Event Recap: Who Run the Marketing World? Girls!

“I think the best role models for women are people who are fruitfully and confidently themselves, who bring light into the world.”

– Meryl Streep

Earlier this month, we, together with Women of Email — a professional network aimed at promoting leadership among women within the email marketing niche — hosted an event at WeWork’s HQ here in New York, highlighting women who are bringing light into the marketing world. We brought together four amazing female leaders in the space who are spearheading teams at their respective companies, driving innovation in the world of marketing and data.

These strong, working women included:

• Jennifer Tattenbaum, Senior Director of Interactive at Shubert Ticketing
• Carolina Flores, VP of Email Best Practices, Standards and Innovation at Citi
• Banita Sarwar, Director of Digital Personalization at Marriott
• Stephanie Miller, Managing Partner of Digital Transformation at Econsultancy

With a packed crowd — so packed that they had to refuse people at the door! — of marketing and data professionals from a cornucopia of industries, the discussion began with diving into each panelist’s career. The female trailblazers all impressively paved their own career trajectory with their tenacity, along with their awareness and knowledge of what was needed in the future of marketing. Carolina, for example, created a role that did not previously exist, by conveying the value of having that position to senior leadership. Her resolve was made clear when she told the crowd, “Determine what it is that you want, and build a roadmap of how to get yourself there.”

Jennifer gave her take on the digital marketing space, giving key advice to the marketers tuning in: to look at the vendors and the new tools that are out there, and to pick three or four in a quarter or a year that you want to experiment with. She continued, “Test things, get data, see what works — it’s stimulative of a lot more ideas of what we want to do in marketing”.

From marketing trends and how each of the panelists’ respective companies were grappling with the ever-changing landscape behind marketing tools, the conversation shifted to a discussion around what it’s like working in a professional workplace as a female leader.

Each panelist had her own opinions on the struggles of being a female leader in a professional environment and how to overcome these setbacks and persevere — a dialogue that is especially pertinent in today’s political climate. Banita shared, “It’s really important to remind yourself that it’s work and it’s just work. If someone makes a mistake and you get upset, it’s not the end of the world, it can be fixed. Don’t let yourself get emotionally affected by roadblocks. It’s important to keep that mental check on yourself.”

With their inspiring words, the panelists left the event goers hungry for more, with a slew of hands popping up when the floor became open for questions. It’s safe to say that the four panelists proved to us that the future is in fact female.

*This event is part of Simon Data’s Data-Driven Marketing Series — monthly events focused around the intersection between the world of data and the world of marketing. Visit our site and email our events specialist at yesi@simondata.com to get notified when our next event is coming up!