Brianna Doe

I share tips & stories about job hunting, leadership, and marketing yourself | Demand Gen @ Aion | Creator of This Could've Been an Email

According to my mom, I started writing stories at age 3. Picked up a pencil and never put it down, which explains the book, the business, and my obsession with Google Docs.

Today, I’m the founder of Verbatim, a boutique agency helping brands grow through high-impact influencer marketing, fractional operations, and speaker scouting. We’re also ranked the #1 influencer agency in Phoenix by Influencer Marketing Hub — which is exciting and now lives proudly in my email signature.

I help brands stop blending in, and I help creative professionals &amp; entrepreneurs build careers that align with the life they actually want.

The tl;dr:
↳ Bestselling author of The Unapologetic Professional
↳ Keynote speaker, advisor, and marketer
↳ Helping people rethink work without burning it all down
↳ Host of Stop the Scroll, co-creator of Let Her Cook 🌮👀 

As seen in/at: HubSpot, Harvard, Fast Company, Stanford, CNBC, American Marketing Association, and more.

Outside of work: Big fan of tattoos, cookie-scented candles, and the Oxford comma.

Want to collab or bring me in as a speaker? Send me a note: https://www.briannadoe.com/contact

Director of Demand Generation

Aion is revolutionizing the way businesses manage their finances and fuel growth with our all-in-one modern finance platform. 🚀

People love to say “don't bring politics into work!” As if I could leave my Black womanhood in the parking lot and pick it up after 5 PM. 

I didn't choose to bring politics into my work. Politics showed up in my rates, my resume, my dress code, and my safety. For many of us, our entire careers have been political. 🤷🏽‍♀️ Not by choice, but by design. 

As someone who’s spent years code-switching, trying to blend in, and making myself more palatable, I don’t always get to separate the personal from the professional. Many of us don't get to be “just” entrepreneurs or “just” leaders. We're constantly navigating systems that demand we prove we belong. 

So when someone says “Keep politics out of it,” all I hear is: “Stop making me uncomfortable by reminding me that the system isn’t neutral.”

My work is political because my existence is political. And pretending otherwise isn't professionalism. It's erasure.

Founder & CEO @ Verbatim | In my influencer marketing era and you should be too | Bestselling Author, The Unapologetic Professional | Writer & Host, Stop the Scroll

Everything corporate tried to "fix" about me is now how I make money.

I spent years trying to change the things my managers flagged in performance reviews. I was too quiet. Then I was too direct. I couldn't pick a lane. I didn't speak up enough about my goals. Or I was (gasp!) too bold. 🫠

Honestly, some of the feedback was helpful. I did need to get better at articulating my impact and advocating for myself. But some of it had nothing to do with me. My personality just didn't match the template, or my working style made someone uncomfortable.

The hardest skill I've had to learn is how to tell the difference between "I need to grow" and "I need to go." Those are two very different problems. And confusing them can cost you years and a lot of joy.

But now:

• Too direct → "refreshingly honest"
• Couldn't pick a lane → multipassionate, with multiple income streams
• Too quiet → I listen, observe, and hear what people aren't saying

These weren't flaws. I just hadn't found the right environment yet.

Connecting Startups & Scaleups with Marketers that fuel business growth| Talk to me about Talent Acquisition, Candidate Experience, Market Insight, Job Searching, D&I, Headhunting, Career Progression

I don’t just “send CVs.”
I help founders, CEOs and CMOs hire marketers who actually move the needle and help great marketers land where they can do their best work.

I’ve seen the cost of getting it wrong: wasted spend, stalled growth, burned-out teams.
And the upside of getting it right: pipeline compounding, CAC improving, careers taking off.

I’ll challenge the brief, push back when it’s vague, and fix broken processes.
From CAC payback to PLG and ABM, I speak marketing so you don’t hire a unicorn JD for £35k or a “Head of Everything.”

If you want bums-on-seats, I’m not your person.
If you want the right marketer, right now let’s talk: sinead.willis@propellondon.com | +44 7858 425 481

𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬
I speak to marketers all day, every day from first hires to VPs. 
Most are leaving because they’re underpaid, undervalued, or stuck proving their worth to people who don’t get marketing.

If that’s you, you’re in the right place.
I’ll help you benchmark your value, prep for interviews, and get clear on where you’ll actually thrive, not just survive.

My inbox is open whether you’re actively looking or just need to sense-check your next move.
No fluff. Just honesty and strategy.

𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝗪𝐡𝐨 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐌𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭
I’m not here to sugar-coat the market.
I’m here to say what everyone in marketing is already thinking > out loud.

The overworked “one-person marketing team.”
The £35k “Head of Growth.”
The Marketing Directors that a parachuted in to fix everything that's broken.
The “we want creativity but here’s our template” brief.
The marketers that are sick of hearing, just make us go viral and just put something on LinkedIn.

