#also Kristin being focused on the presidency means we lose out on a lot of her religion building arc

[stacy-fakename]

Rat Grinders:Don’t do anything to the Bad Kids until antagonized, and it’s later revealed that their bad actions were a result of being groomed by one of their teachers for years and then murdered and possessed.

Intrepid Heroes:Fuck you, sending you to hell and you can’t be revived.

[martechadvisor-blog]

Women in MarTech: What Growing at the Pace of this Pulsating Space Means to Them

They have added their own unique spin to marketing technology and convinced us that their refreshing understanding of the whys and wherefores of this rapidly growing industry is just one of the several ways to look at business. In this feature, we bring you the views of key executives who discuss how their ‘being’ pours into their professional personas 

How does being a woman as a part of an exponentially explosive marketing tech space help you to be better equipped to understand this constantly evolving sector through your unique perspective?

Nikki Nixon, Director #FlipMyFunnel at Terminus

“Being a woman in marketing tech, coupled with being an introvert, has given me tremendous advantages. I’ve had the opportunity to grow two software companies in the space and be uniquely empathetic along the way. My introversion allows me to think critically about the pros and cons of a given tool beyond the surface sales pitch. It allows me to dig deeper and ask questions to determine if the tool will really solve my needs.”

Jen Spencer, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Allbound

“Since I’m a woman, and I’ve always been a woman, I don’t know any other way of being. I can’t begin to assume I know what makes me as a woman better suited to lead a sales and marketing team at a SaaS company than a man – except maybe that having had twins, I know I have more stamina than most. Getting by on 4 hours of sleep a night? No problem! Getting those 4 hours of sleep in 1 hour increments over a 12-hour period? I. Will. Win. Seriously though, here’s what I do know: When you’re the only female in a boardroom of gray slacks and light blue dress shirts, people remember you. And, when you’re immediately discounted upon arrival and then you’re the first person to actually say something interesting, people remember you. So that – that is my unique advantage.”

Shari Johnston, CMO at Radius

“I was drawn to the technology sector back in 1999 during the Dotcom era, where I moved from Portland to the Bay Area to be at the heart of this explosive space. I was naturally drawn to be a part of a culture that was at the heart of changing the world on how we communicate and interact. With this space being so heavily male-dominated, I do feel as a woman, I am able to add balance, in ways that don’t come naturally to men, that as a generalization focuses on how the technology itself rather than the humans using it. By moving the corporate story to customer storytelling instead of stats, putting our customers and users first rather than our products and cultivating relationships with our customers at a deeper level, I feel women have this unique capability that the tech space should embrace.”

Jennifer Shambroom CMO at YouAppi

Traditionally, women have been expected to multi-task between work, family and home, and today, marketing technology is a juggling act with lots of balls in the air – PR, marketing automation, web and video development, social media, events, sales enablement, email and online marketing and managing a global team, and for me personally, client and partner teams located all over the world. Being a women who actually thrives in a multitasking environment, I’m better equipped to handle the challenges by keeping my eye on the big picture and surrounding myself with a team that I trust.”

Wendy Schott, Chief Marketing Officer at PubNub

“I am not sure being a women has helped as much as having a love for systems and data. I am not a typical CMO, as I started my career as a software developer, made a hop to Product Management and then spent many years as a Sales Engineer and Sales Leader. As Marketing becomes more scienfitic and systems-driven, my timing of crossing over could not have been better. My ability to help educate, coach and help hands-on has been a great asset.”

Amy Holtzman, VP of Demand Generation at Conductor

“A diversity in backgrounds – all backgrounds, not just gender – is critical to navigating the explosive marketing tech scene today. Diversity helps you better understand and relate to your customers, provide them with solutions that are as diverse and unique as they are, and truly build human connections with them. I personally love being a woman in this space, because it allows me to coach and help develop the next generation of data-driven, outspoken, confident female martech leaders – something I have first-hand experience at.”

