Networking, Confidence, and the Path to Marketing Success

This past week, we had the pleasure of listening to Stephanie Joseph-Flatts. A George Brown College graduate with 16 years of experience in marketing, she presented an insightful talk on how to approach loyalty marketing and career-building. It wasn’t just her knowledge of loyalty marketing strategies that stood out, but also her honest advice about breaking into the marketing field. She provided a clear breakdown of what it takes to be successful with both engaging customers and in starting a career. I found her talk on loyalty marketing eye opening. She emphasized that repeat customers are 130% more valuable so businesses must balance bringing in new customers with keeping existing ones. This got me thinking about brands like PC Optimum and how they reward their customers like me, to keep them engaged beyond their purchases. These initiatives give customers a sense of exclusivity and lasting value, which is exactly what companies need to do to cultivate customer loyalty. Loyalty Mark...

  Ever wondered what it takes to turn personal struggles into an entrepreneurial achievement? When I sat down to listen to Andre Smith’s talk, I wasn’t expecting a story of overnight success—just a real, grounded conversation about combining ethics with innovation. Since, I had some challenges in education as well, I could relate to his path right away.  A Transformative Session The honesty of Andre's story was refreshing. He spoke about the difficulties he encountered and the turning points that led him to quit a stable job and launch Flip & Floss. Andre said, “I remember when I first attempted to go to York University, I didn't get in... I tried to get into the University of Toronto and I didn't get in because I never did a high school calculus.”. I could relate to that honesty because it made me recall my own hardships and the importance of persistence. His openness about his "fear of success" and importance of overcoming self-doubt gave his business...

     A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity of listening to a group of successful alumni from the Strategic Relationship Marketing program at George Brown. Claudia Guillem, a Marketing Manager at The Roundtable, Kate Loskutova, who works with Lexus National Marketing at Toyota, and Arsheen Chopra, Ad Operations Specialist at Cluep. Each of them shared their valuable experiences of transitioning from academia to the workforce. These impressive women have all made strides in their respective careers, and it was inspiring to hear their insights on breaking into the industry.      One key takeaway I had from the conversation was how important the hands-on experience in this program has been in shaping their careers. The co-op placements and practice interviews were two things that were highlighted as crucial for easing the transition from education to employment. It was reassuring to hear that the practical knowledge gained during this program prepared them to ...