I write about it all.
Real stories, real data, and the real state of hiring in 2025.
If you want insight without the corporate spin and you care about better work, better leadership, and better marketing, and you also want to laugh along the way, then hit Follow.

Much love x

Sinead Willis

Last week I shared a candidate for a VP Marketing role.⁣ They met him for a first stage at 1pm. ⁣Then they scheduled his second and final stage to take place that same day.
⁣
They called him that afternoon and offered him the role.⁣
He accepted.⁣
He started Monday.⁣
⁣
One day.⁣
Interviews done.⁣
Offer out.⁣
VP Marketing hired.⁣
⁣
There is no reason recruitment can’t look like this.⁣
⁣
No six-week process.⁣
No endless hoops.⁣
⁣
There is genuinely no reason recruitment can’t look like this more often.⁣
⁣
When everyone knows what they’re hiring for,⁣
respects people’s time,⁣
and trusts their judgement,⁣
⁣
hiring moves fast.⁣
⁣
And everyone wins.⁣
⁣
Congratulations Sebastian Gutierrez 😀, excited to see the impact you have Mapal Group!!

Sinead Willis 

The Marketing Recruiter | I help Tech Startups & Scaleups build marketing teams that actually drive growth | Mentor, advocate, ally for my audience.

A Marketing Director said something to me recently "The hardest part of my job isn't the strategy. It's doing the strategy while also defending the need for strategy."

Every single week she's in rooms explaining why marketing isn't just execution. 
Why brand isn't a nice to have. 
Why you can't measure everything in a 30 day window. 
Why cutting the budget in Q1 will hurt the pipeline in Q3.

She's not doing this once.
She's doing it on a loop.
While also trying to actually do her job.
And she's up there with the best marketing leaders I know.

Imagine what you could do if you were able to spend the energy on the work instead of justifying the work.

If your Marketing leader is spending more time defending marketing than doing it
That's not a marketing problem.

That's a leadership alignment problem.
And it will cost you more than you realise.

I spoke to a VP Marketing who just started a new role and she looked a million times happier since I saw her last.⁣⁣ She’d gone from being “bloody miserable”  ( her own words😅) to genuinely happy.⁣⁣ Here is what she said had changed: 
⁣⁣
The dynamic at the top.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
She said sales aren’t dictating.⁣⁣
They’re collaborating.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
She’s not defending marketing.⁣⁣
She’s building with it.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
And if you’ve ever sat in those meetings, you know the difference.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
No subtle power plays.⁣⁣
No performative pipeline pressure.⁣⁣
No being talked over when targets are missed.⁣⁣
No “marketing needs to fix this” energy.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Just shared ownership of the number.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Similar commercial pressure.⁣⁣
Still ambitious targets.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
But the tone she said is completely different.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
In her previous role, she was constantly bracing herself.⁣⁣
Preparing to justify.⁣⁣
Navigating ego.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
In this one, she’s focused on growth.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
That shift from defence to delivery changes everything.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
We don’t talk enough about how much leadership dynamics impact happiness at senior level.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
It’s not always the workload.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
It’s the power balance.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
And when that balance is healthy, you feel it immediately.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
If you’re currently feeling drained in a senior role, ask yourself:⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Is it the job…⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Or is it the dynamic?

There's a type of company that's very easy to spot.
They've had four marketing leaders in five years.

Every time one leaves, the narrative is the same.

"Wasn't the right cultural fit." "just not what we needed at this stage." "We've learned a lot about what we're looking for."

And then they hire again.
Same brief. Same structure. Same dynamic at the top.
And wonder why the outcome keeps repeating.

I've said it before and I'll keep saying it:

If the story always ends the same way, the problem isn't the characters.
It's the script.

No marketing leader however talented can thrive in a system designed to fail.

Before you open the next brief, ask the harder question.
What are we going to do differently this time?

Because if the answer is "find another person"
You already know how this one ends.

It’s amazing how often talent isn’t the issue in marketing.⁣ The environment is.⁣
⁣
Shifting goalposts.⁣
Twelve priorities at once.⁣
No clear north star.⁣
Data used selectively.⁣
Trust withheld.⁣
Budgets cut mid-campaign.
Every idea marked “urgent.”
⁣
Even exceptional marketers struggle there.⁣
⁣
Before you blame the person, look at the conditions.⁣

Have you created an environment where good marketing can actually work?

Because more often than not, it isn’t the talent that’s broken.
It’s the system around them.