Katharine Mobley, Chief Marketing Officer at Crescerance

“It took me 20 years to accept the fact that I was a woman in technology, because I thought I had to hold a traditional STEM-type position, to be considered a #WIT. “Yet, I beta-tested Salesforce and WebEx in my twenties. So, I am very grateful I made early choices in my career to stay abreast of the ever-changing landscape of marketing. First with the Internet and those dreaded banner ads and now the evolving digital and mobile ecosystems. Staying the tech route in marketing was one of the best decisions, I made for my career. It allowed for me to have patience with the new tools and trends as they arrived on the scene, remember some of the initial tools came out on a dial-up connection. It was frustrating to say the least, but we as women tend to be more patient and want to take the time to find out how or why something works or doesn’t, I took the time to understand how Salesforce was going to replace ACT at that time. Women are also persistent, so we fight for what we feel will provide efficiencies and help us ‘multi-task’ more. Let’s be honest, have you ever seen a woman do one task at a time, especially if she is a mother. It doesn't happen, we juggle 1000 things at any given moment. We have to find ways to save time or reduce redundancies and many MarTech tools have provided that for us.

“As our next generation of female marketers evolves, I expect to see even more women on the forefront of emerging MarTech solutions,  because we like to solve problems and tend to be persistent enough to do so. Some even developing the solutions themselves, just look at Kristine Steuart of Allocadia, she saw a need in the market and developed a solution. Specifically, she tackled one of the largest challenges in our industry, ROI.

“Women are also very empathetic and tend to have an easy way of understanding UX and UI from the users point of view. We tend to want to help users navigate their experiences and walk away with a good feeling.”

Yuri Dekiba, Senior Director of Revenue Operations at Vidyard

“Being a mom of two girls, as well as being a working woman, the following are core strengths I have been able to leverage in the ever-changing tech space: patience, ability to listen and empathize, soliciting feedback, teamwork, and of course multi-tasking! Believe it or not, these skills that I have acquired over the years, especially as a working parent, has come in handy. For example, Patience – when responding to emails, take a moment to pause before you type a response and hit send. You will be surprised how much less emotional and tactical your response will be if you take just a few seconds to think through what and how you want to communicate in your response. Ability to listen and emphasize goes hand-in-hand with soliciting feedback – especially when you are working on a project or have a proposed solution. Providing others with the opportunity to give input can go a long way in gathering their support, even if the final solution may not include all of their requirements. This also contributes to building a foundation for collaboration and teamwork – think about it, nothing can be done by yourself alone! And finally, multi-tasking. Being a mom, multi-tasking is a given – and I can’t tell you how much I have leveraged this skill throughout my career. As you progress throughout your career, however, multi-tasking AND being able to prioritize goes hand-in-hand as you don’t want to end up working on too many things at the same time, that you end up losing sight of what’s important.

“Continued interest in growth and learning, and adapting to change has also been key in not only staying abreast of the changing market, but also being able to pivot and adjust to the changing needs of the company, to stay in line with the changing market.”

Maribeth Ross, SVP of Marketing, Monetate

“In general, working in the constantly evolving marketing tech field requires a certain skill set – one that is not specific to gender. That said, the ability to balance a number of different priorities in my personal life has certainly had an impact on my professional life as a full-time marketer in this fast-paced world. Like many women, I juggle a lot at home. I have a teenage son with a demanding sports schedule, three very active dogs we call “the donkeys” and a husband who, in addition to his own full-time career, coaches a high-school hockey team. Add a slight interior decorating obsession and my schedule is pretty full. And, whether it’s banging out a piece of content for work, driving my son to a baseball showcase, or taking my pups to the vet, I’ve learned to be swift and resourceful – two traits that have helped me in my career. My ability to multi-task and balance various priorities has helped me serve in nearly every marketing capacity. At Monetate, I’m working alongside a smart and inspiring woman CEO and 2 other female execs to break down new barriers of personalization.”

Katie Bullard, CMO at DiscoverOrg

“A successful leader – whether a man or a woman – has to possess high IQ and high EQ (emotional intelligence), and it’s been my experience that woman are often better equipped to tap into both the rational and emotional motivations of their teams. For instance, when change happens rapidly (like it does in martech), resistance is bound to occur, and the only way to engage and get buy-in from teams is to understand the rational and emotional reasons for that resistance and then to actively address both as you move the organization forward.  Understanding and acknowledging the importance of a high EQ makes you better able to handle the conflict and stress that never fails to occur in this space, and it’s been a conscious focus of mine as I’ve navigated through my career.”

