CMO Series REPRESENTS - Ioana Good on Finding Your Voice: A CEO's Journey to the U.S. and Path in Journalism, Thought Leadership and Tech

Yasmin: Today on the CMO Series Represents, we're joined by someone whose story is as inspiring as it is powerful. Ioana Good came to the US from Romania as a child with just two suitcases and a few words of English. What followed was a journey of grit learning and a deep passion from communication. One that would take her from teaching herself English, to working in top newsrooms, earning advanced degrees, and building a successful career in legal marketing and pr.

Now the founder of Promova, Iona has built a business, helping firms sharpen their voice, connect with clients, and stand out in a competitive landscape. But her path hasn't been without challenges. In this episode, Iona shares how her early experiences shaped the way she communicates, leads, and helps others find their voice. Whether you've built a life in a new country, or the first in your family to enter a profession, or are simply looking for inspiration, this is a story you won't want to miss. 

Charlie: This episode is brought to you by CrossPitch AI, the new cross-selling tool from Passle. Cross-selling should be the easiest way for law firms to grow, but most firms struggle. Why? Lack of awareness, lack of trust, and frankly, fear of selling. The result missed revenue. CrossPitch AI fixes that. It breaks down silos, helps professionals connect and delivers timely, relevant insights to the right people inside the firm and out.There's no heavy rollouts. Just switch it on and try it today. Head to crosspitch.ai to book your demo and make cross-selling happen. Now, back to the podcast.

Yasmin: Ioana, welcome to the CMO Series Represents. 

Ioana: Wow. Thank you so much for that great introduction, Yasmin. I'm happy to be here. 

Yasmin: Please, we're happy to have you. It's very exciting to have somebody as wonderful, and as you know, prolific in your work life joining us and, you know, coming on and telling us your story. So we're gonna jump right in. We've got tons of questions for you today, and we really wanna start it with your background. So you came to the US at a young age. You taught yourself English. A lot of folks have done that, but I'd love to hear what your story sounds like, 'cause everybody's story is so different.So tell me how you found your footing when you joined the US. 

Ioana: Sure. So, I moved to the United States from Romania, where I'm from with my mom, and it was during a very difficult time. It was communism, and communism was collapsing, and we were in the midst of everything. And so we were given an opportunity to come to the United States with one suitcase each, so we packed as much as we could and flew overnight to the outskirts of Boston. It was a difficult time. Culturally, it was very different coming from Eastern Europe to the United States, but also I didn't speak any English, and so it was just a very difficult time to get acclimated. I enrolled in ESL, which is English as a second language course, and what I found is that it was taking me a little too long to really learn the language well and quickly to get by. So what I did is I quit and I said, if I don't learn this language in six months, I'm gonna come back, but I'm just gonna try to teach myself.

This is because I've always been pretty good at languages. I spoke multiple languages in Romania, so I knew that if I just put my mind to it, I could get it done. I ended up watching lots of television, news channels and even children's shows like Sesame Street and really taught myself English that way. At the time we didn't have Duolingo, we didn't have, um, subtitles. I wish we did. So I would just repeat after the newscast and then, you know, kind of memorize and learn how to speak and how to get by. And sure enough, within six months I did learn enough to get by. I got into Northeastern University and really ended up studying journalism because I fell in love with watching news shows in Romania where I grew up. It was very oppressed. It was communist. So we did not have, you know, freedom of press or all these variety of news channels and different angles and stories. I loved that. I knew I wanted to be part of it, so I studied journalism and international affairs. I graduated at the top of my class. I was able to work in some really great newsrooms, such as the Boston Globe, the Boston Phoenix, Tribune Media, Orlando Sentinel, and I pretty much worked up to 9/11. That event really had such a; made such a difference in my life. I really wanted to go cover ground zero.

And at the time I was told it wasn't safe enough to go. So my male counterparts got to go, but I didn't get to go. I was in the newsroom just, you know, providing research and helped in anyway I could. But after that I decided, you know what? I wanna try something else. I have these great communication skills now. You know, writing skills and interview skills. I'm a curious person. I just, you know, wanna see if I can do something else. Long story short, I went into the professional services space, heading up communication roles, so that's for a EC tech, legal, and at the same time I thought, okay, I just have a journalism degree. I need to have something that's a little bit more technical. So I studied corporate communication and technology as my masters program, and I wanted to kind of learn how to communicate in such a way where the communication, and technology sort of bridges together, and what the future will hold for those of us in the journalism and communication fields.

