Andy Molinsky: [00:00:00] Maya Pope-Chappell is a Bay Area native with a decade-plus experience in journalism. She got her start writing for the campus newspaper in college and went on to write blog posts and articles for small local papers. She worked in healthcare. Then, moved to New York City to pursue a Master's Degree in Journalism. And after graduation, she landed a web producer job at The Wall Street Journal, writing stories, creating photos, slideshows, maintaining the site, and more.

Andy Molinsky: [00:00:27] She, eventually. moved to Hong Kong with The Journal where she worked as a social media and online news editor. She transitioned into tech when she joined LinkedIn in 2015. And she's now a senior news editor, who in her time at LinkedIn, has covered education, launched a campus editor program, built out content strategies, and worked with influential names in business.

Andy Molinsky: [00:00:51] She also hosts a video series called How I Got Here, which is very much in line with our podcast, which highlights professionals with unique stories to tell about their professional journeys. And I am so happy to have you here. Maya, thanks so much for joining us.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:01:06] Thanks so much for having me. I'm very excited about this.

Andy Molinsky: [00:01:10] Cool. Awesome. So, let's start. I'd like to hear a bit about your story. I just told your story, but those were my words. You provided them to me. But let's flesh it out a little bit. You were writing for your campus newspaper in college. And I think a lot of the people listening here might very well be writing for their campus newspapers in college. What was it like for you to, kind of, be on the cusp of leaving college? Do you remember what that was like? And kind of build it out for us from there to marching towards today.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:01:45] Sure. So, I went to UC Santa Cruz undergrad. When I first got to college, it was hard. It was very different from what I was used to. It was definitely a transition. Honestly, I just didn't enjoy it at first. I would go home every weekend. Because I'm originally from Oakland California, so the trip wasn't too long.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:02:08] But, eventually, I kind of settled in, and I really started enjoying it. I actually started writing for the campus newspaper after a professor suggested it. He had noticed that I've written like an assignment for a class and he was like, "Hey, you're a pretty good writer. You should check out writing for the newspaper."

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:02:30] And prior to that, I had never really thought about pursuing journalism as a career. But after writing for the campus newspaper, it was love from then on. I love reporting, I love interviewing people, and writing up the story. And so, that's really where my interest in pursuing journalism came from.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:02:54] Throughout college, I interned including at Kaiser Permanente, which was how I ended up working there after I graduated from college. And although it wasn't journalism, it was certainly a way for me to kind of work, save some money, so that I could move to New York, which was my ultimate dream. I just wanted to live in New York, become a magazine writer, and like that would be my life.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:03:20] It didn't quite go that way, but I eventually moved to New York. I decided to go to grad school at CUNY Grad School of Journalism. And from there, I mean, it was great. I was the third class at the school, which is actually, I should say, called the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism now for CUNY. But I went there. I was a third class.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:03:42] And I initially went, like I said, thinking that I would write for magazines, but I started learning kind of like how to tell digital stories and how you could use video to tell stories. And because of that, I sort of landed on kind of telling online news stories, digital news stories. And that's where that interest in that came from.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:04:04] And then, after graduation, I landed a job at the Journal. Obviously, it wasn't that easy. I interned pretty much every semester while I was in grad school, and that certainly helped. But that's how I landed at the Journal. I was there for almost five years, and then transitioned into the tech space in 2015 when I joined LinkedIn.

Andy Molinsky: [00:04:26] So, I want to hear a lot about what you're doing now and so on, but if we can just rewind for a minute back to Santa Cruz and you're writing. It's great that your professor, kind of, helped you see that interest as a potential passion of yours. Do you remember what it was like to leave college? It sounds like you settled in eventually. To leave college and start that first job, tell us what you remember about that, the pluses, and minuses, the good things, the bad things.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:05:00] Yeah, I think I remember. I mean, it was, kind of, like a cliche. Like, now, you're entering the real world. So, definitely, kind of, nervous about that. I think, it was a bit different for me because I went to college not too far from where I was from. And I ended up working. Well, when I graduated, I ended up working in the Bay Area. So, I don't think that transition was too hard.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:05:26] I think what also helped in my transition is the fact that I had interned at this company pretty much every summer that I went to college. So, I had exposure to like a corporate environment. I sort of had an idea about how business is is done and how it's conducted. So, I don't think the transition was maybe as difficult as it could have been had I not had that experience.

