About me

I am passionate, results-oriented, creative and curious.  Marketing has been a career full of exciting opportunities and challenges.  Having worked in retail, agency and manufacturing, I bring a unique perspective that is always centered on the consumer and their experiences.  My natural curiosity, drives me to continuously take on new challenges and explore new trends and technology.   Read more below about my past work experience below and the skills and life learnings I gained.

Education

Growing up in rural Ohio, I excelled academically in high school and was involved in many organizations at school and in my community.  My passion during those years was riding horses in 4-H and at my local Saddle Club.   I attended Bowling Green State University where I earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a dual Major in Marketing & International Business.  One of my professors who inspired me was Martha Rogers. She co-authored a book with Don Peppers called One-to-One Future.

The One to One Future: Peppers, Don, Rogers, Martha: 9780385485661: Amazon.com: Books

After working for a couple years, I went back to business school to earn my MBA.  I attended De Paul University's part-time graduate program while working full time and completing my degree in two years.

Early Career

My early career consisted of a number of roles at different companies where I grew professionally, taking on expanded responsibilities and learning new skills.  I taught myself software programs, planned trade shows and managed projects.  An influential role for me was working at a convenience store chain in Chicago as a Merchandising Specialist.  Under the guidance of my manager, I assisted in selecting products and developing promotional strategy for the 250 store chain.  

Once I earned my MBA, I moved into a Regional Brand Manager role where I was calling on retailers across nine states.  This role gave me the confidence to pitch marketing ideas and collaborate with retailers to build revenue-generating programs.

Mid Career

Every career as a  pivot point.  For me it was joining Pillsbury as an Associate Marketing Manager.  At Pillsbury, I managed several lines of business and was promoted within 6 months to Marketing Manager.   I left due to a spouse relocation, but it opened up a new opportunity which led me to the omnichannel expert I am today.   We landed in Bentonville, AR, and I was able to secure a position at Thompson Murray/SaatchiX.  This role taught me humility, collaboration, client service and, of course, the importance of the shopper.

One more corporate relocation, led me to the San Francisco Bay area where I joined Clorox.  At Clorox I used my newly developed skills in the emerging shopper marketing space to conduct the first shopper research study at Clorox.   After several very successful years in Shopper at Clorox, where I collaborated on exciting category captaincy wins, led aisle reinvention design and delivered break-thru media-driven shopper campaigns, I moved into a leadership role for the multicultural team.  Hispanic marketing was at this time was becoming a focus for many organizations at it was identified to be the new majority by 2025.

Senior Leadership

I spent 10+years at Del Monte foods in number of roles - including leading Shopper Marketing, Category Management and Integrated Marketing .  One of the biggest accomplishments was launching ecommerce for the company in 2017 which is profiled in my services section.   I also took the company on a digital transformation moving from a reliance on linear TV to a highly targeted,  performance based approach.

I built a team of exceptional marketers who were hands-on keyboard managing social, digital, search and retail programs.  This enabled us to improve conversion rates and reduce costs.   During my time at Del Monte, I was recognized by the Path 2 Purchase as a Hall of Fame Inductee.

P2PIQ - April 2020 by ensembleiq - Issuu