What brought you to Zift?
Leadership and understanding have always been top of mind for me. I’ve invested my career in product management and product marketing leadership roles, exploring businesses where I have an affinity with the product offerings. I’ve worked with plenty of interesting, exciting solutions — so when I heard about what Zift was doing, I jumped at the chance to be VP of Product Marketing.
How do you define Product Marketing?
To me, product marketing is about, above all else, commercializing software solutions for buyers and making sure that you connect a customer with the product that best fits their needs. It’s a series of questions I never tire of answering: What’s the messaging around your product? How do you position it in the market? How do you work with the sales team to talk about it? What stories do you tell on your website? Product place, price, and positioning are all connected, and all have to be cohesive in one solution.
What do you like best about working with and for Zift?
I love what Zift is doing. I love how we work with channel programs, sales and marketing leaders to create success in their businesses. I always choose businesses where I have an affinity for the product on offer, and Zift’s offerings — and our customers who purchase them — are engaging and exciting to learn about. The process in itself is fascinating, and the people behind the processes and programs are hard-working and involved themselves.
That’s one of the parts of the channel I like best: people invested in the channel, like my fellow Zifters, tend to work well with others. Whether it’s nature or nurtured by industry, people in the channel are very good at networking. Channel programs do a lot with a little, so it makes sense that the people behind them are good at connecting the networking dots to get what needs to be done, done.
What is your current focus?
I’m working on big projects you’ll hear more about in 2019 and helping to shape our vision of Enterprise Channel Management into a realized solution set. I’m thrilled to be part of the team working toward groundbreaking goals in the channel industry.
You’re breathing new life into Zift’s Lean In Chapter. Can you tell us more about that?
I believe women learn best through sharing their experiences with each other. Talking with and understanding other women in sessions with our Circle is what the program is designed to do, and that promotes confidence and provides a safe setting to practice business skills. Women leading women to grow together — It’s a wonderful program, and one I’m glad to lend my voice to and promote.
Any personal passions outside of Zift and Product Marketing?
My personal passion is helping to eliminate the stigma of mental illness through my work as a certified trainer with the National Alliance of Mental Illness, or NAMI. I work with families to break the silence on mental illness and begin developing positive behaviors and coping skills.
This year, I’m enjoying the 25th anniversary of my blind date with my husband, Fred. We share our lives with one young adult son and our standard poodle, Charlie, who is just as feisty and smart as our son was as a toddler.