Andy Molinsky: [00:05:50] Sounds like the internship idea is something that you've pursued a couple of times, right. It sounds like that you did that in college.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:05:58] Definitely.

Andy Molinsky: [00:05:58] Yeah. Say a bit about that because-

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:05:59] Definitely. I think it's so central to not only discovering what you like but, also, having -- like gaining that hands-on sort of experience that will help you ultimately progress in your career or what you want to pursue.

Andy Molinsky: [00:06:15] Now that you've had a lot of experiences transitioning into a lot of different kinds of jobs, what misconceptions do you think young professionals might have when entering the workforce? You're, in some ways, moving from college to the professional world. There's a bit of a cultural transition, though it sounds like you had a bit of experience in it through your internships, but are there any misconceptions that you either see young people facing when they enter the workforce or that you faced yourself?

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:06:44] I think, one is the idea that you just sort of need to put your head down and get the work done. Of course, that's important. You want to be able to do the work and execute on it. But I think what's so important and one thing that I wish I would have done even better is building relationships.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:07:04] I think that is so key to progressing in your career. And not only connecting with people who can help connect you to other opportunities, but just it's great in terms of helping to learn the business or if you make relationships with someone who maybe is outside of your area where you work, you're able to learn more about that, and maybe even be introduced to something else that you might want to pursue in the future.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:07:33] So, I would say, like I said, one of the biggest misconceptions is just thinking that you have to keep your head down and do the work, but it's so important to have coffee dates, reach out to people, and build relationships as you work.

Andy Molinsky: [00:07:47] So, it's funny when you're talking about relationships, I start to think of myself in college, which is a long time ago. But I think about the relationships I had in college were all with people my exact age. Not only my exact age, probably more similar to me in a lot of ways.

Andy Molinsky: [00:08:05] Then, I think about my professional life and the relationships that I have developed and want to develop. They're with people of all different ages, different backgrounds, of all sorts of things, different ethnic, religious, cultural, geographical, functional backgrounds, industrial backgrounds, and so on. You don't necessarily learn that in college though, or do you? What do you think about that, and is that something-

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:08:32] I think you could. I think you could, and you should seek out those relationships. I think that you should make it a point to try and get to know someone else who is from a different background than you or even they might approach something differently than you.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:08:49] I remember connecting with -- There was a tutor who I had in college. She was an upper class man and upper class woman. And she was able to not only tutor me but also introduce me to other people. So, I think that that is super important. And I think that is something that is probably easier to do when you're in college because you can all relate to the college experience.

Andy Molinsky: [00:09:18] Yeah, interesting. And how about looking back, were there any skills or knowledge from college that then ended up being particularly useful for your career, where you are now, maybe even something you didn't anticipate being useful?

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:09:35] Yeah. This question is a hard one for me because I was struggling with kind of a good answer. One that I sort of settled on was, I think, I learned to be more organized in college, and that has been something that I've definitely been able to carry over to my work and have been sort of instrumental in how I do things.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:09:58] I think when you're juggling a bunch of different classes, and assignments, and things like that, you just need to figure out a way to keep it all organized. And that's certainly something that I do even to this day, like whether it's staying organized in Google Docs or just making sure that I have everything in one particular folder.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:10:17] When I think of the types of knowledge and skill set though that has been most helpful to what I do today, it would certainly be the skills that I picked up in grad school. Those skills have been tremendously helpful in terms of telling a story through video or sparking conversation online. All of those things are things that I sort of focused on in grad school that I certainly use today.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:10:44] Like in my role right now at LinkedIn, we actually call ourselves human editors, but our team is really responsible for getting professional talking about the issues that matter most, whether it's how their industry is changing or how new technology is impacting the way that they work. And we're able to do this through original reporting or our daily rundown, which curates news that professionals are talking about right now. And it's just using these things to start conversations around. I can definitely attribute what I do today to the skills that I learned, particularly, in grad school.

