For our “Meet the Team” blog series, we interview Scratch Marketing + Media employees to show our dynamic culture we experience everyday.
Today, part of the marketing team, Susan Oblak, opens up about how she found marketing and why Scratch is the best place to work.
Susan is a marketing and strategy consultant for Scratch Marketing + Media. She graduated from Villanova University with a Bachelor’s degree in economics in 1992 and received her M.B.A. from Boston University in 1999. Over the past three years, Susan has leveraged her extensive experience working in startups and large enterprises to help Scratch’s clients building their marketing programs in emerging markets.
How did you choose marketing as a profession?
I didn’t really choose marketing as a profession, my career just evolved into it. I actually started my career working as a business analyst and programmer at Accenture, which now seems comical since half the time I cannot figure out how work my own devices properly!
I left Accenture and went Epsilon Data Management, where I managed accounts that were focused on leveraging data for marketing purposes. And that role at Epsilon was the springboard to one of my favorite career stops and the start of my marketing career – Tessera Enterprise Systems. Tessera was a start-up and I was employee No. 12. It was founded by former Epsilon executives to leverage high performance computing technology for marketing, CRM, and analytics. It was the beginning of the Age of the Customer and it was tremendous fun to be part of the evolution of marketing. We worked with global enterprises implementing cutting-edge marketing technology and solutions.
My colleagues at Tessera were smart, fun, and incredibly hardworking. We learned foundational skills that would carry us for the remainder of our careers, and for me that was marketing. During my time at Tessera, I progressed from a project manager, to a project director, and eventually became the Director of Marketing. I utilized the skills I had learned while obtaining my M.B.A., along with my real-world experience working with global marketing leaders, to market Tessera. And that is my marketing story.
What is the best part about working in marketing?
The people drawn to it are creative, thoughtful, insightful, analytical, and fun. I find whether its my colleagues or the client, marketing people are generally collaborative and engaging, which is helpful given the demands of the job. It’s emerged as one of the most important disciplines in a company and treated as an equal partner at the executive level, which underscores its impact on the business.
What’s your favorite part about Scratch?
The diversity of our clients. Currently, I’m working with an innovation company, a generative design company, a testing and certification company, a data center colocation operator, and an advanced materials manufacturer. While all vastly different, there are similarities in what they are trying to achieve and the challenges they face in the market. Constantly learning new things keeps me interested and engaged.
What have you learned from working at Scratch?
Adaptability. Our clients’ businesses and their needs are constantly shifting. Our role in supporting them evolves with those shifts, and our marketing team needs to be able to adapt quickly to meet their needs.
I also learned that I prefer Vietnamese food to Sushi.
When you’re not working at Scratch, what are you doing?
Usually watching my kids play sports – hockey, soccer, basketball, baseball. There’s almost always a sporting event going on between them and I watch as many games as I can. Spending time with them is my favorite thing to do when I’m not working. I’m also passionate about my pizza. I love a really good pizza.
