By Gini Dietrich
Four score and seven years ago, I met one Mana Ionescu.
OK. Maybe not that long ago. Perhaps more like five or six years ago. Neither one of us are old enough for it to be longer than that!
In all seriousness, I am very lucky to have some serious digital marketing brains in Chicago and Mana is one of them.
I was immediately drawn to her entrepreneurial spirit, her drive, her motivation, and the fact that she dresses her cats in little kitty clothes.
She founded Lightspan Digital, where they focus on doing social media for some of Chicago’s best organizations, and she and her team have become fast friends.
On my birthday this year, I got home to a gift on the porch. It was a chalkboard and chalkboard wine glass tags. It was if they were trolling my Pinterest page (they were) and it was perfect.
She was born in Romania and spent some time in Bulgaria before moving her way to the United States. She went to Brigham Young University and I remember thinking that was a fun thing we had in common (having grown up in Utah) the moment I met her.
She’s thoughtful, she’s kind, and you’re about to learn more about her on the Spin Sucks Inquisition.
What is the Biggest Mistake You’ve Made in Your Career?
In my corporate career, I made the mistake of caring too much about my performance reviews.
Specifically, the parts that said I was too outspoken, direct, and opinionated.
I should have said, “yes, yes, you’re right” and gone on to secretly sharpen some of those skills [insert evil laughter emoji].
Later on, those three “unskills” were key to the success of Lightspan. Now, people pay me to be direct [aka be honest about what will and will not help them]!
The biggest mistake I made in my business-owner career was to wish better sleep at night.
And as a result, I delegated financial decisions without asking for proper reporting back.
I believe I told my finance person, “I won’t worry until you tell me to worry.”
I didn’t communicate well, and I wanted to avoid the loss of sleep that comes with taking proper responsibility.
What I should have said was, “give me x,y,z reporting and I won’t worry until the data tells me to.”
We ended up getting into debt where we could have avoided it.
If I had had better visibility, I would have made other, albeit tough and unpleasant, decisions. We’d have been better off with the temporary pain of tough decisions than with the unexpected and longer-term paying off of debt.
What is One Thing about Yourself that Would Surprise Most People?
I am shy. People easily classify me as an extrovert, which I am, but I am nervous in new public situations.
I was raised to be very polite, the Romanian definition of polite.
So I overthink every new social situation so I don’t offend anyone.
Throw in cultural differences and it’s uber-shy-town for me.
If You Could Achieve Everything You Ever Wanted in Life, but Had to Die 10 Years Sooner, Would You Make that Trade?
Yes, I would. Because if I achieve everything I want, what else is there to live for?
I never really wished for a long life. I always wanted a full life.
But then I also love to learn new things, which could go on forever.
So maybe I shouldn’t make the trade, because I’ll never have achieved everything…
What Industry Advice or Practice Would You Most Like to Cry Foul On?
I want to cry foul on so many things, we’ll need a full blog post.
- You CAN measure the effectiveness of social media marketing. If you can’t, it’s because you’re lacking the proper infrastructure and/or you’ve done things which can’t be measured. Or you hired an intern to do your social media marketing. Sorry to the bearer of bad news.
- Stop talking about “engagement” as the end-all of business-verse. I have no idea what engagement means. Your audiences don’t know what engagement means. Think, what do they care about? They care about having fun, learning, being amazed, being smarter, being loved, feeling great, feeling important! You give them those things, they’ll give you love back. So stop wondering about how much engagement you got and start asking, how much of what matters to them did you give them? If you can measure that, you’ll be able to measure what you get in return, and it will be higher than zero.
What is the Best Book You’ve Read in the Past Six Months?
How to Survive the Loss of a Love.
It works for business loss, too.
Why Does Spin Suck?
I was reading the other day an article about how the expression, “have the cake and eat it too” makes no sense. I thought it made no sense TO ME, because English is my third language.
But if you really think about it, it truly makes no sense, in any language.
If it’s YOUR cake, why couldn’t you eat it?
But it’s so popular, I even use the expression, although it makes no sense to me.
It’s the same with “spin.” We adopted it as “so lit” years ago, and then in our extended corporate speech impediment we continued using it because it was cool.
But I can only think of one positive spin movement, and that’s called a “pirouette.”
And when it comes to your company’s public image you shouldn’t ever be pirouetting…so it sucks because it makes no sense.
Where You Can Find Mana Ionescu
Mana, like any good digital marketer, can be found all across the web (which means you have your choice in where you stalk her).
Find her on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube.
You can also find her blogging at Manamica.
And, if you need help with digital marketing strategy or project management, check out Lightspan Digital.
While maybe not saying ‘I would die early for world peace’ finally someone with the COJONES to say YES!!!!! Woohoooo! Love you manamica
I will say one thing I keep seeing from reading and observing the PR/SocialMedia/Marketing world is I think the colleges are doing a disservice not requiring more math and finance classes. I know many people get into those careers because they don’t like math.
