YouSaid · the spoken record

Maryam Banikarim

lines on the record: 41
first: 2026-03-17
most recent: 2026-03-17
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“I would say embrace the mess. It's actually difficult, but the thing that will be most rewarding, if you can somehow let go and sort of just be and remember the things that gave you joy when you were younger, you begin to connect with things you didn't even. Know you didn't know about for a while. And I think that's what the flash mob was about. I was like, Why not? Let's see what that opens up.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I literally chased the head of the DOT under the Adams administration to have a conversation with them about it. Like, no stone unturned. That won't be the reason it won't happen. I'm always optimistic.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Every night when I walk the dog at 11 o'clock, I reflyered the street. You know, I didn't leave it to chance. It wasn't going to not work because I didn't put in the elbow grease. So then when that worked the first year, it was like, wow, there's something here. So I could have that moment of like, okay, there's something here. Maybe we should do it again. But I also dream of doing one across the Brooklyn Bridge. Now, that's not easy, right? But it could be really amazingly glorious, like literally and figuratively connecting people over a body of water for a shared meal. So I've been chasing that for three years”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I was always a plan A, B, and C kid. You know, I never thought something was going to work out, so I always having different things. I mean, in my head, it's a bit of a mess. I think AI could really organize my head. So I try lots of different things, not really necessarily always knowing if it's going to work out or not. With the longest table, I had no idea if that was going to work. It was just an idea. But when we started doing it and just putting up the flyers.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Honestly, when we started doing New York City next in the longest table, I really felt that, right? In that moment where the city was at its worst, when really there was nobody out on the streets, when everybody came together to make a moment for Broadway happen, you know, to sing one song on the steps of Times Square when nobody was being given permits, where Bernard Up Peter showed up and 24 other people and Clear Channel gave us free boards and Gary Vayner did free PR and Andrew Gollum did free ads that we put up. It wasn't about any one person. And by the way, who better than marketers to do that kind of a thing? Who better than marketers, the great community and create a long table? I mean, seriously. I mean, that is what we're built for. Not just making a marketing campaign. Yeah, I can get on a soapbox.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It was like easy for people to just move expeditiously to save their skin. I wanted to be on the boat with other people who are rowing in the same direction for a cause that was bigger than themselves. Really, there was something magical about that.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Sometimes they are purpose driven, sometimes they say they're purpose driven, as you know. You know, I remember people always say like, I want people who are going to tell me like it is. Sometimes they mean that, sometimes they don't. I mean, I remember I met a CEO and he wanted to hire me like literally after an hour meeting. And I was a little thrown. And I said, you don't know me. I'm actually going to tell you bad news even when you don't want to hear it. Like, are you sure you're up for that? And people think they're up for that. And then you do that. And guess what? There's a price to pay. I think for me, choosing a CO is like choosing a friend in the sense that like I have to be values aligned, right? I have to know that you're not just going to pivot on the dime and be like, oh, you know, flavor of the month. Like you have to actually be able to make hard decisions that you can stand by something I learned early on actually as a child and revolution.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“For me, I really care deeply about purpose, right? I cared about working at a place where I believed in the product that I thought we could make a difference beyond just making money. So I picked people who were purpose driven. Like that was a thing that mattered for me.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I think you get better. But what is the corporate job like? Like half of it is about getting the job, half of it is just the politics.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And so we learn at every job. We learn what we like, who we want to be. I think I've learned to be kinder over time and less focus on just getting the job done, right? Like you hire me and I'm going to move mountains to get what you need done. Now I think I would push back a little bit more on that. Now I have a little bit more perspective. I mean, I remember so distinctly at NBC there was my I2 bosses. There was a moment where one boss I inherited a group and she wanted me to just get rid of all of them. And I was like, okay, I know a way to solve that. I could do that. You know, I have a way that I could make that happen. And the other one was like, I'm not going to let you do that because politically that is massacre and you're going to, that's not going to be a good thing, right? So it was interesting having these two bosses who, one who just wanted what she wanted at whatever cost and the other one who sort of had a political read.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And then I had my group meeting with my team and somebody said to me, we fired all these people and hired you. And then a person said, well, you have the worst job outside of the janitor. I was like, welcome.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I was always the outsider in my life, so it was kind of a perfect fit for me. I will say that you do have this bravado or this ability to put fear aside, which I think is definitely true for me. I remember when I took the job at NBC Universal and it was my dream job, right? Like cheers, friends. That was my network. And I get the job and I'm so excited. It was after Univision. And I signed a contract. I show up and the HR person says to me, you know that these are the mean kids in school, like the ones who won't let you sit at the cafeteria table. And I remember saying to her like, maybe you should have said that to me before I signed my contract.