Highly Effective Networking: Casey Carroll Of BWB On 5 Strategies for Successful Networking, Both Online and Offline
An Interview With Athalia Monae
…Listen. If I hadn’t been listening, I may have missed an important building step in my career. I was in my mid 20’s and eager to be an entrepreneur, so I was networking with a lot of other women in the brand and marketing industry as a way to orient myself more fully in my career, and to discover my place within it all. I met up with a friend for coffee to discuss my plans for starting BWB, and in the conversation she shared some potential considerations about why it may be important to stay at my current job for another couple of years. While it wasn’t necessarily the news I wanted to hear, I knew it was true when she said it. I ended up staying for a couple more years and it really catapulted my career and business in ways that never would have been possible…
The art of networking is pivotal in today’s interconnected world. Establishing meaningful connections can accelerate career growth, foster collaborations, and create opportunities that might otherwise remain hidden. Yet, the dynamics of networking are intricate, often requiring a nuanced blend of authenticity, strategy, and adaptability. And with the digital revolution, networking has transcended beyond face-to-face interactions to virtual platforms, expanding its scope and complexity. In this series, we would like to discuss the art and science behind effective networking. We are talking to seasoned professionals, career coaches, networking experts, and thought leaders who’ve mastered both traditional and online networking techniques. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Casey Carroll.
Casey Carroll (she/her) is the founder and creative director of BWB. She is a committed mother, writer, and visual strategist, focused on questioning and inviting critical conversation on the social and cultural impacts of branding and marketing.
Casey has developed brand campaigns for Fortune 500 companies and small pioneering brands making the big brands take notice. She speaks on feminist approaches to business, gender equity, and how to put identity work into brand identity work. As a coach, Casey supports women entrepreneurs and leaders in stepping into their personal power through her be you, boldly mission.
In addition to BWB, Casey co-owns and runs a farm-to-table restaurant, Coray Kitchen, in Delmar, NY, and is the creator of Questions to Hold, which includes a podcast, card deck, and immersive experiences.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive into our discussion about networking, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?
I never took a linear path, and never wanted to either.
Oftentimes I refer to my early 20’s as my decade of “possible selves.” I had a vision of where I wanted to go, so this exploration didn’t feel totally aimless, but it felt critical to allow myself to dive into areas of interest whether or not I knew where they would ultimately lead me.
I explored being in public relations and marketing. I explored being a photographer. I explored being a writer. I explored being an academic. I explored coaching, energy medicine, and transformative leadership. I studied depth psychology and reiki, and how to hold space for birthing folks as a doula. I studied visual culture and critical theory. I trained in yoga and developed skills in group facilitation. I explored living on the East Coast of the US, in the middle of the country, and finally found my way on the West Coast.
All the while, I worked full-time, steadily growing my career in communications and the food industry.
The exploration of my possible selves showed me where the connection points were, and how it wasn’t simply one of the things — but all of these things — that I wanted to bring together in my businesses and entrepreneurial journey.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
One of the highlights of my career was the first retreat that I led for my company, BWB. It was our first year in business, and I was in the process of transitioning the company from a coaching practice to a full-service agency. I felt extraordinarily lucky to have brought so many incredible female creatives and strategists together with the shared mission and aspiration to elevate female entrepreneurship and do business differently.
BWB offers strategy, branding, and brand building through individual and group coaching, workshops, and retreats to help our clients turn aligned vision into action.
This first team retreat was early in my entrepreneurial journey and had a feeling of magic, possibility, and knowing that we were something with great potential to make a positive impact. Many of the folks that were at the first team retreat are still an integral part of the business, but more importantly, dear friends who have shaped my life in so many ways.
During this retreat me and my business partner, Caitlin Fitzpatrick, decided to officially partner in BWB, starting us on a new journey that has greatly changed the trajectory of my career.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
- Self-worth
It takes courage to create something that has never existed before and make an idea real. Being an entrepreneur has required me to believe in myself, and have a strong sense of self-worth to guide me, even when things don’t seem clear or when others may doubt my path. This isn’t about ego, but rather about being your biggest champion, and believing inherently that you deserve success. This is especially relevant as a female entrepreneur challenging the status quo.
- Creativity
I can’t think of a moment in my day where I am not creating something new or leveraging my creativity to express, problem solve, demonstrate my caring, and build relationships. It is the pulse that guides my leadership and business decisions. As an entrepreneur and a mother of young children, I want to make sure to model the power of creativity to my children, and show them what an asset it is for personal and professional growth.
