Breaking through Barriers – Women Leading Marketing Innovation

Moderator: Talar Malakian
Chief Marketing Officer | Phonexa

Talar Malakian is the chief marketing officer at Phonexa, responsible for the company’s marketing and advertising strategies. With expertise in B2B enterprise SaaS and emerging tech, she has been a go-to market advisor and demand generation leader for high-growth companies. Malakian has helped purpose-driven organizations build brands and accelerate pipelines. Before Phonexa, she led marketing at Metaplex and RECUR. She holds a bachelor’s in English from UC Irvine and an Executive MBA from Pepperdine University.

Speakers: Andrea Bras
VP, Product Marketing | Viant Technology

Andrea Bras is a dynamic leader with over 20 years in digital marketing, currently serving as vice president of product marketing at Viant Technology. Known for her strategic expertise, partnership building and commitment to innovation, she has driven impactful product launches, boosted sales enablement and guided Viant’s brand through key milestones. A passionate mentor and community advocate, Bras empowers others while advancing Viant’s success, exemplifying her dedication to both professional excellence and personal accountability.

Narine Galstian
Chief Marketing Officer | SADA

Narine Galstian, chief marketing officer at SADA, has over 25 years of B2B/B2C marketing experience. She’s driven significant growth at tech companies, leading teams in branding, PR, events, solutions marketing and demand generation. Galstian has led SADA to multiple Google Cloud Partner of the Year awards and a spot on Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Public Cloud IT Transformation Services. Her vision and innovative approach have contributed to SADA’s success, including its acquisition by Insight Enterprises.

Laura McHolm
Co-Founder & Director of Marketing | NorthStar Moving Company

Laura McHolm is the cofounder of NorthStar Moving Company. Her extensive experience and insight is based on working to disrupt a service business that lacked service in a male-dominated world. McHolm is changing the way we move by selling the “red carpet treatment.” Her fast-growing, privately-held company is the go-to mover for A-List celebrities and The Getty and has been featured in Elle Décor, The Hollywood Reporter, Vanity Fair, the Robb Report and more.

ON NEW TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS THAT ARE CHANGING HOW WE BUILD BRANDS AND ACQUIRE CUSTOMERS

Andrea Bras: Tools and innovation come across my desk and you have to decide where to spend your time. We recently launched a sales enablement technology. When you have to empower your sales team, they need the tools and resources to be effective. We had legacy technology hosting things and a key element was discovering what we needed to solve. We worked with vendors and landed on a company that changed things overnight. We get engagement data and we can take action. Make sure that you have key stakeholders involved and make a big splash.

Narine Galstian: We have meeting notes taken by AI and it can create a list of action items. I encourage everyone to test it out and learn how to prompt these amazing tools. I empowered my team to test it out. It’s amazing what is possible. There are fears about the technology taking my job. I feel responsible to make sure that my team stays ahead of that without feeling threatened. We use all the automation tools. Sales teams should engage to learn more about the customer before a call.

Laura McHolm: It’s important for a consumer company to meet them where they are. You want to make sure that you integrate with your system. People don’t read anymore. You have to be able to distill information into bite-sized pieces. We do infographic videos. And now you have to be everywhere - you don’t just go to one site anymore. People need to answer good and bad reviews and embrace them. For AI, we’ve invited our content creators to be on AI. We’ve found that AI is not as good, but it’s getting better. The more that things get automated, the more that we will desire to talk to real people.

ON INNOVATION AND CHALLENGING CONVENTIONAL BUSINESS PRACTICES

McHolm: Moving companies don’t typically have marketing departments. I met a lot of resistance, but I want to stand out by doing things differently. Moving is a life event that happens amid the backdrop of life. The hard part is that I’m still constantly having people look at what other companies do, even if it doesn’t work – they don’t track ROI like we do.

Galstian: I’m on the B2B side of marketing, but you need to connect with humans. Technology feels like a different buyer and that’s not the case. Human to human connection is very important and I want to do intimate events that are specialized and larger brand building events. I want to tell customer stories. That’s what’s most important. You can live and die by reviews. Make your specific customer the hero in a story whether it’s in a video, podcast or a written format.

Bras: We didn’t have as much growth early on and we were small, but we started to grow and innovate. We started to have a lot of stakeholders involved. Paths became less clear. One or two priorities multiplied. We have to deal in the technical world and then simplify it for our sellers. We created a strategy and unified our team. It’s been hugely effective.

ON MENTORSHIP AND MENTORING OTHERS

McHolm: Listening is key. Look at what people have and bring and foster their interests. If you don’t have a team that supports each other and celebrates successes, they shouldn’t be on your team. You need to surround yourself in all aspects of your life with people who support you and build you up.

Bras: One thing that is critical to consider as you start your career is that you need to understand the skills that you possess. Make sure that you’re happy with where you are at. It’s okay to change direction. Be accountable so that you grow and develop. As a mentor, try to understand other people’s experience.

Galstian: I had wonderful mentors that helped me make the shifts and see growth and opportunity. You want to give that to the next generation of leaders. Sometimes people need help seeing their potential. You as the leader need to pay attention and can call that out and push to hone skill sets and take on challenges. As leaders, that’s part of our responsibility.