Maria Pergolino, SVP Marketing & Sales Development at Apttus

“Understanding an evolving sector isn’t gender-specific, but personally I enjoy the fast-paced nature of the tech sphere. As long as you’re placing the needs of your customers and organization first, you’re free to employ new strategies, tactics, and create the kind of strong internal bonds that lead to lasting success.” Penny Wilson, Chief Marketing Officer at Hootsuite

“Empathy towards your customer’s pain points is imperative for all modern marketers. This is key in order to establish a customer-centric approach to marketing and has been a theme woven throughout my 30+ years of experience in the technology industry. The ability to listen is also important – all good relationships start with listening. Unlike the old days of focus groups and surveys – technology gives you an opportunity to get the raw, unvarnished truth at scale. Becoming comfortable with letting your customers drive the conversation is, while one of the most challenging and humbling experiences, is rewarding and will help you give your business a competitive edge. We’re not leading customers; they are leading us. The more you understand who they are and what they want, the more you can tailor what you share and how you engage.  This is the true promise of martech.”

Emily He, CMO at DoubleDutch

“Being a working parent has taught me the importance of ruthlessly prioritizing and focusing on the few things that truly matter. I’m always juggling across an endless array of activities – from family to school to work, but not everything can be a priority. The key to survival is to make a conscious decision on the “must-haves” that will have a long-lasting positive impact on me and my family. For example, I prioritize having dinner with the family, serving on the school board, and providing hands-on leadership and mentorship to my team, and organize everything else around these “big rocks”. In B2B marketing, you have a broad range of choices in marketing channels, programs, tools and technology. You need to execute across a variety of initiatives, including brand awareness, public relations, analyst relations, digital marketing, inbound campaigns, account-based marketing, product marketing, and customer advocacy. The job of a CMO is to identify the few key metrics that map to the business goals and tie all the marketing initiatives to them so that the team knows how to plan and measure their contribution to the company’s success. Also, your team can’t be good at everything, so the question you need to ask yourself is, “What’s our company’s core competency and what do we want marketing to be exceptionally good at?” Once you identify the one or two things that reflect the company’s strengths and deliver the biggest impact on the company, focus on those first and everything else will follow.”

Sarah Ware Co-founder & CEO at Markerly

“In my experience, I’ve always had to work twice as hard as men in our industry and produce twice the results in order to be taken seriously. It forces you to keep your focus and prioritize your time. Since the market evolves so quickly it’s important to be smart about the decisions you are making in order to properly predict these shifts and be ahead of these trends. While men are often praised for big, bold moves whether or not they are entirely successful, women have to be careful with how they play their cards. For this reason, I feel that being a woman has helped me execute business strategy and forecast trends in such a way that yields a higher success rate – due to my experiences from being a woman.”

Brienna Pinnow Director of Product Marketing for Targeting at Experian Marketing Services

“Studies, books, and many men all agree – women ‘talk’ more. If ‘talking’ is not paired with action, this trait could be considered negative. For me, in the always-evolving marketing tech space, I’ve turned ‘talking’ into a big positive. It’s helped me collaborate, network, educate, mentor and of course –  ask a lot of questions. “In the advertising and marketing technology space, there is always a new acronym, platform, methodology or business model to understand. It’s very easy, especially if you are one of a few women (if not the only one), in a meeting to hold back and assume that everyone else has expert level knowledge of the topic at hand. If you are early on in your career, the ability to muster up the confidence to ‘talk’ and unabashedly ask great questions doubles in difficulty.

“When my team is working on a new project or product I consistently share with them, “There’s no shame in asking questions! Ask. Ask. Ask.”  As my dad consistently preached to me growing up, “Knowledge is the one thing someone can’t take away from you.” And by asking the right questions, you create a win-win situation. Not only do you grow your own personal knowledge of the subject, but you become an in-demand, expert-level resource for your organization. I can’t count the number of times, men and women alike, have come up to me after a meeting, or IM’d me during a conference call to say, “I’m glad you asked that! I thought I was the only one who didn’t know what that meant.”

