Head of Content @ LASSO | Co-host of That's Marketing, Baby | Delivering daily cheat codes for small content teams

I'm a creative director turned content marketer and strategist with more than 20 years of experience conceptualizing and executing breakthrough work for B2C brands like Eggo, Rice Krispies, Blue Cross, Cottonelle, and McDonald’s, and B2B brands like Fastly and Island.

I have a knack for leading cross-functional teams toward a common goal, bringing order to the oft-chaotic creative process, crafting insight-driven global campaigns, and bringing stories to life via long- and short-form content.

Jess Cook

I've worked with a lot of talented people over the years.
 
But every once in a while, you meet someone who just 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘵 in every way that matters.
 
Annalisa Rodriguez is one of those people.

I had the privilege of working with her for a short time at Fastly.
 
And this week, she joined Vector 👻 as our Sr. Content Marketer Manager — a sentence that makes me so happy I could cry.
 
Annalisa has a journalism background that shows in everything she touches. Long-form, repurposing, content design... she's equally amazing at all of it.
 
But what makes her truly special is her ability to take the things people 𝘴𝘢𝘺, turn them into content that makes readers 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭, and connect it all to results when buyers 𝘢𝘤𝘵.

(Read: not a common skill.)

Bonus: she's already vibing with us in Slack, and keeping our cat-loving hearts fed with pics and videos of her kitties, Oreo and Darkness. 😻
 
With Annalisa on the squad, we now have four marketers at Vector. And for the first time, a real three-legged stool:
 
→ Product marketing 
→ Demand gen 
→ Content

(i.e. I feel like I just collected ALL OF THE POKEMON.)

Annalisa's going to be sharing how she builds content here at Vector. You'll want a front-row seat for that, so go give her a follow.

Then stand back, 'cause sparks are 'bout to fly, y'all.

"We need an explainer video," is one of the most exciting and anxiety-inducing things a marketer can hear.

They can take forever.
They can be expensive.
They usually require buy-in from everyone and their mother.
And, because of all of the above, they need to last a while.

BUT, if you get it right, the payoff can be massive.

Because a great explainer video doesn't just educate—it gets people excited: 
"Oh my gosh, this is a different way of doing things. I want to try it." 
"They're fixing that thing that's driven me insane!"
"That was cool. I want to see more from these people." 

And if you're building something category-defining, like we are at Vector 👻, they're 10,000% worth the effort.

HUGE shout out to João Freitas and his team at MezzoLab Studio, for not only being the brilliant minds behind the video, but also making the process FUN.

Just back from an incredible week at Above the Fold where I ran six content workshops over two days. I have but three pieces of photo evidence I was even there.

1) Schnitzel dinner with my ride or die agency guy, Justin Dunham. We've had two Zoom calls a week for nearly 5 years straight and had yet to meet in person. It was worth the wait. (For both the hang and the schnitzel.)

2) Got to meet my buddy from across the pond, Luke Winter - the man, the myth, the legend behind our "Next best way" ads. We talked shop (obvi), and concerts, and about what we do when we're not at our desks. His hair is just as fab in real life.

3) My parents were also flying out of Detroit at the same time as me - something we only realized a few days before. So we met up for an early bird special before boarding. They paid, of course, because I'm only 42. 🥰

So glad I went. So glad to be home. So ready for this damn snow to melt.

I have a rule I live by in marketing: Test small before executing big.

It's why I ran an influencer pilot before making it a full program.
Tested new messaging in ads before our repositioning launch.
And why I'm so excited about what we're announcing today...

Vector 👻 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁-𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘆 𝗔𝗱𝘀. 🎉 

Here's the metaphor that's been living in my head for this:

Clay is the proving ground. 🏁
It's where GTM teams experiment with signals, build enrichment workflows, test what actually predicts buying behavior, and figure out which audiences are worth activating.

Vector is the Autobahn. 🚗
Once you know what works? You open it up. Contact-level targeting, live audience updates, suppression logic that actually follows your buyers—running modern ads playbooks at full speed.

This isn't hypothetical for us.

It's exactly how Kelly and Sara have been building Vector’s ads program.

• Kelly uses Vector to identify accounts and contacts signaling intent. 
• Sara uses Clay to enrich and score those ICP contacts. 
• Then, they use Vector to activate those contacts across LinkedIn and Google, keeping our paid targeting aligned to real buyer signals as they move through the funnel.

When your team’s already living the use case, you know you're onto something.

Grab some time to see it in action: https://lnkd.in/eugn7rJh

I love a good Uno reverse. 

Especially when it's aimed at Joshua Perk 👻.

In the season two finale (!!!) of This Meeting Could've Been a Podcast, Josh and I take you through our entire website redesign process: from the awkward "you literally told me no when I suggested this six months ago" conversation (haha), to how we worked with our design agency to build the new look and feel, to the 37-item launch checklist 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 (Josh) did not see coming.

