

Let's get specific—here are four high-level marketing roles I know will attract top talent in 2025, where the differentiator is the candidate who brings the goods. These are the exact deliverables I've helped my clients create, present, and land with, along with quick pro tips based on what impresses hiring leaders:

• Headspace - Principal Brand Strategist, $130K–$183K base: Bring a one-page analysis of the mental health ecosystem—why Headspace beats Calm or other apps—and show how branding creates a utilization halo effect.
• Director of Marketing, Advisory Practice at Acquisition.com, Las Vegas, NV (Hybrid), $150K–$180K base: Prove you can lead with praise, not punishment, and explain how you'd contribute to Alex's $1B-plus vision in 36 months or less.
• SVP, Marketing Enablement at Warner Music Group, $210K–$285K base: Bring a framework showing how you'd lead a full marketing service provider audit.
• Chief of Staff, Marketing at IBM (Salary not posted): Dive into CMO Clay's vision—check his talks—and understand how McKinsey trains leaders, since you'll likely compete with McKinsey alums or IBM insiders.

*All roles can be found on LinkedIn. They are live as of March 3rd, 2025.*

These moves are what's working now to land $285K calls, even remotely. That's the 'doing more' that gets you noticed in 2025.

How do I know this works? I launched Career Outcomes Matter in 2011 to coach global marketing leaders like you, wrote Fertile Imagination—a #1 Amazon bestseller in 2023—to inspire storytelling for dream careers, and I've hosted icons like Beth Comstock and GaryVee on this podcast early on. Recently, I earned my meditation certification after a two-year program to support clients through high-stress transitions. I've dedicated my life to learning and teaching the art of relationship-building—and now, I'm back with strategies that give you the edge in this brutal job market.

Listen, if you're a serious marketing executive ready to stop getting ghosted and land your dream $150K+ role—or boost your income by 25%—I'm here to help. I'm enrolling a max of 10 ambitious marketing leaders into my 9-week group coaching program, starting this Sunday, March 9, 2025. It's a 2-week risk-free trial, and if you join by March 31st, I'll personally rewrite your resume or LinkedIn profile for free—that's a $1,500 value.

Imagine crushing your biggest business goal in just 30 days—without the burnout or mom guilt. What if you could get a $3K coaching program for free, designed exclusively for mom entrepreneurs like you? In this episode, Melissa Llarena, #1 Amazon bestselling author and mom of three, unveils an exclusive pilot program you won't want to miss—but only if you act by Friday!

• How 15 established business-owning moms can join Melissa's 30-Day Mompreneur Momentum Sprint—a $3,000 value, 100% free (this time only!).

• The secret sauce: a 30-Day Momentum Planner to laser-focus your energy, 22 live Q&A sessions (March 3-April 1, M-F 1pm CST), plus imagination tools, mindfulness hacks, and sales strategies tailored for moms.

• Why Jessica, a fellow mom, raves: "It infuses play and creativity while keeping it real about mom life and self-care."

• The catch? Only 15 spots, and the application deadline is February 28, 2025, 5pm Central.

My conversation with a non-profit CEO, a long-time mentor, recently turned to our dreams for our children. It began when she shared how her mother had praised her beautiful New Jersey home, which led her to reflect: "I'd want my kids to live in castles! I want them to have even more than I do."

Like any parent, I want my three sons to surpass me in every aspect of life—and even create new categories beyond AI to conquer!

However, I've realized my own limiting beliefs and stress responses could unknowingly cap their success if I don't consciously address them. For example, my fear of openly competing or declaring my ambition for first place—how can my sons confidently compete on a world stage if I haven't confronted this fear? Similarly, if we avoid networking because we fear rejection, can we effectively teach our children to build connections?

This is where our greatest opportunity for inter-generational impact lies: facing our own limitations so they don't become our children's inheritance.

My mother's primary concern was the potential inheritance of her manic depression. This fear led her to anxiously await my thirtieth birthday, believing symptoms would likely manifest before then if I were to inherit it. This sparked my curiosity about breaking the cycle of inherited limiting beliefs for my own sons. For thirteen years, as a mother, I've considered how to proactively guide my children toward success. I believe we can break negative cycles and cultivate a new model of success by nurturing their strengths, fostering healthy mindsets, and focusing on key skills like imagination, cross-cultural thinking, and resilience. This is about empowering our children from the start.

