Nike’s VP of Digital Marketing: Kamauri Yeh

welcome to the know your ship podcast presented by ehub I’m your
host Frank Dolce that’s unbelievable Kamari thank you thank you for being
here I just so much for having awesome it’s amazing I can’t wait to talk
about your story uh so so vice president digital marketing Nike that seems
like a daunting job for anybody it’s definitely a big task it’s the biggest
one I’ve ever had but you know I just tell myself every day we’re just having
fun we’re having fun we’re having fun and if and if it’s not fun then you’re
not doing the right thing well everybody knows Nike I mean it’s it’s a it’s a
global brand it’s an unbelievable story I’ve read shoe dog uh I I’m a huge
fan of Phil Knight uh we we do have I mean we do have a little conflict in
our office here at ehub because we have a few Washington fans you dub fans
and that doesn’t mix well with the Oregon yes yes I know I’m I’m very well
aware but still still everybody’s a huge fan of the brand and what I’m really
interested in is your path to the position you find find yourself in today
yes so maybe we can we can jump into that where did you grow up so I grew up
here in Salt Lake City which is how you got me here today I’m in town
visiting family but grew up in Salt Lake City uh you know am a child of immigrant
parents so hard work ethic was just what I saw was infused in my veins that’s
what I knew to be true yeah um I also had Brothers Growing Up So and it was
also the Stockton Malone era here which is just you know that was the
religion in Utah absolutely basketball uh you know was was Talk of the Town
and anything we did was related probably somewhat to the Utah Jazz oh got you
okay my grandmother actually who just recently passed went to over 300 Jazz
games wow and she and her sister would wear these pink jerseys and show up in
their their commercials and people would go up to take pictures of them at
the game like they were the pink grandmas for the Utah Jazz so Sports was
always just a really big part of our upbringing childhood I played soccer
myself growing up here okay um did did some track and field on accident uh
they were short relay relay leg and they told me you know you’re you’re going
to go you’re going to go run that race on Saturday and I thought I don’t even
know how to do that but I ended up I ended up running track in college from
that experience so just really lucky sport was a really big part of my
upbringing um ended up at the University of Portland where I ran the 100 and
the uh 200 and the 4×1 very so you ran the 100 the 200 and the 4×1 and the
4×1 and if if we know anything about track like the superstars run the 100
and the 200 no that’s true like and if you can complete the double the 100
and 200 and then the relay in addition to that then you’re then you’re very
much like no lles right well I I have no no Richardson right here our very
own but I just I always just you know and it goes back to my earlier comment
of just having fun I had so much fun running around the track and really I
think you know how I got to how I am today I think a lot of the discipline
that you know is rooted in being a student athlete is what translates now
into my career how I show up for teams how I show up to parent because you’ve
got to be as you know really really focused on how you use the time that you
do have in your day you make every hour count you make 20 minutes count
sometimes 20 minutes is I’ve got to take a nap for 20 minutes M cuz I want to
be really effective later in the day so grp uh grp uh running track and field
while I was at the University of Portland social media was just starting MH
which year is this so this so my 2018 2009 YouTube was starting Twitter was
just starting and I got an internship at Portland Monthly magazine so a local
magazine there and the woman that I worked for head of advertising handed me
a book called Twitter Bill and she said read this and decide if we need to
open one of these accounts so by the way unpaid internship at the time I
don’t even know if you can do that anymore but Wow way to go um go home and
reading this book about Twitter bille and I’m you know I’m online I’m like
God this thing is really cool you can talk to anyone in the world whether or
not they answer is another thing but this is so cool MH so I become so
fascinated I end up launching their their Twitter and their Facebook and I’m
their first really ever Community manager and so I’m responding to people who
have these questions and I think to myself I’m and by the way at the time I’m
thinking I’m going to go to law school I’m studying organizational
communication and political science and I’m thinking I’m going to go to law
school and I’m going to follow this path because that probably seems like a
solid path sure it does it does and I’m laying in bed at night thinking God
this thing is really fun this this Community Management and this cuz really
what that is is just people talking to people I love talking to people I love
building community and I thought now if I could translate this and do it with
something related to sport I’m going to hit the jackpot so an internship
opens up at our University yeah at the no this is University of Portland
University of Portland you’re a pilot I’m a pilot yeah by the way we’re just
mascot but I’m a pilot yes well the but the pilot is not it’s a river it’s
not a it’s not an airplane pilot yeah it’s River pilot it’s a Riverboat pilot
