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VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
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Title:       Why Your Expertise Alone Won't Get You Hired or Noticed - Niso Nigmatullina | The 021 Podcast
Channel:     Algorizin (https://www.youtube.com/@Algorizin)
Video URL:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szU3tKpHm3o
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Welcome to 0ero to1. I'm your host Sam Hussein. I'm an immigrant founder. I bootstrap my company to
7 figures while creating a community of 220,000 members. Currently, I run a hedge fund for
immigrants. I started this podcast to share 0ero to1 stories of people who started with nothing but
created something meaningful and impactful despite the odds. Today's guest is Nisso Nigma Tulina.
She is the founder of Sato, a communications and personal branding agency working with international
experts, founders, and high achieving professionals. Today, she helps people become visible and
credible in new markets through PR, personal branding, and strategic media presence. Without further
ado, let's dive in. How are you, Lisa?

I'm good. Thank you so much for having me.

Yeah, thanks a lot for making the time for I know that you're you live in Miami

currently. Yes.

But you come to New York sometimes just for visiting friends or what brings you to New York?

So I would say visiting my friends uh do some network, meet my partners, meet my clients. I used to
live in New York for almost 5 years and now I live mostly in Miami but still coming back to New York
for a few months per year.

So you're saying that you basically visit New York for visiting friends, partners like business
partners and other friends.

Yes. Uh five years you have been in New York and

for five years.

How long have you been in the US?

Um for six years it's going to be in January. Okay.

Uh since I moved to New York from uh Moscow.

Oo. So you are kind of like a what should I say like a you have been an immigrant even from before.
So briefly I know that you were born in Usbakistan.

Correct.

Uh and then you moved to Russia at what age? I was uh eight uh when I moved from Usbekistan to
Russia

and uh I I assume that it's my already um basically third immigration.

Sure.

Um since I've been living in Usbekistan, Russia and now in US.

So it feels totally like definitely feels different for me. But still uh I would say it's way easier
cuz like I used to like live in different countries and cities before.

Yeah. Um No, that's great. I also have I think this is also my third immigration as well. So I was
born in Bangladesh.

Yeah.

When I was a month old, my family moved to Saudi Arabia. So I grew up in Saudi Arabia

and then I went back to Bangladesh a little bit and then I came to US. So I have lived in three
separate countries. Mhm.

U it's Yeah, it's fascinating. Which part of Usbekistan were you born in? I don't know much about

I was born in Tashkant, the capital.

Capital. Okay. Okay. Okay. I have to go. I've heard like really interesting things because like I
love traveling. So I've been seeing that Usbekistan is popping up in the radar.

It's one of the hidden more hidden areas I would say.

I would say uh the best food uh would be in Usbekistan. I would say in central Asia pl we have uh um
tomatoes I would say how like fruits and vegetables are small in Usbakistan I would say it's
uncomparable with other countries like

um like everything

what's your favorite food in in I guess like in let's say if I'm going there what's your favorite
food

I I would definitely recommend to try PL because our traditional meal pl and also we have kebab I
would say it's called kebab meat I would say

yeah is universal.

People say that meat insbakistan is even tastier than in Turkey. So really I've been I haven't been
in Usbekistan for a long time. So I I have to give it a try hopefully soon.

Yeah. I mean that's a Yeah, that's a long I love Turkish food. So like that's a very big ranking to
Yes.

Uh cool. Cool. So you grew up in Russia mostly like 8 years. So you're very young. Then you moved to
the US six years ago. Uh when was the first moment when it felt like you are really in America? Like
when you entered when did it hit you that okay like

I realized that I live in United States. I think uh um after 2 years of being here because the first
two years were like very tough struggling you were figure out your goals what you're going to do um
how you're going to like uh be here stay here so I would say the first two years was like the most
like struggling and uh starting from the third year I realized that like I I could like a little bit
like breathe out and uh see that Okay, I'm in New York and I can finally enjoy uh this city and I
would say like this country.

Did you move to New York City when you entered 6 years ago?

Um yeah, I first came to New York. Um and um then uh I stayed here for work. So

how was New York too intense? Because like when someone comes like us is already new.

So what were your like first 6 months? uh like what are the major culture shocks or what are the
things you saw which was not in your expectation?

Uh that's a good question because I came in January 2020 2 months before the pandemic started
actually. So uh my expectations I I had really low I would say expectations uh when I came to US it
was already my fourth time since I came to United States I would say because I've been traveling as
well to US back and forth and when I came here um so my um initial intention was to meet new people
to network um to meet um I would say expert from my industry to learn more about their background
ground about their international experience and how do they perform here um in US on the global
market. So that was my initial intention and eventually um when I started to meet new people the
pandemic like hit me and uh I just could not uh walk out of my apartment because um every everything
was shut down and we just like stayed inside. So um

my shock was I would say the first like two months my shock was how people are networking here
because um

um on my first networking event when I came when I came there um I just was like stood on the corner
I would say I was like I was just like frozen uh myself because I could not speak I could not talk
to people I don't know uh because it was like a very like loud uh like a very tiny like a space and
people you know like how like for me right now it's like uh uh like it's it's okay you know it's uh
like I I can do this easily but I'm an extrovert and I'm very social person and when I came probably
you can understand me as well because how Americans do the network how do they uh present themselves
um that was very shocking to me because when I came to to this uh event

I was like okay I don't know I don't know how to how to network at all and people started to
approach um to me first and talk to me and I I didn't even know about what to talk to them because
now I know but before it was like very very uh hard for me despite the fact that what my intention
was to meet new people from my industry

uh when it actually happened

I was so scared to to talk to them even

that's a like thanks a lot for sharing because this is a very important point. uh so especially in
the first two years

I also remember similar so

I also was originally an extrovert I'm still an extrovert but

even in Bangladesh sa whatever like I am an extrovert

I am not shy I mean maybe when I was in school I was shy but later I wasn't shy

but when I came to the US uh networking events like when I was studying the college went to the
carrier fairs uh like as you said like US networking is very like especially In New York, it's also
even more loud and you you really if you are not making your space then you'll be basically kind of
pushed over and you will be on the side.