- Flexibility
I was the youngest of four children, which meant that I learned how to be flexible at a very young age. I was always being carted around to different sports and other activities and enjoyed going with the flow. It taught me how to move with the changes of the day, be willing to adjust on a moment’s notice, and recognize that sometimes the best outcomes happen when we let go of what we thought we wanted, and embrace whatever shows up.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Let’s begin with a basic definition so that we are all on the same page. How exactly do you define “Networking?” Is it just about meeting new people?
I think of “networking” as community building because it emphasizes the importance of authentic human interaction and developing intentional relationships. This gets to the heart of effective networking, but also meaningful networking.
This means taking a genuine interest in the folks in your community and industry, and being willing to connect with them on a personal and professional level, with the shared goal of identifying strengths and opportunities, and establishing reciprocal relationships.
I approach all networking from the spirit of collaboration and the belief that everyone is doing something interesting and amazing. I want to know as much as I can about that! I don’t believe the focus of networking should ever be about what someone can get from another person, but rather about following curiosity and seeing where that can lead.
In today’s digital age, how important is face-to-face networking, and how do you balance it with online networking?
While there is no doubt that online and remote community building is essential, accessible, and can be incredibly fulfilling, face-to-face connections seem even more critical than ever. BWB is a remote branding agency that I have grown over the last five years, and have built deep, mutually beneficial relationships with hundreds of partners, collaborations, colleagues, and clients through digital platforms. However, when we get opportunities to gather together in person, there is always a particular potency of connection.
With in-person or online networking, I think it’s important to remember that it’s not a one-time thing. One interaction or one conversation isn’t how long-term community is built. The key is to nurture relationships and foster them over time. That doesn’t have to mean endless hours spent. Sometimes it’s as simple as a LinkedIn message sharing an interesting article, or a letter that you drop in the mail to congratulate someone for a promotion they received.
On that note: I think snail mail is underrated! BWB loves to send things in the mail to break through the online noise. We’ve done this with everything from client welcome kits to hybrid newsletters that live on and offline, and summer or holiday gifts.
How do you maintain and nurture professional relationships over time, both in person and online, to ensure they remain fruitful and mutually beneficial?
It doesn’t have to take a ton of effort. It simply has to be a mindset shift, where this way of caring and being in business together is prioritized. Over and over again.
This can look many ways such as sending referrals or opportunities to elevate and amplify someone’s or their work, introducing people to others in your network, or continuing the thread of community building. Other ideas include inviting people to special events, including them in important milestones, tagging them in your social media posts, etc.
I personally love to host and facilitate in-person experiences, whether that is something like the retreats that we lead at BWB, or the nightly dinner service at my restaurant, Coray Kitchen. Gathering is such a meaningful act to me, and bringing people together in this way is something I am very passionate about. BWB and Coray Kitchen joined forces to host a special community dinner where we facilitated conversation with guests about what it means to be in community together. Many incredible connections were made that night, and we still get thank you notes and comments from those who attended about all the new relationships they formed (and the delicious food they shared together!).
How important is personal branding when it comes to successful networking, and how can individuals develop and maintain a strong personal brand both online and in person?
Knowing who you are, and why you are who you are, is important no matter what industry you are in or what career you may have. A strong self-awareness, backed with the communications skills to adequately articulate and represent who you are, is tremendously important. That is really the root of personal branding.
The more you know yourself, the more others will know you. This is important for others to support you, and help you grow through identifying opportunities and ways to build connections together.
How much you invest in personal branding depends on several factors such as: access, industry, personal goals and motivations, professional aspirations, etc. This goes along with our belief that there isn’t one right way to grow your brand. We often say that BWB does not provide cookie cutter or off-the shelf solutions. We treat every individual individually, based on their specific needs and goals.
What is your advice for young professionals who are just starting to build their network? How can they effectively reach out to and connect with experienced leaders in their field?
We say this like a broken record — just ask! Make a goal to reach out to one person each week for the next year, and see what happens. These can be new folks, folks you want to reconnect with, or those where you want to form a deeper bond. This could be done virtually or in-person. Get curious about what people do, who people are, and ask a lot of questions with no goal other than to catch up and get to know each other in a deeper way. Don’t focus on what they can do for you, but lead with listening, and discover what you may be able to do or be for each other. For example, one of our clients does coffee catch up regularly and has a goal of having one hundred conversations in one year. Could be fun, right?
Do you prioritize quality or quantity of connections? How do you determine when to invest more time in a particular relationship?
