Q. Describe your background (where you grew up, college, etc.):
I grew up in Oklahoma City. I attended Catholic schools through my graduation from high school in 1998. I was very active as a child: Dance, sports, piano and eventually a cheerleader. I attended OSU to study architecture. It was fun but extremely difficult and I had no time for anything else. I got burned out quickly. I eventually transferred to UCO where I received my bachelor’s degree in Marketing.
Q. What about marketing piqued your interest?
It seemed to come naturally to me. I wanted to be a business major, but not in finance or accounting. Fortunately, I landed a temp job at VI the summer before my junior year and became the office manager while going to school at night. That exposed me to real-world marketing and fueled my passion for my studies and my eventually my career.
Q. What is your current job and what do you enjoy most about it?
Today, I am the VP of Brand Development for VI, coming up on 19 years with the company. I am in charge of business development and our own brand. I enjoy both parts of the job, but I am able to spend more time on business development today. Developing a strategy to pitch an account is a lot of fun. And when we win and pick up a new client, it’s a total rush!
Q. How long have you been a member of AMA and why did you join?
I have been a member of AMA since 2004. VI has always had active members beginning with our VI President, Tim Berney who is also a past-president of AMA. He encouraged me to join and to get involved with the board. I think it’s a great place to get exposed to different marketing disciplines and to learn from marketing peers from all over the US.
Q. You’re a former AMA president. What did you take away from that experience? Any accomplishments you’re particularly proud of?
I am proud of the time that I served on the board and especially my year as president. I’m not one to just show up and mess around, so we got a lot accomplished during my tenure. One thing that stands out is when we won several Chapter Excellence Awards from AMAIH.
Q. Why do you feel it’s important to stay up-to-date with new practices and tactics in the marketing world and how does it relate to your job?
Marketing is constantly changing as communications channels evolve. If you’re not staying up with it, you will quickly become irrelevant. It’s crucial to my job that I am a good marketer because prospects have to trust that we (VI) know what we are doing. Since I am often the first impression and the one that discusses initial strategies with our prospects, I have to stay on top of all things marketing.
Q. What is the best piece of business advice that you’ve ever been given?
You can’t do everything! When you love what you do it’s easy to become a workaholic. If you don’t want to burn out, you have to work with people you trust and delegate what you can. Since it all still needs to happen and maybe you are still ultimately responsible for ensuring that it is, you have to prioritize what you are going to personally take on and then be clear about expectations with your team.
Q. Do you have a favorite marketing publication, podcast, conference, etc. that you would recommend?
The Hustle and Think with Google. Both are bite-sized and relevant. Like most people, I am busy all day every day. So, if I’m going to spend time doing something it better be worth it!
Q. What’s something most people don’t know about you?
Absolutely nothing. I am an open book. What you see is 100% what you get.
An excerpt from 2012 explaining the conception of the Marketinis; an event Jacquelyn and her AMA volunteers developed and the local marketing community enjoys annually.
The year was 1962.
West Side Story mesmerized theatergoers. Beatles melodies oozed from transistor radios. Marilyn Monroe’s skirt fluttered. A missile crisis menaced humanity. And Oklahoma City’s marketing community entered a period of unparalleled prosperity.
During this decade of freewheeling and intrigue, a syndicate of local marketing elders un-furled their master plan. This loosely knit cabal of Oklahoma socialites formed a local chapter of the American Marketing Association. Little did they know they were the architects of a storied and colorful institution – an elite confederacy of trendsetters and tastemakers that would come to be known as AMAOKC.
50 years later, it was high time to honor the founders of our beloved AMA chapter.
No ordinary soiree would do. No mundane rite of tribute, no karaoke-blighted banquet would suffice. Nope. We were going to do it up big. We wanted to recreate the ambiance of our founding – an admixture of elegance and debauchery singularly embodied by the Mad Men series.
Thus the Marketinis were born.
The Marketinis represented a radical reimagining of the local AMA awards show. The inaugural event served the dual purpose of saluting our hallowed founders and unveiling our new show format. The traditional lunch-hour snoozefest had run its course.
Adorned in period custom and filled with enough gin to induce acute liver failure, AMAOKC convened for the First Annual Marketini Awards. Drinks were sloshed, glory bestowed, and new sense of brotherhood began to take hold. By the end of the night, the Marketinis had inaugurated a new era of vigor and vitality in the Oklahoma City marketing community.
But it was more than a mere gala. The night was the crowning achievement of long planning and fearless introspection. It all began in July of 2011.