Correct.

Um and that took me a while and I think the bigger issue was my mental issue is that

whenever I was going to these events I was like oh what will they think about me? I have this accent
it's not fully English. I'm like I thought so much that I was using maybe 80% of my brain's
processing power in garbage.

Yes. non not actually being in the event I was like oh overthinking oh maybe this oh maybe I should
stay this way or that way I'm like dude I don't care about these things anymore like let's just go
no one is thinking about this thing so it takes a while for immigrants especially with this external
voice we have uh because we like we definitely self-sabotage oursel a lot in this events in in
general like we are somehow we are not fully fitting in but great great that you overcame that how
did you when did you think that that overcame happened like how did you overcome this because that
could be uh helpful for the audience if someone is new they're coming to the US just think like you
six years ago

yes it's absolutely okay to be shy it's absolutely okay not having an experience of uh self-
presentation and self-promotion because we grew up all of us we grew up in different different
culture and for example from my culture you should not like speak out you should not show of your
actions will uh speak instead of you like like instead of you uh yes who you are and I would just
say like like experience and just like I did as much as I can uh like events for the first like um
uh during the pandemic period we had uh we kind we pivoted everything from offline to online

which was also like surprising like very like surprising for me because um I didn't expect that uh
we could do this uh and pivot to the online. So we had an app I forgot the name of this app where
you could meet the person from your industry. I think probably it's like a coffee or like something
but they pivoted to the like everything uh like online. So every week every every week during like

for an hour I was uh randomly uh picked selected a person with whom I could like talk about like
he's from or she's from marketing or sales and we could like easily talk about like uh our
background and everything but uh it's definitely you are shy and um you feel that you don't have
enough experience you don't have enough uh you know um knowledges of uh like I don't know who you
are what you do and uh whenever you have this experience and I I would say

it's been already like after a year and a half I felt way more when I I think on my second year in
United States I went to Miami for a months and I came to that networking open air networking events
and uh I also looked at my friends how did they network and I'm like how wow like uh I feel finally
like myself and I feel finally that I can actually introduce myself properly. M yeah that's a good
point that basically having more uh one thing I'm already seeing that you did and I also did is that
putting more repetitions like going to the gym you have to go network you have to uh say hi to 100
new strangers and then oh it's it's natural so it takes a while but the tips is to basically just go
go to these events just go

just and the uh fear will will just disappear and you can overcome the fear only basic basically by
like doing this constantly.

Yeah. Um in so before you moved to the US uh what were you doing in Russia? Like were you in the
industry or did you study like can you give me a little bit background?

Um absolutely because I have uh uh a background from Proctor and Gamble. I used to work for American
company in back in Russia in PNG um as a like a manager business development manager. So I was
responsible for promoting PNG products in uh top retailers in uh Russia. So I was uh during back
that time I already realized that I'm interested in negotiations. I'm interested in a promotion. I'm
interested in uh increasing the sales uh of the businesses. But uh back that time I used to do that
through um through uh the PNG products because uh I have to increase the sales the visibility of PNG
in uh some of the retailers in uh in Russia. So and also like I had like this like a very very
strong background. Um but since I moved to US it was uh it was good to have but it was definitely
not enough. uh despite the fact that I would I would say PNG is equal to MBA because uh you train um
you you you you get like every every other week like so many experience uh uh feedbacks I would say
this is like but it was like very very stressful for me

but since I moved to US I would say it's everything was like different here comparing to Moscow

m a lot of interesting things there. What did you have to unlearn? Let's say PNG. How long were you

for? 4 years.

4 years. So good amount of time in PNG, American PNG, but like still in Russia. So they have the
Russian culture.

Was there any difference in the culture in terms of work culture? Um uh I would say uh we have been
working under the American culture. uh because we had uh this like um intention and uh uh how to say
uh internal like rules how we have to uh manage our business and it was like under like I would say
like not like I would say u uh US initially uh suggestion uh but um the main difference between us
and uh um Russia I would today. Um, I'm talking about people that in Russia we we work for for a
company uh like I don't know uh like from 8:00 a.m. until like 9:00 p.m. That was my work schedule.
In US people work for a company and also they have side projects. They could do like podcast, they
could do uh contra consulting job. They write books. uh they go to the conference so they have like
so many activities even their hobbies they also might be monetized. So I would say that um the main
difference between uh like I would say our um Eastern European culture and like United States that
um here you have like uh so many I would say um activities that you do simultaneously with your main
job. In Russia we were mainly focused on our job and we didn't have I would say life beside a job. M

I'm speaking about myself but I don't know probably others did.

Um no no no I think this is a good point. I mean we are also probably comparing some parts of US.

Yes.

Like New York and San Francisco and maybe Austin. Yes. Correct.

These cities are extremely the the most competitive cities.

Yes.

They be pull in all the smartest, most talented, most ambitious, most competitive people from the
world.

Mhm. But I do agree with you that in this series the culture is like basically 24 hours like other
than sleeping you are doing something very doing heavy.

Honestly I actually really liked it before but recently I'm realizing that

I do do not like to do it all the time because it's good to have some breaks. Anyway, I'm going to a
little bit different like personal opinion here is that US the it's a very first of all New York for
example very expensive

in order to survive here you have to have a side hustle you have to have your personal brand you
have to have all these things you're very smart but you're always just working

you're always

and basically hunting hustling

hustling

and then you're making a lot of money but there then you're paying a lot of rent in New York so
you're not really saving much

so It's a very interesting uh it's good I think when you're young I think this is a really good
experience. I don't know if it is good to be old in this situation but that's basically my personal
opinion. I feel like the Eastern European countries or in general Europe is better for like settling
down or later in the age but when you're young you should definitely uh be in this uh this US
culture. Uh was there any moment when you like um felt like this is kind of like a mistake that you
moved from Russia to here? Like did you ever feel like this was a mistake? And then when you came
there was also co. So

um I never considered um United States as my mistake because I I've been always uh looking for
United States especially like New York as an opportunity to grow to develop and I knew from from the
beginning that it's going to be like a very very hard but I would say my darkest parts um in New
York was um when I started to look for an apartment uh That was the moment when I came I I still
remember when I went to the Williamsburg and I was looking for um I could afford only uh like to to
sublet a room uh and um it it cost almost I don't know $1,500 $1,700 per room in four bedroom and it
was like a pretty pretty pretty tiny where even my desk wouldn't fit just the mattress and that's
it, no luggage, no no anything. And I was like, "Wow, it's almost like 2K per months per like this
space." Because it's a Williamsburg. It's considered to be like a very fancy area. And I I still
remember that I walked all the way from Williamsburg to Dumbo uh to this um uh site um

Riverside. No, no, it was like in Dambo. I I I I I I forgot the name, but I was just looking at the
Manhattan with the Manhattan view.