“By asking the right questions and mastering particular topics, I’ve taken this womanly strength of ‘talking’ and parlayed it into a variety of other titles. Translator. Story-teller. Queen of analogies. Marketing enthusiast. In this exploding ad tech ecosystem, my inclination to talk shop means that I have an opportunity to demystify marketing technology, help other marketers improve their craft, and take my organization to the next level with branding that tells a story and connects with an audience.”

Alison Lohse Co-founder & COO at Conversion Logic

“I can’t say my gender necessarily makes me more insightful, but being a parent / mother makes me infinitely more impactful and empathetic at my role. The skills that I use at home and at the office transfer back and forth. As a mom, I maximize every minute of my day: listening to books while working, taking calls minutes after I drop my kids off at school. The time I spend at work, I am intensely focused on expanding our innovative product, collaborating with clients, and supporting our team, in an accelerated timeframe. I take that same deliberateness to my home life, making sure I can be a loving, involved and present parent to my two daughters. I also recognize that every person who works at Conversion Logic has a life outside of work. I staunchly believe that everyone, including myself, should be able to bring the “whole person” to work and have a meaningful home life. By respecting that and acknowledging that balance, I believe we get more out of our team when they are at the office.” 

Sarah DeRocher Moore, VP of Brand and Revenue Marketing at Spredfast

“I became a better social marketer when I realized my target audience is a lot like me. Spredfast’s customers are from the world’s biggest enterprises – more than 50% are women, at all ages and stages of their career. The same is true for our customers, since women make most brand purchases in their households. That gives women in tech, such as myself, an intuitive understanding of the best ways to reach, engage, and build trust with our consumers.”

Erin Hintz, CMO at Urban Airship

“As a woman in the marketing tech space, I’ve found myself empathizing with the customer and taking on the role of the customer advocate. I’m always considering how customers think and feel when they’re using our product. Whether I’m working with someone on the marketing or product team, I encourage my teams to always ask “What’s the end user experience?” An example of this is when I worked with the product team to identify where to insert the transactional NPS questions in the product experience to get relevant feedback that we can act on. “This feeds into the importance of communications across teams. Some people participate a lot in meetings, but don’t mobilize teams around their ideas. It’s important that everyone knows what people on other teams are doing, so that we are well-coordinated and work collaboratively. In my experience, women are naturally inclined to follow-up with others frequently. As a marketing executive, I heavily leverage this skill to make sure everyone has the information and resources they need to do their job the best they possibly can. 

“Another skill I feel many women are known for is the ability to multitask, which translates from home life to work life. Within the home, the mom is often the go-to person for keeping everyone organized. They’re the CEO of the home, if you will. At work, we’re detail-oriented and prefer organization and coordination, keeping everything running smoothly. At Urban Airship, our business is multi-channel and multi-product, so I need to be able to look at the big picture as well as the tactical things that need to get done to support the business.”

Vicki Godfrey, CMO at Avention (now part of Dun & Bradstreet)

“I’ve always found the ability to communicate to be critical to any business situation, in martech or any industry. It’s necessary to build a consensus and collaborate across teams in order to come together for the greater good of the company and having an open and transparent dialogue is the only way to make sure everyone is on the same page. At Dun & Bradstreet, we understand the importance of communication across departments. We constantly talk and make sure we’re aligned around a common set of metrics, strategies and objectives. “I also think being a woman has honed my ability to multitask. I’m able to remain flexible in the fast-paced, ever-changing martech landscape. While it’s easy to focus on the now, it’s crucial to simultaneously look ahead at what’s next for the industry. It’s always transforming, so we need to stay one step ahead.”