Generational patterns often include inherited personality traits, impacting education and career choices. Families frequently pass down expectations and lessons, often along gender lines. These inherited mindsets shape our understanding of what it means to be a girl or boy within our family. Children observe and adopt behaviors they perceive as normalized expectations. They may also be explicitly taught specific ways of thinking, especially in early childhood. Limiting beliefs can also be passed down. In my family, I observed a lack of desire or ability to ascend into leadership positions or gain mastery in a field. My mother, a secretary for corporate leaders, held a strong limiting belief that she lacked the intelligence to provide valuable recommendations. This idea was ingrained in me, driving my need for external validation in corporate settings. While this mindset sometimes helped me in corporate life, it didn't translate well into entrepreneurship. My mother's limiting belief was essentially a form of impostor syndrome.

Her lack of confidence stemmed from various factors. As a child, I mistakenly attributed it to her not having a four-year degree. She often mentioned her inability to finish her degree as a working mom. Yet, her illness and its constant disruptions likely caused her to question her ability to contribute meaningfully to leadership conversations. As a child, I simply saw her as a secretary supporting leaders. Our family felt inconsequential. This perception shifted when I met children from families who held positions of influence. I realized I needed to address this inherited limiting belief. Though young, caring for my mother fostered a sense of maturity, allowing me to envision a different future. I didn't want to simply play a supporting role.

So, where did I start? 1980s sitcoms like Who's the Boss? sparked my career aspirations. I wanted that life: Connecticut, business owner, advertising. Without a mentor, TV was my guide. Summers stamping travel brochures ignited my wanderlust. London, Singapore – the world felt attainable. My mom didn't travel, but I craved that broader experience. I knew life beyond my zip code held possibilities.

I worked with what I had: imagination. I had a career blueprint from fiction, then exposure to someone who explored globally my stepmother owned a travel agency. I realized following their path wouldn't be easy, but I had something they didn't teach on TV – resilience, inherited from my mom. I knew I could stumble, fall, and get back up.

Ultimately, I achieved that dream: Connecticut, Ogilvy & Mather, even Australia for 3.5 years. My podcast, The Mom Founder Imagination Hub, features conversations with world leaders. These realities weren't in my original blueprint, but resilience was my active ingredient. What's yours? If you want more for your kids, discover it.

Imagination, cross-cultural thinking, resilience – these are the tools to re-architect success for our kids. This is my parenting blueprint now. My sons will tweak it, of course; change demands it.

Let's focus on your kids, your blueprint, and overcoming challenges and limiting beliefs so they can achieve more than you did. How can you transform thoughts like, "I don't feel comfortable asking for money," "Getting on stage gives me anxiety," or "I hate competing" into lessons that build resilience? If you want your child to own a business but you've never had one, you'll need to address these areas of discomfort. Since these limiting beliefs are inherent in entrepreneurship, how can you use them to your advantage?

One way is to challenge yourself to ask for discounts in front of your kids, or challenge them to do it. I dared my kids to do this, letting them keep their savings. This tackles the "asking for money" hurdle. Public speaking anxiety? Bring your kids into the process. Share your fears and how you manage them. Have them brainstorm solutions. The goal is to expose them to the same challenges they'll face and show them how you move forward.

Age-appropriate conversations are key. For the discount example, include prep sessions where you brainstorm possible questions with your kids. They can choose from your list or create their own. ("Can I get a discount for paying cash?" "Is there a student discount?" "Is there a sale coming up?") For public speaking, articulate your worries simply: "Mommy feels yucky in her tummy because she's nervous about talking." This leverages mindfulness – acknowledging the physical sensations of anxiety – to start a conversation.

Here's A Blueprint Reframing Exercise

1. What is a dream you have for your child? (e.g., Living in a castle, owning their own business)

2. What qualities must they have to fulfill that dream?

3. Write out your analysis of whether your blueprint offers those qualities. Pick out the ones that are in direct contrast to what your child will need.

Example

1. You never want your kid to work for a boss in a big corporate company.

2. You know that working for a startup or building one requires the ability to build relationships.

3. You love talking about real-life with your mom friends. You adore helping people. You are a connector. However, you do not like asking for help or asking for intros or turning friendships into professional relationships.

4. Here's an opportunity to work on your limiting belief so that it doesn't get in your kid's way later on: turn a Saturday soccer practice conversation into a business one in front of your kids ideally.

I'm not asking you to do anything I have not already done. During my sons' soccer match I turned a personal friendship into a professional partnership because I took interest in the careers of the moms around me. The same applies for our kids. Yes, in school they might have project-based work but what about in other realms of life from church to sports to music. Give the kids a chance to build personal relationships that can translate into a professional objective outside of their scenarios.

