Her Story
About Margaret
Margaret Wolfe is a Senior Marketing Manager specializing in membership marketing at DRI, where she has built her career in association marketing over the past four years. Promoted from Marketing Manager, she leads membership campaigns, digital marketing initiatives, email strategy, and social media engagement, while also contributing to broader organizational efforts through DRI’s Center, which supports advocacy and outreach for legal professionals. Her work is driven by a passion for using data to understand consumer behavior and crafting messaging that resonates with target audiences across multiple channels.
She earned her Bachelor of Science in Advertising from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2017, with minors in Theatre and Gender & Women’s Studies, and later completed her Master’s in Marketing at DePaul University in 2020 while working full-time. Early in her career, she developed hands-on experience in digital engagement, events, and membership growth through leadership roles in student organizations, including Kellstadt Marketing Group and the Marketing Leaders Community. Her exposure to advertising was inspired by her mother, who worked in marketing and helped spark her interest in the field.
Throughout her career, Margaret has been recognized for her leadership and impact, including being named a Forty Under 40 honoree by Association Forum, receiving Sigma Kappa’s 35 Under 35 recognition through Sigma Kappa Sorority, and earning multiple professional development scholarships through ASAE. She is actively engaged in philanthropy and community support, volunteering with organizations such as PAWS Chicago, the Greater Chicago Food Depository, and Blessings in a Backpack. Outside of work, she is a marathon runner, with the Disney Marathon being one of her most meaningful personal achievements, and she is most proud of her recognition from Association Forum for her contributions to the association marketing field.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Margaret
01What do you attribute your success to?
I'd probably say my parents. I always kind of jokingly state that I've got some big shadows to fill, because my parents have just been so amazingly successful, and they are amazing people, that I want to do justice to the legacy that they are leaving behind. My mom was kind of an influential pioneer in the advertising space, which was a lot of what interested me in going into advertising. She started a lot of the stuff that we did with direct mail. My dad is an incredible individual with math and numbers, and my parents ran their own advertising agency through my entire childhood. He kind of handled the financial side of that, and then he was also very involved with our community. I always joked that people, when I walked down the street back in my childhood, they'd recognize me way before I'd recognize them, because my dad knew everyone. They're just amazing people, and I love them so much. They inspired me to where I am today. My husband as well is an amazing cheerleader.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I've received, which has been echoed to me a lot, is kind of the idea of having that self-confidence to pursue what you're interested in, because you do have that knowledge set, and you do have that drive. Kind of trusting in that in yourself is the last step to moving forward with it.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I've seen that the association field is such a welcoming space for women. I recently went to a women's forum through Association Forum, which I think was just such an uplifting experience to get to see and be around so much amazing female power and success. One of the great things about this industry, and one of the things that I would recommend as others are getting involved in it, is to connect with other women within the space and to learn from them, because they've walked the path that you're going to be walking, and they've got a lot of amazing knowledge and information to pass on.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I would say, and I think I'm also a little bit biased towards the challenges that you deal with in membership because I focus more on membership marketing, but how can we get younger generations to be more involved with membership-based organizations is definitely something that we're tackling every day. As well as where do we go both ethically and morally with AI and AI usage inside of the space.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values most important to me are honesty, integrity, organization, and just kind of always standing by what you believe in.
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