Interview

When and how did you get your start in marketing?

I had been working for two years as an event coordinator, and while I liked the company, the travel was starting to take a toll. The company had recently switched to a new email service provider and a new CMS, and I jumped at the opportunity to learn some new skills without having to travel as often. I found that I really loved working with those systems and wanted to learn as much as I could. The tools have changed over the last 11 years, but my enthusiasm for MarTech remains the same.

(Though, ironically, I declared in college that the one job I would never do was marketing.)

What brings you joy in your role?

I love solving puzzles, both literal and otherwise, and a lot of my job is trying to fit pieces together. Obviously some projects and problems are more complicated than others, but I always find joy when everything comes together. It could be something small like a campaign that has been executed flawlessly, or something big like finding a way to use Iterable to fill a Product gap. Finding a solution, especially across teams and functions, is a great feeling.

What tips, tricks, or pieces of advice would give a new Iterable user?

One of Iterable’s greatest strengths is its versatility. There are innumerable ways to solve a problem, and often you may find that even people within a team would approach a flow in different ways. There is so much to learn, so rely on your team, your CSM, or even reach out to a Marketing Master if you want to brainstorm new approaches.

What are some Iterable features that have made your job easier? Or have been game-changers for yourself and your team?

The webhook functionality has really opened a lot of doors for our team. We have been able to incorporate 3rd party tools like Lob to enable direct mail, and we have also been able to leverage them to manipulate data in new ways. (I learned that from another Iterable Marketing Master, Emily Benoit!)

As a consumer, what brings you joy from a brand’s outreach/communication?

I always appreciate a really thoughtful customer experience.

I recently tried a number of meal kit services and had vastly different experiences, which made a world of difference. With one service, my shipment didn’t arrive on the expected delivery date. I reached out to customer service and asked for a refund, which they did provide, but I still had to take the steps to reach out and get the refund (and figure out dinner for that night).

Alternatively, with another company, I received a notification early in the day that said a shipment would be delayed. They included instructions on how to handle the perishable food, and preemptively gave me a discount on a future order. I was so impressed with the thoughtfulness of that experience, not to mention the logistics that would be needed to get that kind of automation in place, that I am now far more likely to use that service again.

Besides Iterable, what are the other tools in your marketing toolkit that you can’t live without?

ProofJump! ProofJump has been a game-changer for us, in that in makes the proofing, editing, and approval process much cleaner. No more emailing proofs back and forth! There’s a clean trail of annotations and approval that can be tracked and referenced later. And it supports image uploads, so we even use it to proof screenshots of SMS and push notifications.

What’s one thing that can instantly make your day better?

Laughing, listening to music, dancing around the living room… or honestly, a donut.

If you came with a warning label, what would it say? 

Most of what I say is likely to be a reference to a movie, tv show, or book. I’m also likely to spontaneously break into song.