Transcript
A (0:01)
Welcome back to the Simple Pen Podcast. I have a really fun interview for you today with Ellen Yin of Cubicle to CEO. This discussion was all about creative experiences and how to create these amazing experiences in your business so that your business can grow. But it started with us talking about her being Mrs. Oregon America as well as using Pinterest as a collaborative tool for her recent event. And I attended that event. We're both from Oregon. It was such a cool thing for me to see an event planner use this in their event planning. So we go into why she used it, how it impacted, and some tips that she's going to carry over into her next event. This conversation really evolved into where we're going in 2026, how we can connect with our audience. And I think there are so many takeaways in this episode that will inspire you to think differently in 2026, to think creatively and to really expand your business in a new and interesting way. Stay for the Outro I normally never do outros on my own, but I had a few follow up thoughts that I wanted to share with you after you get done listening to the episode. We have a lot of links. We're going to leave them down below in the description. Make sure you check those out. And thank you so much for listening to the Simple Pin podcast. Here is my interview with Ellen Yin. Ellen Yin, welcome to the SimplePen podcast.
B (1:37)
Hi Kay, so excited to join you today. You're my first podcast conversation of this year. So happy 2026.
A (1:43)
I feel so honored. Happy 2026 as well. And you just passed on a title that you have held for a while, which is Mrs. Oregon. So. So let's jump into that because I'm super intrigued about all of it. Right. I'm sure it's a super long story, but tell me a little bit about this experience with Mrs. Oregon.
B (2:02)
It's so funny you ask. I feel like this experience came from a lot of similar to a lot of things I do in life. It kind of just came from the spur of the moment impulse decision. I actually got introduced to the world of pageantry, like local pageantry. You know, I grew up watching Miss USA Miss America on TV like many of us do, but had no prior personal experience to pageantry until it was 2022. I was invited actually to judge another pageant system. And you know, a lot of now that I've been in the pageant world for a few years, I've learned that a lot of pageant systems, when they invite local judges, they usually like to have an entrepreneur or A business owner's perspective on a panel. And so I was kind of filling in that role, Loved the women I met, kept in touch with, with some of them after, and then just kind of got, you know, more proximity to that world. And so then in 2023, I believe I on my birthday, it just so happened that the Mrs. Oregon America pageant show was happening. And my best friend and I were like, again, last minute, we were like, let's get tickets tonight and go watch the show. It's here in town. Why not? And so we, you know, we got to dress up and we went out and it was fun. And as I was watching the women compete on stage, I was like, you know what? This would be such a cool thing to do sometime in my life. I don't know why I felt compelled to do it, but I think part of me, part of my approach to life is like, let me collect as many unique memories as possible. And so I always like to put unique experiences on my bucket list. And so this just ended up being one of them. And in 2024, which was the year that I competed, it just so happened that the pageant fell on May 4, which is two days before my birthday. And I was going to turn 30. So it was truly the last, you know, hurrah of my 20s, the last thing I did in my 20s. And I went in, you know, just wanting to really soak in the experience and meet, you know, women from all over the state. And I ended up winning. That was not what I expected.