I failed College Algebra had to retake it. I failed calculus and had to retake it. I ditched being an architect because I had to take calculus and physics which I hated. But having the 2 years vs 1 year of math (plus two stats classes) helped me so much even if it was because I failed two classes! And gee I have a Finance Degree go figure LOL!
Anyway I found your successor ginidietrich my work is done just make sure you leave her a fat volume of retained earnings ok?
Now that Howie Goldfarb has relieved me of that “first comment” pressure ….. SHEESH! // These were fascinating answers, and I love the “pirouette” idea! // I also scurried on over to YouTube, where I watched Mana’s speaker intro, and continued adding to my mental list of funny things I could talk about at Toastmasters “ROI actually means What the F***” LOLOL.
One of my favorite people in the hotseat! manamica is a funny, smart, straight shooter…so glad to see her here!
HEY BOSS! 🙂 That’s probably the best answer I’ve seen for giving up 10 years to achieve your goals.
Hey Mana, so good to see you on the hot seat!
I did´t know you dress up your kitties. What a pressure to find new outfits. 😉 Kidding!
I liked your speaker intro on Youtube. You gave us a new perspective on ROI. LOL.
Happy to see you here. Enjoy your day!
Am I the only one who can hear her accent in her answers? Love it. Did you know that the phrase ‘have your cake and eat it too” is one of the most often misquoted phrases? Enjoy your day Mana!!
JamieNRutter hey you! You should actually get the credit for the blackboard gift! 🙂
Howie Goldfarb I thought YOU were my successor?
manamica JamieNRutter It was a GREAT gift!
KristenDaukas haha, that’s the first time I heard that. Now I’ll pay more attention to it. But in all honesty, most people say I don’t have enough of an accent 🙂
manamica KristenDaukas I was just going to say, she doesn’t really have an accent.
Corina Manea haha, one of my cats has a big hairless area on her back (probably from a burn, hard to tell) and a skin condition on that area so the dress is protection. 🙂
thanks rosemaryoneill! you’re pretty darn impressive yourself!
Howie Goldfarb that’s so funny! And since I wrote this I didn’t change my mind, I’d still die early if I could get EVERYTHING! ginidietrich
ginidietrich manamica The magic of the mind… I’ve never met Mana in person!! One of my favorite things when I lived in Chicago was living in a neighborhood rich with Romanian neighbors. Loved their accent. Let me have my moment. 😉
manamica So sweet. I like people who love and take care of their pets. Thumbs up!
Oh my, Mana, it is so awesome to meet you. I am cracking up about the having your cake expression. “If it’s your cake, why couldn’t you eat it?” That’s an excellent question! I also love, love, love your industry advice, especially number #2. Sometimes we get caught up in industry jargon that we don’t remember to explain it. You explained it perfectly.
manamica KristenDaukas You totally have an accent, Mana! And it’s lovely.
Great interview…
Hahaha! This made me LOL “I was raised to be very polite, the Romanian definition of polite.”
I’m Italian, and was raised to keep control of my temper. The Italian definition, which means throwing things at walls instead of at people.
So I understand this.
So glad we were able to hang out over the winter when I was in Chicago, we will have to make sure to do the same next time I’m in town!
jolynndeal thank you! But seriously, I’m still waiting for someone to explain the whole cake thing to me!
manamica jolynndeal Ha ha ha. Well please, please share if someone actually can and does. 🙂
LauraPetrolino I love sharing stories on cultural differences. We should do more of that next time you’re in town! 🙂
Hi manamica, caught your appearance on Fox News Chicago that our mutual friend, Molly, shared on FB. Welcome to the inquisition. I have a similar business owner story that caused way more sleepless nights than any sleep I gained by delegating financial responsibilities so I understand that one all too well.
biggreenpen yeah I found that definition of ROI in the urban dictionary… 🙂
paigeworthy thanks 🙂 some days I wish it was stronger…
KevinVandever thanks for watching that! Honestly, it was delegating responsibilites that burned me, it was the fact that I didn’t put in place proper reporting. I do believe in delegating 🙂
manamica biggreenpen I find a lot of useful angles on things in the Urban Dictionary 🙂
Nice! manamica – you look so familiar, our paths must have crossed?!
I adore you line about wishing for a full life. I violently agree.
Here’s something else with which I violently agree — enough of this engagement thing already. Engaged to do what? Audiences only care about themselves, and it’s up to us to figure out what that is.
Cake. Having it. Eating it. The Unabomber. The Unabomber’s brother. Who knew? http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2014/01/cake-eat/
biggreenpen aha” “a man can not have his cake and eat his cake.” As in, if you eat the cake it won’t be physically present any more, so you can’t physically have it and eat it at the same time.
danielschiller I violently agree with you violently agreeing. And I am not sure if we’ve met but here we are, now we can say we have :).
manamica Indeed we can!
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