Sure. Yeah. The Dambo Manhattan view. Yeah.

Yes. Dambo Manhattan view. And I just like remember that I I didn't cry, but I just like recorded my
my friend that Oh my god. Like I don't know how to like even where how to live in New York if if the
price per per room in four bedroom almost $2,000. But I I didn't feel that Williamsburg is fancy to
be honest. I didn't feel that way um back that time. Now I think it's it's a it's a great area but
six years ago I I would not consider that and it was like a like it's the price was like very high.

No no agreed. Agreed. Yeah. I mean that's why like I'm like New York is you started in New York
which is already very hard.

Yes. So, and then you start you stayed in Williamsburg, which is also a little more on the expensive
side of

Brooklyn because you can also go to Bushwick or like far, right? Like you can live in Queens.

Um, and yeah, 20

I lived I lived in Queens actually.

Yeah. Like different parts of Queens. Yeah.

Yeah. In Atoria, which is like a is nice. I love

very nice. It's a Greek area. It's very safe. It's convenient.

I love Astria. Yeah. I also stayed in Atoria for a little bit. I mean, Williamsburg is a little bit
more hyped mostly because it's so close from lower Manhattan and everything is centered in lower
Manhattan. So, it's just the distance.

Um, but yeah, that's um

um so you struggled like you came here and then

um how did you get out of that struggle like how so I mean which is understandable you came new what
did you do to survive and figure out the next step? So I would say um as uh my intention was to meet
new people and to do like uh a great network. I met actually a friend with whom we started to rent
out an apartment like together uh which was like made me like which was like very lucky lucky for me
cuz um we were like together and we supported each other. She was like she he has been living in US
longer than me. But uh that person who actually taught me about um US rules, I would say how uh US
do business uh because I I just realized um that I really want to also um be a bridge between
Eastern European companies, startups and United States and uh represent them them in US. So um I
would say I was lucky enough to meet uh right people um six years ago who actually gave me the right
navigation and intention instead of uh telling me that it's a bad time it's a co you should uh give
up and you should not like do anything because everything we because New York is about offline
events it's not about online events we should meet people in person not online and uh the benefit
the main advantage of New York we just lost uh like uh during the pandemic it was it was almost for
a year and a half uh in New York we could not like we we were with a mask we were wearing mask
gloves for almost like more than a year I would say in New York comparing to like other states like
for example Miami so I would say right people help me and also So um I looked how people actually um
developed and rep like represented themselves in US from like uh Eastern European countries like
Case uh countries

um they like launched businesses they were hired by Amazon, Google and uh I was uh like um surprised
how like uh how like how nice is uh like having this uh network here in New York.

No, this is great. Like I mean I'm glad that you had that friend to you know like who help you a
little bit and this is always good like uh in the early stage when we come there are always these
people who kind of help us in our journey. So

uh always very helpful and blessed and grateful. Yes.

One thing you did mention was very interesting because like you gave in CO and I have been living in
New York for a long time before CO as well. So

uh when COVID happened

I think this was April or May May June it was April it was so bad everything was shut down. I
thought that okay this is like uh some postpoc like I'm in some movie there are in I go to the
subway and there are like few rats ghost town no human only few rats

like literally some rats in the subway that's the that's my experience like wow this is like maybe
like maybe some zombies will come out like I'm in some movie um because also in all the movies they
cover New York all the alien attacks all the zombies they always attack only New York so I'm like
okay this is very bad Um and I was paying like a lot of rent that time as well. I mean New York rent
and I think in April or May June all my business meetings everything was happening in Zoom. I'm like
why am I paying New York rent and having meeting with people in New York in Zoom like what why am I
paying New York rent?

Uh so I basically basically left uh New York I think in September I went to Hawaii and I didn't come
back for almost 2 three years because like New York I mean why

you have been living in Hawaii?

I was in Hawaii. I was in Lisbon. I was in Bali. All the because of like Hawaii was so different in
co when I went in. So September when I went in Hawaii.

Yes.

The experience in New York and experiences Hawaii so different because New York it's a mega city.
People are very close. So they have this very strong COVID rules.

In Hawaii everything is so far away. People do not see each other. So there's no rule. Like there's
no mask nothing. Like people are just I'm like oh is there any co there wasn't any co experience in
Hawaii. I'm like, that's so random. Anyway, so I'm like, that's a tough time for you to uh have on
boarding in the US, but I'm sure.

But I was enjoying an empty int. You'll never see this kind of

You would never see empty New York at 2 p.m.

Yes. Yes.

You would never see the empty Fifth Avenue, uh, Central Park.

