Marketing is something I’m incredibly passionate about and I wanted to help students learn more about our industry. I got involved with the AEF over 20 years ago and have loved my opportunities to help professors at schools around the country with their marketing courses and interacting with their students.
There is so much change happening with marketing right now and I love it. While things like storytelling, developing a cohesive messaging strategy, etc. remain the same, how you reach consumers has and still is changing everyday. And for someone who likes to learn and be at the forefront of what’s new, that’s an exciting place to be.
Listen first. It’s not about fighting for air time, or being first to speak or speaking the loudest. You’ve got to take the time to truly listen to what someone is saying or understand the context of what’s being asked. When you realize that, you’ll operate differently and be more effective.
I am extremely passionate about bringing diversity to marketing and it’s a big part of my job at Verizon. For far too long, key marketing and agency roles were filled by Caucasian males, but that’s not representative of the US population. Marketing organizations and agencies should be as diverse as the customers they market their products to.
I love the work I’ve done to help lead Verizon’s Responsible Marketing Action Plan to drive DE&I in our marketing organization. We have initiatives with KPIs that are making a big difference from our creative supply chain representation and spend to programs that are building the pipeline for the future generation of marketers.
My advice to students is to learn about all the different aspects of marketing, both agency and client side. There are so many different roles and career paths available and there’s never been a more exciting time to be in this industry.