So, that is basically it. After spending many years in-house, I ended up launching Promova. Promova means to propel, to advance, to create, to move forward in Romanian, but also in Latin. My business partner Adrian, is Cuban, and so we thought that that was the perfect name for our business. It is a PR, branding and content agency. In 2023, we came up with ‘Find a Rainmaker’, which is a software that helps companies identify the right people in the right roles within 10 minutes or less. And it feeds media coaching and business development training. So that is how I came and what I've done so far in the United States. 

Yasmin: Oh my gosh. That's it, right? You just like a couple of things, you know. 

Ioana: Couple. Yeah. 

Yasmin: That's just a couple things here and there. That's amazing. I'm so curious Ioana, so like when you talk about how you had taught yourself English, obviously from a really young age, and then you wanted to get a more technical skill outside of your journalism degree, what is the differences in how you're communicating from when you were doing journalism, and then now in your current business and on the day to day? 

Ioana: Yeah, so I - that's such a great question. I mean, reporting is really just telling the story from multiple angles, where now as a consultant working across 36 states and different industries, it's more of a strategic communication. Everybody has their own unique challenges, whether it's internal or external communications, or, you know, launching a new practice group or, you know, having a new technology service or platform. So, you know, telling those stories are very different than straight reporting. And I'm so glad I did it that way because journalism is a lot easier for a foreigner to learn because it's, you know, just a straight, what happened, why, what's next, why.  Here in the corporate world it's a lot more complex there's a lot more moving parts. 

Yasmin: Mm-hmm. That's very interesting. And how was media or I guess you talked about it a little bit, but the media environment in Romania, what was that like and how did that spark your interest in journalism? 

Ioana: So the media in Romania was almost non-existent as I was growing up. There were two news channels and they aired on the weekends, maybe one hour each. And it was about the president's efforts and the president's efforts, and that was it. So really I grew up very sheltered and knowing even what was going on politically, what has happened historically. And it was really eye-opening to come to the US and see all the various news channels and reporters report all these different stories. And I come from a part of the world where if you spoke out against the government, those people were jailed or they disappeared. So it's very scary stuff. To hear having freedom of speech; anybody could say anything on any social media channel, the news channels are, are pretty lax. So it's really interesting to see that from those two different perspectives.

Yasmin: Yeah, I have to say I definitely have some experience in that as well. And I just have that, what that feels like, being a little fearful of what you might say and how that could affect you or your loved ones or your friends and family, and it's terrifying and I think. And I'd love to hear how that maybe affects you to this day. Right? Like you still kind of harbor that feeling. I completely get that. It probably affects a lot of people too, so it's very cool to see that you also feel the same way. 

Ioana: Yeah, I mean, for sure it, you know, I mean, it took me a long time to talk about my history because when I came here I was just so focused on getting by. Learning the language, getting appropriate education, getting into the workforce, having a job to be able to support myself. So I was really focused on that. I really hardly ever talked about what happened in my past. The only way people would know is my accent was a lot stronger, you know, so they would say, oh, where did you come from? But it would be something like, you probably came from Argentina or, you know, a totally different part of the world. So anyways, I think I've really sort of embraced that because if it wasn't for, you know, that experience, I wouldn't be here today. So it's all sort of come full circle for me. 

Yasmin: Yeah. And you're also creating kind of a - you're helping build that environment that brings more people in with diverse experiences, and thoughts, and like different history and backgrounds. I know for a lot of people, you know, from my family especially, that like you come to the US and you don't say anything about where you were, but you're focused on where you're gonna go and who you wanna be. And that's only once you kind of make your way through and you go, okay, I'm now a success. Now I can tell everybody about how much it took to get to this point. So it's very cool to be able to tell this story. It means a lot to me personally. We could probably talk about this all day, so I'm gonna try to keep us on track.

So for those who feel like the first and the only in the room, right,  exactly what we were just talking about, you're kind of the outlier. What helped you move forward in uncertain moments and what advice would you give to others trying to find their voice? 