Yes. Yes. I agree. Oh, that was

so I remember that I had a birthday uh in June. Um so 6 months since I came to New York after

um and I invited my my friends to join me to and uh we were celebrating in Central Park

and uh in this how it's called meadow uh meadow this what uh

yeah she meets I know

yes I've been there and uh yeah I I invited like 10 people right

so they all came uh and we were almost like by ourselves in the central park in New York and I'm
like wow no crowd no noise and I'm like this is

uh I was really enjoying Amsterd York to be honest I think it was like a it was weird but it it's
and at the same time it was like blessing I would say

yeah it was its own nice moment because you cannot find it in any summer anymore that's the only
summer you had that

it's only summer it's only in maybe 100 years

u no that's amazing

hopefully never yeah

hopefully yeah hopefully Oh my god, that was so bad. Yes. Um, switching more to your expertise
actually and this is what I think that will be so valuable for our audience. So you are a PR expert,
brand strategist. uh such a good timing also on on the type of work you do because I have been in
the tech industry for more than a decade

and uh what is switching in this current world is that everything is becoming more about marketing
and distribution and personal branding content creation these are becoming very important like even
if you follow me like 5 years ago I was dead in social media

just in one year I'm like I realized that okay everyone has to have a personal brand

I'm also wrapping And you obviously have been working with this for a long time. You have been in
business development then you switched to full PR now PR and

correct

personal branding.

Uh when did you understand like when was the first time you realized that just like some talent or
expertise is not enough like you need to have a person when when did it click your head? Uh I would
say uh since I came to US on my first months uh I looked uh on the LinkedIn uh on the LinkedIn pages
of uh uh like you like of people from United States like I'm a brand manager let's say in Proctor
and Gamble and also I'm a speaker at this conferences and also uh like I have my own podcast I have
a book and I just realized ized that um I back that time I already had also my strong personal brand
because uh um I just realized that it's very necessary to have uh uh publications to share your
expertise and um media were really interested also in my opinion cuz um I had like a um very strong
background in uh like PNG. So when I came to US I just realized that okay I have already some um uh
public speaking on the the conferences jury participation event uh media publications but it's still
not enough. I need I need more. I need to also um run my social media probably newsletter. This is
what I learned like later way like like years uh later but um as an immigrant I would say um it's
necess it's very necessary to have all this like a personal brand um because people are going to
Google you when you're going to talk to them.

Mhm. Um so like when you entered the US you basically automatically realized that there is an
importance of it by seeing them. Do you think that like the immigrants struggle more with sharing
their stories than compared because you obviously are coming from a more Eastern European
background?

Yes.

I'm coming from let's say Bangladeshi or like this like South Asian background. Uh I definitely
struggled here personally because I we didn't have the concept of personal branding in Bangladesh
like there's no

it's like what is this thing? Yeah.

So do you think that immigrants need to be trained uh on this thing and what are the

ways would you suggest them they should start doing this? I guess

I would say for immigrants is a must. It's a must and this is what I actually initially mentioned
and this is how I actually started my business to help especially

immigrant founders to enhance their personal brand uh um not only in US even in cis countries in
Europe in uh Asia uh all over the world I would say because uh they were struggling to find a job
they were struggling uh uh to raise the money um to um they were they they could not even um um tell
me what exactly they do and u um what's their purpose their mission and back that time we realized
that if you cannot tell me of who you are people are going to tell like assume of who you are and
just uh make an assumption of who you are. So uh I just realized that we need to work on your
personal uh brand on your brand awareness starting from the scratch starting from this like small
small steps but we need to develop uh something big but before we do this we need to like we need to
um prepare the strategic plan. So I just realized that we have to uh we have to build something in
case you want to um win and uh catch this uh fish. And uh um when we started to work with my first
clients and we even we we started to see the results to be honest,

job offers, investors, uh like better networking, better network. So um we we we just realized that
this is going to be we we have to uh we have to increase our efforts and hire more people

to be able to help uh more uh clients experts to with a with a personal branding.

Mhm. you know that I I agree and then um h no definitely uh immigrants definitely need it more than
uh everyone is there any simple like one simple trick people can you have seen that oh you use this
simple trick I guess I'll I'll rephrase the question u we all are realizing the important importance
of personal branding slowly everyone is important. I'm like realizing the importance

but starting is very difficult. What would you say that the easiest thing is to start with like
simple simple tricks

simple? Uh uh I started to share my expert with the media. So I still believe in social media and I
still believe this is very important

but I would say uh old school media like a media publications are still

have uh way more power rather than just a social media.

Why? Because you have a validation from the third parties. Journalist will definitely do a
background check of you and um and also background of your experty and you have to also attach so
many sources uh in case you state something uh about about anything. So you have to also uh attach
the um initial sources from where where do you take it? So I I would say to start to share your
experty with the media on the blog post. It's already a very very good first step

and then because you can divide this posts from the media into the LinkedIn post to the Instagram
post to the Twitter. So you can divide in what just one article could bring you like so many um uh I
would say content that you can use for other like social media.

This is a very important take. This is something I also am not like well versed on. So this is
great.

Yeah.

We obviously like Yeah. social media you're just creating your own content.

Yeah.

When you're going to traditional media like Forbes or Washington Post like I think that's what
you're mentioning when you're mentioning media.

Definitely it gives you more authority or third party based validation. I agree.

Um how do you actually start writing in there? like what's the way let's say someone is listening to
this video right now

they are an immigrant founder

they want to like start this how do they start writing in Washington Post what do they start with
what's the tactics

so uh uh Washington Post

I'm just giving Washington Post example can be any

yeah it could be like it could be any magazine but if we're talking about because like I have the
most demand I have from my clients, please feature me in the US. Help me to be featured in the US
media. And I always tell them, US is the most uh um uh the highest competition is going to be in US
because journalists will receive over two 300 emails per day from PR managers, startups and etc. So
whenever you have to be um consistent, polite um and pitch to the right journalist, you have to do
the research. Every media has their um newsletter. They have um their um media plan that they are
following and you can actually open open the media that you are interested to be to be featured.
just look let's say you are from AI and you are like building an AI product and you would like to be
to share your um perspective from about your project and what you have done or recently um and for
and for whom you have done your mission perspective so you have to find the right person from this
media not just like editorial team no Jessica she's covering the startups who are building um an AI
product. So Jessica will definitely be interested. So you have to um you have to pitch Jessica first
email if not Twitter because Jessica, trust me, she's going to uh she's also on the Twitter and uh I
highly recommend to fit in one uh it should be it should be fitted in um um iPhone in in iPhone uh
screen your pitch. So it should not be don't attach any uh documents nothing just like a short pitch
of of who you are what you want to share and uh why it's going to be interesting that's it. So, and
just like a very short and uh subject to the to this uh editor and just like follow up in a few days
in a few days and uh whenever she answers to you and hopefully it's going to be like a uh it's going
to she's going to be interested into your content. Uh don't forget to thank her because uh this is
media rel uh rel relations. uh you have to you can start uh building your media relations. But um I
would say that I I was just intentionally like how I came up with my first like I I got my first uh
um media request from Cosmopolitan actually and u back in Russia. Uh because um um I had a like a
friend and she was a journalist in cosmopolitan and I just shared like my experience and she was
like I feel like this is very interesting how you do this and this how you build this um this
product how you build this strategy can you please share it with us and I'm like okay so of course I
would love to and this is how I actually started to realize that my experience could be very
interesting to others. M no this is very good very interest so basically like whenever we are this
is a good tactics u primarily like finding who are the main decision makers in this