so that’s even more weird so yeah did you know that a a Riverboat it’s not
he’s not wasn’t he the captain he’s a Riverboat pilot yes yeah okay so strange
um but while I’m at least you’re not like a banana slug yeah that’s true it
could be worse it could be worse absolutely while I’m there I meet the most
awesome man coach Eric Rau who’s Now assistant coach at Stanford for their
basketball program which is his second stint his second stint at the at
Stanford so he was at Stanford and then at he came over to University of
Portland head coach yes this is a great story I love this story I’m a little
familiar with it and and so you got involved with the basketball team I got
involved with the basketball team and I’m running their Twitter and running
their Facebook and and I and I have this idea we’re about to play Kentucky
which you know would never happen it’s not it’s like a pregame preseason type
of thing the University of Portland is playing this isn’t Kentucky like
Kentucky State Kentucky Community College which is this is the real UK
Kentucky think about that it’s probably not going to go well but probably not
probably probably bet not going probably not yeah but I’m like oh my gosh how
fun I’m going to make videos of all the players on like what and people
around campus on what they think is going to happen so I start posting these
things and they get picked up and the next thing I know es this ESPN hand
writer picks up this video I make on for Facebook and is like here are these
pilot predictions and I’m like oh my God oh my God the ESPN riter is picking
up my dinky Facebook video and so I start to get this fire in me of like oh
my gosh I think there’s really something here and this is going to be
something way bigger coach reveno at the time says hey I’m going to introduce
you to this guy at Nike his name is Andy palowski Andy was overseeing Nike
digital basketball at the time mhm the the digital team at Nike at this time
was about 10 full-time people it was a small team cuz the space was brand new
yeah so Andy takes time with me throughout the year to listen to my crazy
ideas and sit and make time to have breakfast with me I I’m getting near
towards graduation I’m trying to figure out what I’m going to do and Andy
invites me to campus this is the Nike campus this is the Nike yeah Nike World
Headquarters and he says hey I’d like to invite you to sit in on some
meetings by the way now like I’m like that’s insane that he would even open
that door to offer that yeah you’re like a senior in in College college going
to the Nike campus going to sit on meetings yeah those meetings ended up
being three interviews I’m wearing jeans I’m wearing jeans in a t-shirt why
not I have no idea yeah and I walk in and it’s now our head of head of North
americ marketing and he’s like can you do this and I’m thinking in my head oh
my God I have no idea what he’s talking about yes yes I can of course I can
no question and so I start Nike to weeks later oh my gosh and you had not had
had you graduated at this point or at that point I had just graduated and I
was still working at the magazine too I had always I always had multiple jobs
I never not was working so I’d run track go to school finish and go to the
internship and so I was always working multiple things um but it was a dream
and the contract was only supposed to start last six months and you know six
months became a year and then a year so it just kind of took shape of over
the course of its time um but I always tell people when I started Nike and on
that team it was so special because that space was the Wild Wild West these
channels were organic you know Instagram’s chronological actually Instagram
had even launched then and so we were just trying stuff and testing stuff and
it’s so amazing because Nike as a brand is known for risk-taking and
Innovation yeah being out in front and they totally let us do that in that
space we were the first brand to ever launch um C customer service on Twitter
he didn’t do that during that time after we did that Delta followed MX
followed airb B followed that was a bunch of us sitting in a conference room
saying oh my gosh you know what should this be called what should this be
called should it be a person yeah should be handle but we know we want to
service people because that’s the court serving athletes this is just a
modern way to do this MH there was one point do you remember the fuel band oh
yeah I still have many of them you do I was so I was on the community team
for the social team for the fuel band and I knew our community online
intimately like I could tell you today you know five of their names what
their goals were for themselves what they were trying to do because we had so
much conversation and dialogue with those people yeah so just a modern way to
build community and so I just love that’s why I’m so passionate about social
in general in this space even even though it’s a pay to-play model in many
cases now I still think there are just pockets of really strong organic
engagement when you build relationships well people do want to keep coming
back yeah so that’s really what that first phase at niku is about yeah
amazing well I want to I want to dig into more of your experience with Nike
and the things that you built but you brought up a few things about your past
I’d like to I’d like to talk about so it it sounds like uh you you have this
foundation in hard work and discipline grow growing up yes and and how has
that served you I mean as you look back across your career so far and you’re
still so young in in this career you have a long time to go but how has that
served you and how does that how how can you make that an example for others
who are who are trying to find their way Phil Knight has this amazing quote
where he talks about you know you can outrun or beat the competition but it’s
about beating yourself and I think that has really stuck with me in terms of
thinking about my my up bringing cuz it was really about can you do your best
that was always the question for my mom was this your best effort and you
know if you’d show up at home with your paper and you got your grade or
something was this your best effort yeah I’ve been there before my coach same
thing soccer coach was that your best effort and so these things kind of
stuck with me over time was take pride in yourself and so that has really
translated all the way from when I started my career to where I am now and
hopefully will continue on is I’m never really just trying to do something
because someone asked me to I’m trying to do it so well CU I want to prove to
myself that that was the best possible way you know thing that I could do it
was my best effort and to be able to sleep at night knowing that and I think
you know and then also the the fun piece I think the fun piece is really
important I always talk about how you know my grandparents came here from Me
and Mar I think my grandfather had $200 in his pocket you know you saw how
hard they worked the graveyard shift and it was always hard hard hard work
and I just thought to myself what a privilege to get to enjoy what I get to
do they by no means loved what they had to do it was a means to an end to
provide for the family same thing my mother hardest working woman I know she
will she works night and day you know she’s always available but she finds
joy in it although I don’t think that was her that was not her original path
to go from a from a career standpoint but to me I just also want to show up
every single day because I recognize what a privilege it is to get to do
something that I enjoy because not everyone is fortunate to do that well you
you also mentioned something about you had a plan you were going to you know
political science yes go to law school and along that path you found
something that maybe you were you discovered something that maybe you were
passionate about yes and I think that’s critical because the the thought of
winning every day and giving your best effort every day when you’re aligned
with your passion it feels like it’s much easier yes you provide yourself a
better opportunity to be your best every single day yes so talk let’s talk
about that let’s talk about finding you know Finding Your Passion and not
being stuck in in kind of this path yes well for me personally it was about
trying a lot of things so one internship I didn’t talk about so I worked at
the magazine and I had the summer because that magazine internship was unpaid
you know I needed to make some money as we needed to yeah and I ended up
getting an internship to work at a financial nonprofit in Oregon doing their
social soci media 9 to5 cubicle showed up and I thought oh my God I don’t
think that I can do this but it was so valuable because I recognized gosh
when I’m at the when I’m at the magazine I’m I have all these ideas I’m
coming up with things people want to hear these ideas they’re they’re
entertaining them at least and I’m finding that that’s really fun and when
I’m going to this financial nonprofit and they’re talking about finances
which I should probably be better about I am not at all finding this
excitement I find myself having a hard time to come up with ideas yeah I’m
feeling bored and tired sitting in the same place for eight hours a day gosh
I don’t think that I want to spend my whole life doing this so I always tell
people because they they’ll come to me I Mentor a lot of young people and
they’ll say I’m really disappointed in myself for not Landing this gig at
this company or this and I’m say and I always say to them well just start
somewhere just start doing something cuz whether you love it or you don’t
like it they’re both valuable lessons yeah absolutely and from not liking
that experience I recognized okay I can really specifically identify the
pieces I do love about this magazine job and how do I take the pieces of that
and inch it a little bit closer and marry it and marry that to my passions of
sports lifestyle fashion Etc yeah well I think there’s a really great lesson
in there because the there are a lot of people who don’t ever get to live
their passion and and it is a daily yes and it is a Daily Grind and there’s
something to be said for the for the individual who figures out a way to be
their best every day even when they don’t align necessarily with the thing
they’re doing in fact I can’t remember some NFL player who said something
about discipline and discipline is is doing the thing you hate the most like
you love it the best so yes you know we’re kind of fortunate yes we’re very
fortunate to find things that we really like to do and that we’re passionate
about and that makes it easy but you know the stuff that you grew up with and
the stuff that you saw is an extremely valuable lesson Grand parents parents
who who just had to grind to make to make things work and there’s something
you know there’s something really valuable yes in in that as well yes yeah so
anyway it’s a great story you also mentioned that you loved running you were
happy running around the track I don’t know if can you do you want to explain
that a little bit more because there’s not a lot of you know that’s a that’s
that’s not easy yes that’s not an easy thing that’s a grind yes so I work
with this executive coach and she just pointed out to me recently the other
week she and I were chatting and she was like your life is like running
around A TRU she was like you like to go as hard as you she was like you
literally love this journey you like to go really hard and then you like to
recover you like to go really hard and you just find Joy just doing it over
never and I never made the connection and she goes how did how did you never
make this connection and I said I don’t know I don’t never had anyone stop to
really point that out to me but I think it’s because when you’re running
around a track um I think about nothing you know I’m so just like in the zone
I’m so I’m so calm in a lot of ways and I’m just in a flow State and when
you’re at your Flow State you’re just you know able to just you know you’re
at peace and you’re doing you’re feeling free and and so when she said you’re
like that in your work I thought how’s that possible and she said I think
you’re able to really find this kind of flow state in the work and and also
it’s interesting because while while track is an individual sport so much of
it is your teammates M and being surrounded by by those who are trying to
maybe Chase your exact same goal trying and trying to outrun one another but all
in this way that you care about one another and so that has translated a lot
also into how I show up at work how I show up for my teammates we’re all
we’re all in this but I’m but I will put in the work to outrun you because I
know you can outrun me too and because I want to make you better yeah and so
that is totally part of it but yeah she just made that connection for me
recently the other week so how do you how do you find yourself how do you get
yourself into that flow state is that pretty natural for you is it something
that you’ve just worked on over time you know I really I get a lot of energy
from people I’m a huge people person so and actually every Friday afternoon I
actually block off my calendar just to connect with people outside of Nike
sometimes that’s my executive coach sometimes that’s people I’m mentoring
sometimes that’s just interesting people in the industry that I’ve asked
others to connect me with because that gives me energy MH that allows me to
then step into the week on Monday and take it headon with you know I’m
feeling inspired I’m feeling like I gave I’m feeling like I’m getting
something and so that’s how I’m really able to kind of keep going is because
I take just small moments to really feed myself and those Friday afternoons I
always say are like my most precious time for for me individually oh I think
it’s great that’s an unbelievable lesson and I think a lot of people go into
the weekend like oh finally the weekend and then oh Monday I’m not ready for
Monday but you’ve take you’ve taken a different approach you prepare yourself
for the falling week for Monday I think that’s amazing yes what a great
lesson and it’s that athlete mindset again it’s recovery and preparation yeah
you know everyone I love clothes Ellie knows this I love I love shopping and
I love clothes but I plan all my outfits on Sunday but I do that Sunday night
also someone David Beckham does this someone told me this all your outfits
for the week on Sunday evening on Sunday evening yeah did you watch the
documentary love that documentary didn’t he talk about that like he is super
yes my husband looked at me and he was like he’s OCD right is that I probably
am too non diagnosed but in a good way um but I do that on Sunday evening so
you know because I have a little one like you mentioned I have a little one
and so it’s so I can optimize time with him in the morning that I’m not
thinking about what I’m going to wear that day and I want to show up and feel
good so that I can you know do things well I think that’s a huge part of
being able to perform is you want to feel good you want to look good yeah so
I do that Sunday evening so all these things are around optimization but I
really feel like a huge part of that was just being an athlete well I’m going
to I have a question for you about that laying out your clothes on Sunday
evening because like don’t you just don’t you just have like a closet full of
Nike stuff and you just are like picking out your Nike gear or don’t you have
someone at Nike who’s like okay here’s your Monday outfit here’s your like
golfers like Rory mroy who’s a who’s a Nike guy like they just give him the
outfits that he’s wearing for the tournament that doesn’t happen for you you
know what styling has just been I love shopping my own closet so yes I have
tons of Nike stuff but I love to mix and match things I actually today I
almost wore I had this I found this really cool Brazil Jersey that I had from
uh 2011 and it and I just love finding like my older pieces and pairing them
with newer pieces and um I think they’re I like having uh conversation
starters it’s really fun too to think about who am I meeting this week you
know what’s going on in the sporting world this week that I want to represent
that in some way or you know so there’s just things like that that they’re
just it’s sort of fun and this and this is a little bit of you know I also
think it’s a it’s a minor way of also how to build culture no doubt okay so
you don’t have to wear Nike every day is that true you don’t but we love to
okay what how much Under Armour gear do you own oh my God we can’t even bring
that name up in here 000000 negative negative a million 0o negative a million
is that a number is negative a million a thing absolutely not you have a
black hole in your closet is underarm when my nephew Simon was at Berkeley
Simon Quan by the way is a fantastic golfer he’s down at BYU right now he was
at Cal yes uh he’s down at BYU W the state a year ago and then this year he
had a very unfortunate incident that occurred in the tournament but uh yeah
keep keep that name in mind yes I’m going to be working as his agent one day
yes so I’ll be making a transfer so Simon Quan and can am I giving up too too
much I people probably already know that he’s the grandson of the US Open
Champion Johnny Miller yes which is also amazing yes Johnny Miller still I
don’t know maybe you’re another living legend he is a living legend still to
this day favorite golf broadcaster of all time Johnny Miller was the best yes
he was the best yes I call him objective some people say he was beyond the
point of objectivity but he was great anyway anyway back to the story Simon
calls from at K he’s like what do we have what do we have to do to get Nike
back sponsoring the school cuz I hate wearing under arour that other brand
that other brand that we don’t talk about yeah anyway so that’s why he’s back
at BYU you know because it’s with the right with the right brand well I think
his uncle might be a coach down there too that may have something a couple of
reasons something to do with it well yeah I as you can see I I have my Nike
gear on today I’m super excited about I love a quarter zip and I I’ll just
say this I have worn all the brands like I I like athletic gear so but Nike
has a way of making stuff that just seems It’s stylish it fits it’s really
functional really good stuff I only wish that Nike were still more in golf
when when Nike kind of got out of golf I I mean that was kind of a sad day
for a lot of us you and my husband both yeah yeah because it it’s and I so I
was out looking for some and it was I I it was like there’s golf stuff but
not like the MK that that used to be out there anyway so this outfit that I
have on here today with I’m sad see the full thing I know it’s amazing to
tell it is it is nice but including the belt I I uh I I was really interested
in getting like in old school like oversized Nike sweatsuit that I was that’s
what I was going to wear and then I was counseled that maybe that didn’t look
as professional for the for the podcast so I ended up with this a nice
professional golf I hope I hope we find another moment to see that CU I think
that’s that’s a fashionable moment we could we’re doing this thing we’re
doing this thing with your wait is Ellie your niece Ellie is my niece yes
with Ellie and Ellie’s going to be doing this thing called Fridays with Frank
and so maybe on one of those Fridays Ellie I’ll just I’ll come full head to
toe in my old school we the people need to see that Ellie make sure that
happens you know you had an interesting I there was just something you posted
on LinkedIn about Coach rev and uh and his lessons on leadership which I
thought was really really good really insightful and and so and you commented
on that yes and and I know leadership is is something that you think about
and that’s meaningful to you and and so I can see the path growing up like
these are these are things that you are really thoughtful about is that
another one of those experiences that you had being in an athletic Arena
running the the digital the social marketing and then had this experience to
interact with the guy who who was pretty influential in your life I think so
I think the theme in a lot of people who have been core to my trajectory have
had a couple of simil similar traits and one they always care like it just
comes from a place of care two then they’re really hard on me so these things
married together of like sort and actually later in life I recognize that
there’s a name for this it’s generative leadership it is leading people with
a kind and caring Spirit but also so that when you need to be you can be
heard on them yeah and you know to me I think that that’s really unique
because I always felt like when these people push me you know people were
giving me feedback or coaching me around the track it’s because they cared
about me and so I think that that has really coach rev I think was a perfect
example of that he was less tough on me because I wasn’t his player worked
for his prr but just I but I saw a lot of the way in which he coached that
team which is I’m I’m going to be tough on you and I’m going to be the
hardest coach you’ve ever had because I care about you to be great and I
think that is something that a lot of people uh if they just knew that
earlier on in life that there is language for that is such a powerful tool I
was really grateful to to unlock that but I um actually this goes a little
bit to my time when I left Nike mhm and you went to Twitter Twitter I had an
interview with this woman Jen Prince who’s now the CEO of the Rams she is a
total badass mom three a just Superwoman asked me on the phone her first
interview question was how can I develop you as a leader I was really Junior
I was just starting my career and I had never had anyone ask me that MH and I
didn’t want to leave Nike necessarily I was drinking the Kool-Aid so hard it
was this dream job and I’m thinking God I don’t I can’t be actually thinking
about leaving this place but I went home that night and I couldn’t stop
thinking about her question and I thought maybe this is somebody that I need
to work for for Nike will always be here I will always love it and I think I
need to go work for this person cuz she’s just got me thinking what if mhm so
I pack up my car my tiny Ys I drive down the one two weeks later I’m living
in LA and I’m working for this woman and it was the strangest thing I
remember you know a lot of tech companies you they have free food Etc and so
it was lunchtime at that office and um the office manager is like hey the
food’s here and I go and get a plate and I sit back down at my desk and
someone says what are you doing eating my lunch no no no we all eat together
came out sat at this communal table I’m thinking what is this cult that I
have joined and it was so amazing because during those lunches we would teach
one another we would help one another with client problems we would that was
the culture she was building she was one she over during that time she was
over REM median entertainment for uh for Twitter sales and which brought in
the highest gross revenue for the organization she did that I really believe
because she built and fostered this culture of people who wanted to help each
other were hard on each other were there for one another we’re still many of
us still very good friends to this day and I thought you know that was such a
unique lesson for me to then take on to other things now personally at that
time I didn’t love the entertainment industry it wasn’t for me I think you
see certain things and you think certain things and then you realize you have
to walk into a studio and wear high heels and a and you know I don’t really
do that um you know so I think culturally as as a f in terms of topic I
thought God I still really miss talking about sports I miss walking into an
office and someone saying whoa you’re wearing Jordan fours that’s so cool I
didn’t realize how important that was to me yeah and so I think back to your
question earlier about finding your passion equally as valuable to recognize
the things that are not for you yeah and that again in that moment was wow
you know what this really actually validated there are so many things at Nike
that I do love but maybe I can go back and bring some of these lessons that
I’ve learned yeah into Nike yeah so Nike this was 200 I think 15 Nike asked
me to come back and oversee their digital team in the LA office this is when
Mark Parker had said we’re going to have a city up strategy and we’re going
to say we we’re going to name a couple of key cities and we’re going to go
really hard in that City and LA being one of them because we had Allstar
Weekend coming and really these kind of big temp pull moment so they wanted
to invest in talent and build up the city and I called a mentor of mine who’s
who’s an incredible executive coach now and I she she spent a career at Nik
ween and Kennedy almost about 25 years I said should I go back and she said
you can go back and be the leader you want to be and if you don’t like it you
can leave because you’ve already left once so what’s the harm thought you’re
right there’s really nothing to lose here and I get to stay in LA and do yoga
on the beach there’s really nothing to lose here um so I joined back at at
Nike in their LA office walk in and probably had some of the most fun years
of my entire career I did everything from overseeing digital marketing to uh
brand experiences so under brand experience was all the physical events the
experiential side and that was again a unique moment in my career cuz I was
told overnight you know this person who has 20 plus years of experience in
events now reports to you 20 yeah yeah that’s I think that’s really
interesting because you left so so you left Nike would it be fair to say in a
junior position totally Junior position okay you go you go to Twitter you’re
at Twitter for four years I was actually only at Twitter for a year and a
half that was it that was it and and so but valuable lessons from from
Twitter I think the one that you mentioned including where you want to be
where I want to be yes it validated where I want to be okay and and so great
Leadership Lessons and now you’re back at Nike yes but but in a leadership
role yes okay and several people reporting to you including people who tenure
yeah in the industry much would be considered senior yes to your experience
level is that fair yes okay so yes you’ve talked about like I I love this
thing about leadership is not sure leadership is about putting your arm
around somebody and saying hey we you got this you know we can do this yes
you have all the stuff you just you know but leadership is also about
providing critical objective and sometimes what can feel like harsh feedback
I think that’s how people grow yes okay so now you tell me how you find
yourself in that position with someone who is maybe more senior in their role
and who was by the way basically like a maternal figure to me in that office
yeah and so here I am sat down and said and told