Ioana: Yeah. So I mean, as I move through life, I realize that it's just so important to be yourself and embrace whatever background you have. It's okay if you're the only one in the room. You just lean into that. And you really wanna partner with people who believe in you, understand what you're doing, perhaps serve as mentors and really just want you to succeed. There's so many people that do that and that are on your side. And I mean, we've all been, you know, challenged with people who don't, you know, and just trusting your instinct to get away from that as quickly as possible and just not get wrapped up in any kind of, you know, negative experience, or gossip, or rumors. Nothing like that. Just focus on yourself. Focus on the positive, focus on the people that show up every day for you, and be really grateful for that.

Yasmin: Yeah. That's amazing. And you've also probably built your career off those people that have helped lift you up, right? Like of course you weren't focusing on kind of trying to maneuver around, but rather you're trying to lift others up and lift yourself up. 

Ioana: Yeah. 

Yasmin: Where you've built your career in journalism, business, and law, how have those all intersected? And given your background, it's probably given you a really unique perspective. How has that become a strength in your work? 

Ioana: Yeah, it's such a great question. I, you know, have spent almost three decades in journalism and business in one way or the other.  Whether it was in Romania without the freedom of the press to the newsrooms that were very eyeopening with huge freedom of press, to internal, you know, companies that have their own challenges and need for communication. To now working across so many different industries and different states in the US. I'm very proud of all the things that I have learned and the ability to sit on different sides of the table.

'cause that really is why I am able to provide this advice. Sometimes I think, oh, I should have started, you know, Promova and ‘Find a Rainmaker’ a long time ago. But I wouldn't be successful because I wouldn't have had those experiences. So just, you know, embracing those experiences, being able to be authentic and telling your story. Leaning into thought leadership, which Passle does so well. Promova does so well. You know, just focusing on things like that to really just get ahead. And then the last thing is just listening to your clients. So for instance,  ‘Find A Rainmaker’, we're getting ready to launch team formation reports. And for the last six months we've really been working very hard with our clients and listening to them, and getting their feedback, and implementing, you know, certain tweaks with our developers. And that's what it's all about, is collaborating together to make sure that you bring a product that is useful to the market.

Yasmin: Yeah, that's brilliant. I think also bringing a new product into the market, you’re probably are stepping into that territory of like, how am I feeling about this and that unfamiliarity, how would you encourage somebody to step into that unfamiliarity and take that risk? 

Ioana: So I think we all have to remember that we are in a specific role for a reason, and that is because we have specific experience. And no matter what stage of life you're in, whether you just graduated college or you're 30 years in. Hopefully you're in that role that really is meaningful to you, and you have the ability to take that as far as you want. And so trust yourself, be a hundred percent authentic and do the best that you can do. You know, show up, work hard. I think it's the people who work hard, exhaust all the various options, and come up with solutions; these are the people that everybody wants to work with at the end of the day. So work hard, be yourself and. Just be confident in what you do. 

Yasmin: Ioana, given that we're at the end of our podcast. I feel like I've gone through all of my questions, but I wanted to open it up to you. Are there any parting words you wanna share with our audience before we say goodbye? 

Ioana: Yes. We are each very unique and different, so don't be afraid to be authentic. Share your story and help others. Pay attention to things like thought leadership. If you wanna grow your business, there's, you know, in the economy highs and lows. And when there's a low, that's when we have seen companies really succeed. They're putting a lot of effort into thought leadership, into marketing, and when the market corrects itself, they're the first set of the gate. So, you know, don't be general. Be very authentic. Tell your story. Do not be afraid, and tell clients what problems you solve.

Yasmin: That's brilliant. Thank you. To those of us who are joining us on today's episode of CMO Series Represents and wanna thank Iona for her time today, and her big takeaways, encouraging all of you to create some thought leadership, position yourself in the market in the place that you want to be in. And don't be afraid to speak your mind. So Ioana, thank you so much. 

Ioana: Thank you so much for having me. This has been so much fun. 

Yasmin: Awesome. Well everybody, I hope you have a great rest of your day and tune in next time for another episode of the CMO Series Represents. 

Charlie: You can follow the Passle CMO Series Podcast on your preferred podcast platform. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next time.