of course

these roles and kind of like trying it's basically like any kind of job it's kind of like a job
application but not actually job but it's for media companies you have to be patient you have to go
through the process

um that's that's very good I actually never thought I'm I myself I'm realizing the importance of
this because I never thought of this thing. I'm like okay who cares but like now I'm realizing that
it does give you some kind of authority like okay if you're 430 under 30 or something like some
validation it does give you a little bit more authority in whatever business you are trying to do.

Absolutely.

That's a that's a good good uh good point. So I I am convinced on the importance of traditional
media.

Mhm. uh this year I've been thinking uh so as as I was I mean maybe like the best part of exercise
right now could be that I am let's assume that I am a candidate like although I am not really like
looking for traditional media like for my visa or anything particularly those parts are good but
it's always good to have a another additional boost for your profile right there's no no harm

I definitely only want to go for the big leagues because my brand is already decently strong. I have
been running a company so I'm not starting as a zero anymore. Um so what is the strategy you would
say like do a diagnosis for me so that I can go for Forbes or Time magazine or any of these like
what is this tactics?

Give me that step stepby-step approach. Uh I usually ask

I mean I'll of course I'll come to you that's the number one step but yeah

then it's done

what I'm usually interested when my client comes to me uh I usually ask how you would like to be
remembered

and for what you would like to be remembered for uh can you please highlight two three uh projects
uh that you would be the most like interesting to talk about. So this is I would say the most like
important questions that I usually like ask uh uh and also uh their mission.

Um and uh after that I just um focus on the media that would be also interested to cover uh what my
clients u is sharing with me and uh I don't mostly cover I would say business part of my clients.
I'm also interested to cover their lifestyle because it's not only about business, it's also about
uh how the how the expert is living. For example, uh the I I had a client and um I was really
interesting about uh his morning routine about meditation about uh preparation to the work. It was
really interesting for me because it was like not like usu usual. So in this like very very tiny
details I'm always like interested uh in my client and after that uh big names like it's like it's
it's good because you are going to be like on the top search uh when you're going to be googled but
I would say uh that big names will not um is not the most important goal I would say because this is
about um uh the whole like strategy where we have to include not only like big big names it's just a
consequences of all of the steps that we have done like previously to be uh featured like in Forbes
we have like a several uh like opportunities to become a Forbes console to become a Forbes
contributor also uh and uh uh also I like newsjing uh newsjing um approach it's when the journalist
uh covers the story and you could be mentioned um as an expert and you can share just your like
experty and in the whole story you could be featured with your um what you think about this problem
which is also great because you can get mentions in those big names. So I would definitely uh what I
would definitely start from about like your detail like a background feature two three like
projects, two three missions that we can actually um how we can actually um be accepted in the media
and then we just start um talking to the journalists like step by step um

with like each like with each media like not simultaneously like step by Because if we are going to
do let's say we have um I don't know 20 medias um we are going to pitch to 20 media simultaneously.
This is not bring to us like anything. We're just like usually like step by step like pitching to to
get to get the result. Um but I always tell clients that big names it's always like a great
opportunity but I would say in a small niche media uh we also have our target audience and it's also
like very uh reput reputable and respected media. That's a good point that like like another good
perspective that like also having smaller media but more targeted media

more targeting media rather than like a general media. Um for example we had a client we have still
have a client who is launching a business in Middle East but but we have forbs in middle east but we
just realized that we want to do let's say like uh more like globally in middle because the to be
featured in middle east is great but he was also interested in uh US investors. So we we decided to
target to the US and we actually became a official Forbes uh contributors uh where he could share
every quarter um of his results of his company how um how he has been doing without any promotions

just his experty and just his like results. So um this what made us um very successfully um

to to become a Forbes contributors.

Okay. Okay. Okay. That's like let's say if someone is starting let's say for example like I'm
starting in January 2026 for example.

Yeah.

Um like how much time are we talking? So the first month I'm assuming it's more on this figuring out
your mission. What are you going to remember for like your purpose, mission? All these which are
more or less clearer to me.

Yes.

Let's say that it's like step one.

Uh how many months does it take usually to from starting to getting published usually? I'm I'm sure
it's variable but can you give a range?

Uh it's around one two months actually. Yeah. Yes. because we usually uh set the strategy for at
least 3 4 months. Uh but it's not only about PR, it's also about uh participation at the conferences
uh at the podcast at also like newsjing when uh uh the journalist mentions uh mentions your name and
your experty in his uh article. Uh and we're also talking about expert articles interviews as well.
In expert articles, you can share um your experty and your opinion on this particular topic
providing the sources, evidences that would prove your um point of view and and the at the interview
I prefer to talk about the mission, the background of the client and actually um the results of uh
of of their projects and how he is seeing this uh idea to be like to be built like in the future. So
um I'm I'm more like um um like vision also not about like just like current moment but also the
future. Please share it with us as well because I think this is also what's interested the most uh
um during this time uh to the editorial team. M

um what is the I mean I understand this term newsjing that's a very a very interesting term

that you are being mentioned by this contributor and they're mentioning you as an expert how to get
into that like how do I become a newsjger?