Emma Borochoff, Marketing Director at Bizzabo

“In general, as a woman in the technology space, you tend to feel as though you have more to prove. The brilliance of the marketing tech space is that it is constantly evolving – someone who might have achieved success one way a year ago, might find that the only way to achieve similar success now is by trying something completely new. When you aren’t used to having things handed to you, you find that you are much more agile and tend to rely more on creative forward thinking than past successes. Agile, creative, and gutsy, while constantly iterating on past strategies, is the only way to exist in this space, and being female has definitely helped prepare me for this rapidly shifting reality.”

Throughout your career, what were the common apprehensions of your colleagues, both men and women, that you had to fight to make your place in martech?   

Nikki Nixon, Director #FlipMyFunnel at Terminus

“I’ve been fortunate in the companies I’ve worked in to have a voice in the narrative in women in tech and also in diversity. The leadership team I currently work with is always very receptive to hear my ideas on how we can create a more inclusive and diverse workplace where women can thrive.”  

Jen Spencer, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Allbound

I’ll never forget the day that one of my manager’s peers stated that I simply couldn’t be as reliable as another employee, because I had children. I had never missed a goal, missed a meeting, or let anyone on the team down in any capacity, yet this completely unsubstantiated notion that I would never be able to give 100% of myself to the company cast a shadow of doubt over my reputation. This manner of thinking ultimately drove me away from that organization because, honestly, I work way too hard to deal with nonsense like that.”

Andrea Wildt, CMO at Campaign Monitor

“I think women are underestimated in general in many situations. In my career, I’ve felt underestimated particularly when it comes to projects related to business strategy and technology implementations. “Women are underrepresented in leadership positions that are business focused and sometimes you have to work a little harder to prove yourself.”

Shari Johnston, CMO at Radius

“Throughout my career, and in the last several years especially, there is definitely a glass ceiling for women in executive roles. I have experienced both women and men, have a strong bias towards men as authority figures over women with equivalent titles and responsibilities. As women leaders, we need to continue to educate our peers on these often unconscious biases towards stereotypes in executive roles. I am part of a women in technology group, that celebrates and educates women in San Francisco on strengthening our role in the space.”

Jennifer Shambroom CMO at YouAppi

“There were a few product managers in the beginning of my career, who expected their marketing people to be engineers. I was able to prove to them that my purpose was to translate their hard work into product messaging, which would address actual customer pains and bring prospective customers into the sales pipeline. Today, product managers, engineers and data scientists understand the value of marketing and that the marketers have to be effective at presenting product functionality in a way that will appeal to their customers.”

Wendy Schott, Chief Marketing Officer at PubNub

“Having spend over 20 years working in technology and even more so now that I have the word marketing in my title, I am always surprised that I still have to say, “By the way, I have a degree in Computer Science and have a deep understanding and love of systems” in order to gain credibility. There are still too many assumptions made that because you are female and in marketing you must not understand how systems work. However, I am determined to change this bias and build out the best marketing team and systems for accelerating revenue.”

Amy Holtzman, VP of Demand Generation at Conductor

“One of the best pieces of career advice I ever received was this: As a woman, you must always take a seat at the table. We spent too many years fighting for equality only to walk into meeting rooms today and take a seat around the perimeter. I used to be one of many woman who would see an empty board table and still grab a seat around the edges of the room, almost hiding. Ever since receiving this advice, I’ve always taken a seat at the table and encouraged other women to do the same. It builds your own confidence and it also builds your team’s confidence in your ability to lead.”

Yuri Dekiba, Senior Director of Revenue Operations at Vidyard

“As an Asian female, people are surprised at how fluid I can be in having conversations with different groups. The stereotypical first impression of an Asian female tends to be ‘quiet and reserved’ – which anyone who knows me is not who I am. I may be respectful and gauge when it’s appropriate to speak up or not, but that is very different than being ‘quiet and reserved’. At times, I have had to voice my opinions more aggressively than normal, due to other more vocal individuals in the room. In those moments, I consciously try to maintain a balance of voicing my opinions while being respectful to others, by first acknowledging the others’ perspective, and then sharing my perspective in a way that makes sense for them. You can still challenge and disagree with each other, while also treating each other with respect – after all, we all can get defensive if another person comes across as inconsiderate in the way they challenge your thoughts. 

