Her Story
About Samantha
I've been in my field for about 5 plus years, and I'm currently a marketing manager of customer projects at Acclinate, where I've been for almost 9 months. Before this, I was completely self-employed and freelance for about 5 years. I work for a large startup where I wear a couple different hats, doing a lot of customer meetings, both internal and external, and basically meeting all of the marketing needs from our pharma clients to our community, which is about 220,000 people. I've always had an artistic side, a creative side, that I never fully pursued, but I was always interested in science and the healthcare side of things. I got my bachelor's in biology and was on a pre-med track, then I began to pursue my master's in public health, which I completed in 2022 or 2023. When I got involved with a nonprofit that allowed me to do both the creative and healthcare work, I was able to pursue it, and I was freelance for sustainability for a few years until I found a company and position that allowed me to do both as a career. The biggest challenge in my field, especially with B2C marketing, is that you're dealing with humans, and everyone's different, so just trying to ideate and execute on things that another human may want to click on, or may want to read, or may want to look at, is the biggest challenge.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Samantha
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to being coachable. I was an athlete my entire life, playing volleyball competitively for 10 to 12 years as a collegiate athlete, and being self-employed with a ton of different clients, working for a nonprofit, and now working for a large startup, I think being cool and adaptable to feedback is a great way to be successful in any career, especially a marketing one. That ability to take coaching and adapt has really carried me through all these different roles and environments.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received was to always continuously sharpen my skills and invest in myself. I think this really goes hand-in-hand with trusting your gut, especially as a creative. Everyone is kind of different in that avenue, so if you can really hone your skill in your craft, and be able to explain and elaborate on it, then it can be really valuable to people.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
The advice I would give to my younger self wanting to get into my line of work is to go with your gut, especially as a creative. As long as you can explain and elaborate on your gut instinct, I think that you should always trust it, because it's probably correct. Everyone is kind of different as a creative, so if you can really hone your skill in your craft and be able to explain and elaborate on it, then it can be really valuable to people.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think the biggest challenge in any marketing role when it comes to B2C marketing is that you're dealing with humans, right? And everyone's different, so just trying to ideate and execute on things that another human may want to click on, or may want to read, or may want to look at, is the biggest challenge. It's about understanding that human element and creating content that resonates with different people.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I think respect is a big value for me. It really is an all-encompassing umbrella of a lot of other values, both personally and professionally. I also think self-care is a huge value. If you are not taking care of yourself, like I'm active and I like to play volleyball and lift, and those are kind of my outlets. If I don't carve out time for that, then it really impedes on my professional work and my personal life. So I would say respect and self-care are the two major values that guide me.
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