But one of my favorite takeaways from the entire project goes a little something like this...

The second someone lands on your site, they start to form an opinion about your product. 𝗔𝗻 𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺.
 
They assume the same level of polish and thought put into your website go into your product, too.
😒 If the design feels dated, they assume the product UI is clunky.
😒 If product screen shots feel too mocked up, they assume the product isn't robust enough.
😒 If it's hard to figure out what you do, they assume the product is just as convoluted.

A lot of teams either go full nuclear on a redesign and lose everything distinctive about their brand, or they're so precious about what they have that the "redesign" is just a fresh coat of paint on the same old house.
 
So when Josh and I sat down to figure out what to actually change, we built three buckets.
 
𝗕𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝟭: 𝗞𝗲𝗲𝗽. These are the things that make you you. The stuff your audience would immediately recognize and miss if it disappeared. You don't want to lose them—you want to evolve them. Same personality, better haircut. For us: Ghostie, bright colors, bold statements with a wink.
 
𝗕𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝟮: 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝘂𝗽. These are the things that aren't bad, exactly—they're just limiting. They paint you into a corner or kill your flexibility, even if people associate them with your brand. For us: super saturated color usage that made text basically impossible to read.
 
𝗕𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 𝟯: 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲. These are the things actively working against you. They're building a perception you don't want—making you look smaller or less sophisticated than you actually are. No sentimentality. They gotta go. For us: all-caps headlines and ghost visuals in spots that should have had actual product screenshots.

The reason I love this framework is it gives you permission to make bold changes while protecting the things that actually matter. Before we kicked off the project with our design agency, Josh and I literally listed out which parts of our brand fell into which bucket. It made every every design decision after that so much cleaner. 🤌

The FULL second season of is out now! Just search This Meeting Could've Been a Podcast.

If you've ever wondered...


what the inside of Vector actually looks like, how it works, and what this whole contact-level advertising thing is all about...

then Thursday, March 5 is your lucky day. 

In our first-ever Booooo-t Camp, our mother of Customer Solutions, Ally Saylor will show you the three most impactful plays you can run inside of Vector 👻.

1. Visualize who visits your site from target accounts 
2. See which ICP clicks on your paid ads
3. Create an ad audience of your entire ICP

Be sure to hydrate. 'Cause your campaigns are 'bout to get SHREDDED: https://lnkd.in/ehJJQcbN

Look at this stone-cold pack of weirdos. 🖤
 

These are your speakers for 𝗕𝟮𝗕 𝗔𝗱𝘀: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗡𝗼𝘄 — a free live session I'm co-hosting with Exit Five and Dave Gerhardt on March 13th.
 
And they're not here to talk theory.
 
Each one is walking through 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 what they're running right now (with actual examples! and real numbers!):
 
→ The channels
→ How they're building audiences 
→ Winning creatives
→ Landing pages and offers
→ Real budget allocation
→ Real results

Free for everyone — Exit Five member or not. Can't make it live? Register anyway and we'll send you the recording.
 
March 13th. 12pm ET. See you there?
https://lnkd.in/g-ye29dW

Helping B Corps turn their subscribers into their biggest F.A.N.s | Ethical email marketing strategist | Pasta person | Nomad, currently: Vietnam

Your email list is a goldmine, but somehow, your subscribers aren't converting as well and as consistently as you hoped.

Most mission-driven B2B and eCommerce brands know email marketing could be a game-changer, but they're stuck copying "best practices" that treat people like walking wallets – tactics that feel completely misaligned with your brand's values.

Your team is stretched thin, stumbling through campaigns without strategic understanding. You can't confidently show stakeholders how email contributes to revenue because you're tracking opens and clicks instead of revenue attribution.

Here's what's actually possible: systematic email marketing that respects your audience while generating six-figure results. 

After helping brands generate $203K from a previously neglected list in less than two months, and increase event sales by 39.65% with one simple email strategy, the pattern is clear – 

You don't have to choose between authentic relationships and revenue.

The missing piece? 

Someone with deep email expertise who can step into your business and take strategic ownership of this channel while understanding that mission-driven brands need different approaches.

Your email marketing doesn't have to feel pushy or compromise your values. 

When you have the right strategic foundation, your existing audience can transform into a consistent source of qualified prospects who are genuinely excited for sales conversations, or repeat customers eager to use your products.

If you are ready to turn your email marketing into a revenue-generating asset that actually aligns with your mission - send me a message. I'd love to connect.

Yuval Ackerman

The third Thursday of each month is my absolute favorite day.

Because that's when I host both of my roundtables: one for founders/CEOs/CMOs of good-doing B2Bs, and one for email marketers (strategists, consultants, and in-house folks).

It's been such a pleasure hosting those yesterday and hanging out with amazing women in both rooms, that I did something I rarely do -

I actually took a screenshot (with everyone's permission!) of how much fun we've had.

