Katie McCormick Lelyveld

Founder, MELD

Katie McCormick Lelyveld’s work is perhaps best recognized for her pivotal role in a historic White House administration. As the press secretary to former First Lady Michelle Obama, McCormick Lelyveld was Obama’s second-ever hire in 2007 and was instrumental in introducing the country to someone relatively unknown at the time. Now, nearly two decades later, McCormick Lelyveld is the Founder and CEO of KML Strategic Advisors, which counsels purpose-driven, influential leaders. And in her most recent career move, she’s also the Founder of MELD, a company focused on helping women—especially those at the start of their careers—advance in the workplace through specialized coaching and connection.

As the organization's name suggests, and McCormick Lelyveld shares, MELD focuses on engaging ambitious, Gen Z women with mentors, prospective employers, each other, and resources to help them thrive. She describes the movement as intended for women of all ages: from those old enough to remember the inequities that Boomer women endured in the workforce to Gen Z women entering the workforce today who are navigating organizational complexity that previous generations did not have to consider.

This month, McCormick Lelyveld joined us for Office Hours to discuss how her vision for this mentorship and incubator program formed well before its launch in October 2022, and how its impact will live on for many years to follow. Read on for how this creative thought leader brought her idea to life.

WHAT HAS INFORMED YOUR APPROACH TO THAT WORK, ESPECIALLY FOLLOWING YOUR TIME IN THE WHITE HOUSE?

"That story starts when I was young, growing up in downtown Chicago. My dad ran a pediatric emergency room and my mom was a librarian who also had a lifelong battle with different disabilities. What my mom lacked in balance and ease of movement, she made up for in a spirited, fearless, advocacy-oriented personality, which provided me with a model. My parents would record the news every night on VHS and she would insist that I sit and watch with them so that she could point out to me the details of how stories were told—injustice, unfairness, power struggles, who had what power, whether that power was fair, who was telling the stories. It shaped my journey—and my fire. I love creating environments for people to come together, identify shared experiences, and find there is more alike about them than differentiates them–and get feisty together when the moment requires it.

“I met Mrs. Obama in 2007, and right around the time [President Obama] announced his run for president. We were creating these spaces at first for Mrs. Obama with voters all over Iowa…and we were bringing forward this woman from not so far away, and yet worlds away. She was a hospital executive. She was from the south side of Chicago. We found that, when people could really talk and listen, women were connecting about raising kids, juggling work and family, caring for aging parents, health concerns, friend concerns. It wasn't about [speaking to] their differences, it was about their similarities. That mindset translated into so many different experiences that took [Mrs. Obama] from being unknown to the most popular woman in the world.

“With that incredible training—and my degree from the University of Michelle Obama in hand after many years of working with her—I now work in a consulting advisory space for dynamic impact leaders who are navigating rarified air and who are looking for that connector to help them and their team think through and achieve big moments together with mission-driven, purposeful impact.”

HOW DID THE IDEA OF MELD BEGIN TO TAKE SHAPE?

“I had an opportunity to speak to a class at Harvard in the fall of 2021 on entrepreneurship and innovation, at the invitation of a mentee of mine: a student and female founder named Shilpa Yarlagadda of Shiffon Co. At the end of my talk, a number of young women stuck around to chat. They were sharing their stories and questions. And I found myself in those environments over the next few months. Whether they were with female founders at Station F in Paris—which is Europe's largest tech incubator—or academic or corporate environments, or my White House experience, they all came back to a lot of the same discussion points: seeking connection with each other. It made me feel like there was just something there that wasn't being done to provide experienced guidance and like-minded peer support in a consistent and strategic way.

“After many years of consulting, and many more years with Mrs. Obama, and my whole life being my mom's daughter, I took a step back. Around this time my mom passed away, and so I was in this deep reflection space. I was 42 and had been offered a fellowship at Harvard after the talk that I gave. I realized I had this opportunity—this platform in my mom's honor—to explore what it could be to create more than just a company, but an environment, that brought an intentional intergenerational awareness to the table from those of us who learned from women like my mom and those at a critical point in their professional journey, the very start.

“What could we do if we harness that trend and bring these women together? If we intercepted young women before the market has shaped them and prepared them to be players and leaders in a more diverse and distinct ecosystem? What could that look like? How do we listen to and influence current workplaces and build better ones going forward? And how do we identify and accelerate opportunities for emerging female talent? And so that's kind of a long answer to say the journey [to MELD] didn't start when I left Mrs. Obama's office but really with a VHS tape of the news.”

WHAT SKILLS DO YOU THINK HAVE BEEN MOST BENEFICIAL FOR YOU IN YOUR PAST AND PRESENT ROLES?

