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- đ„ Women in Marketing: The Genius Myth
đ„ Women in Marketing: The Genius Myth
and the Reality of Whoâs Actually Running the Show

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đ„ Women in Marketing: The Genius Myth and the Reality of Whoâs Actually Running the Show
Alright, letâs get something straight. For all the blustery talk about "marketing visionaries," the reality is that most of the so-called male geniuses in this industry are just repackaging ideas women perfected decades ago. The Steve Jobs wannabes, the LinkedIn "thought leaders" who spend more time on hot takes than actual strategy, the guys who still think "disruption" means throwing a bunch of buzzwords at a PowerPointâyeah, women have been outmaneuvering them for years.
The truth is, marketing isnât about who talks the loudest in the boardroom. Itâs about who listens, who adapts, and who actually gets things done. And if you want to know what real leadership looks like, take a page from the women in this industry who are redefining what it means to win in marketingâwithout the chest-thumping bravado.
Iâve learned more from women in marketing than from every overpriced MBA course, Silicon Valley keynote, and self-congratulatory ad tech conference combined. These are the lessons that matterâthe ones that actually move the needle, the ones that arenât just LinkedIn fluff.
đ Lesson #1: The Power of ListeningâBecause Talking Louder Isnât a Strategy
Some men think leadership is about barking orders louder than everyone elseâas if volume equals vision. Lizzie Chapman, VP at NextRoll, proves thatâs nonsense. She doesnât just run a teamâsheâs built a company culture where people actually feel heard. And not in that empty âwe have an open-door policyâ way thatâs just PR spin. No, sheâs got an anonymous question board at every company town hall where employees can ask anythingâand leadership has to answer. Thatâs real transparency. Thatâs leadership with substance.
Meanwhile, Alexis Hochleutner cracked one of marketingâs biggest lies: hard work alone wonât get you to the topâlistening will. You can grind all day, but if youâre not paying attention to what your team, your clients, and the data are actually saying, youâre just playing the corporate hustle hamster wheel. Her approach? Surround yourself with people who challenge you, not just ones who nod along. A lot of male execs could take notesâexcept theyâre too busy interrupting the women who actually have the good ideas.
đĄ Lesson #2: Emotional Intelligence Over EgoâBecause the Best Leaders Know When to Let Others Shine
Letâs talk about ego, because itâs the Achillesâ heel of every underwhelming male leader who thinks marketing is just about who can dominate the meeting the most. Men have spent centuries confusing arrogance with competence. If marketing were left solely to the guys who believe âalpha energyâ is a brand strategy, weâd still be stuck in the golden age of tone-deaf pink âfor herâ products and condescending campaigns.
Ishveen Jolly, founder and CEO of OpenSponsorship, saw past the ego trap early on. She built a company that was supposed to be a self-service platformâuntil she realized that wasnât what clients actually wanted. Instead of doubling down on a bad idea (as many male-led startups do out of sheer stubbornness), she pivoted to a premium, white-glove service model. Thatâs what real leadership looks likeâknowing when to let go of an idea and actually listening to the needs of the market.
Then thereâs Erin Levzow, who redefines resilience in leadership. She knows that real strength isnât about pretending you have all the answersâitâs about knowing when to ask for help. Too many leaders, especially men, equate vulnerability with weakness, but Erin understands that leaning on others isnât a liabilityâitâs a superpower. Some of the best executives Iâve met werenât the ones with the biggest egosâthey were the ones with the biggest capacity to elevate the people around them.
đ Lesson #3: Pivoting with GraceâBecause Adaptability Beats Stubbornness Every Time
Marketing isnât static. If youâre still running the same strategies you were five years ago, youâre already obsolete. And while too many men in the industry cling to their outdated playbooks like a lifeline, women in marketing have mastered the art of the pivot.
Take Ishveen Jollyâshe saw that the sponsorship game was broken long before the industry did. Instead of waiting around for the market to catch up, she rewrote the rules and built the kind of solution that brands actually needed. Thatâs not disruptionâitâs understanding where the industry is going before it gets there.
Then thereâs Lizzie Chapman, who doesnât just help NextRoll pivot its marketing strategiesâsheâs built a company culture where people feel safe to try, fail, and innovate without fear. The best marketers arenât the ones who never make mistakesâtheyâre the ones who learn faster than everyone else.