Andy Molinsky: [00:11:21] It's interesting you mentioned grad school. And I work on a daily basis with undergraduates. And I can't tell you how many people have come into my office in the last year or two years, I mean, really, forever, asking me, "Should I go to grad school, or should I just get a job?" I mean, that is the ultimate question. I would love to hear your view on that.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:11:44] Yeah. I love this question actually because I was definitely one of those people who I was completely satisfied with my undergraduate BA degree and my major, American Studies. I was fine with that. I never thought, honestly, that I would have a master's degree. I think, for me, it was the reason that I am where I am today. Had I not gone to journalism school, I don't think I'd be in this industry.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:12:14] And the reason why it was so important for me is because my goal was to move to New York and work there. Being from the Bay Area, I just didn't have any contacts in New York. I didn't know journalists. I knew one, my mentor back home who used to work there, but I didn't really know anyone in New York.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:12:35] So, for me, grad school was an opportunity not only to build the kind of skills that I needed to land a role after graduation, but it was really key. Again, going back to those relationships, it was key in terms of meeting the people who were going to enable me to land an opportunity, or get an internship, et cetera. So, I think, that it can be extremely useful, but, really, it just kind of depends on what you want to do and what you want to get out of it.

Andy Molinsky: [00:13:04] Okay. It's now time for our student question. And today's question comes from [Leneia]. And so, let's have a listen.

Leneia: [00:13:13] Hi. My name is Leneia. I am an Art History and Italian Studies double major from Boston. And I was wondering, how do I keep from feeling burnt out from a long-term job after just a few months?

Andy Molinsky: [00:13:26] So, burnout. What's your thought on that? Yeah.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:13:33] Yeah. My take, I think it's so important to find fresh ways to do your job. So, whether that's taking on a different project or figuring out maybe a way to expand what you're doing. That's how -- I've been at Lincoln. I can't believe it actually, but I've been at LinkedIn almost four years now. And I think one of the reasons it's gone by so quickly is that I've been able to work on a bunch of different projects, and I'm still enjoying it.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:14:08] I started off overseeing our education vertical and helping to establish LinkedIn as a platform and destination for not only students but also higher education leaders. I created the Student Voices Initiative and a campus ed program that scaled globally.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:14:25] And, right now, I'm actually focused on experimenting with how our editorial team cultivates conversations among professionals on LinkedIn, and then applying those learnings within our larger team, including how we create, cultivate, and curate conversation. We call it our 3Cs. And so, in doing that, I get to work closely with the product side, with engineers, product managers, et cetera, et cetera to really help shape the products that we do, that we use to do this, and starting conversations.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:14:56] So, I think, it's finding those opportunities, especially growth opportunities, things that are going to enable you to stretch and to enable you to get new skills. I mean, prior to LinkedIn, I didn't have access to the product side at all. I was unable to work with engineers. So, I've made it a point to try and do that in my current role. And I've been able to grow because of it.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:15:20] On, kind of, the reporting end of things, Andy, mentioned earlier, I do this How I Got Here series, and that enables me to still report, and to interview people, and create videos, which is something I really enjoy doing. So, I think, long story short, I think, it's finding opportunity to do new things. And, also, expressing what you want to do and making it known what you want to do to your manager or to other people within your team, so that when an opportunity does arrive, they think of you.

Andy Molinsky: [00:15:57] Yeah, that seems really sensible on both ends really for you as a professional to be able to try to diversify, build your skills, but also do bunch of stuff. And then, for an organization to provide that because, I think, if they had you just producing the same widget every day, you would probably burn out. So, Leneia, that's an excellent piece of advice for you.