I spoke to a CMO last week who’d just stepped into a growth-stage business that was ready to deploy £7M into marketing because leadership believed they were primed to scale. Her audit revealed they were nowhere close. Here's what she found:
⁣⁣
They were still measuring last-click CPA. Not CAC.⁣⁣
𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥.⁣⁣
𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘰 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
No cohort analysis.⁣⁣
𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥, 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘺.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
No clear ARPU.⁣⁣
𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘶𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Majority of the users had never transacted.⁣⁣
𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
A small % of customers were driving the majority of revenue.⁣⁣
𝘈 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
And they were gearing up to scale.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
They weren’t even ready to survive.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐈’𝐥𝐥 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭:⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Investing in senior marketing leadership is not about more campaigns.⁣ It’s about commercial reality.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
It’s about knowing whether growth will multiply profit… or problems.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Too many businesses think they have a growth problem.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
What they actually have is a fundamentals problem.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Throwing £6M at broken foundations doesn’t fix them.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
It exposes them.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Before you scale, you need clarity.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝:⁣⁣
⁣⁣
Who makes you money.⁣⁣
Why they stay.⁣⁣
Why others don’t.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
That level of clarity doesn’t come from a dashboard.⁣⁣
⁣⁣
It comes from experience.

VPs and CMOs are not just hiring for marketing ability right now.⁣ ⁣They’re hiring for communication skills.⁣ It’s one of the biggest differentiators I’m seeing in mid - senior marketing hires.⁣
⁣
Because most marketing leaders have already lived through:⁣
⁣
Shifting goalposts.⁣
Budget cuts mid-quarter.⁣
Board pressure.⁣
Founders with a new “urgent” idea every week.⁣
Being treated like a service desk.
Churn caused by product, labelled a marketing problem.
CFO scrutiny on every pound that can’t be directly attributed.
Pipeline gaps that appear overnight and need fixing “by Friday.”
Brand work deprioritised until growth stalls.
⁣
They know what it takes to navigate that environment.⁣
⁣
And it isn’t just channel expertise.⁣
⁣
It’s the ability to:⁣
⁣
Push back without creating friction.⁣
Translate trade-offs into commercial language.⁣
Explain why something won’t work without sounding defensive.⁣
Manage up.⁣
Hold a line.⁣
Influence laterally.⁣
⁣
The marketers progressing fastest through processes right now aren’t just strong operators.⁣
⁣
They’re strong communicators.⁣
⁣
They know how to say:⁣
⁣
“If we prioritise this, we deprioritise that.”⁣
“If we cut budget here, we extend payback there.”⁣
“If we pivot mid-cycle, we lose learning.”⁣
⁣
And they say it calmly.⁣
⁣
If you’re in marketing and want to progress, invest in this skill.⁣
⁣
Because technical ability gets you in the room.⁣
⁣
Communication keeps you there.⁣
⁣
And often, it’s the only thing standing between being respected as a strategic partner…⁣
⁣
or being treated like a support centre

Is marketing the only function where you’re expected to operate at the next level long before you get the promotion?⁣
⁣
I speak to candidates in this position constantly.⁣ People who are:
⁣
Running bigger budgets⁣
Hiring and managing people⁣
Expanding into new markets⁣
Owning new verticals⁣
Carrying senior-level accountability⁣
Watching their targets 2x, 3x more
⁣
Yet the title and pay never quite catch up.⁣
⁣
And when they finally do?⁣
⁣
It’s 12–18 months after they’ve already been operating there.⁣
⁣
By that point it feels less like a promotion…
 and more like formalising what you’ve been doing for free.
⁣⁣
This isn’t development.⁣
⁣
It’s delay dressed up as opportunity.⁣
⁣
But it's SO short sighted because it seems that so many businesses forget, that 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠.⁣
⁣
Not loudly.⁣
Not dramatically.⁣
Just… updating their CV at 10pm.⁣
⁣
They will leave.⁣
They will get market rate.⁣
And they will join a company that recognised their value from day one.⁣
⁣
And if you’re reading this thinking “this is me”⁣
⁣
There are businesses out there that won’t make you wait to be valued.

I spoke to a VP of Marketing who’d just joined a new business. As soon as he started they asked him to audit the agency.

Everyone suspected the agency wasn’t very good.
No one could explain why.

So he went back to basics.
Spoke to the agency.
Spoke to the internal team.

It wasn’t one-sided.

Paid search was unprofitable.
ROAS was low.
The relationship had turned toxic.

But the bigger issue was organic.

Visibility across search and LLMs had collapsed over 12 months.

The assumption from the agency 
“It’s just AI. Everyone’s seeing this.”

They weren’t.

When he looked properly, the problem was technical.
Bot blocking had been added to the site.
Search engines couldn’t crawl it.

It had been there for a year. No one had spotted it. 

He found it in two weeks.

They fixed it.
They’ve already recovered roughly half the lost visibility.

Why am I sharing this? 

Because serious problems can hide in plain sight.
And the right experience changes outcomes fast.

Many businesses say they can’t afford a senior marketer.

From what I’m seeing, in many cases, they can’t afford not to.

Good judgement prevents expensive mistakes.

And strong marketing leadership tends to pay for itself quickly.

⁣

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