Her Story
About Victoria
Victoria Smith is the CEO and Marketing Consultant of Mass Stride, LLC, a company she founded with subsidiaries Vsmith Media specializing in digital marketing and Terra Nova Alliance focused on real estate marketing. With more than 25 years of experience in the marketing industry, she began her career in graphic design in 1999 and has progressed to roles including Chief Marketing Officer for Chernova Alliance. Smith holds an Associate of Applied Science in Graphic Design and two associate's degrees in digital and print media from her studies at Southwest Tennessee Community College, where she was also a member of Alpha Beta Gamma. She attributes her success to passion and drive, emphasizing transparency and honesty in all partnerships while mentoring both college and high school students interested in marketing. Smith advises young women entering the field to push forward despite challenges in a male-dominated industry, drawing from her own experiences in corporate retail.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Victoria
01What do you attribute your success to?
My success comes from passion and drive. I allow clients to express every aspect of their vision rather than keeping it strictly in the channel of marketing. When we have the full picture, we are able to work better together.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
My boss, the Senior Vice President at Fred's, taught me to always ask the extra question, which is the acronym ATEQ. He built his entire career on that methodology and made it very stringent in my career.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Understand that this is still a male-dominated world, but we are making an impact. Always strive to push forward regardless of the restraints that you may have. Coming out of a dominated business and men in the retail industry, corporate retail industry, I've seen it, I've experienced it, but don't let that hold you back, because it will guide you into something much bigger and more powerful that you can ever imagine.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenges are bandwidth, meaning availability of support teams, and AI modeling taking over the scope of the marketing industry. We have to be very cautious and ethical on how we choose to do these practices. Opportunities exist for small and mid-size businesses but restraints that business owners have is a downfall right now.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Transparency and honesty are the two key values that I have in both my business and personal life. Without those, we are not going to be successful partners, we're not going to be able to guide each other. So, transparency and honesty is definitely what motivates me to keep going forward.
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