And if youâre still thinking that âdisruptionâ is a strategy? A woman in marketing has probably already outmaneuvered you.

đ The Numbers Behind Women in Marketing: The Data Doesnât LieâMen Just Ignore It
For all the talk about âprogress,â hereâs the reality check: women make up the majority of the marketing industry but are still vastly underrepresented in leadership. Itâs like watching someone bake the perfect cake only to have a guy in a suit stroll in at the last minute and claim he invented frosting.
Women hold 60% of all marketing jobs in North America, yet when it comes to actual decision-making power, the numbers take a nosedive:
52% of CMOs are womenâwhich sounds impressive until you realizeâŠ
Only 24% of C-suite roles in UK SEO agencies are held by women.
Only 22% of C-suite positions at large, publicly traded companies in Global 20 countries go to women.
Translation? Women are doing the work, but when itâs time to hand out the big titles and stock options, suddenly thereâs a leadership âpipeline problem.â More like a gatekeeping problem.
đ° The Business Case: Why More Women in Leadership Would Make Everyone Richer
If youâre still skeptical that women are driving marketing success, letâs talk numbers:
Companies with more women in executive roles generate 21% higher profitability.
Diverse teams (including female leaders) bring in 19% more revenue.
Brands led by women CMOs see stronger brand loyalty and higher ROI on campaigns.
What does this mean? Simple: If you want your company to make more money, hire more women and actually let them lead. Otherwise, enjoy watching your less diverse competitors outperform you while you host another panel on âbridging the gender gap.â
đ The Performance Metrics: Women-Led Teams Outperform in Engagement and Retention
If you care about actual marketing effectiveness (not just who's getting credit in the boardroom), then the data speaks for itself:
Engagement Metrics (AKA: Do People Actually Care?)
Time spent with brand content âŹïž
Number of touchpoints per customer âŹïž
Active participation (polls, surveys, chats, etc.) âŹïž
Retention Metrics (AKA: Do People Actually Stay?)
Higher customer retention rates
Lower customer churn
Better Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Higher Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Letâs be real: if engagement and retention were Olympic sports, women-led teams would be sweeping the podium.
đ Industry Trends & Observations: Why Women Are Running the Marketing Playbook
1. The Authenticity Advantage
The days of hard-sell, shouty marketing are over, and women are leading the shift toward authentic engagement.
Consumers want brands to feel human, not like a chatbot in a corporate suit.
2. Cultural Relevance is a Superpower
Women-led campaigns tap into cultural moments better than the old-school, data-only approach.
They donât just âtarget demographicsââthey understand communities.
3. The Mentorship Movement is Changing the Game
The rise of mentorship networks for women in marketing is reshaping the industry.
Women arenât waiting for a seat at the tableâtheyâre building new tables and inviting others to join.
4. Innovation in Ad TechâWomen Are Making Waves
Women-founded ad tech companies are disrupting the landscape (but donât get nearly enough credit for it).
Expect more female-led breakthroughs in contextual advertising, AI-driven personalization, and cross-platform innovation.
đ The Bottom Line
Women donât just belong in marketing leadershipâtheyâre already leading the charge, whether the industry recognizes it or not. The brands that embrace this reality will win, and the ones that donât? Well, theyâll keep wondering why their engagement rates are tanking while their competitors are crushing it with smarter, more relevant, and more authentic marketing.
So, if youâre still debating whether women should be leading more marketing teams, maybe stop debating and start paying attention to the results.
đ€ Insights from the Women Actually Shaping the Industry (While the Rest Are Still Talking About It)
Marketing has no shortage of people who love to hear themselves talk. Panels full of men in expensive sneakers will wax poetic about âbrand synergyâ and âdisruptive innovationâ while their PowerPoint slides commit crimes against graphic design. But if you want to know whoâs actually making things happen, look to the women in this industry. Theyâre the ones building the teams, leading the strategy, and pulling off the pivots that keep brands relevant while everyone else is still trying to decode the latest algorithm change.
Hereâs what they have to say, in their own wordsâno fluff, no jargon, just real talk from women who get it.
