You need love, kindness, patience, trust and space. Love is the main and foundational ingredient in every successful relationship. You have to treat your partner with kindness, and you should also extend that courtesy to everyone you know and to strangers. Kindness is key! Patience is definitely a virtue. There are going to be times when you will frustrate your partner and vice versa and you have to learn to breathe through it and be patient.
As a part of our series about lessons from Thriving Power Couples, I had the pleasure of interviewing Amy & Scott Malin.
Amy & Scott Malin, are the married dynamic duo behind the new Trueheart search engine where you can change the world with every search at Trueheart.com. They are also partners in the Trueheart cause agency, which for over two decades has connected celebrities and purpose-driven brands to team up and raise millions of dollars for deserving charities.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you two to your respective career paths?
AM: I’ve always been focused on bringing people together. My friends would come hang at my parties when I was spinning at clubs back in the day, and I’d jump out of the DJ booth to dance with them. I’d host dinner parties so I could play matchmaker for my single friends. Five hundred guests would attend one of our star-studded charity events and rally around a great cause. After working at the intersection of Hollywood and philanthropy for the last two decades, teaming up with Scott to launch our Trueheart social impact search engine, is the culmination of finding my purpose to inspire people all over the world to join our movement.
SM: I focused the first part of my career working in the health, fitness and nutrition space and really enjoyed helping people get out of pain and lead a healthy lifestyle. But, my heart was always pulling me towards the arts and my passion for writing, photography and design. So, when Amy suggested that we become business partners, I know we each had a unique skill set that compliments one another, and would make us a great team. It has been almost eleven years of an incredible partnership with my wife, where as social entrepreneurs we’re using our talents to do a little bit of good every day.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you two got married?
AM: Over the last thirteen years of being together, we got married, created our family and became business partners, so there have been so many fun adventures. In our professional lives, we’ve been blessed to work with so many interesting, talented and wonderfully generous people. We were honored to direct Jack Black in our Superheroes For Kids campaign for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and that was a blast!
SM: Jack is a comedic genius and he was wonderful to work with! As storytellers, to have someone as accomplished as Jack bring our concept to life in the most hilarious way, was a dream come true. The patients loved him! In the same campaign, Mark Cuban starred opposite two amazing Miracle Kids in our Shark Tank parody. He was such a good sport and really made it all about the kids. We’ll remember this project forever and feel so lucky to have had this incredible experience.
AM: I’ll always be so proud of this campaign and that we were able to showcase these inspiring Miracle Kids as superheroes. Definitely one of the highlights of my career!
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
AM: One of my first projects when I started my agency over two decades ago, was producing a white label promo campaign for Teddy Riley’s remix of *NSYNC’s hit “Bye Bye Bye”. I was responsible for getting the record in the hands of the biggest club and radio DJs around the world. I forgot to include the cost of shipping the vinyl overseas in my budget and it cost me thousands of dollars. It was an expensive mistake, but it taught me some priceless lessons. I learned to always triple check my work and to value my time and services so I could make a good living.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
AM: We’re creating sustainable, free and easy solutions so people can incorporate philanthropy into their daily lives. Doing good feels good and is also a vital part of what connects us all as human beings. We’re also focused on creating a real sense of community with our Trueheart family. On our new Trueheart podcast we’ll dive deep with celebrities, mavericks, visionaries and real life heroes to find out what sets their souls on fire. If you’re looking to find your purpose and connect with other heart-centered individuals, we’d love to have you join our movement.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
SM: We’re really excited about the launch of our Trueheart social impact search engine which is a free and easy way for people to change the world with every search. We created this platform to help democratize philanthropy and make it more inclusive. We’re inviting billions of people with big hearts who have been largely excluded from philanthropy for so long, to join us and help transform their local communities. When you search with Trueheart, your searches power donations to Smile Train, Action Against Hunger, Global Green, PFLAG National, 4 Paws For Ability and Variety Boys & Girls Club. Amy and I are all about using the power of tech for good and we’re creating a movement of like-minded people who are passionate about social impact.
What advice would you give to other CEOs or founders to help their employees to thrive?
AM: My two main tips are to be kind and let your employees shine. If you foster a company culture where kindness is the golden rule, then it sets the tone for how your brand does business internally and externally. People want to feel proud of where they work and that their values are aligned with the company’s values. Also, when your employees do great work or come up with a big idea, celebrate their creativity. When I was just starting out in public relations as an account executive, I was tasked with coming up with a signature concept for a luxury brand’s global PR campaign. I shared my vision with the CEO of the agency who said it was the winning idea and that I should pitch it to the clients on our video call. I was so excited for this amazing opportunity. But the CEO lied and on the call, she said she came up with the campaign. I was crushed that someone I looked up to would take credit for my work. I came to learn from my colleagues that the CEO had a history of taking credit for her team’s ideas and mistreating her employees, which created a revolving door culture at the company. That day was a turning point in my life, where I decided to be my own boss and invest in myself and my dreams.
How do you define “Leadership”?