“One advice based on my experience – never let others bully you. I have had experiences where male leaders were clearly intending to bully you, taking advantage of that fact that you are female and may ‘breakdown’ as a result. If that happens, stay strong, stand your ground, keep calm, regroup and reflect afterward. You can always let your emotions out privately afterward to let it go and start all over again! Always be yourself and don’t afraid to be so!”

Maribeth Ross, SVP of Marketing, Monetate

“I can’t say I’ve faced specific apprehensions from colleagues (regardless of gender) because of the fact that I was a woman. In fact, the best advice I can give to marketers, or women in any other industry, is this: your gender does not matter. “At the end of the day, there is no substitute for hard work. I have never considered that I am any different than any other co-worker, male or female. I measure myself on what I produce compared to others, and I have the expectation that others do the same. Because I’ve always tried to be the best at everything I do, I’ve never felt that I was on the receiving end of gender discrimination of any kind and I think this because I simply haven’t left any room for it.”

Katie Bullard, CMO at DiscoverOrg

“Unfortunately, it is still all too commonplace that strong, intelligent, and ambitious women are seen as threats in the workplace, while strong, intelligence, and ambitious men are seen as assets.  This isn’t the rule 100% but it’s more commonplace than many want to admit. My advice is that as a woman, you should never apologize for your intellect and ambition, but you do have to make it clear that your ambition will serve the company’s interests and growth first and foremost – not your own personal fulfillment.”

Maria Pergolino, SVP Marketing & Sales Development at Apttus

“It’s less about being a woman and more about being a respected thought leader and business professional. Everyone has to prove themselves – if you know your stuff, you show concrete results, and you understand the right way to convey your priorities and accomplishments appropriately, you’ll break through.”  

Emily He, CMO at DoubleDutch

“I have a very direct and no-nonsense style. I’ve realized that depending on people’s upbringing and experience, they can interpret my approach as either caring through tough love or being threatening or aggressive. Over the years, I’ve learned the importance of understanding others’ experiences, biases, and perspectives and tailor my communications accordingly. There’s also no replacement for building deep relationships with your colleagues through spending quality, one-on-one time with them. I firmly believe that trust is earned and not demanded. Once you build a genuine sense of shared success with everyone around you, it becomes much easier to mobilize your team and the whole company to move towards a common goal and accomplish amazing things together.”

Sarah Ware Co-founder & CEO at Markerly

“The topic of having children is so taboo for women in tech and this discussion and expectation needs to be normalized. I can tell you what is normal and what is not normal. What is not normal is expecting that women who have children will be inferior at their jobs. It’s also not normal for women to feel that they cannot have children, if they want to, because they will be unfairly judged or they will be passed over for opportunities because of their decision. I’m almost due with my second child and the shock on people’s faces when I meet them with a large belly shows the apprehension that they have even if they don’t say it. The first few times I experienced this I was bothered, but then I realized that there are so many more fish in the sea. That’s the great thing about business and martech in general; it’s ever-growing and as long as you keep at it, there’s more money to be made and more people to talk to.”

Brienna Pinnow Director of Product Marketing for Targeting at Experian Marketing Services

“One of the biggest challenges I’ve had to overcome in the MarTech landscape, which I think women from the industry may relate to, is redefining typical gender roles in the workplace. In a past position at another organization, I remember being on a conference call with a large, important client. Although I was the meeting presenter and the point person on the sales opportunity, I was also the only female and the youngest professional on the call. As soon as I was done with the formal presentation, we headed into dialogue with the client. My colleague interrupted and ordered me to be the secretary and simply take the meeting notes to be sent out afterwards. After this happened a handful of times, I sought advice from my mentor who provided me with great guidance on how to confidently assert myself and my role. I quickly learned, if I don’t define what I believe I’m capable of, what I want to learn and where I want to go in the industry – someone else will!”