The thinking behind this intentional thinking on your limiting belief not being your kid's limiting beliefs is worthwhile because our minds are flexible. According to Carol Dweck you can change your thinking and as a mother doing this in front of your kids gives your kids a real shot at having what you didn't have due in part to that limiting belief. Take for example one of my clients who is the co-founder of a non-profit that has brought in millions in donations. She recently decided to sing in front of an audience after years of feeling frivolous for doing such things. Her son might be under ten but now his mom has not only expressed herself after years of hiding this personal love of hers but also provided an example to her son of what a woman putting herself out there looks like. Imagine this mom talking to her son ten years from now when he wants to do something silly like be in a band or launch a YouTube channel featuring his own videogames. This conversation will sound very different because his mom now went through every emotion under the sun to get on stage and figured out how to navigate them in a similar way. Can you see how this guidance will sound totally differently once informed by your own evidence vs. a wish for your kids that you didn't have the chutzpah to go first? The same goes for a mom who would love her kids to live abroad but never got over her fear of living in a land where she doesn't know anyone or perhaps the language. Sure our kids might be daring whereas we never were but the potential is greater if you went first. You'd be the perfect coach and in instances where you wouldn't be the right coach then you can always ask the world for help – that's again where ideas can come from anywhere even outside of your home country.

There are many ways to build a growth mindset in your kids. It starts with shifting praise from innate talent to effort, practice, and skill development. Instead of "Wow, you're a great reader," try "Wow, you're working really hard to get through those books." This shows kids they control their effort, which drives mastery. Here are some tangible examples of nurturing imagination, seeking diverse ideas, and building resilience:

· Imagination: Ask open-ended questions. After reading a book, ask your kids to imagine alternate endings. For example: "How might this book end differently?"

· Cross-cultural thinking: Explore YouTube. Instead of limiting content to your own culture, find channels featuring diverse ways of life and experiences.

· Resilience: Practice exploring weaknesses. While everyone enjoys winning, growth comes from discomfort. If your child isn't into sports, encourage them to try a competition. The goal isn't victory, but finishing the competition. The lesson: "You might dislike this sport, but you can still participate; your capacity is still valid."

A growth mindset, fueled by imagination, cross-cultural thinking, and resilience, helps children break free from inherited limitations and design their own blueprints. We must be honest about our own limitations, work on them, and model a different path for our kids. Then, give them opportunities to practice these new, empowering beliefs.

One blueprint does not fit all

Each child is unique. You could have three kids with three distinct dreams requiring different skills and beliefs. While it would be ideal to eliminate all your limiting beliefs, who has time for that? Instead, let your kids lead the way. Create environments for them to explore their ambitions at every age. Here I am taking a page from another culture...

In South Korea, there's a tradition called Doljanchi where a one year old child chooses from a selection of objects, supposedly indicating their future career. You can adapt this idea, but ultimately, be intensely curious about what your kids gravitate toward. If your child loves a Valentine's Day craft activity, you've discovered an interest. If they dislike it, note their preferences. This is valuable data. Want to introduce them to new cultures? Let them try Duolingo. Teaching resilience? Encourage them to ask their teacher to redo an assignment. Just asking takes bravery.

These ideas are age-dependent. Building these proficiencies varies with capacity. If you'd like more ideas tailored to specific age groups, just ask! You don't want to pass along limiting beliefs, and I'm here to help."

Your turn

"What one small step can you take today to break a negative cycle and empower your child's unique path to success – focusing on imagination, cross-cultural thinking, and resilience – and incorporate it into your evolving Fertile Imagination Blueprint?"

Ready to break the negative cycle and ignite your child's unique potential? Don't wait. Begin implementing these strategies today, and discover the power of fostering imagination, cross-cultural thinking, and resilience. My book, Fertile Imagination, offers a foundation, but personalized guidance can amplify your impact. Let's work together to craft a tailored education plan that empowers both you and your child.

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When was the last time you actually looked forward to your commute? If you're facing a back-to-work mandate, chances are 'never' just crossed your mind. But what if your daily journey to the office could become more than dead time – what if it could become your secret weapon for better leadership? Today, we're turning the dreaded commute into an opportunity for mindful leadership, and I'll guide you through a meditation practice you can do with your eyes wide open, whether you're on a train, bus, or stuck in traffic.

In this episode, we explore how leaders can transform their mandatory commute into a powerful mindfulness practice. Learn a practical, eyes-open meditation technique specifically designed for busy professionals navigating the return to office. You'll discover how to:

• Use your commute time as a leadership preparation tool
• Practice mindfulness safely while in transit
• Set powerful intentions for your workday
• Manage stress before walking into the office
• Transform a daily obligation into a meaningful practice

Perfect for leaders and professionals dealing with back-to-work mandates, this meditation offers a fresh perspective on the daily commute. Whether you're a seasoned meditator or completely new to the practice, you'll find practical techniques to make your journey work for you, not against you.