Kinsey Grant is the Business Editor and Podcast Host at Morning Brew, where she hosts Business Casual, an interview based podcast where they ask big questions with big players in the business space. Business Casual has accrued over four million listens in its first year and Kinsey has interviewed big names like Mark Cuban, Meg Whitman, Ray Dalio, Barbara Corcoran, and lots more. In this interview we chatted about the skill of hard work, the types of mentors you should have, and being comfortable with “no.” Here’s her story…
On getting to Morning Brew:
- Graduated college in 2017 and worked for about year at The Street, a publication owned by Jim Cramer, cutting her teeth and learning about markets and business
- After about a year, she realized that she wanted to write to an audience that was more like her
- One of the co-founders of Morning Brew reached out to her on LinkedIn and she became the fifth employee
- Has enjoyed the creativity and responsibility of working at Morning Brew
On gaining the skill of hard work:
- Thinks you can only grind on something that you feel really passionate about – it’s a totally different thing if you’re working on something that you’re not excited by
- It’s good to work a job that you dread for a little while, because it helps you recognize how awesome it is to have a job you’re passionate about
On interviewing incredibly successful people:
- Gets easier every time, but sometimes she still feels feels unqualified
- Tries to remind herself that she wouldn’t be in her position if at least one person didn’t think she could do it
- *This is how she battles Imposter Syndrome!*
- Tries to remind herself that she wouldn’t be in her position if at least one person didn’t think she could do it
- Believes that part of why the Business Casual podcast is so successful is their innate curiosity
- Tries to ask the questions questions that seem interesting to her, because there’s typically a lot of overlap with what the listeners will want to hear
- A common thread with the incredible people she has interviewed is humility
- Lots of diverse backgrounds as well
On mentorship:
- There are a few types of mentors you should aspire to have:
- Someone you can ask about your personal life
- Someone you can look to within your current company
- Someone you can look to outside of your current company
- Cultivating mentorship relationships doesn’t have to be scientific – it’s just having a relationship with someone that you check in with every now and then, that you feel like you can turn to with a random email after a few months and it wouldn’t be weird – that’s enough
On her biggest piece of advice for college graduates:
- Just send the email, send the text, make the call – The worst thing that can happen is that you get told “no”
- We need to be more comfortable with the word no – it’s never the end of the world
On becoming the host of Business Casual:
- When she started at Morning Brew, she made it clear that she was very interested in multimedia and if multimedia was ever in Morning Brew’s future, she wanted to be involved
- She made the ask before they even hired her
- When Morning Brew decided to do a podcast, that was still on their minds and so she was one of two people to create the podcast
- Don’t be afraid to make your ambitions known
- Say yes to things that scare you, because it can lead you to great things
Following and supporting Kinsey:
- Subscribe and listen to Business Casual
- Send her an email: [email protected]
- Follow her on Twitter: @KinseyGrant
- Follow her on Instagram: @KinseyRGrant