Um yeah we usually because um to be able to do that we usually follow uh the particular journalist
from your industry that covers your topics. m

your area of experty actually and we usually follow u their feed about what they are talking about.
We also have some uh uh websites or Twitter for example on Twitter they usually uh or sometimes
LinkedIn that they're looking for experts in this industry and some um every time we pitch you are
also um included in the list that's let's say that you are an expert in AI who built this app and in
case let's say we are covering this story during like this year

um you mostly be invited it as an uh to give some comments about uh this uh news. So this is how we
get uh news jacking uh for our clients um in the media. Um it could be not necessarily today or
tomorrow but it's more like a like longtime story because any anyway we are pitching the interview
expert article on behalf of our client and the journalist uh will definitely remember you and if in
case no

uh we tell them okay we will come back later when we have like a better um better content for you
today rather than today.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Very interesting. Uh there are a lot of like small nuances involved
basically. Uh but okay. I think I think I got somewhat of an idea. I think

but I would say be um be persistent and um don't hunt for um I don't know 100 medias. Just like we
usually identify 10 15 medias for our client and we constantly like follow read the news the latest
feeds about what they're covering at the moment and whenever we catch the moment we just start
pitching that we have uh the particular expert from like this industry that you are currently like
covering in the media and so we we we have this opinion about that news and we would like to cover
this and in that case we have a very high chances to be featured in the media because they are
covering this news and we have an opposite opinion then this is why and listen to us so this is how
we actually could also like propose um uh the feature

that's a very interesting point that like the opposing views uh one thing I wanted to actually ask
like um let's say a media company is mostly focusing on AI or like let's say there are always in
news companies there are trends

yes

people are talking about AI these days that's the main trend for example

yes

but I'm just giving an example that maybe I'm not working in AI

yes

I am working in something else random uh that's my mission how to connect the trend because media
company will always prefer an AI expert right now because that's in hot topic. So if the if my
expertise is not in a hot topic what do I do?

We uh as I have mentioned like earlier um business is not our like main priority. Sometimes we are
also interested in a personality. We're also interested um in uh what's inside of uh what's actually
like real thoughts intentions of our clients. how he has been for example struggling to fire uh his
first employee or how he built uh um like or how he hired 100 employees within a year. This is like
tricks. This is like tools how to how not how not to would be also like interesting or how to
organize um your like workflow. This is probably sometimes for you. uh like very probably old school
uh topics would be um also very interesting for the journalist because for example they have never
interviewed this uh person and they never know uh for example about even for immigrants how did they
ended up uh building their career in marketing as a woman in their uh 30s uh is it like a Gen Z or
like which like no matter like what generation For example, this how I was featured in Forbes uh
where I shared actually like my story of an immigrant of being an immigrant woman immigrant here in
United States and how I actually faced this American culture after living in Russia. So this is was
this is what was really interesting uh for Forbes woman and uh I actually shared my experty. I
didn't talk about business. I just talked about my experience of facing those uh first I would say
um uh problems uh troublesh when I moved to US and what's the difference did I feel so for example
uh they were interested how I do I feel if someone will tell me that I have a beautiful dress

so this is also would show me um as an expert as but here in to us

but not necessarily about my business. It's just like a general opinion.

That's a very interesting uh answer that like it doesn't have to be related to your business or your
current mission directly aligned. It can be anything from your story which is interesting for the
media company. Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. Very interesting. Um do you have connections with
pretty much all the major and minor? How many media company connections do you have at this moment?

So we actually um I I don't I cannot call them like connections or like partners of course

I just have like a an um a team of like a journalist to whom I like consistently like follow and
pitch

and I know them like I know about the what do they do and what they cover. It could be like I would
say in US it could be around like 40 medias in cis countries it could be like way less because
around 20 because my clients are not interested to be featured in cis they mostly interested to be
featured in US.

So I just like um mo I mostly work with startupers uh like founders of the companies product
managers software engineers etc. So I mostly like follow the journalist, not the media, the
journalist I would say uh and what do they cover because I'm I'm planning to pitch uh to pitch them.
So I just follow their feet and whenever they have like I have a right moment I just pitch my
client. Yes.

Got it. Got it. Got it. You are basically like looking at the ocean and then seeing the waves and
Got it. Got it. That's good. That's a good um good strategy. Um one thing I've been like uh a little
bit scared about so okay so last one year I've been let's say active in all these social media and
in general like media but let's say I want to take a break or somehow some the there is always an
issue with media coverage and fame and all this thing is that it it's a double-edged sword. You can
have the positive. We talked about the positive. But there could be negative that somehow maybe
either your online brand completely disappeared because maybe you're out from the uh I don't know
industry for 6 months or whatever like life happens, things can happen, right?

Mhm.

Or it could be also negative media that somehow some negative because once you're famous there are
also your enemies.

Mhm.

Is it possible to like fix this thing because a lot of people are a little bit afraid of getting
into this whole thing because of this issue. Um

um do you mean like to fix uh disappearance uh like when you disappear

is it possible? Yeah. Let's go with that one first that if you are missing disappearing yes

in media like you have been consistent but then you are gone for a year how hard is it to regain and
then maybe second question would be that if you have negative media is it possible to make it
positive and how to do it that's the second but let's go with the first one. The second one is way
more more way more harder because it's it's called it's called um um black PR. Uh but uh regarding
the first question, if if it's possible to uh get on the trail after after like a break, uh
definitely yes because uh you're not going to lose your skill if you're not uh if

you already have this skill of hustling. You already have this skill of uh finding the right content
uh um the right time and uh uh you know how to present your uh thoughts um uh in the right content
to uh to the to the journalist. I I would definitely say that u it's never too late to start and to
it's never too late to start over as well. So uh I I think uh if every person like who has already
this like skill um would definitely be be able to to be back uh just like it takes just like more
time rather than to do this constantly. I would just say that it's better to do this once every 3
months, every four months just to be on the track and just to you know

uh cons consistently you know improve your brand awareness and brand visibility. It's better than to
do like just like a break for a year. Um but in case you do for like any any any reason um media
would never like I I would say I would say it hasn't been changing like lately. uh it's still they
work the same. They have like the same approach.