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, what I would say is it's very political, right? And I don't know. Do people really understand that? You go in gung-ho trying to make all this change and the company may reject the organ that they need, right? I will say somebody who did change and turnaround. I often was the outsider who was brought in.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You have to get the CFO on board, the CEO on board. I mean, that is part of the job in the C suite. I will say when you're doing a longest table or whatever, you have to bring other people who are as crazy as you are willing to do things that, you know, may seem irrational to other people, but when they come together, a boy is their magic to be unlocked.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“In the end, great marketing is actually solving somebody's need, right? That's why marketers by definition are curious. Like, you have to be interested. I remember when I was at NBC Universal, I was not an oxygen viewer. So it didn't matter whether I liked the show or not. It was about who the oxygen viewer was and did the show actually connect with them. In today's world, it's very, very two-way, right? It's not a one-way experience. So how do you invite them in? So, I mean, I don't know in the end. I have less of a framework and I think I've developed more of an instinct over time, but you do have to bring other people along in a big organization, right?”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And so when you do that, everybody, it's like an orchestra. They all get to have their own piece. They all get to be individuals but part of a collective. I think that is a huge lesson for marketing because in today's day and age, you don't control things. You think you control things, but you don't.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“and you invite others in because none of these things were done as one person, real magic can be unlocked. And in the end, marketing is about storytelling, right? I think the longest table has grown through other people's storytelling. In the end, it's about connecting emotionally, right? So people want to feel things when you're a CMO, it's so much command and control. When you're in the C-suite in general, right? Leading from the top, directing from the top. I tell people you do the longest table, it's about grace and trust. Somebody shows up for a volunteer meeting and says they're going to organize the day of volunteers. You don't know them. And you're like, all right, Bob looks okay like Bob. You know what? All you. And if Bob doesn't do it my way, it's totally okay. Actually, it's kind of amazing”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Low investment thing to do other than being embarrassed if it didn't work out, right? And so we just tried it. And now we have over 2,000 people who come to Chelsea for a long table on the street and 50 of these that have happened across the country. I didn't set out to create a movement. You know, I didn't see my way to 50 tables when I started. I think one of the things, you know, that I highly encourage everybody to do is just to be willing to try things. Oftentimes what happens when you're in these big jobs, you have to convince people, right? You have to present big proposals and convince them. Do brands matter? How much is it going to cost? What's the art? By that time, like the creative idea has been shriveled up and thrown away. What I've discovered between New York City next, where we did a moment for Broadway and the Billy Joel video that one in Emmy, right? Like totally out of my regular box, is that sometimes if you really believe in something,”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“One of the things I've learned between the New York City next, the longest table, the messy parts, the interval, is like a lot of these things were not baked business plans. You know, they weren't like laid out with the strategy in a 10-year plan. They were just ideas. You know, the longest table was an idea. Like, what if we did this? And then I tried it. I had no idea if it was going to work or not. It was a.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I decide okay, I'm gonna pivot and go the other way. And so I just found out that the messy parts had been written up really nicely by somebody on medium. I just wanted to talk about that. So, you know, it's like I'm a millennial or whatever that is that knows how to make those videos. I will say like anything, the more you do it, the better you get. No, definitely my daughter does the eye roll like, oh my God, mom. But yeah, you're right. I probably, it's like good thing I was never worried about being cool. I definitely am not”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I get on the subway and I hear an alarm. So I'm like, wait a second, what's happening? And then I say to the person next to me, like, are we moving towards the smoke”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Remember joy where you actually get to feel joy, which dancing does for you. I think watching a sports game does for people, you know, experiencing music does for you. It really does change your mood. I will confess that I had to buy a bottle of Advil in order to be able to survive a flash mob. You know, like my hips aren't the same.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Memory anymore, and then we showed up on Sunday. There we were on 22nd Street dancing in bright colors. And it was so fun. We danced to Lady Gaga. I have to say, I would definitely join a second flash mob. And, you know, one of the things I think is we don't have enough joy in our lives these days. I mean, the world can be difficult. Like there's a lot going on, as you pointed out, in Iran, but even here. And just having a moment where you”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, the flash mob was organized for the Every Woman Biennial, which is a biennial that is for women and non-binary artists. And so they were organizing this flash mob as part of their opening, which was on International Women's Day on Sunday. But they had me at Flash Mob. I was like, I've always wanted to be in a flash mob, right? I mean, I don't know. I'm not a great dancer, but, you know, I like to dance. I went to one rehearsal. I kept saying to them, make it simple.