đ Lizzie Chapman (VP, NextRoll) on Authentic Leadership: Your Free Snacks Wonât Fix a Bad Culture
âWe donât take ourselves seriously, we take the work seriously.â
Letâs start here, because this should be tattooed on the forehead of every executive who thinks culture is a ping-pong table and a kombucha tap. Lizzie Chapman doesnât buy into the empty, vibe-heavy version of company culture that looks great in recruitment videos but falls apart when actual leadership is required. Instead, sheâs built something real at NextRollâa place where people arenât afraid to take risks because they know their ideas actually matter.
A companyâs culture isnât measured by how many beanbag chairs are in the break roomâitâs measured by whether employees feel safe enough to take a big swing and fail without being thrown under the bus. Thatâs why NextRoll has a literal Jellyfish Boardâan internal system where employees can submit anonymous questions that leadership is required to answer. Imagine that: actual transparency instead of a corporate buzzword masquerading as a value.
Most companies say they want honesty from their employees. Lizzie Chapman actually means itâand sheâs created a structure where it happens by design.
đ Ishveen Jolly (CEO, OpenSponsorship) on Breaking Barriers: Success Takes Time, Even If Everyone Wants It Overnight
âBe patient â entrepreneurs arenât necessarily good at that.â
And there it isâthe hard truth most startup founders refuse to hear. Ishveen Jolly has built a career on seeing the long game when others just want instant wins, which is why sheâs successfully upended the sponsorship world instead of getting buried by it.
Her story isnât the cookie-cutter, LinkedIn-inspirational kind where she walked into an industry, had a genius idea, and immediately disrupted everything. No, she started in India, built her expertise from the ground up, and realized early that success isnât about making a single brilliant moveâitâs about stacking smart decisions over time.
Some people want to launch a business and immediately land the biggest clients in the world. Ishveen knows thatâs not how the game works. Instead, she took a methodical, strategic approach:
Start small.
Prove the model.
Scale up once the foundation is rock-solid.
Itâs not glamorous, but it worksâand itâs the reason sheâs still standing while so many âvisionaryâ founders flame out after their first round of funding.
Her biggest lesson? The idea itself isnât enoughâyou have to know how to execute, evolve, and actually deliver.
đ Alexis Hochleutner on Strategy vs. Hard Work: The âLadderâ is a Scam, Hereâs What Actually Works
âPerfectionism is just procrastination dressed up in a fancy suit.â
If that quote didnât hit you like a truck, read it again. Alexis Hochleutner has no patience for the glorified overthinkers who confuse planning with progress. Sheâs watched far too many people waste time trying to craft the âperfectâ move instead of just making a damn decisionâand in marketing, hesitation is the fastest way to become irrelevant.
But hereâs where she really flips the script: she doesnât just talk about work ethicâshe talks about strategy. Because the biggest lie ever sold to young professionals is that grinding harder will get you ahead. Spoiler alert: it wonât.
The real currency in this industry isnât sweatâitâs relationships. You can work 100-hour weeks, but if youâre not in the right rooms with the right people, youâre still going nowhere. Alexis cracked the code:
Relationships matter just as much as talentâso build them intentionally.
The âladderâ doesnât exist the way they tell you it doesâso stop playing the game by rules designed to keep you stuck.
The best moves arenât the loudest onesâsometimes influence happens in silence, behind the scenes, in the spaces where decisions actually get made.
đĄ The Takeaway: Pay Attention to These Women, Because Theyâre Doing What Works
Marketing isnât a volume contest. Itâs not about who posts the most on LinkedIn or who can cram the most buzzwords into a keynote speech. Itâs about who actually moves the needle, builds something lasting, and adapts faster than the competition.
Lizzie Chapman? Sheâs proving that real company culture is built on trust and transparency, not snacks and swag.
Ishveen Jolly? Sheâs showing that the slow, methodical path to success is more sustainable than the âmove fast and break thingsâ nonsense that crashes most startups.
Alexis Hochleutner? Sheâs making it painfully clear that working hard isnât enoughâyou have to be smart, strategic, and well-connected, too.
If youâre still out here thinking success in marketing is about who shouts the loudest, these women have already outmaneuvered you.