Andy Molinsky: [00:16:22] Okay. So, we're nearing the end of our chat, and we're going to have a few quick questions. And I'd love just to hear your responses to these. I mean, to be honest, some of these questions could it could actually be quite deep questions, but we'll take your fairly quick answer to them. The first one is definitely in that category, it's a very important question. What gets you motivated at work? And you almost just touched on that just now but anything? What really gets you motivated?

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:16:56] Well, the very quick answer is chai latte, but outside of that-

Andy Molinsky: [00:17:00] How many?

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:17:00] I try and restrict it to one a day. But, sometimes, I have been known to do two. I don't drink coffee. So, it's my weakness. But outside of that, like I said, being able to work on different projects and to do new things, that really has kept me motivated and has kept me at LinkedIn for as long as I've been here.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:17:27] I think, also, the ability to, like I mentioned earlier, have those stretched opportunities, have opportunities where you feel like you're learning something new, and that you're growing, and even working in different muscle. I think that has certainly helped keep me motivated in doing what I do.

Andy Molinsky: [00:17:46] You think about -- Just as you're talking, I'm wondering this. How important has it been to you and your career to think about the impact that you're having on others? I know that that's, sometimes, what motivates people. How does that play into your role?

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:18:02] That, certainly, is a motivation. I think, it's so important. I mean, it's honestly one of the reasons I joined LinkedIn because I love the mission of helping to provide economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. That's a really broad and really great vision, and that's something that attracted me to LinkedIn.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:18:26] Going back to the campus editor program that I started, that was something that started as a pilot with just 10 students. And these are students who not only write and share their insights on the platform, but they work with their peers to do the same. And, now, it's a global program with more than a hundred students. And these students have gotten internship opportunities, job opportunities. They've written for like the Financial Times or Forbes.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:18:55] So, just seeing the opportunities that come from this program that I created, that has certainly not only been motivation, but something that's just very filling in terms of just me as a person. The fact that I'm able to do that is really amazing.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:19:13] And then, I would say through this How I Got Here series, which I'm currently working on, I leave so inspired after talking to these people and being able to share that with a wider group, especially a group. I'm targeting it to students and young professionals, people who are just trying to figure out what they want to pursue. And being able to tell those stories and share them more broadly certainly is a great motivation.

Andy Molinsky: [00:19:36] And I can tell you that at Brandeis, where I'm a professor, we have the campus LinkedIn program. And I had a student who was the local editor. Her name was Emily Reich. Loved that program. So, that's your firsthand piece of feedback.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:19:56] Wow, yes.

Andy Molinsky: [00:19:56] Yeah.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:19:56] And I love hearing that. It warms my heart literally.

Andy Molinsky: [00:20:01] Yeah, I know. It was awesome. How about mentoring? What makes for a good mentor? What advice would you give to people listening about mentoring?

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:20:11] Yeah. Mentorship is so important. Finding someone who really understands your strengths, and also knows what it is that you want to accomplish, or what your goals are I think are so important. I think they're really central to helping you to get to where you want to go. I think that when you're trying to find a mentor, I think, it's important to seek out someone who has experience and maybe an area that you want to pursue or maybe learn more about.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:20:43] I think it's important to be mentored by someone, if you can maybe suggest other people who you can meet and talk to, but I think also it's important to have mentors pretty much at every stage of your life and career. Like my mentor in college, we actually met through Kaiser Permanente, which is healthcare, but he was a journalist and writer, and really the one who was like, "You should consider going to grad school for journalism." And he was able to introduce you to different people, and we're still in touch today, but I've picked up more mentors along the way, which have been central also to the success, I think, I've had.