Alison Lohse Co-founder & COO at Conversion Logic

It’s been a long road. I think the most common assumptions I come against are (1.) Can I make the sacrifices expected of a startup co-founder to make it work? and (2.) Am I tough enough for the experience? It always surprises me that there is this common misconception that you have to be young and single to be successful. The right idea, a brilliant team and timing are more important than a demographic fit. Fortunately, my passion for the work, commitment to the team / company and the limitless energy that comes from that usually eradicates concerns. As for being a working mom in tech – you have to be living in a box to not see the amazing role models that are breaking molds in this space. I make no apologies, but fiercely compartmentalize my life to make sure I give 100% of myself to my roles as entrepreneur and as a mom.”

Sarah DeRocher Moore, VP of Brand and Revenue Marketing at Spredfast

“Misperception is one of the toughest things I’ve faced throughout my career. My direct communication style and strong opinions can make me seem bossy or inflexible. People sometimes assume that I’m not interested in them personally if I can’t take time to socialize outside of work. Learning to identify and address misperceptions in myself and my colleagues is one of the most valuable skills I’ve developed as a woman leader in the martech industry.” “Homogeny is another common obstacle in our industry. Companies fall into patterns where they tend to recruit, hire, and mentor people that look and think alike. That extends beyond gender and includes generational, racial, cultural, sexual preference, marital or parental status. Since innovation is born from diverse ideas and creativity, martech companies need to fight this tendency and invest in and celebrate diversity.”

Erin Hintz, CMO at Urban Airship

“While I’ve been very fortunate to have strong mentors and supporters throughout my career, on occasions I’ve encountered a challenge in getting recognition for my work and performance in the form of promotion. Early in my career, a female co-worker and I were in senior manager roles and doing director-level work, but weren’t getting promotions. When we asked the CMO, who was a man, why we weren’t being promoted, he said we were both too young to be directors. At that point, we were already managing teams of five to six people and responsible for driving significant portions of the business, while many directors had smaller teams and fewer responsibilities than us. I started looking for other opportunities outside the company, and when a female VP and colleague heard I was about to leave the company, she offered me a position on her team as director, product management. This gave me a new experience and the director title I had earned. But it’s not just about the title – it’s about being recognized for the business results I was driving and the level of contributions I could bring to any team.

“It’s easy to just focus on the work and believe that driving business results will lead to acknowledgement and recognition. But that’s not always the case. A lesson I’ve learned through my experience is that when I negotiate for anything job related, I need to remind myself that it’s important to be vocal, direct and confident in my contributions to the business. “Don’t ask, don’t get” is a key learning for me.

“As a manager, I always take this into account when considering someone for a promotion or raise. Men more commonly ask for things and sometimes women aren’t as vocal, despite being qualified for a promotion. I look across my team and make sure everyone gets the recognition they deserve whether they ask for it or not.

“A second apprehension for me relates to my soft-spoken nature – and the fact that I’m Canadian and Canadians are well-known for saying “I’m sorry.” In the past that’s led to people underestimating me. This is further compounded by being a woman – and issues like the gender pay gap and stereotypes of always building consensus versus making confrontational and tough decisions. This has cropped up when interviewing for new jobs and when working with people who haven’t worked with me in the past. Once people work with me, they quickly learn none of that is the case, and I like to think we have a lot of fun and rewarding experiences along the way.” 

Vicki Godfrey, CMO at Avention (now part of Dun & Bradstreet)

“While I haven’t faced many apprehensions from my colleagues, my entrance into the B2B martech space was a shift for me. I grew up in the B2C world, with the customer being the center of everything. Instead of viewing that as a challenge, I learned to combine my B2C background with B2B in order to be the best marketer I could be. With business marketing getting more involved with customer engagement and personalization, my B2C experience has been invaluable.”

Emma Borochoff, Marketing Director at Bizzabo

“In the past, I have had assumptions made about the extent of knowledge and expertise I might possess in the space, and this bleeds through to the amount of weight given to my ideas and opinions. You will always encounter initial biases based off of your gender, ethnicity, and perceived identity – but you just have to stick to your guns and remain confident in your voice. The people who talk the loudest aren’t necessarily the smartest in the room. I’ve found the best way to win over those critical of you is to just take action, measure results, and show that you can think analytically and creatively outside the norm of what has already been done.”

This article was first appeared on MarTech Advisor