DM Me with Doug Melville
DM Me with Doug Melville is a practical self-help podcast hosted by Doug Melville. He answers real listener questions with clear, direct guidance on careers, reputation, culture, and life. The show emphasizes actionable advice over abstract theory. Listeners can expect candid conversations meant to help them grow and make progress in work and personal life.
Episodes
How AI is Revolutionizing Job Searches and Career Paths - A Sit Down with LinkedIn's Chief Business Officer Mark Lobosco
Doug Melville hosts an episode recorded at LinkedIn’s Talent Connect in New York City, featuring an interview with Mark Lobosco, LinkedIn’s chief business officer, about LinkedIn’s newly launched AI recruiting product, Hiring Assistant 2. Mark explains the tools relevance in the recruiting process, and advises job seekers to keep profiles rich and updated since AI systems pick up
From Passion Project to Immortalizing Legends: The Path to LeBron and Tyson - A Sit Down with Photographer Mark Clennon
Doug Melville interviews artist, photographer, and director Mark Clennon about pivoting from ad sales into a self-taught photography career. Clennon describes early momentum from a Brooklyn street photo and a major 2020 breakthrough image of protesters outside Trump Tower that went global. This led to use in TIME Magazine, and brought awards, sales, and agency representation amid new opportunities
How The Breakfast Club's Mimi Brown is Dominating the Digital Era, Our 1-on-1 Conversation
Doug Melville welcomes Emmy-nominated journalist Mimi Brown, Front Page News correspondent for The Breakfast Club and host of Front Page with Mimi Brown on the Black Effect Podcast Network, to discuss what it takes to build a career in journalism amid today’s nonstop social media driven news cycle. Brown explains her daily process of curating stories for different audiences in different medi
Betting on Yourself: How This Creator Flipped a $1,000 Idea Into a Eight-Figure Sale Price - A Sit Down With Amman Ahmed
Doug Melville interviews Amman Ahmed, founder of the Youtube channel Music for Pets (Relax My Dog/Relax My Cat). He shares his vision about the confidence needed to believe in your unconventional ideas, and learning through experimentation. Ahmed describes growing up in Armley, Leeds, finding hope through books, studying IT, and realizing corporate life wasn’t for him after reading Tim Ferri
Breaking Into Luxury: Secrets and Strategies for Success - A Mailbag Episode
This week, Doug answers a listener question from Jasmine in Washington, D.C. about breaking into the luxury industry. He explains that luxury has distinct culture and philosophy from fashion and operates within an unwritten hierarchy. He shares five tips for getting your foot in the luxury door, including that the hiring process can take up to a year. DM Doug: @DougMelville www.DougMelville.comSee
Need to Improve Your AI Skillset? Create an AI Fingerprint. Here’s How - A Mailbag Episode
Everyone is talking about AI—but are you actually getting better at using it? In this mailbag episode of DM Me with Doug Melville, Doug answers a listener who wants to improve their AI skills but doesn’t know where to start. His answer: create your own AI Fingerprint. An AI Fingerprint is the unique process you develop for using AI to think, research, create and make decision
How to Find Your Next (And Hopefully Last) Job - A Mailbag Episode
Doug answers a mailbag question from Janelle, a New York City professional who lost her corporate job and is struggling to find a new full-time role in this brutal job market. Sharing five practical tips drawn from his Stanford GSB reputation management teaching, Doug emphasizes that reputation precedes you, urging a Google first-page audit, and considering private social media settings. He notes
Navigating Creativity in a Corporate Landscape - A Sit Down with Nancy Reyes, CEO of BBDO Worldwide
This week, Doug Melville interviews Nancy Reyes, president and CEO of BBDO Worldwide about creativity in a corporate environment, leadership in an age of AI, and the evolving role of the C-suite. Reyes argues creativity isn’t an output, but a way of thinking and problem-solving that must be “zoned upstream” to address the biggest business problems, not just pushed into transactio
DM Me with Doug Melville: The Architect of 90's Hip-Hop Fashion - How Andy Hilfiger Combined Music & Fashion with Snoop, Aaliyah and More
Doug talks with longtime friend Andrew “Andy” Hilfiger about building culture at the intersection of fashion and music, from early retail lessons with his older brother Tommy Hilfiger, to creating Tommy Jeans, and his own brand, Andrew Charles. Andy recounts key moments in his career, including styling hip-hop and R&B artists, launching iconic campaigns with Aaliyah, and how Snoop
The Value of Mentorship at Scale and Building Your Personal Board - A Sit Down with Artis Stevens, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters
Today on DM Me, Doug interviews Artis Stevens, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, about scaling mentorship through group and workplace programs...including momentum supported by a $122.5 million MacKenzie Scott donation! Artis describes the act of mentorship as a practice coded in human DNA that should be intentional and reciprocal. He explains BBBS’s 120-year origins as an alternat
How to Write and Publish Your Own Book - A Mailbag Episode
Doug hosts a mailbag episode explaining how to pivot from a corporate career to becoming a published author, answering listener questions about his path to writing Invisible Generals with Simon & Schuster. He stresses understanding the marketplace and your niche category, avoiding memoirs without name recognition, choosing a story you’re uniquely positioned to tell, and constructing a re
