We Fixed It, You're Welcome

A famous last name can get you the meeting, the press coverage and the first check. It can't answer your support tickets, fix your fulfillment or make the unit economics work. So when a last opens every door, how can we tell whether the business behind it is actually any good? Join Chino Nnadi, Aaron Wolpoff and Melissa Eaton to unpack the world of "nepo babies" in business, which we agree is a loaded term. Using Phoebe Gates' AI shopping assistant Phia, Hailey Bieber's Rhode, David Ellison's Skydance, the Kardashian brand empire and Stella McCartney as examples, the panel breaks down what a famous name really buys: the removal of doubt, faster access to investors, and a financial safety net most bootstrapped founders never get. They also look at who's really behind many celebrity "co-founder" brands, and why the Theranos board is a warning about trusting big names over real expertise. The conversation lands on a simple test: strip away the story, look at who's actually running the company, and judge it on retention, not reach. A head start isn't the problem. Pretending it doesn't exist is. Panelists: Chino Nnadi – https://www.linkedin.com/in/chino-talentstrategist/ Melissa Eaton – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mseaton/ Aaron Wolpoff – https://www.linkedin.com/in/marketingaaron/ Connect With the Show Subscribe for more deep dives where we fix big business problems with fresh perspectives. • Website – www.wefixeditpod.com • Follow us on: Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wefixeditpod LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wefixeditpod YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@WeFixedItPod If you liked this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your friends! Keep listening to find out how we fix companies and put them back better than we found them. Disclaimer A quick disclaimer. We are going into this somewhat cold and nothing we say should be construed as legal advice, financial advice or anything that would get us in trouble. These are our views and opinions. We’re here to ask the kinds of questions everyone’s thinking, have an engaging conversation and maybe come to some conclusions that we feel are worth exploring. By the end, if we fixed it, you’re welcome. All trademarks, IP and brand elements discussed are property of their respective owners.

Advertising Week and the future of industry conferences get a full rebuild on We Fixed It You're Welcome, recorded live in New York with Erica Boeke, CEO of XP Land. Aaron sits down with Erica in NYC while Melissa and Chino join remotely to ask why Advertising Week New York now runs out of an old Herald Square mall, why event sponsorship budgets are shrinking, and why the best conference networking happens at fringe events. Erica, who spent years creating brand experiences for Condé Nast titles, lays out an experiential marketing and event marketing strategy playbook for Advertising Week 2027 built around the attendee experience. In this episode: - Why Erica last spoke at Advertising Week in a former JC Penney boys department - The dirty little secret: why she hasn't bought a badge for SXSW, AWNY or Cannes in years - How 86 devices for the 86th Oscars beat a $250,000 logo-on-a-napkin package - Why Canva, Sephora and Target no longer need conferences to reach their fans - The fixes: make New York the campus, program downtime, design moments of awe What you will learn Why Advertising Week moved from Broadway theaters to a Herald Square mall, where Erica last spoke inside the old JC Penney boys department The dirty little secret of big conferences: why Erica hasn't bought a badge for SXSW, AWNY or Cannes in years, and why that should worry organizers How Erica got Samsung to deliver 86 devices for the 86th Oscars green room, and why that story beats a $250,000 logo-on-a-napkin sponsorship Why one major insurance tech conference's sponsor list shrank to roughly half of what it was three years ago How Canva, Sephora and Target built audiences big enough that conferences now need them more than they need conferences Why the best feedback from a Fast Company Innovation Festival survey was about networking on the shuttle buses The 2027 fixes: audit the attendee journey, make New York the campus, get out of the mall, program downtime and design moments of awe About the guest Erica Boeke started her career as a journalist before moving to the brand side at Condé Nast, where she created experiences for titles including GQ, Teen Vogue, Wired and Architectural Digest. Her work includes the Oscars green room with designer David Rockwell. Today she runs XP Land, which hosts experiential events alongside Advertising Week and is launching its first experience upfront next year. Connect with Erica Boeke: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erica-boeke/  Connect With the Show Subscribe for more deep dives where we fix big business problems with fresh perspectives. • Website – www.wefixeditpod.com • Follow us on: Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wefixeditpod LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/wefixeditpod YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@WeFixedItPod If you liked this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your friends! Keep listening to find out how we fix companies and put them back better than we found them. Disclaimer A quick disclaimer. We are going into this somewhat cold and nothing we say should be construed as legal advice, financial advice or anything that would get us in trouble. These are our views and opinions. We’re here to ask the kinds of questions everyone’s thinking, have an engaging conversation and maybe come to some conclusions that we feel are worth exploring. By the end, if we fixed it, you’re welcome. All trademarks, IP and brand elements discussed are property of their respective owners.

