The Doctrine

Filter for the climb, not just the venue. Hire single 25-29 Miami women who've been promoted in customer-facing roles, not stacked unicorn filters that produce another Mina rejection.

Locked 2026-05-10 after 3 weeks of iteration. The Mina rejection wasn't bad luck — it was a structurally wrong role spec. This playbook captures the role spec that actually works, the candidate archetypes that fit, and the sourcing strategy that ships in 2-3 weeks instead of 3 months.

The Role — Chief of Staff, OVO Talent

Title: Chief of Staff, OVO Talent (NOT "Brand Lead with equity in Brand Alex Inc.")

Location: Miami-based. No relocation REQUIRED but acceptable for the right candidate.

Cadence:

• In-person 4-5 days/week when Alex is in Miami
• Travels alongside Alex when he travels (NOT 24/7 lifestyle partner)
• Business hours with founder-life flexibility (early mornings / occasional late nights / brand events)
• Not the 10-week Europe summer block — Jaci handles that

Owns:

• Alex's calendar, logistics, day-of execution
• Talent close pipeline (sources/closes deals to OVO Talent + Academy)
• On-camera presence in content during shoots/events
• In-meeting presence at brand events, podcasts, partnerships
• Vendor + agency coordination

Doesn't own:

• Brand voice (Jaci)
• Academy hosting (Jaci)
• Outbound SDR (Welah/Joanna)
• Long Europe summer block (Jaci)

Comp:

• $5-8k/mo base
• 10% commission on cash collected on deals she sources or closes
• AmEx covered while traveling for work
• Small content/ops bonus ($500/mo if hits KPIs)
• Equity: Skip at hire. Revisit at month 12 if she's the one.

The Candidate Profile — Locked

Age: 25-29. Hard floor at 25 (avoids the 23-24 flake risk that killed Mina). 30+ is fine if exceptional but not the search target.

Marital status: Single (Alex's spec — travel/lifestyle compatibility).

Location: Miami metro (Brickell, Coral Gables, Doral, Wynwood, Miami Beach, South Beach) OR willing to relocate to Miami.

Background — any of these archetypes:

Tier 1 — Promoted retail at lifestyle/wellness brand

• Alo Yoga (Aventura, Brickell, Lincoln Road, Wynwood stores)
• Lululemon (Miami Design District, Aventura, Coral Gables)
• Vuori (Coconut Grove)
• Aerie / American Eagle Brand Ambassadors
• SoulCycle / Equinox (instructor/manager track)

Promoted from sales associate → educator → community lead → store manager. The climb signal is non-negotiable.

Tier 2 — Upscale Miami service (promoted)

• Major Food Group spots: Carbone Miami, ZZ's Club, Sadelle's, Contessa
• Casa Tua (member's club)
• Le Jardinier, L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon
• The Surf Club (Four Seasons)
• Komodo, Sexy Fish, Swan, Papi Steak (Groot brothers)
• Soho Beach House members staff
• Standard Spa restaurant + events

Promoted to lead server, events coordinator, GM, or moved to BOH ops. Plain waitress 3 years deep without promotion = warning, not signal.

Tier 3 — Hospitality with corporate ladder

• Setai, Edition, 1 Hotel, Faena hotel concierge / events
• Brand event hostessing → coordinator (F1, Art Basel, Formula 1)
• Members clubs (Mr. C, ZZ's, Casa Tua) staff who climbed

Tier 4 — Ex-DTC brand corporate (the original archetype, kept as option)

• Skims, Whoop, Celsius, Glossier, Aerie, Alo, Vuori, Hims, Athletic Greens, Red Bull
• Past title: Brand / Marketing / PR / Account / Communications
• Currently: Founder / Consultant / Strategist (escaped corporate)

Why retail/service Tiers 1-3 beat Tier 4 for THIS role

The hidden gem: the lead educator at Alo or the promoted server at Carbone has been operating in higher-stakes situations than the marketing coordinator at Skims sitting in meetings. Just paid less and has no LinkedIn brand.

What to Avoid (Failure Modes)

The Killer Interview Question

"What's your dream career arc 5 years from now?"

• ✅ "Become VP/COO/operator behind a successful founder" / "I tried creator life and don't want it" / "I want to produce, not perform" → real candidate
• ❌ "Have my own brand" / "Be a known creator" / "Launch a podcast" / "Have my own [thing]" → using you as a step

Ask this on call #1, before anything else. Saves 2 months of finding out the wrong way.

