Julie Vezzani
Julie Vezzani is a dynamic digital marketing leader whose career has been defined by innovation, adaptability, and a passion for helping brands connect with audiences in meaningful ways. Since beginning her career in advertising in 2017, Julie has built extensive expertise in social media strategy, paid digital advertising, audience targeting, and full-funnel marketing, particularly within the automotive industry. Her journey started at INNOCEAN USA, where she worked on Genesis Motors campaigns and gained early exposure to emerging AI and chatbot technologies. From there, she expanded her experience managing social campaigns for smaller clients before moving into larger-scale automotive advertising work with Affinitiv and eventually DSplus, where she steadily rose through the ranks into leadership roles.
At DSplus, Julie evolved from Social Media Strategist to Associate Media Director, overseeing teams, managing high-level client relationships, and leading strategic campaigns for regional and national automotive brands, including Toyota and Lexus. Her ability to understand customer behavior, develop data-driven audience strategies, and create measurable business growth helped her play a key role in expanding the company’s Toyota Parts Center Online initiatives into national Tier 1 campaigns. Known for her collaborative leadership style and solution-oriented mindset, Julie takes pride not only in delivering strong results for clients, but also in mentoring and developing team members. She believes the best marketing strategies come from curiosity, communication, and truly listening to client needs.
Outside of her professional career, Julie is equally passionate about community building and empowering others through shared experiences. After relocating to California, she combined her love of marketing with her growing passion for golf by contributing to Girls Who Putt, a community-focused women’s golf club that promotes connection, confidence, and accessibility in the sport. Through her volunteer leadership and social media expertise, she has helped the organization expand its reach, build partnerships with local businesses and brands, and create engaging experiences for women in the community. Whether she is leading digital campaigns, mentoring colleagues, or helping grow inclusive spaces through sports and community engagement, Julie is driven by positivity, creativity, and a commitment to continuous growth.
• University of Louisville- B.A.
• Girls Who Putt (leadership role)
• Girls Who Putt - free monthly golf events and community engagement
• DuPage Pads
What do you attribute your success to?
I would say most importantly, a positive, friendly attitude. I really love working with people - it's probably my favorite part of the job. Conversing with them, learning from them, getting to know them, and working with them on a deeper level is definitely something that I feel like is my favorite part. That's why I've really grown into this golf community as well, because I'm just able to work with a lot of different girls. Working with women in general has been just the light of my experience. It's been great to see women in leadership roles, and also women just coming into the job. I've definitely had great mentors and female role models, for sure. And just being optimistic, understanding that things happen, and being adaptable and flexible is definitely something that has helped me grow to where I'm at now. Not everything is as you expect, so being adaptable is huge.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've received is kind of what I've been talking about this whole time, which is just being positive and being friendly. It's always more helpful to be a more open-minded person than a closed-minded person. Being open-minded definitely helps get you in a space where people are most willing to work with you. So I would probably say being open-minded and adaptable is probably the biggest thing.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say first, be patient. One thing is you might start somewhere and end up somewhere else, so it might not all break for you at one point, but eventually it will. Being adaptable is definitely something that is very important, not just for this space, but every other space. Things happen, and you have to roll with the punches in a way. Also, try to find opportunities outside of work as well to make you feel whatever fills your cup, whether that's getting outside and volunteering in ways, or in my way, finding a community of getting people outside. That way, not only are you able to break away from the work for a little bit, but it also does help your work as well. You want to be in a good headspace, and doing all of those things helps. A lot of times, I feel like at the beginning, you want to do as much as possible at work, and work long hours and early mornings to make sure that things are in a good space, but that really burns you out. So finding things that help you feel more balanced is definitely important.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think there are a lot of opportunities in different ways to break into the marketing space, whether that be working with small businesses or working with groups that align with your values. For me, it was fitness groups. Women are such a versatile group of people where not only are we able to work in the workplace in a way that I feel is more collaborative, but also creating a community is something that is just so innately women. Being able to create that community and build from it is huge, and use people as support as well. The women's communities are usually just so supportive in ways that you don't see everywhere else, so being able to lean on that support system and also use them to grow is definitely something that you would want to do as you break into the space. You want to make friends and find mentors to connect with in order to grow and learn from.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I think being positive and understanding is definitely huge. Because of that, I think sometimes people who don't have that get in a negative way, which affects not only their work but also just connecting with people, which makes it harder and not a very collaborative environment. So being positive, adaptable, and respectful is something that I feel like definitely takes you a long way when it comes to working with people.