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Human I'm Rana El Khalyubi, and on my podcast Pioneers of AI, we answer that question and so many more. As an AI scientist, entrepreneur, and investor, I know what it takes to build AI that works for everyone. Every week I sit down with the pioneers shaping our future, and we take you behind the scenes of the AI that's transforming our lives. Pioneers of AI were ever you tune in.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Since we've announced, since we went public, we actually have gotten inbounds from men who want to join. Men go through the same kind of a thing when they step away. I talked to a friend who was a CEO at a very big company, and he left his job at the end of December. I talked to him maybe a couple weeks ago. He said, for two months, I was super busy. Today's the first day I have nothing to do. I don't know what to do with myself. I just think about this like, you know, my middle school analogy. It's like, you know when you're in a big job, everybody calls you. The minute you leave that big job, like all of a sudden it's like you at the plague. Nobody seems to remember you, right? But the two people who call you, you remember them. You remember the people who are there for you, not on the high, but on the low. Because guess what? It's easy to be there for the party. Not so easy to be there.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You have free time. You can go to yoga, right? But you're having all these existential moments. And so I introduced Shelley to a couple of people. And then over the course of 18 months, there was like a hundred people in this group, like literally there'sn't a week that doesn't go by where somebody doesn't say, I have somebody else who should join. So, I think we're going to see. Now, we know having been parts of lots of communities that size matters in terms of intimacy, right? And so I think we're very intentional about how we're going to evolve the interval. If you reach this level and you find a group of people who are willing to be there for you, I joke like in their curlers, right? Not like in their best suit, like just like, yeah, I see you. So I think the intimacy matters. And can you do that and scale?”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The backstory of that is that when I left Hyatt, I took a year and a half off. It was such a moment of privilege to be able to stop working and not worry about paying my bills. And it led me to write this article, which the New York Times published, I talked about stepping away, right? This moment where my son said to me, if you go back in, I'd miss you. And that moment like really stopped me in my tracks and made me decide to not go back in, which was terrifying. But then, as I said, amazing. So Shelly Huff and I met Shelly's, my co-founder. We met at Fortune's most powerful women, a room that was, you know, a big thing to get invited into. She just left as CORDA Simmons, and she came to find me a couple months later in New York, and I said to her, this is a hard thing to go through. Like if you run at that pace when you stop, it's like the earth moves beneath your feet. And it's hard for people around you to understand because, you know, they're like, oh my God.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Know my mom used to say, and it was such a cringe moment for me, she'd be like, it's never too late. You can still be Oprah. And I'd be like, oh, mom.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And I think motion was my default. He was not wrong. But I think one of the nice things about sitting with other members of the interval is that we recognize each other. I actually spoke to somebody who went back in for a job and she called me a couple months later and she said, I've decided to leave this job that I went back in for. And I was like, wow, you just took it. Like, what happened? She said, being part of the interval made me realize that life is too short and I don't want to live my life that way. And I have the privilege of not. So I've decided to move on. I think there's so many different ways to live your life. For me, the longest table, which is a nonprofit, has been a way to reinvent myself, right? To just give back in a different way. And honestly, I'm in a place to be able to do that now, even doing the podcast. I always wanted to be a journalist. Apparently that was seeded from fifth grade. But I was financially not in a place where I felt like I had that opportunity.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The through line is belonging. I think for me as a kid who lost her sense of belonging, not only creating belonging for myself, which I really did by joining and doing, like that's how I found belonging. I was like, I'm willing to help and get involved. But also finding, helping others find belonging for themselves like nobody needs to repeat middle school, I say. Like I think we can all relate to that emotion. I think that that matters in the world of business when you step away, again, by choice or not, there is this incredible moment of vulnerability. And I think what's amazing about the interval is that you find a group who is willing to support you without judgment. I mean, I remember when I left Hyatt, my son said to me, mom, you're the most busy unemployed person I know.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You know, I have kids who've never been to Tehran, right? They weren't born outside of Iran. Would I like to be able to take them back and show them where I grew up and sort of this incredible rich history, a country that's been around for a very long time with amazing sights and people, of course. But the question becomes at what price? And by the way, is there an end in sight? I don't know. It's hard to tell. I mean, do any of us know?”