STORY

I still remember this one day after high school when my mom predicted I would work in marketing as an adult. I harshly refuted, “I don’t want to manipulate people for a living!” My mom, who naturally sees any situation from many sides, replied, “You don’t have to look at it like a bad thing.” A couple years out of college I landed my first "big job" at a global creative agency in New York. That was the beginning of a long journey leading me to discover the truth in both our ideas about what it means to be a marketer.

Starting out as a social media analyst at McCann, I was responsible for creating advertising plans and placing media buys on platforms like Instagram. Being successful at my job meant enticing engagement with ads (comment, download, purchase) through the targeted use of personal data, like gender, age, interests and online behaviors. The better I got at my job, the worse I felt. In 2019, I returned to school and dedicated over a year to figuring out why.

I was the first subject matter expert from the media industry to attend Glasgow Caledonian New York College, a Scottish University “for the Common Good” that initially founded its campus in New York to address the environmental consequences produced by the fast fashion industry. Studying alongside professionals from a different industry, who nonetheless spoke similarly about their roles, I grew more aware of the connection between corporate actions, the quality of our lives, and the success of our communities.

My Master’s thesis, titled “The Business Model of Social Media and the Influence of Marketing on Consumer Well-Being,” introduced the ad revenue-based business model into the conversation surrounding social media and mental health, and centered the responsibility of media professionals to be part of the solutions needed to shift investment away from extractive technology to technology that prioritizes people over profit.

My research led me to a position at the Center for Humane Technology as digital director in 2020, where I helped harness the massive global interest in responsible tech following the release of “The Social Dilemma” documentary, to turn that into meaningful change in the tech industry.

In 2021, I returned to a career in marketing, first as a course instructor at ASSETS Women’s Business Center, where I developed the curriculum for a Marketing Storytelling Accelerator and guided 2 cohorts of 10+ entrepreneurs through the creation and production of narrative-driven marketing assets to promote their social impact businesses. 

Now, as Chief Brand Officer at PlantBaby Co, a direct-to-consumer nutrition startup creating convenient, complete whole food nutrition products for families, I’m focused on melding my commitment to humane technology with my experience and skills as an advertiser to establish a marketing platform built on integrity and inspired by the desire to create positive change around physical, mental and planetary health.

I’m excited to be a part of The Conscious Marketing Movement, a growing community committed to taking a more conscious approach to the pedagogies and practices that define the industry.