“Listening and trying to understand what makes people tick, and then helping them get from where they are to where they want to be. And sometimes that chasm can be mitigated by relationship building or clear communication or a strategic partnership—trying to not just say, ‘This is how it's going to be done,’ but instead, think about what the goal is, think about the humanity of the person in the space, and what makes them special, and what feels higher level and important to make the moment.”

HOW DO YOU GET TO THAT CONNECTION? TO PERHAPS EVEN DISARM SOMEONE TO BUILD THAT KIND OF CONNECTION?

“Maybe this is the only child in me where I feel like I've just tried to make everybody family. And so disarming is exactly one way I love to do that—to just get right to the point. Right away I ask people what they're working through, what they're working on, what's giving them joy, and what's giving them trouble. I love asking those questions. It builds a bridge to a shared experience quickly. I also don't have a problem goofing a bit, which is to say I would rather just get to that comfortable sit-and-chat place. I love that community building, even if it means you infuse a little bit of play or goofiness to put people at ease—less disarm, more at ease.”

"...what we have the opportunity to do now is elevate more of ourselves so that more young women see more of us in more dynamic environments. It is very powerful to see a woman at the top of the ladder."

IN YOUR WORK WITH MELD, WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT THE WOMEN WHO ARE ENTERING THE WORKFORCE TODAY THAT YOU WISH MORE LEADERS COULD UNDERSTAND?

“There are a few factors at play. This is a generation of digital natives living with powerful connective technology that also puts them in environments where they're comparing themselves with others. And that's a lot of pressure. They organize themselves well because they're staying connected so consistently, and yet they are craving feeling seen, heard, and valued by people in decision-making capacities and ready to be decision-makers themselves.

“One young woman said at [an event] of ours early on: ‘Boys are raised to be brave and girls are raised to be perfect.’ And that means that we're less inclined to take risks. With that mindset, that's a lot of pressure. I think that's a universal truth for women in a lot of ways—we've had to break through brick walls—but making space for drive, shared interests, and new ideas will catalyze innovation. Don’t just encourage women to take their seat at the table. Show them where the table is, vouch for them, and prepare them to be ready when they get there.

“[At MELD] we think through what the new modern workplace looks like. There's a lot of hunger and appetite to not just see different kinds of jobs that women can do, but see different kinds of women doing the jobs. The squiggly line career that Sali [Christeson, Argent’s Founder] and I both have—where what you started as has adjusted and grown—demonstrates that what you are saying yes to as a 22-year-old has the freedom to shift. It's okay to change course, as opposed to feeling like you're totally locked in.

“But we also want to set women up for success in the long run. Some women are leaving the workforce at mid and senior levels. So what skills do we need to hone in young women and in their environments that allow them to stick with it and advance to higher levels? There’s so much to be learned and shared. That’s why this interphase approach to leadership development is so important.”

SPEAKING TO YOUR PEERS RIGHT NOW, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE THEM AS FAR AS HOW TO BE A GOOD MENTOR?

“We have an incredible opportunity to be collaborative and not competitive. I think many of us came into our professional worlds where there might've been only one woman senior to us because she was the first woman in the room. And that could have been for any number of reasons: because of the opportunities afforded to her and her peer group, because of the pressures to keep the door closed. And yet, what we have the opportunity to do now is elevate more of ourselves so that more young women see more of us in more dynamic environments. It is very powerful to see a woman at the top of the ladder.

“Also, it is equally valuable to have more women across org charts available to speak to emerging talent. They might get as much out of speaking to someone two, five, or 10 years out of college, as to speak to the CEO. Our first national primary research (across 22 college campuses, completed in February) showed that 93% of young women prefer to engage 1:1 over workshops and webinars, and the majority want help with soft skills like life-goal planning and hard skills like financial fluency. There’s certainly enough need and enough to be done.

“Engagement with our mentors is also so cool to see, and how they are able to advance the workplaces they are in with better connection with younger generations. The experience is bi-directional!”

AND FINALLY, WHAT’S A PIECE OF ADVICE THAT YOU WISH YOU HAD RECEIVED AT THE START OF YOUR CAREER?

“Keeping an open mind and knowing it's all going to be okay is easier said than done when you're just getting started. I am grateful for the incredible rooms I've gotten to be in. I worked hard to be there. I worked hard when I was in them. And I work better knowing how to do many things. Working, I love. Sometimes parenting is hard, partnering is hard, friending is important, but work? Work I know how to do. And so just knowing it's going to be okay and putting the work in is important.”

Illustrations by Bijou Karman