Inspiring Conversations with Jamie Hampton of Mixte Communications

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamie Hampton.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I have a pretty traditional upbringing — one of two children raised in a small town in Oregon. I moved to San Diego to stretch my wings, and ended up settling in Ocean Beach for about 15 years. That’s where our office was originally located, but I love that we moved to Golden Hill. Turns out, it’s much more centrally located for our team that was commuting from different parts of the county. I’m one of those rare breeds that does for a living what I studied in school: public relations. I ended up in this field because I originally wanted to be a journalist, but I felt the PR curriculum would give me a more well-rounded education, but then I liked the field so much, I stuck with it.

After about a decade working in PR and advertising agencies, I followed my hippy heart to a water conservation organization in San Diego, where I learned what it meant to be a communications director at a nonprofit. And those two experiences led to the type of services that we offer at Mixte. Most importantly, though, our company only works with organizations invested in taking care of our communities, and I’m super thankful for the team that joins us on this journey and the clients that trust us with telling their story.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Nothing ever feels smooth when you’re going through it, but as I glance back through the past ten years, it looks like smooth sailing. From this vantage point, though, there are three large markers that made all of the difference for me: 1. Addressing My White Privilege: The spoiler alert is that one of my worst moments on a personal level led to some of the best outcomes in my life — marrying Karim Bouris and a company that lives its values. A while ago, and before I married Karim, we were on a date night in Point Loma. It was sweet — a progressive dinner date that involved a drink paired with a dish, each at a different restaurant: appetizer, salad, main dish and then dessert. At a point into the night when we were sufficiently drunk, we entered a restaurant where two white couples were praying before they received their meal. He said a simple comment, “How privileged of them to be able to do that here without judgement.” This is where it gets real bad for me — I fought him on that statement, trying to justify that anyone could have that same freedom. What I realize now, and what I should have known then, is that not all people have the ability to be who they are in the public space without judgement. And that’s just the tip of the racist iceberg. This moment changed my life. Karim thankfully worked with me as I began my journey to understand and address biases that I carry with me, and that journey led me to becoming a much better employer.

At the time that this occurred, our company was entirely white. Now, as a cisgender white woman, I’m a minority on our team, and that’s a consistent threshold at all levels within Mixte. And, as if I could top the fact that Karim eventually asked me to marry him, he also joined our team as our COO. 2. Growing Beyond Jamie: There’s not a specific moment that I can highlight in our growth from Jamie’s company to Mixte, but I know there were so many bumps and bruises along the way. I found myself at many points thinking, “If I could only duplicate myself….” But, of course, that’s never the answer. Not because it’s physically impossible, but because the answer is trusting your team and being direct with your clients. One of the scariest things to do as a business owner is to let go of the “firsts” — the people who trusted you early and helped propel you into a brand name. But I have found that, though best intentioned, it can be these folks that prevent your growth. It’s scary because you have to confront your fear of failure, and it constantly requires you to take a blind step into the unknown. But if you can do it, I find that the strength is rewarded with positive outcomes. And, in our case, acceptance that the MixTEAM does fantastic work, not Jamie. 3. Learning to Be Vulnerable: My family raised me to hold secrets close to the chest.

As an adult, I now realize it’s those habits that cause anxiety, headaches and that one really, really deep wrinkle that runs north to south between my eyes. The moment that stands out the most for me is a lunch meeting that I had with a colleague who runs another agency in town. We met for business, of course, but when he asked me how I was doing, I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I ugly cried over lunch sharing the complicated circumstances of my extended family and what it meant to be the one sibling who lived far away. This person met me with compassion, similar shared experiences, and, most importantly, the name and number of a therapist who helped him overcome his similar struggle. While I can’t get the forehead crease to relax, leading with vulnerability certainly helped the rest of me to relax, and now I try to lead with that empathic style in all parts of my life.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Mixte Communications?
I’ve spent a lot of time talking about my personal life and it co-exists with my professional life. But there are two things about Mixte that I’m really proud of being the team and the work specifically: 1. We are a nationally recognized bicycle friendly business. OK, now that COVID forced us to go virtual, we’ll stay virtual, so I’m not sure what this means moving forward…yet. But, we went out of our way to design a company culture, biking parking, showers and a supportive team to teach and encourage people to ditch their car commute. There are a number of avid bicycle commuters that are comfortable doing that because they learned and developed the skill at or through Mixte. 2. We’re incubating a social enterprise called Tracks Public Relations. We’re definitely behind the curve on the paid job training component because COVID caused a wrinkle, but we’re incubating this sister company to offer paid training opportunities for folks who might not otherwise find themselves in a communications career.

What are your plans for the future?
Honestly, just chilling. COVID has caused so much stress and turmoil in our world, I feel like being present, enjoying the moments that we have and learning to love the now are the most important plans I could make.

Contact Info:

• Email: jamie@gomixte.com
• Website: www.gomixte.com
• Other: www.trackspr.com