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's a hard thing to watch from afar. And I know people who check in on their family, and I should say the families check in on them because the internet isn't working, cell phones aren't working, landlines are how parents are getting through to their children or cousins to their cousins. You know, people wake up and it's pitch black from the fumes, right? And I think I'm worried about the water supply. There's all kinds of things. And that's not even talking about all the implications that could happen outside of Iran and other neighboring countries and frankly even here.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, you know, but I think it's hard not to look on. Obviously, there's a lot of civilians being impacted, not just in Iran, but in also all the other places where bombs are being dropped. There's no question that this has been a government that's sort of terrorized its own people. I think there's a sense of we're going to burn it to the ground before we give up. So you worry about where the end is. I don't think anybody, you know, who knows what's happened in terms of the repression and really the aggression with which they've put down any kind of protest. You know, would be sad that things change, but I do think we're going to experience a high cost of what you call, you know, unintended casualties, right? And I think.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yes, I still have family there. My aunt and her husband. Something in me broke, and I cried. I don't think I'd cried the entire time, right? For me, I was a kid as the revolution heated up. We had more and more kids who were being pulled out of school. We had teachers who left. We had martial law. My father was under house arrest. But as a kid, oddly, I found it exciting. And so I had an American teacher. She did current events. And I remember at the end of the year, she said to my mom, your daughter's going to become a journalist. And as they were killing all the journalists, my mom said to her, that is a fate worse than death.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Still trying to figure out what I'm going to be when I grow up. I don't know where this journey is going to take me, but each thing leads you to the next thing, right? And so I think that belief that it will work out, even though it seems easy to say, is actually Pretty much true. I would say that is the through line among all the people who've come on. Now, they have some of them will tell you, you know, live your purpose. Some of them tell you don't live your purpose. Like there's a lot of competing ideas, but the one thing I will say is grit, resilience. They work hard and they learn over time that even though they have these bumps, which are inevitable, that it somehow works itself out.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm a professional problem solver that's generally what I say people are in the world of business. The hardest thing for me is sitting still. When that pause comes, it's a real moment of identity shift because I remember leaving Hyatt and taking a year and a half off and literally to the person they would be like She's the former global CMO of Hyatt as if somehow I had no value outside of that title I had headhunters who called me who said, you know, don't wait too long because you're not going to be able to go back in. I mean, there's so much anxiety that's placed on you when you pause. Again, whether it's by choice or not. And I think for people who are successful To get to that level, yeah, your identity is completely intertwined because you had to make sacrifices in order to be able to get there.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Bloomberg talks about having started Bloomberg as a result of being fired, right? When people step away or pause, whether by choice or by somebody else's choice, what ends up happening is that you have to sort of decompress and deal and find a pathway. I had a job that I took at Amarati Puris Lintos. It's not even on my resume. I took that job and a weekend I knew, oh, things were not good here. You know, that was terrifying, but if I hadn't walked away from that job, I wouldn't have had a pivot in that moment that really became transformative for my career after that. It's easy to see that in retrospect, but when it was happening and I was like, oh my effing God. Yeah, that didn't feel so good.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I think I never knew anything but messy. I mean, I'm a kid who grew up in a revolution. My mom and dad went to college in Boston and left me behind with my grandmother in Iran when I was three, which most people think is really traumatic. But what else did I know? You know, I had a father who drowned windsurfing when I was a sophomore in college. I mean, I only know Messi. But what I also learned as a result how to pick myself back up pretty quickly. And I think the sooner you learn that, the easier it gets. Not that we want people to have complicated journeys. But I do think you develop this muscle memory that while it may be hard, you learn sort of that it's going to be okay.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The show is about interviewing successful people about the things that go wrong. I think that in a world like we live in today, we see the highlights real, whether it's on Instagram or LinkedIn or anyplace else. It looks really easy to sort of climb the ladder or become a founder and have a unicorn company, right? But the truth is it's never easy. Everybody has messy parts. Those moments stay with you and you figure out how to pick yourself back up. They're never easy, but actually that's where the growth is, right?”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I remember when I took the job at NBC Universal, and it was my dream job, right? Like cheers, friends. That was my network. I show up and the HR person says to me, You know that these are the mean kids in school, like the ones who won't let you sit at the cafeteria table. And I remember saying to her like, maybe you should have said that to me before I signed my contract. And then I had my group meeting with my team, and somebody said to me, we fired all these people and hired you. And then a person said, well, you have the worst job outside of the janitor.”
2026-03-17 · Masters of Scale · The C-suite is messier than you think, with Maryam Banikarim · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT