Dynamic Duos: Social Soup’s Sharyn Smith and Katie Palmer-Rose
In this week's Dynamic Duos, Social Soup CEO and founder Sharyn Smith and managing director Katie Palmer-Rose share how their partnership has endured the evolution of the social media marketing industry over the past 15 years, sharing a passion for the power of the influencer.
In Dynamic Duos, Mumbrella each week asks two members of the same organisation with a professional and personal affiliation to share with readers the importance of workplace relationships in an increasingly hybridised world of work.
Sharyn Smith:
Katie was hired while I was on maternity leave so I didn’t meet her immediately. I’d put a GM in to run my fledgling business, Social Soup, while I had my first baby, but he left the business unexpectedly.
Our first conversation was when Katie called the office to find out when she was going to start. I was actually pondering if I could come back to work and run the business with an eight-week-old baby and having Katie there gave me the motivation I needed to do it; I couldn’t let this person down, as she had just quit her job to join our very small team.
It’s been a privilege to work alongside Katie for almost 15 years and watch her develop and thrive in the workplace and go on to have three children of her own along the way.
From the beginning, Katie has always treated the business like it was her own and acted like an owner, meaning it wasn’t hard to make the decision to give her equity in Social Soup and eventually make her the MD.
The path to where we are in the influencer marketing industry hasn’t always been easy, but Katie has stayed the course. I’m very grateful she has chosen to stay with Social Soup for so long. I think it’s mostly because we both believe in what we do and the power of people as the most impactful marketing channel, when harnessed in the right way. I also think we share a similar set of values and understand that with leadership comes responsibility to do something good for the world, to treat people with respect and to look beyond just commercial success.
We don’t always agree on things and I’m probably more idealistic and future focused so it’s good to have someone like Katie to ground those ideals and ensure we are also acting in the present. Ultimately, you need both to run a successful business.
Katie Palmer-Rose:
Sharyn and I have now worked together for almost exactly 15 years. I was the third or fourth person hired into Social Soup and I met her on my first day. As is now a part of the Social Soup story, Sharyn didn’t hire me. She was on maternity leave when her replacement hired me and then left unexpectedly before I started.
From that moment, with Social Soup in its infancy and the first of what would be five babies between us, it has been an amazing thing to work together over this time and see not only Social Soup but both of our families grow and flourish.
I will always remember meeting Sharyn for the first time. She was dressed immaculately with an effortless cool (and still after 15 years, she never misses a day) and impossibly ready to go with an eight-week-old baby. What I would go on to see consistently over the past 15 years is that Sharyn has a determination and drive, coupled with an ability to see future potential and steer Social Soup to the path less taken.
We have always brought different and complimentary skills to Social Soup. While we don’t always agree, we are aligned on the important things and are guided by the fact that creating meaningful connections with people, across our team, our community and our clients is at the heart of what we do.
Sharyn and I also share the same unwavering belief about the power of people and that when you create the right conditions, they are the most powerful channel. Seeing this come to life has been my motivation to continue to work at Social Soup. It has been interesting to see how the market has moved from scepticism of the concept to a stage of maturation, regulation and ROI.
With the launch of The Influence Group in February this year, we’ve been able to use research to put a spotlight on how to strategically consider influence channels as part of a broader media plan to achieve incremental impact for brands. It’s exciting to see this potential for influence being realised, and the best is yet to come.
Sharyn on Katie:
Most memorable moment with Katie: Where do I start? Over 15 years you build up a lot of great moments and Katie makes each one of them special. It’s probably creating the first ever content campaign with Melbourne hipsters before smart phones were even a thing or being there for the whole journey by watching influence go from a Wild West to this regulated, driven medium that is flourishing.
Describe Katie in one word: Motivator. Katie is someone who can convince you to do anything. She is the rising tide that lifts the ships, by always bringing a lot of positive energy to every situation.
Katie’s most annoying habit or endearing behaviour: Challenging Katie can prove difficult when she’s made up her mind as she’s such a force to be reckoned with!
Katie on Sharyn:
Most memorable moment with Sharyn: There are lots over the past 15 years. One standout is working for XXXX Gold and us delivering cases of beer out to a set of “top blokes” in Penrith (always being asked to come in for a beer). But more truthfully, moments like celebrating the 10th anniversary of Social Soup, sharing end of year celebrations with the team, winning the AiMCo Agency of the Year, they are the moments that feel like, wow, look at how far we’ve come.
Describe Sharyn in one word: Accomplished. Sharyn is an absolute standout at whatever she puts her mind to. When she saw an opportunity to democratise the media landscape, she started a business to drive change; Social Soup started well before Instagram. She created the influence industry in Australia before “influence” was even a thing. More broadly, whether it be around sustainability, or creating a better world, Sharyn is determined to create change and meaningfully creates it.
Sharyn’s most annoying habit or endearing behaviour: Sharyn always has a lot of great ideas and, as such, always has biggest and most varied projects on the go – think running a business, being on boards, new business idea, going plastic free for a year etc. etc., but it always comes together. It’s an impressive feat, yet annoying for us mere mortals.
If you and a colleague would like to submit your story to Dynamic duos, please email kwelch@mumbrella.com.au
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