249. I'm Possible: How To Own Your Leadership Style & Make Difficult Decisions With Brooks Running Chief Marketing Officer Melanie Allen
Hurdle
Emily Abbate
5 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 31 March 2025
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Last week, Melanie Allen was working on plans for fall 2026. As the Chief Marketing Officer at Brooks Running, she's always thinking three steps (or, at least four seasons) ahead. In this week's episode, she's talking us through how she arrived to this role, and what it’s like to own her power as a leader and make decisions without “a safety net.” Plus: The important lessons she learned from her mother, what it was like to run her first half-marathon, and how she manages to tame negative self-talk.
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IN THIS EPISODE
(4:54) Melanie talks about her time working at Starbucks and how she was the mastermind behind the PSL marketing boom and making it a chilled offering
(7:40) Melanie talks about the decision to train for her first half-marathon because of her co-workers when her daughter was 5 years old
(18:34) Melanie talks about how it felt to take action once she transitioned into her role at Brooks, and no longer having a safety net to make important decisions
(21:55) Melanie talks about how she makes importance of having grace when making difficult decisions
(26:54) What balance looks like in practice for Melanie, plus takeaways from corporate development programming she did at P+G
(39:15) What it’s like for Melanie to own her mistakes and lead with compassion
(44:04) Melanie talks about what it was like to grow up with a deaf mother, and the lessons that relationship has taught her about tenacity
(48:15) How to move from managing at work to truly leading
(52:10) Some of the best career advice that Melanie has ever received
OFFERS
Brooks Running | Loving my new Glycerin 22, grab yourself a pair at BrooksRunning.com/
SEQUEL | Head to trysequel.com/ and use HURDLE at checkout for 15% off a box of super
JOIN: The Daily Hurdle IG Channel
ASK ME A QUESTION: Leave me a voice message, or email [email protected], to ask me a question!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm possible. You're the one that's going to make this happen. You have to chart your own course. |
| 0:04.9 | Sometimes it can be scary, but break it down and it will all come over time. And you also don't have |
| 0:09.8 | to have all the answers. You know, you don't have to have your entire life planned out. What's going on? |
| 0:28.6 | You're listening to episode 249 of Hurtle, a wellness focus podcast where I talk to |
| 0:35.7 | inspirational people about everything from their highest, |
| 0:38.1 | highs and toughest moments to essential tips on how to live, a healthier, happier, more |
| 0:43.6 | motivated life. We all go through hurdles in life. My goal through these discussions is to empower |
| 0:49.4 | you to better navigate yours and move with intention so you can stride towards your own big potential. |
| 0:56.3 | And of course, have some fun along the way. |
| 1:00.7 | Now, before I talk about this week's guest, Melanie Allen, she's the chief marketing |
| 1:05.1 | officer at Brooks Running, I want to say two things. |
| 1:08.5 | The first thing is I shared a poll in five minute Friday. |
| 1:11.7 | The episode for that five minute Friday is March 28th. And for all of you who have voted, |
| 1:17.8 | thank you. I appreciate you. If you haven't voted yet, head on in specifically to Spotify to vote |
| 1:24.5 | in the poll. It would be super helpful for me to garner some data from you. |
| 1:29.9 | The second thing I want to address here is that if you have been tuning in to hurdle this |
| 1:34.4 | month, then you know that Brooks Running has been sponsoring the show in March. |
| 1:40.1 | It is no coincidence that I'm having Melanie on the show today. |
| 1:43.9 | We have known each other for some time now. I actually had an opportunity to interview. It is no coincidence that I'm having Melanie on the show today. |
| 1:46.0 | We have known each other for some time now. |
| 1:52.9 | I actually had an opportunity to interview her for the first time IRL back at the top of 2020. And I was honored when I said to the team, hey, as a part of this sponsorship, |
| 1:59.0 | why don't we get Mel on the show and have her tell her story? |
... |
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