Her Story
About Cory
Cory Hawthorne is the owner of Creative Core, a consulting brand where she serves as a creative consultant in the digital marketing industry. With over 10 years of experience, her primary focus is helping small businesses find their voice through their digital footprint and build meaningful connections via brand storytelling. She graduated from Spelman College in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in Women's Studies and a concentration in marketing. Cory is a certified Canva graphic designer and holds a certificate in marketing as well as an official credential in influencer partnerships with PXA. She attributes her success to her mother, a former VP in marketing, whose creativity and hard work inspired her career path. Cory values teamwork in the workplace, believing it takes a village to bring ideas to life, and emphasizes kindness and empathy in her personal life. She volunteers at the Humane Society on weekends. Among the career advice she shares is to always be learning to ensure growth, drawn from her internship at Time Inc., and to trust one's ideas as they could lead to significant opportunities.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Cory
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would attribute my success to my mom. Growing up, she was a VP in marketing for a few different companies, and I was always inspired by how hard she worked, but also how creative her job was, and the really awesome things that she got to do, and seeing her work with different brands to bring their ideas to life, that always really inspired me to want to get into the field, and she's always been such a creative person and such a hardworking person that I always wanted to make her proud.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received was during my internship at Time Inc. The CEO came and talked to all of the interns, and he said that if you're ever in a workplace, and you get bored, or you haven't learned anything new, or you're not learning, then that's not that means you're not growing, and that you've outgrown that role, so it's to always be learning, and if you're not learning, then you're not growing.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say to trust your ideas, you know, always be confident in something new and unique, because it could be a million dollar idea. But if you keep it to yourself, then It's just daydreaming.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Marketing is ever-changing, and the climate is just so different. Every day there's a new update on Instagram, or a new app, or a new trend that people are adapting to and that are drawing people, so you always have to constantly change your strategy and different ways to connect to people. So that is always a challenge, just keeping up with the Joneses of marketing.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Teamwork is something that I value in the workplace. I believe that it takes a village to bring an idea to life and to execute things. Kindness and empathy in my personal life, because I think that in order to fully understand the person, you have to be able to show kindness and be empathetic to the different shoes that everybody is wearing.
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