Other Interview Questions (Retail/Service Archetype)

1. "Walk me through a hard customer interaction and how you handled it." — tests real-world execution
2. "Why are you leaving retail/service?" — tests whether they've thought about the ceiling
3. "What's the biggest thing you've taken ownership of outside your job description?" — tests for operator initiative
4. "What was the last thing you proactively built or improved without being asked?" — tests for agency

Sourcing Strategy — 5 Channels

Channel 1 — Instagram geo-search (best for retail/service)

• Search by location (Carbone Miami, Casa Tua, Alo Aventura, etc.)
• Look at staff tagged in posts and check-ins
• Filter: 25-29, single signal (no consistent partner posts), polished aesthetic, recent activity
• 5 minutes per location, 50 candidates surfaced

Channel 2 — DM the brand stores directly

• Hit Alo / Lulu / Vuori Miami stores in person on a "browsing" pretext
• Observe educators, get business cards
• DM the store account or manager: "Looking for an educator ready to level up into a brand role"
• Most managers will forward — they want their staff to win

Channel 3 — Network referrals (highest quality, 0 cost)

• Post on Alex's IG / Twitter: "hiring chief of staff at ovo. looking for ex-alo/lulu educator or carbone-tier service operator ready to level up. 25-29, miami-based. dm or refer."
• Your existing network has 50+ people who know exactly this profile
• Reply rate 30-40%, quality 5x cold outreach

Channel 4 — LinkedIn boolean (best for ex-corporate Tier 4)

women, current location: Miami / Miami Beach / Coral Gables / Brickell / Doral / Wynwood
graduation year: 2017-2021 (puts at 25-29)

EITHER:
  past company: (Alo Yoga OR Lululemon OR Vuori OR Aerie OR SoulCycle OR Equinox)
  past title: (Educator OR "Lead Educator" OR "Community Lead" OR "Store Manager" OR Ambassador)
OR:
  past company: (Skims OR Whoop OR Celsius OR Glossier OR Hims OR Athletic Greens OR Red Bull)
  past title: (Brand OR Marketing OR PR OR Account OR Communications)

CURRENT status: NOT still at the past company (escaped signal)

Channel 5 — Cross-reference Instagram (verify aesthetic + active)

For each LinkedIn match, find Instagram. Confirm:

• Active in last 30 days
• Polished aesthetic (camera-ready)
• Lifestyle/professional content (not pure influencer)
• Geo-tagged posts in Miami
• No "in a relationship" / engagement posts (single signal verification)

The DM Pitch (Use This)

hey [name], saw your work at [brand] and your recent [specific
post reference]. quick: i'm hiring a chief of staff at ovo
talent (creator agency, miami based). looking for someone w/
your background — ex-[brand] or upscale miami service, polished,
ready for an operator seat.

miami-based, no relocation needed, travel with me sometimes.
$5-8k base + 10% commission + amex.

15 min call this week if interesting? [calendly link]

The "[specific thing]" line is non-negotiable. Generic DMs get ignored. 30 seconds on her grid → write one specific reference → reply rate jumps from 10% to 40%.

The Trial Structure

Don't sign full contract on day 1. Run a 30-day Miami trial first:

• Days 1-7: Shadow Alex, learn the systems, meet the team (Welah, Joanna, Jaci, Patricia, Lucas)
• Days 8-21: Take ownership of one closed function (calendar OR Talent close OR brand events). Show execution.
• Days 22-30: Mutual evaluation. Either side can walk no questions asked.
• Day 31: Sign full contract OR clean exit with thank-you bonus.

This was the Mina lesson — "fly Sunday and live with you forever" is too much commitment too fast. 30-day trial de-risks both sides.

The 5-Year Outcome

The right hire compounds. By Year 3:

• She's running Talent close pipeline at $X MRR
• She knows your business deeply enough to make founder-level decisions in your absence
• She's grown into Director of Operations or VP-level seat
• Her comp has scaled to $150-200k + meaningful equity (Year 2 grant)
• She's the first call when something breaks

The wrong hire churns at month 6-12 and you start over. Every churn costs ~$30-50k in salary + onboarding + opportunity cost.

Hire ruthlessly for the right one. Take the extra 2 weeks if needed.

Mentor Lessons (From the 3-Week Search Iteration)

1. Stop solution-shopping for the same archetype. "Find Mina v2 with different filter words" doesn't work. The candidate type isn't the problem — the role spec is.
2. In-person + travel-when-traveling > 24/7 lifestyle partner. Option A is hireable in 30 days. Option B is the Mina trap.
3. Don't stack unicorn filters. Picking 8 filters (age + single + Miami + ex-DTC + sorority + travel + camera-ready + escaped corporate) creates a 50-person nationwide pool. Pick 3-4 critical filters and accept variance on the rest.
4. The dream-arc question filters 80% of risk. Ask it on call #1.
5. The retail/service climb signal beats the corporate resume signal at Chief of Staff level. Field-trained > process-trained for someone who'll execute alongside a founder.
6. Skip equity at hire. Revisit at month 12. Equity at hire makes the role feel transactional. Cash + commission proves the relationship before locking the cap table.
7. The 30-day trial is non-negotiable. Both sides need an exit ramp. Mina pulled out partly because no exit was visible upfront.

Cross-References

• Memory: feedback_alex_ceo_operating_system.md (the umbrella for team direction)
• Memory: feedback_softness_is_contextual.md (CEO mode applies to this hire)
• Memory: project_mina_mueller_hire.md (the original failed search — what we learned)
• Memory: project_active_team_payroll.md (existing team this hire supplements)
• Playbook: ceo-operating-system.md (how to direct her once hired)