Leading Women in Marketing That We Admire

On International Women\’s Day, we\’d like to list some of the leading women in marketing that we admire, for their superlative work. Their roles in their respective companies, as well as their actions serve as a great source of inspiration and motivation. It is important to note that the list is not in any particular order, but rather serves as a tribute to all of the women who have made a difference and influenced us in some way.

Here Is a List of the Top 15 Women Marketers We Admire

1) Melanie Deziel – Chief Content Officer at StoryFuel

A Branded Content Consultant and renowned speaker in different digital marketing events, Melanie Deziel is one of the world’s leading experts in Native Advertising. She has collaborated with the Times\’ T Brand Studio, with HuffPost Partner Studio and with the portfolio of more than 35 Time Inc. media.

Also, she has trained marketing professionals from around the world thanks to her frequent talks and her newsletter The Overlap League. Because of her worth, TopRank has placed her as one of the Top 50 influential women in Content Marketing.

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2) Mari Smith – CEO & Premier Facebook Marketing Expert

She\’s one of the leading global leaders in social media and has received endorsements from prestigious media outlets. They include Forbes (who has named her as one of the Top Ten Social Media Power Influencers for several years) and TopRank, which recently included her in its ranking of the Top 50 influential women in Content Marketing, along with Melanie Deziel.

With an extensive and recognized experience in Facebook, Mari Smith is the author of \”The New Relationship Marketing and co-author of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day\”.

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3) Cara Schwartz – President & Founder, Fearless Media

With over 25 years of advertising experience, Cara Schwartz is the Founder of Fearless Media, a New York City advertising agency that works with clients to develop marketing strategy, execute campaigns, and drive revenue.

Before she founded Fearless Media, Cara was the Executive Vice President of Tangible Media – where she helped lead the agency’s growth and business development, boosting the company’s billing from 10 million to 50 million.

Cara was named Businesswoman Awards 2017 “Marketing & Advertising Entrepreneur of the Year.” She was also recognized as the National Association of Professional Women’s “2014 Professional Woman of the Year.”

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4) Lori Senecal – Former Global CEO, Crispin Porter + Bogusky

Lori Senecal, the former Global CEO of CP+B, ended her tenure as CEO at the end 2017. Lori was responsible for overseeing the agency’s global growth and expansion, managing the 10 international offices, plus continuing CP+B global business development.

Under her leadership, CP+B became a truly modern agency that focused on hiring the right talent, pushing for innovation in all offices, and having an entrepreneurial spirit that would propel the agency to new heights. Before CP+B, Lori held leadership position at KBS and McCann Erickson.

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5) Katy Hornaday – Chief Creative Director, Barkley

After Barkley, an independent advertising agency based in Kansas City, hired Katy Hornaday as their new Executive Creative Director at the beginning of the 2017, she has been hard at work to make her mark at the agency. Katy had led work for clients such as A-B InBev, Hershey, Planet Fitness, and Vanity Fair. Today, Katy serves as the Chief Creative Director. In this role, she leads the Creative, Content, Production and Barkley Film teams.

Over the years, Katy has received numerous awards including being named one Business Insider’s 30 Most Creative People in Advertising Under 30 and one of the 30 Most Creative Women in Advertising.

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6) Kat Gordon – Founder, CEO – The 3% Movementy – Chief Creative Director, Barkley

Kat Gordon is the founder and driving force behind The 3% Movement, which was launched in 2012 to address the lack of female creative leadership in the advertising industry and its impact on connecting with a predominantly female marketplace. The movement has experienced remarkable growth since its inception, with events now hosted in 17 cities worldwide and the provision of consulting and certification programs to amplify creative cultures. Thanks to the movement\’s efforts, the percentage of female creative directors in the United States has increased from 3% to 29%.

BusinessInsider recognized Gordon\’s contribution to the industry by naming her one of the \”30 Most Creative Women in Advertising\” in 2016, while Advertising Age awarded her the title of \”Visionary of the Year\” in 2018. Additionally, she was recognized as one of the \”Forty Over 40\” women who are disrupting the world in 2014.

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7) Kay Hsu – Vice President Creative – Clinique

Kay Hsu is a highly accomplished and globally recognized leader who serves as the Global Director and Instagram Lead for Instagram\’s Creative Shop. With an educational background in marketing and communications, she started her career in market research at MKTG before moving on to work at a number of renowned advertising agencies such as Iris, Huge, and LBI.

Throughout her career, Hsu has remained passionate about understanding the motivations and behaviours that drive people. She has utilized this passion to focus on strategic storytelling and developing a world-class advertising experience on Instagram. Her impressive portfolio of work includes collaborations with top brands such as TOMS, Sony, Diageo, Seamless.com, J&J, and Nike, among others. Her outstanding achievements have earned her several industry awards, including a Jay Chiat award for best new brand for the brand relaunch of Seamless.com, as well as a Webby award for the Sony Xperia Creators Program, which has cemented her reputation as a highly successful and innovative advertiser.

