Meet Trailblazer Sharon Lyle

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sharon Lyle.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Sharon. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started out as a fundraiser in the nonprofit space, and from that went back to school for my MBA and then landed at a fabulous, dynamic, small integrated marketing shop in Austin. At that agency (Russell/Shaw then, now Arrow), I worked predominately with nonprofit clients on events, brand management, PR, community relations. I loved the pieces of it where I really got to go deep with our clients’ missions. In 2009, I was recruited back to Dallas to help start and run TEDxSMU and TEDxKids@SMU (the first-ever TED content designed for kids or young people). I LOVED it! I got to learn so much about the world from that role, and while the original assignment was for only 5 months with a promise to help me use that to springboard to something different, I hadn’t had enough. I stayed for four years, producing 4 rounds each of TEDxSMU and TEDxKids@SMU, and developing a bunch of other related projects and events along the way. Part of what I discovered through that experience was that I love producing and building. So once TEDxSMU was established, I wanted to shake things up and do something different. I thought instead of doing that type of program for one organization, I’d see if there was an interest from potential clients in building an agency around doing content-driven, mission-aligned work. Public City, the predecessor to Ensemble, was born! I co-ran Public City for four years with a business partner in Austin until we decided to split the business at the end of last year and both focus on our respective strengths. In February of this year, I launched Ensemble. We are a small, nimble team of experience designers who build content, programming, events, and activations for our clients: all of whom are deeply rooted in mission-based work. And, most importantly, I have — objectively speaking — the best husband and kiddo ever!

Has it been a smooth road?
Uhhhhhhh, nothing smooth about it! Fun, challenging, worth it, rewarding – YES! I’m really conflict-averse, so that’s been something I’ve had to learn to manage (ahem, am still learning to manage!). I’ve learned a lot about communication styles and how to take emotion out of decision making. In the business I’m in, everything revolves around people and the team, so learning to both communicate with and listen to my team is the thing that matters most. For young women, I think learning to be assertive, to ask for what you want and need, and to learn how to have firm but kind conversations is critical. Especially when it comes to talking about money! I’ve had to learn to be really comfortable asserting our value as an agency. Also, I love to outsource my thinking to people who know a lot more than I do. NOT my decision-making, but my favorite process and learn is through discussion so it’s really important to me to surround myself with all kinds of people who can help me struggle through different challenges. I have a “brain trust” that completely functions as kind of a personal advisory board for me in my professional life. It’s worth its weight in gold AND chocolate.

We’d love to hear more about Ensemble.
We help our clients bring their missions to life through experience design. A lot of the time, that means figuring out how to tweak an event or create a new event to help tell the story of a client’s mission (#nomorerubberchickenlunches). Or it can mean doing content development (think speaker series and things like that). Or thinking about how we can activate a space to help people engage with it in new and different ways. There’s no formula for what we do, and each project looks different. I have a mentor who described his role in his company as, “fitting in the white spaces in between the boxes on the organizational chart.” That’s frankly a lot of what we do in our practice. It’s that place where strategy meets implementation and execution, and when I look around our company table, we’ve got great people on both ends of that spectrum.

Finding a mentor and building a network are often cited in studies as a major factor impacting one’s success. Do you have any advice or lessons to share regarding finding a mentor or networking in general?
I’ve been really lucky to have worked for a number of stand-out people in my career, so former bosses have been a great source of mentors for me. Kind of like parents: there’s no hiding the warts and weaknesses from a former boss. You can hem and haw all you want, but they are going to know where you are strong and where you might have blind spots, so they are in a pretty great position to help you navigate challenging situations. The other thing that has worked so well for me is getting involved in the community. In all candor, there’s nothing I hate more than a networking mixer. I call myself a socialized introvert, so the idea of working a room to make new connections makes me want to crawl back in bed. I’d rather meet people working on something together or collaborating around an initiative or effort. There’s the added benefit of quickly moving beyond small talk in those scenarios, too!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ensemblexd.com
• Phone: ‭(469) 708-9128‬
• Email: together@ensemblexd.com
• Instagram: EnsembleXDStudio

Image Credit:
Ensemble

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