It’s important to identify your most effective way of relationship building. Once you figure that out, stick with it! It can’t steer you wrong. For example, we work with an enneagram coach who has helped us, and our clients, understand ourselves and ourselves as entrepreneurs much more intimately. I’m a 7 on the Enneagram and have a natural inclination toward networking, community building, extroversion, and conversation. That isn’t true for everyone. Each person has their own unique way of developing relationships so I always recommend knowing what that is and working its strengths.
That awareness goes both ways, of course. If there is someone you are trying to build a relationship with, and they are not responding in the exact way you want them to or wish they would, that does not mean they are not interested. Get curious about what their relationship building style is, and find ways to meet them there, so you can continue to build relationships with folks who are different from you. You never know what you will learn from someone with a completely different style than yours.
What are your “5 Strategies for Successful Networking, Both Online and Offline”?
- Ask questions that don’t require a fixed answer.
There are leading questions and there are curious questions. Asking questions as a way to be in inquiry together, explore, and discover is so important. We call this Questions to Hold and it’s a central business practice. This is how I’ve built and developed some of my most meaningful, and fruitful relationships. When my business partner, Caitlin, and I first met, we were genuinely curious to get to know each other. There was not a set motivation, other than a shared investment to discover and learn about each other. This led to a lot of exploratory conversations that helped us understand each other better, but also, understand ourselves better. One of the big questions we were holding in the early part of our relationship building process was around what our ideal work environment looked like. We never could have known that in a few years, we would be turning those conversations into a reality by starting a business together that realized some of those very values, ideals, and goals.
2. Listen.
If I hadn’t been listening, I may have missed an important building step in my career. I was in my mid 20’s and eager to be an entrepreneur, so I was networking with a lot of other women in the brand and marketing industry as a way to orient myself more fully in my career, and to discover my place within it all. I met up with a friend for coffee to discuss my plans for starting BWB, and in the conversation she shared some potential considerations about why it may be important to stay at my current job for another couple of years. While it wasn’t necessarily the news I wanted to hear, I knew it was true when she said it. I ended up staying for a couple more years and it really catapulted my career and business in ways that never would have been possible.
3. Make it meaningful.
In many of our group workshops and retreats, we ask the participants to write notes to one another (and themselves!) that offer honest, heartfelt reflection about what they have witnessed and appreciated about one another. These short notes give a big blast of meaning, and have a strong impact on how they feel and see themselves, but also on the strength of the connections made. In our recent retreat, we heard countless times about how the depth of relationships people have formed within a few days, and a lot of that goes back to the meaningfulness of it all.
4. Show up. Time and time again.
True community building isn’t a one-stop shop. It’s a long game. I had an incredibly special mentor in graduate school who has continued to show up in my life for the last decade. Sometimes there are years that go by and we haven’t connected, and then I’ll get an email in my inbox from her, or I’ll send her a holiday card and share a family update. Maintaining this connection and continuing to show up despite what is happening in our lives has created a profound admiration and respect for one another. And, it yields professional benefits, too! Recently, we began to collaborate on ideas for how to weave together our work and personal networks to bring even more opportunities to women in our industries. You never know what can happen when you stay committed for the long haul for and with one another.
5. Be open to different styles and ways to build relationships.
Many of the artists and creatives that are part of the BWB Creative Collective have different networking styles than the more traditional, status quo networking that is often heralded in corporate environments. Thinking outside the box and finding ways to build community among — and within — our team has led us to many exciting different opportunities. This includes things like group art projects, in-person screenprinting sessions, 1:1 nature walks, and creating Loom videos to better explain our process. All of these are things we wouldn’t have considered without diversity of thought and ideas.
What role does diversity and inclusion play in your networking approach? How do you ensure that your network is inclusive and represents a broad range of perspectives and backgrounds?
Community building has to be intentional. It requires we reach beyond those who simply mirror or echo our own sentiments or perspectives which takes strategy and effort. There are many institutionalized ways we have been separated due to social norms, identities, and abilities. We have to first acknowledge that, and then choose to make a different choice and grow our community in a way that resists that separation.
Again, this takes strong self-awareness, and the willingness to unpack your positionality, privilege, and the power dynamics that are present in relationship building. It’s about caring enough about yourself and others to approach the community in this way.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
We often say that BWB is our activism, and that through our own business practices, and the work we are able to do with other female entrepreneurs, we are creating the cultural shift and economic model we hope to see.
How can our readers further follow you online?
Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
About the Interviewer: Athalia Monae is a product creator, published author, entrepreneur, advocate for Feed Our Starving Children, contributing writer for Entrepreneur Media, and founder of Pouches By Alahta.
Highly Effective Networking: Casey Carroll Of BWB On 5 Strategies for Successful Networking, Both… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.