So you just like keep um your tactics um for the future as well and just like um

probably you you you can find like a different approaches to pitch uh the editorial team.

I mean probably we would have like a different I would say uh platform um not only email but that's
only I think the main difference would be

okay. And the negative

the if you have like a negative uh negative PR and if any chance we can um revise it we can and the
only chance is to start publish as much as we can content in the media. only only uh content will
because the old content would be on the third fourth page and the new content would be at the
beginning on the first and the second page. So we just have to start start like as much as we can do
publications uh in the media. So this is the only opportunity that we usually follow in case we have
this problem with a client. Yeah, that's a good answer that basically pump with a lot of positive
content and content which basically

uh supersedes the old one.

Um h uh I wanted to know more about I mean a lot of our audience are basically immigrant founders.

Yeah.

Uh different visas they can be some of them are international students F1 some of them came with J1
different visas. Yeah,

but many of them are targeting O1 visa because now there is H1B is complicated. So it's so hard. I
think I wanted to know a little bit more some advice for you for the audience on what's the
difference between preparing like what are the tactics for preparing for O1 or even EB1A using this
strategy? what are the difference and what if you can share some advice for this particular group on
how should they approach this whole thing. Uh so from my perspective uh between uh um brand
awareness and personal brand and uh um to have a publications for a talent visa and US UK. Uh to be
honest there there is no difference to be honest because in both cases we are targeting to be uh to
increase our brand awareness and to show off our experty um in uh many um in like so many various of
publications like interviews, expert articles, uh jury participation also an award recognition um
and also you can be invited as a member in association and all of those tools will help you uh with
a personal brand and also uh with a P uh with an 01 visa uh criterias and I'm going to tell you
something because from my experience uh when we have a client who are invites uh who are invited as
a jury member in the event and it's if it's going to be offline uh usually when the expert comes and
he started to judge uh they have also like a uh media support and what's actually happening the
media start uh the media is starting to interview the client and uh what happened it's happened
already a few times with our clients they have been uh they have been they ended up being on the TV
on the federal channel without initial intention they just came to judge the projects and to you
know share share uh their point of view and you know to to help uh to to define which product should
should win and they ended up uh being on the TV on the federal channel and uh as a result they got
invited to be like a partner like from like other like businesses. So like the point is that all of
those like tools would definitely help you in the way you are not even expected

uh to get this PR you really really want want for 01 or for like uh personal branding.

So they're basically the same kind like the same kind of work. Uh

the same approach

same approach. um some tactics on the uh I want to be helpful for the audience in the way that what
is in terms of USCIS's eyes.

Mhm. What is basically the main factor from this PR perspective to become extraordinary? Like I mean
the extraordinary term is very silly but let's say like

01 or

EB1

EB1 this is like the main hottest cake right now because it's like yeah because of H1B mostly

u what looks good can you give some points on this like what should a founder who is in let's say
H1B

yes

what should they focus on and what looks good on paper for USCs for improving their case

if you are starting this this path congratulations because uh this is going to be really really
helpful for your immigration process. And um speaking about um the those criterias, first of all,
they have to be organic

though. So you should you cannot buy um an invitation from organizers.

If in case you find even if you find this opportunity, never agree to participate there. Um um never
do sponsored publications. It has to be organic. Just organically like share your um point of view,
your vision um with the media and trust me one day they will reach out to you and they will accept
your your future. Um in case in terms of the um jury participation, I always like recommend um just
participate as much as you can because it's very very helpful for your network because when I was
participating as a jury member,

I found an amazing friends. Uh I I was like surprised like how um um I was surprised how like um I
would say how how it would be like fun and interesting I would say uh for me uh journey to be to be
as a judge and to judge those and people like um participants they were like really curious about
like my opinion and about how I how do I see this project could be like um developed you know to uh
to get uh to get like um uh investments. So um I would say that non-sponsored publications you have
to um you have to secure uh date of publications in when you publish the material and also you have
to have author uh journalist's name in your in your content. uh without those I would say moments um
um um I would say the immigration officer um might not accept your publication because it's going to
be like sponsored so much advertising um and etc. So um and in case you bought your um you know
participation in the event uh definitely um like they're going to figure out this. So you should be
invited like organically um based on your experty not uh not an opposite.

Mhm. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah.

Um

that makes sense.

Yeah. So we talked a lot of we covered a lot of ground today. Um we wanted to know a little bit
about like content generation and AI.

Okay. We covered a lot on this media and then um yeah a lot of different topics actually um what I'm
seeing is that a lot of content right now is being AI generated everywhere. LinkedIn is AI generated
content. Twitter if you go lot of these comments are AI generated um and obviously like we can go
and start writing but the reason AI generated comments became dominant is because it's easy because
we don't have time let's say busy founder they're busy

yes

having an AI assistant okay they're it's doing it u how do we battle this AI generated content while
being a busy founder uh because the reason the AI generated content came in the first place is
because people are busy uh and they don't have time that's why they outsourced it to A. So how do
you manage this uh and how to battle this thing? Uh this is a really good question because right now
we have uh too much content on the media and we are getting tired exhausted because even on YouTube
uh feeds uh on Instagram on like on social media we have already um not the real person we have like
already AI generated like a person and I would say uh the future in this AI I generated content will
be between the content would be um AI content like AI people um generated people will would read AI
content but we are humans we are really interested in a real stories we are interested in your
strugglings we are interested in your learnings which is AI obviously don't know

we can actually

do some inputs. Let's say there is a news please AI adapted for my LinkedIn, Twitter, like Facebook,
uh, uh, Telegram. So, we can AI could adapt this story.

But AI even could speak as you speak.

