No, But Really, What Do You Do?

Blaike Hannay is the creator*, producer and host of No, But Really, What Do You Do? Her own career journey contributed, in part, to the idea for the show—or at least her extensive range of interests and the alternate routes she might have taken. In the 2nd grade, she would proudly tell anyone who asked that she would someday be hired as Animated Feature Background (fancy 8-year-old speak for the voice of cartoons). Around the 7th grade there was a brief stint thinking she’d someday be president. Then a few successful negotiations with high school English teachers on paper deadline extensions put her on the path to being a lawyer, until two weeks before taking the LSAT her senior year of college when she surprised (disappointed?) her parents by saying it wasn’t for her after all. Movie producer, museum fundraiser and chef all made an appearance along the way as well.

In line with absolutely none of that, she began her career as an administrative assistant in a financial trade association. Nothing teaches you attention to detail and how to juggle overlapping priorities like managing multiple people’s schedules and dozens of industry events per year from conferences for hundreds to dinners for ten. (Also, a pro tip: forget cozying up to senior leadership, always befriend the admins!) From there she has gone on to spend most of her working life happily bouncing around different marketing roles at organizations including Scholastic, J.P. Morgan, and Morgan Stanley (marketing children’s books and wealth management have more in common than one might think).

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