Andy Molinsky: [00:21:25] If you're a college student, and you're listening, and you're like, "That's cool. I'd love to have a mentor," but how do you do it? How do you-

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:21:36] Go on LinkedIn. Start with LinkedIn. I would say start with your professors. If there's a professor that stands out to you or who you think you can learn from, start with them. I think, professors can make really great mentors.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:21:54] Feel free, I think, to leverage. Like I said, LinkedIn. Reach out to people who maybe have an interesting career, message them, and say, "Hey, I would love to learn more about what you do. Do you have 15 minutes to spare just to talk about your day-to-day, how you got to where you are?" I think that those things go a long way. And you're able to see whether or not you're able to vibe with that person. Do they understand what it is that you're trying to do? But it starts with you seeking them out.

Andy Molinsky: [00:22:25] Yeah. I think that's great advice. And I think that you might be surprised how much people like being a mentor. So-

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:22:34] Yeah, people love it. And people love talking about themselves. So, reach out to someone and say, "Hey, I wanted to just learn more about what you do." Nine times out of ten, they'll respond. I mean, definitely you want to kind of give them a reason why they'd want to speak to you. So, give a little bit of background about yourself, what you're trying to get out of the conversation.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:22:59] And one thing too that I want to stress too, the importance of following up. I remember being told. This is, I believe, I was in grad school, but I'm a bit undergrad. Sorry, I can't remember. It was a while ago. But when someone told me that she was just so appreciative of the fact that I just sent a follow-up note, and would be in touch, and sharing what it is that I was doing. I think that people take for granted sometimes the importance of that, and just be in touch after you meet with these people.

Andy Molinsky: [00:23:32] Oh, yeah.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:23:32] And so, you'll thank them in all of that.

Andy Molinsky: [00:23:32] I totally agree with that. I mean, in fact -- So, you know I love LinkedIn. I mean, I love LinkedIn for so many reasons. One of the ways I love LinkedIn is that it helps me keep track of all my former students. And if they don't send me a note to tell me what they're up to, I can see it right there. You know what I mean? But, yeah. No, that's cool.

Andy Molinsky: [00:23:55] So, let me ask you one last question. If you could go back in time, we've been kind of rewinding and fast forwarding in terms of your career, and if you could sort of take a big step back to the 20-year-old version of yourself in college thinking about what might come next, you're doing those internships, you got that advice, is there a piece of advice that the version of you today might give to the version of you back then? And if so, what might that be?

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:24:26] Yeah. I mean, probably like a lot of students, you all are probably working extremely hard. Andy, like you said, doing the internship and gaining those experience those experiences. And I think, in many ways, I was the same way. So, one thing I would actually tell myself is just kind of relax. You have a ton of life to live. You have many experiences to have. So, it would just be to kind of relax, and be in the moment, and appreciate the experiences that you have.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:25:01] And try and think about like writing out your goals. I think is so important. It's something that I didn't do it all the time, but I definitely started doing it as I got older. But I think had I started maybe doing that when I was younger, I would have maybe even been further along. So, I would say relax would be one. And two, just writing out your goals and what you want to accomplish in the next six months, a year, or five years.

Andy Molinsky: [00:25:26] Yeah, that's great advice. I mean, I ask people this question, and I always wonder how I would answer it. I still don't know, but I really like your answer. So, we're at the end of our chat, and I wanted to know thank you so much for coming on and sharing your wisdom with us. And yeah, listeners want to find out more about what you're doing, maybe your video series, whatever it might be, where would be a good place for people to go to if they want to learn more?

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:25:53] Certainly. Definitely find me on LinkedIn. I'm there every day. You can just search my name Maya Pope-Chappell. P-O-P-E hyphen C-H-A-P-P-E-L-L. If you want to find the series, just search #howIgothere. Also, on Twitter, @mayaj. On Instagram,@mayajpc, although I don't post on those things as much, or even just Google me. I'm easily -- I can be easily found.

Andy Molinsky: [00:26:22] That's what I always say about myself too. And we will certainly, on my end, personally, and also through this podcast, we're definitely going to link up and connect to your video series because it's so connected to what we're doing here. So, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate it.

Maya Pope-Chappell: [00:26:38] Thanks so much, Andy. It's been a pleasure.