It feels like one of those environmental debates we settled a long time ago. Paper comes from trees, breaks down, and feels natural. Plastic comes from fossil fuels and represents pollution. So if we're trying to make the environmentally responsible choice, paper seems like the obvious answer. Except the closer you look, the less obvious it gets. Depending on the conditions, paper can require more material, water, and energy to produce than plastic. Plastic can perform better in some lifecycle assessments, while also creating challenges around recycling, microplastics, and environmental impact. In this episode of We Fixed It, Christine Yeager joins the conversation to unpack the complicated reality behind one of the most familiar sustainability questions. Christine spent more than 11 years at Coca-Cola, eventually leading its North American Sustainability Project Management Office. She also worked with Circular Action Alliance to help move Extended Producer Responsibility programs from policy into implementation. Today, she helps producers and service providers navigate EPR. The conversation explores packaging choices, lifecycle assessments, recycling infrastructure, consumer behavior, corporate sustainability, and the economics behind Extended Producer Responsibility. Because the real question isn't simply paper or plastic? It's: What happens to that material across its entire lifecycle? What You Will Learn Why paper isn't automatically more sustainable than plastic Why plastic can perform better in some lifecycle assessments How lifecycle assessments influence packaging decisions Why packaging weight matters How energy sources can change the environmental impact of paper Why recyclability doesn't guarantee actual recycling What Extended Producer Responsibility means How EPR changes the economics of packaging Why EPR primarily incentivizes recyclability Why recycling is heavily influenced by geography Why the same packaging can have different outcomes in different locations Why local infrastructure matters Why consumers respond strongly to “recyclable” and “compostable” Why compostable packaging can still create infrastructure challenges What companies can learn from McDonald's paper straw experience What Coca-Cola learned from changing Sprite's packaging Why some sustainability work is invisible to consumers Why recycling needs functioning end markets Why recycled material can be more expensive than virgin material How EPR could change corporate packaging decisions About the Guest Christine Yeager is an environmental sustainability professional, consultant, and founder of CSY Impact Consulting. Christine spent more than 11 years at Coca-Cola and eventually led its North American Sustainability Project Management Office. She later worked with Circular Action Alliance, helping move Extended Producer Responsibility programs from policy toward implementation. Today, Christine helps producers and service providers navigate EPR and sustainability challenges, with a focus on the systems, economics, and practical realities behind environmental impact. Christine also hosts the Change Cycle podcast. Connect with Christine Yeager LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinesyeager/ Website - https://www.csyimpact.com Change Cycle podcast - https://www.csyimpact.com/podcast Connect With the Show Subscribe for more deep dives where we fix big business problems with fresh perspectives. Website:www.wefixeditpod.com Follow us on: Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/wefixeditpod LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/wefixeditpod YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@WeFixedItPod If you liked this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your friends! Keep listening to find out how we fix companies and put them back better than we found them. Disclaimer A quick disclaimer. We are going into this somewhat cold and nothing we say should be construed as legal advice, financial advice or anything that would get us in trouble. These are our views and opinions. We’re here to ask the kinds of questions everyone’s thinking, have an engaging conversation and maybe come to some conclusions that we feel are worth exploring. By the end, if we fixed it, you’re welcome. All trademarks, IP and brand elements discussed are property of their respective owners.

UPS has spent 119 years building one of the world's most disciplined operating systems. But now the company is changing that machine from the inside: consolidating responsibility, restructuring operations, reducing costs, closing facilities and moving away from Amazon volume that no longer fits the economics of the business. Noel Massie knows what that machine looks like from the inside. He spent 42 years at UPS, beginning as a college student loading trucks in 1977 and eventually becoming a president of five business units and Vice President of U.S. Delivery Operations. He describes a company where managers were given real ownership, frontline employees were trusted to make decisions, and culture was treated as an operating system rather than a poster on the wall. Aaron Wolpoff, Chino Nnadi and Melissa Eaton use Noel's experience to examine a much bigger business question: Can a company become more standardized and efficient without becoming too rigid to respond when reality gets messy? The conversation goes deep into UPS's long-running transformation, its volatile relationship with Amazon, the economics of unpredictable volume, the difference between standardizing guardrails and localizing judgment, and why Noel believes the company's biggest competitive advantage is ultimately its culture of ownership. About the guest Noel Massie is a former UPS executive with more than four decades of experience in operations, logistics and leadership. He began working for UPS in 1977 while attending San Jose State University, initially taking a night-loading job to pay for college. He expected to leave UPS after graduation for a position at Hewlett-Packard, but the company convinced him to stay and promoted him into management. Over the course of his UPS career, Massie became a manager, mid-level leader, president of multiple business units and ultimately Vice President of U.S. Delivery Operations. In his final role, he supported the company's domestic presidents and provided perspective on last-mile delivery, P&L, service levels and succession planning. Today, he works as an author, executive coach and leadership consultant. His LinkedIn profile identifies his specialties as executive leadership, operations management, and supply chain & logistics. What you will learn Why UPS's latest restructuring is not actually as sudden as it looks from the outside, and how its current transformation has been developing for years. How UPS went from 76 domestic business-unit presidents to 17, and what that consolidation says about the company's changing operating model. Why Noel believes ownership—not just stock ownership, but decision-making authority—is central to UPS's culture. The hidden cost of having one enormous customer: how Amazon's explosive growth created capacity, staffing and aircraft-planning problems for UPS. Why Amazon's growth eventually forced UPS to rethink the relationship—and why more volume does not automatically mean better business. The operational reality behind Amazon's unpredictable volume, including one period when Noel says UPS needed seven additional aircraft in a single day. Why "UPS doesn't need no supply chain company freight or otherwise [give] free shipping" became an important part of the Amazon conversation. Why the best operating model may be to standardize the guardrails while localizing the judgment. Why Noel describes UPS's culture as a "Yoda culture"—where experienced leaders invest in younger people before expecting results from them. Why companies going through massive change need to make employees feel that they matter more, not less. The leadership blueprint the panel believes other companies can take from UPS: invest in people, expect change, protect autonomy and build ownership. Connect with Noel Massie: LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/noelmassie/ Website - https://noelmassie.com/ Connect With the Show: We Fixed It, You're Welcome Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/wefixeditpod/ LinkedIn - linkedin.com/company/wefixeditpod/ If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to Like, Subscribe, and leave a review. Share it with someone who loves business strategy, operations, leadership, branding, or marketing. Disclaimer A quick disclaimer. We are going into this somewhat cold, and nothing we say should be construed as legal advice, financial advice, or anything that would get us in trouble. These are simply our views and opinions. We're here to ask the kinds of questions everyone is thinking, have engaging conversations, and explore ideas worth discussing. If, by the end, we fixed it... you're welcome. All trademarks, intellectual property, and brand elements discussed remain the property of their respective owners.