Modern Journalism, Substack vs Freelancing, and the Written Word - A Sit Down with Alyson Krueger
Doug welcomes freelance journalist Alyson Krueger, who has written thousands of pieces for outlets including The New York Times, and recently launched the widely acclaimed Substack The Great Conversation. They discuss what modern journalism has become, how freelancing works through pitching and editor assignments, and how voice and objectivity differ across publications, and versus Substack’
Building Old Hillside Bourbon Through Connections and Storytelling - A Sit Down with Co-Founder Emmanuel Waters
Doug interviews Emmanuel Waters, CEO and co-founder of Durham, North Carolina-based Old Hillside Bourbon Company. Launched in 2020 and expanding across the U.S., Emmanuel shares his pivot from a Department of Defense and contracting career to entrepreneurship after a COVID-era “aha moment”. He talks about breaking a state sales record at launch, but not before planning his career exit
Your Reputation Enters the Room Before You Do - Managing Personal Brand with Allison Kluger
Doug interviews Allison Kluger, a Stanford Graduate School of Business professor who teaches courses on reputation management, strategic communication, personal branding, and strategic pivoting. Kluger shares her AIM framework (audience, intent, message), discusses how Google and LinkedIn shape first impressions, and distinguishes visibility from credibility by emphasizing trust and front facing a
Solo Travel, Luxury Adventures & Passport University with Angelique Chamberlain
Doug Melville interviews Angelique Chamberlain, an LA Times Magazine travel contributor and telecom executive who has visited 108 countries, ALL seven continents, and the wonders of the world. She talks about how family travel, (and a UCLA gap year) sparked her passion, and how travel inspires - from luxury trips and experiences from Kenya’s Giraffe Manor to Bhutan. Angelique and Doug discus
How Flavor Flav Is Pivoting Toward Equity in Women's Sports - Our Sit Down
In the second Cannes interview, Doug Melville talks with Flavor Flav about his music and touring connections, then focuses on Flav’s pivot into supporting athletes and women’s sports. Flav talks about how he began sponsoring the U.S. Olympic women’s water polo team, after reading captain Maggie Steffens’ story, then expanded support to the full U.S. Olympic water polo progr
“AI Is the Cheat Code and the Game Is Life” - How AI Can Change Your Community and Career - A Sit Down With Will .i. am
Doug Melville interviews seven-time Grammy winner and founder of the Black Eyed Peas Will.i.am at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativit in France. The discussion is about implementing AI for creativity and problem-solving. Will.i.am shares his history in the tech space over the past 20 year and his pivot from music into hardware, recounting early work with music executive and entrep
The Origins of "Tendernism" - A Sit Down with Nick Yepremian, Founder of Destination Smokehouse
Doug Melville sits down with the owner/operator of Destination Smokehouse Nick Yepremian, in an exclusive interview. His Southern California restaurant was where “Tendernism” was born. But after the success of generating hundreds of millions of views on social, Walter ‘Unc’ Johnson and Nick separated. Nick explains how “Tendernism” originated, discusses the trad
From eBay Side Hustle to $500,000,000 in Sales - A Sit Down With Fashionphile’s CEO and Co-Founder Sarah Davis and Ben Hemminger
Doug Melville hosts Sarah Davis and Ben Hemminger, founder and co-founder of Fashionphile, now CEO and COO of the largest ultra-luxury handbag and accessory retailer in the U.S. They trace their roots from selling on eBay in 1999 and bootstrapping the business, including a strategic early base in Beverly Hills to build trust and credibility through authentication guides and strong feedback. T
Pivoting From Creative to CEO: Tips from Madison Ave Leadership Coach Rob Schwartz
Doug Melville sits down with Rob Schwartz, former TBWA\Chiat\Day CEO and now a certified performance and leadership coach to talk about what he’s hearing most from clients right now: anxiety and uncertainty about what to do next, from seasoned executives to early-career talent, especially with AI and layoffs reshaping work. Rob shares how he starts coaching sessions with simple humanity and
Life After the NBA: From Injury to The Birth of Actively Black - A Sit Down with CEO Lanny Smith
Doug Melville welcomes in Lanny Smith to discuss his pivot from basketball to entrepreneurship as the founder of athleisure brand Actively Black. Lanny recounts playing college basketball, and signing as an undrafted free agent with the Sacramento Kings shortly before a knee injury ended his NBA career after 33 days, triggering an identity crisis. He explains how faith helped him launch his first
Who is Doug Melville? - A Sit Down with Maisha Dyson
Interviewed in this inaugural episode by Maisha Dyson, Doug Melville recounts some of the highlights of his astonishing career working with titans like Quincy Jones, Tommy Hilfiger, and Magic Johnson. Having been to over 40 countries, Doug shares how his experiences and lessons he learned, along with the uniquely positioned guests he'll bring on, can help you make your next career move your best c
Introducing: DM Me with Doug Melville
DM Me with Doug Melville is a direct, practical self-help podcast in which Doug Melville answers real questions with clear guidance to help listeners grow and take action on their careers, reputation, culture and life. Doug Melville is a seasoned executive, bestselling author, and Forbes contributor with 25 years of leadership experience. His career spans the music industry in Los Angeles, top adv
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