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8) Maryam Banikarim – Head of Marketing – Nextdoor

Maryam Banikarim, who was recognized as one of Forbes\’ Most Influential CMOs in 2017, currently holds the position of Head of Marketing for Nextdoor, a social network that focuses on connecting people within neighbourhoods. Prior to this, she served as the Global CMO for Hyatt Hotels and held the role of CMO at Gannett & Univision. During her time at Gannett, she has played a crucial role in helping the company navigate through a challenging period in the publishing industry where many organizations were restructuring their assets.

While at Hyatt, she concentrated her efforts on enhancing the overall guest experience. Her numerous accomplishments in the marketing industry have earned her significant recognition, including her spot-on Forbes\’ prestigious list of Most Influential CMOs.

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9) Margaret Molloy – Global Chief Marketing Officer – Siegel+Gale

Margaret Molloy, an accomplished leader in the field of B2B marketing, has been serving as the Global CMO of Siegel+Gale since 2013. Her impressive career has spanned over two decades, during which she has held various leadership positions on both the agency and brand side. Prior to joining Siegel+Gale, she worked with reputable organizations such as Gerson Lehrman Group and Oracle. In recognition of her contributions to the industry, Molloy was named the 2017 B2B Marketer of the Year by The Drum and has been acknowledged as one of the Top 30 most influential marketers to follow on Twitter.

Her exceptional achievements and wealth of experience have solidified her reputation as a leading figure in the world of B2B marketing.

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10) Bozoma Saint John – Chief Marketing Officer – Netflix

Bozoma Saint John is the former Global Chief Marketing Officer at Netflix. She began her career in marketing at Spike Lee\’s advertising agency, Spike DDB. She later worked at PepsiCo, managing brands within the company\’s beverage portfolio, before becoming Head of Music and Entertainment Marketing. After her time at PepsiCo, she served as Head of Global Consumer Marketing at Apple Music & iTunes and then as Chief Brand Officer at Uber. More recently, Saint John has held a CMO role for Endeavor, overseeing the marketing strategy and operations for multiple brands including WME, IMG, UFC, Miss Universe, and 160over90.

Bozoma Saint John has received widespread recognition and accolades for her work in various industries. She was recently inducted into the American Marketing Association Hall of Fame (2022) and previously into the American Advertising Federation Hall of Achievement (2014). Bozoma currently holds the top spot on Forbes\’ list of the Most Influential CMOs in the world (2021). Additionally, Billboard has named her one of the Most Powerful Women in Music for 10 consecutive years (2013-2022), and she has been inducted into their Women in Music Hall of Fame.

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11) Cheryl McCants – CEO, Impact Consulting Enterprises

Impact Consulting Enterprises, a strategic communication firm that is both woman-owned and minority-owned, was founded by Cheryl McCants in 1989. With more than 25 years of experience in marketing, Cheryl is known for her leadership in the industry, having been recognized as a finalist in the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and winning the Top Woman in Public Relations award.

Prior to this, she held leadership positions at Nike, AT&T, and Girl Scouts of the USA.

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12) Rebecca Messina – Former Global CMO, Uber, Beam Suntory

Rebecca Messina, a former marketing executive at Coca-Cola, was appointed as the Global Chief Marketing Officer for Beam Suntory in 2016 after holding leadership positions at Coke for over two decades in Europe and South America. One of her key focuses in her role at Beam Suntory was on integrating marketing strategies within the company. In 2018, she became the first-ever Global CMO for Uber.

Her innovative approach to marketing earned her a spot-on Business Insider\’s list of the 50 most innovative CMOs in 2016.

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13) Maggie Chan Jones – CEO & Founder, Tenshey

In 2017, Maggie Chan Jones was recognized as the 15th most influential CMO on Forbes\’ list. For more than two years, she served as the leader of SAP\’s global marketing strategy, overseeing advertising, branding, sponsorships, digital, operations, audience, marketing, and events. During her tenure at SAP, Maggie focused on promoting diversity and inclusion within the company and across the industry.

She now carries on this mission as the CEO and founder of Tenshey, a company that helps organizations achieve their diversity and inclusion goals while providing support and opportunities for women and other underrepresented groups to advance their careers.

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14) Joyce Poole – Head of CRM at LendingTree

Joyce is presently the Head of CRM (Strategy, Engagement, Lifecycle) at LendingTree. She is based in United States and she leads the team focused on Engagement, Retention and LTV Strategy, Deployment and Measurement for ~16 lines of LendingTree’s business. Partners with Data and Tech teams on enablement of data, processes and platforms to maintain a solid foundation for personalization and growth of current customers and prospects. Joyce has over 28 years of marketing and CRM experience across markets.

Sisca graduated from the West Virginia University in United States with a bachelor\’s in journalism and public Relations.

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15) Laura Trotter – Chief Marketing Officer at Equifax

Laura Trotter is Equifax\’s Chief Marketing Officer, USIS. She has worked in the wireless, high-tech, big data / analytics, and health / life sciences industries for almost 20 years. Developing integrated awareness and demand generation strategies for all aspects of integrated B2B and B2C marketing programmes, including go-to-market strategy, product marketing, public relations, corporate and employee communications, branding, advertising, web/online, tradeshows/events, and channel/partner marketing.

Laura completed her bachelors in marketing from Darla Moore school of business and her Executive MBA from University of Oregon.

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