But AI do not know your vulnerability. They do not know your uh, actually like worings. And this is
how you gave up on your corporate job. And can you just give me some honest uh how did you actually
started your company? What was your actually um main uh um um struggling? So I would say this is
like more like more like a personal I would say sharings uh hobbies would be the most I know that
starting from 2026 LinkedIn will would have will is going to is going to include uh stories we will
have stories on the LinkedIn from 2026. Yes. I didn't know that. And I'm always like I'm also like
curious about like uh this. Yeah. But also uh right now um it's you are getting like exhausted
reading this all AI content but I always my my like my eyes are always catching and looking for the
content like a real content where like people like real like sharing

um their story rather than like just AI news generated.

Great point actually. So the to battle the AI generated content you bring in the more personal
stories of your struggle and your story. Personal story

your story.

That's a very good uh point actually like I guess I this is a good segue for me to ask you the
question like uh how did you change? Uh you have been in the US for 6 years. I mean I know that
you're uh you'll be here for a long time. So you this is from my perspective still in the beginning
of your journey.

Yes.

Um but I'm sure that you have already changed somewhat. what are the main things you learned or
changed uh in you in the last six years I would say coming in the

um so as an entrepreneur I would say that I switched from micromanagement uh and I started to I
stopped doing the micromanagement and uh uh following up on like a tiny task that my team is doing.
I um I started to visualize on like a big project what I actually do. So let's say I want to do like
a podcast. So here I am. I'm I'm having uh like my dream came true. I'm here with you and I'm doing
my my podcast. So because if you are more focused on the micromanagement you lose this creativity
opportunity to grow and this is what I actually like learned in 2025 that you you have to let go uh
like like this small task and um if you have like a bad situation just sleep over and next day um
trust me you can you can solve uh this problem way more easier faster faster with less stress. I
just I just give myself like just sleep one night with this with this problem and trust me next day
it's going to be like less important and less stressful for you. So this is how I decreased my um my
stress at work. Um

because it's also like helps me to

you know to be like um in my um cold mind. uh I don't know how to say like to be more uh you know um
consistent and to think like um um and um my perspective for 2026 I would say to grow my uh personal
brand actually the same as what I do because I have a company when we are actually uh we're an
experts in how to grow it a personal brand in

using so many instruments uh but also I am also like interested but I'm also interested uh to grow
my personal brand the way I just mentioned like uh previously and what I actually recommend I just
want to focus more on this uh um like um um on this strategy and also uh potentially um pivoting to
uh work with um big enterprise companies and to help them also with brand awareness. Not I I still
love working with entrepreneurs, with startups and being this niche boutique agency and be a partner
for like many many clients. Um but also I want to be um I want to start helping also like big names
as well in 2026.

Yeah. No, this is very exciting. Um all the learnings are very relevant and the the beautiful part
about being a founder is that you have to grow keep growing all the time and honestly I can re
understand that you are talking from your own experience and pain because I've gone through exactly
same thing

yes

of being micromanaging and like because when you are starting your own company you care about it so
much so you want to be perfect in every little

every little detail

but if you do it then the little little branches like if you the tree the little branches do not
grow. So it's called the concept is called letting go of the vine so the vines can grow. So that's a
very good like I think this change simple change uh it has freed me I think I it it took me so long
for to learn this but I think like 2 years ago or 3 years ago I made this shift and I've seen that
my team is like growing. I'm like oh see I I'm missing but it's good. Yes.

Uh so incredible uh incredible learning. This will help you so much in the future. Second one is
also great. I think this is also like sleeping on it like sometimes we are becoming so like uh
control freak also. This is comes from the sense of controlling that I have to solve it now tonight.

Yes.

But sometimes like if you're taking a break not even sleep for tonight. Sometimes even if you come
back after a week it's not a big problem like oh this is a solution. It wasn't a big problem anyway.

Great. Uh I love it. And then the last thing you said the pivot that's also what I realized is that
the difference between B2C and B2B is that the B2C's like the people who when you're helping these
talents and customers they are kind of fulfilling your heart's need because they're humans and they
are you're feeling like oh you're feeling happy they're human you see like that is always going to
be a part of you I didn't I don't think you can completely teach it. Uh however all these learnings
are going to be very helpful for enterprise and that's like this is next year is going to be so epic
for you. I'm so excited. I wanted to give you a a little uh gift because you are an immigrant

and um this is Asian size. This is your size M and this will be M your size.

Thank you so much.

It just says for immigrants by immigrants. Um, everyone knows this t-shirt, but this is also

and in a very very

you if you want to open it doesn't matter. Yeah, everyone.

Thank you so much.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Niso. Uh, this has been very helpful. I'm excited. Maybe we can have
another conversation uh few years later when your uh your agency's name is what? Sato.

Sato.

Sato. What's the name? What's the meaning behind this name? Actually,

it's a sugar in Japanese.

Sugar in Japanese. sugar in Japanese.

Why are you trying to inject sugar in people's like why s I'm just kidding.

So uh I think um my um I I to be honest I really liked how it sound to be honest. Sato uh because
like very Japanese way I love sugar to be honest. I love I'm I I love sugar.

I realized that when we met first time you're having the sugar.

Yes. I have a sweet tooth and

you have a sweet tooth. Oh my god. I I I remember that I told you that people who have sugar do have
Alzheimer. Oh my god, I feel so bad. Okay, never mind.

Yeah. Yeah. So, and this is just a just um I know also another company Sugar also in Russia. It's
called Sugar but in Russian. And uh they grew they grow like very fast. Within like a year they from
one company like they had like I don't know 50 locations all over the Russia.

I I'll give you a positive twist on sugar. uh the I mean sugar is first of all very sweet.

Yes.

U it is uh basically you're now I'll have a completely different understanding of sugar because of
you.

Sugar is actually the reason u sugar for brain sugar is the fastest boost.

Yes.

Basically because it's the easiest to dilute like easiest to digest.

So whenever you need a quick thing uh quick energy boost in sugar that's why you have the sugar
spike. you have sugar and your brain has immediate uh feedback, immediate speed.

So sugar has a power of basically speeding things up and that's how I'll remember that if anyone
wants help on speeding their personal brand and also have the sweetness of you come to Satu and Miso
Mis. Thanks so much. Thank you so much. So fun. Thank you. Take care.

Okay. Thank you.