Her Story
About LaMonda
I graduated with my MBA in 2015, which means I've been in my field for 10 years now. Before getting into this work, I came out of the social work field. After receiving my MBA, I did a few internships for New York Fashion Week and some other entertainment consulting firms. Then I worked for a company called Reed Exhibitions, which is the company that facilitates Comic-Con. That's when I started getting more heavily into tech and marketing and understanding audience development. We brought over the first property and technology conference to the New York market, which was more familiar in the European market, so I was responsible for understanding that audience and doing a lot of audience development there and research. What really kicked things off was with Apple. I was a ground troops surveyor for Apple, hired as a contractor, where I would travel all over the world to gather data for their mapping systems and work with the data analytics team to ensure that the mapping was properly represented in the Apple Maps. That's when I started getting more into tech, right before the Apollo. I've been at the Apollo for going on 8 years now as the CRM Manager and Data Analyst. When I got here, the role was kind of being created and they didn't know what the role looked like, so I honed in and figured out and made that role my own. I brought data to the forefront here at the Apollo, introducing post-show surveying and post-mortems where we fully analyze post-event effects. I also focus on making data digestible and easy to look at, so people can easily understand it.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with LaMonda
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
My uncle told me a story about how he worked at a place for 19 years, and when a supervisor role came up, they hired someone 19 years younger than him. He said it was because that person had a piece of paper - a degree. He always told me that no matter what you do, don't let a piece of paper stop you from what you want to achieve. That has always been my goal, to make sure that I exhaust all of my resources and get as many boundaries out of my way that I was actually preventing for myself. Another piece of advice that really stuck with me was from one of my professors when I was thinking about getting my master's degree. I told her I didn't know if I should because it seems so hard. She said, 'It's not hard. You know, only going through a war is hard. Everything else you can do.' That really motivated me to pursue my MBA even though I didn't know what direction I wanted to go in.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say that common sense and who you are at your core are valuable, and things that you don't want to put in the background. When it comes to data, although data is factual and it can be proven, your overall experience with the product or the person really does play a part, and it really does matter. Sometimes we get so caught up in doing things book smart or book right, that we forget that personal touch, and that personal touch is what brings your dynamic influence into that role, is what makes that role special, and what makes it you, and what allows you to bring what you find important in a way that only you can deliver it. I'd say to bring your personal brand into what you're doing, and to always enjoy what you do. It's really important to enjoy what you do. Find a way to bring your personal branding to what you're doing, of course within the position's guidelines, but make it uniquely your own.
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