AM: Leadership is motivating your team around a common goal. A great leader creates a company culture where all employees are valued, respected, celebrated, heard and given opportunities to grow and succeed. You have to be able to inspire people to be their best. The Spider-Man comic books made famous one of my favorite quotes, which is “With great power, comes great responsibility.” This should be a guiding principle for the founders of every company to do right by their employees, their customers and their community.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
AM: I’m really grateful to take this incredible journey with Scott as partners in life, business and creating change. My husband has helped take our companies to a whole new level of success. It feels good to know I have a partner I can trust with my eyes closed who shares the same values and cares as deeply as I do about the work we’re doing to make a difference. I know many people wouldn’t want to work with their spouse for various reasons. Lots of our friends said they are in awe that we’re able to pull it off. Scott is my everything and I couldn’t imagine being on this wild and beautiful ride with anyone else.
How have you used your success to bring goodness to the world?
AM: Giving back is a guiding principle in our lives. Professionally, we infuse purpose in all of our projects and create sustainable solutions to democratize philanthropy. We’ve advised senior leadership at Fortune 500 brands on their social impact strategy and helped companies take their giving to new heights. In our personal lives, we teach our children about our responsibility as human beings to look out for another. We demonstrate that value by helping to feed the homeless, supporting families in high need communities, spreading holiday cheer to children’s hospital patients and foster care kids and always being available to help our family and friends.
What are the “5 Things You Need To Thrive As A Couple”? Please share a story or example for each.
AM: You need love, kindness, patience, trust and space. Love is the main and foundational ingredient in every successful relationship. You have to treat your partner with kindness, and you should also extend that courtesy to everyone you know and to strangers. Kindness is key! Patience is definitely a virtue. There are going to be times when you will frustrate your partner and vice versa and you have to learn to breathe through it and be patient. A lot of people have trust issues, myself included. Trust might be tough to cultivate, but it is crucial in a healthy relationship. When you’ve experienced abandonment and rejection in the past, fear creeps in and it can make it really hard for you to believe your partner is going to show up for you in the way you deserve. One important lesson I’ve learned is that you can’t punish your partner for someone else’s mistakes. That isn’t fair! You have to give your partner more slack than you would give most people because he/she is your true love and your confidant. Space might sound contrary to being coupled up, but a little bit of time apart is necessary for so many reasons. You have to have an identity, interests and friends outside of your relationship for your mental health and to be the best version of yourself. You’ll learn to appreciate each other more and you’ll also have interesting things to discuss with your partner when you fill each other in on your hobbies or hang-outs with friends.
SM: I agree with everything that Amy said, which may in itself be a tip. There is the old adage, “happy wife, happy life.” But seriously, I would add two things that I learned from Nema (Amy’s beloved grandma). The first is to never go to bed angry. Most arguments couples have are completely ridiculous and they are just cover for hurt feelings. If you let things fester and you go to bed upset, you’ll just wake up even more riled up in the morning and the argument will blow up. Calmly discuss your issues and make sure both people are being heard. Resolve whatever is bothering you before bedtime. The second lesson goes hand in hand with the first. Always kiss each other goodnight. This was part of Nema and Tata’s secret sauce to their enviable sixty-seven year marriage and they knew what they were talking about. Amy put up a wall decal with this motto above our bed. When I’d be on the verge of falling asleep without ending the day with a kiss, she’d sweetly remind me that the sign says “always” and not “sometimes.” I couldn’t argue with her logic. We’d kiss, laugh, and fall asleep smiling.
You are people of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
SM: That is kind of you to say, but really we’re just two people who are passionate about leaving the world better than we found it for our kids and every kid out there. We’re fired up about creating a movement with our Trueheart social impact search engine that will inspire people to join us and use the power of tech for good.
AM: We believe people are inherently good and that most people want to help and make a difference. Sometimes, people don’t know how and they need the tools and a plan. We’re using our background as seasoned strategists to show people a free and easy way they can create a ripple effect of goodness in the world by joining our community.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
AM: My favorite lyric of all time is “All You Need Is Love” by The Beatles. These words are so inspiring to me, that I got them inked, so that I’d have a powerful reminder to live by this motto. I believe that love is the most powerful force in the universe. Remarkable things happen in the name of love. If we learn to truly love and accept ourselves for who we are, then we can spread love, joy, kindness and respect to our fellow human beings and transform the world.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂
AM: I’m a huge Bee Gees fan. Their music was the soundtrack to my life growing up. The documentary, “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart”, showed how Barry Gibb, the surviving brother, would trade all of his fame and fortune to have his brothers back by his side. I loved the message that family is everything. It would be wonderful to meet Barry Gibb and share my deep appreciation for his music and let him know that some of his songs got me through really tough times. The Bee Gees’ music has been an important part of my journey of healing. I think artists appreciate knowing that their art is timeless and has made a real difference in their fans’ lives.
How can our readers follow your work online?
Check us out @WeAreTrueheart on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.
Lessons from a Thriving Power Couple, With Amy & Scott Malin of Trueheart was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.