If you've been looking for a space to connect with your peers and share your insights about doing email marketing ethically, my free monthly roundtables are the place for you.

My subscribers get invites first (and directly to their inbox, so you can always see when the next one is happening, instead of relying on LinkedIn's sh*tty algorithms): https://lnkd.in/gdWFfPDB

Elise Allyn Katie Smith Liz Rubin Nancy Zare Ph.D. Emily Stifler Wolfe Kim Allchurch-Flick MIM MBA Catrina Mitchum-Phd Krystal Ivy Alison Ver Halen Sarah McLaurin Sharon Zimmerman (she/her)

Helping CMOs find the 6-figure revenue in their email lists | Ethical email strategist & consultant for B2B and eCommerce B Corps, 1% for the Planet & good-doing brands | International speaker | Pasta fan🍝

Earlier this month, I gave the opening keynote at the Madeira Startup Retreat.

Mid-talk, I asked the room a question: "Who here, in 2026 so far, has had a chat with a chatbot on a website?"

Almost every hand went up.

Then I asked: "And how many of you ended up asking to speak to a human?"

Most hands stayed up.

When a room full of people building technology can't get through a chatbot without wanting a human on the other end – that's not a technology problem. 

That's a trust problem. 

And it's most apparent in your subscribers' inboxes right now. And the most ironic thing is, most business leaders have no idea how to solve it. 

That's where I come in.

If you're organizing an event for CEOs, CMOs, marketing leaders, or senior teams at purpose-driven B2B companies, here are 5 talks I can bring to your stage:

• You have an email marketing problem. The problem isn't your emails.

• AI won't take over your email marketing. Your subscribers are already responding to it anyway – and not in the way you think.

• Your values, impact, and sustainability pages and your emails are contradicting each other – and it's costing you more than you know.

• The email playbook most B2B companies are following was built for eCommerce. Here's why it hasn't worked – and why in 2026, it's actively working against you.

• Your email list is one of your most valuable business assets. Most B2B companies have no idea how to treat it like one.

If any of these sound like the conversation your audience needs to have, send me a DM and let's talk.

The line I won’t cross:

Companies that grew their lists without subscribers’ permission.

Email lists built with no permission and no consent aren’t just unethical,  they’re terrible for business.

Spam complaints tank domain reputation.

Domain reputation impacts deliverability.

And when deliverability drops, even the people who want your emails won’t see them.

Let’s be very clear about something -

This isn’t me getting on my high horse and telling anyone how to run their business.

I’m also well aware of how privileged I am to be in a position to decline any projects for being misaligned with my values, when so many great businesses are barely scraping by and might have to take on such projects just to keep the lights on.

But when it comes to Ethical Emails, that’s a red line that I can’t imagine crossing. 

To me, that’s being a part of the solution in an industry that’s still SO full of problems.

I’m beyond lucky, because it's so much easier to keep those boundaries when I’m surrounded by and working with businesses that actually give a damn.

Those businesses are not just talking about their values, but documenting and sharing them too to keep themselves accountable.

In early 2025, I published a similar page on my website (it’s been long overdue!) - EE’s manifesto, values, and impact. 

Beyond this line, you’ll find what Ethical Emails stands for, the challenges it aims to solve, and the donation pledge that became a part of my business’s DNA. 

Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/gdDRG_B3

Hiking taught me three things:

1. Always hike with good shoes.
2. Different countries define “easy” hikes VERY differently
3. Stop comparing kiwis to bananas.

Here’s what I mean:

When clients tell me, “We’ve been sending emails for months but not seeing results,” one of the things I ask is how frequently they’re sending emails.

Usually, it’s once a month. In some other cases, once a quarter.

And yet they compare themselves to brands sending twice a week who have full strategies, segmentation, and years of data and insights behind them.

It’s like comparing your weekend stroll to a mountaineer’s summit time.

Different effort. Different terrain. Different outcomes.

Email success doesn’t happen because you sent something. It happens because you built something intentionally and strategically, over time.

So before you get discouraged, zoom out.

Look at what you’re really doing and how consistent you’ve been.

And if you realize it’s time to level up, get expert help. It’s the fastest shortcut that still keeps your values intact and actually finds the hidden ROI in your email list.

If you believe that expert is me, I’d love to help you out. Let’s have a chat: https://lnkd.in/gUTyunWE

Ready to have a new favorite day of the month?

The third Thursday of every month is when a bunch of good-doing marketers get on our soapbox and spend an hour together. 

If you’ve been looking for a place to get real about what you’re experiencing as a marketer (especially if you have an affinity for email!), do join us on March 19th. 

I mean, look how much fun we’ve had in the previous one! 

I’d love you to join this upcoming monthly “marketers’ soapbox hour” - you can save your seat here: https://lnkd.in/ev5s8BvK

Tooting my own horn doesn't come naturally to me, but...

Working with me means that, yes, we'll build your strategic email ecosystem. AND that your entire business will mature accordingly. The ROI from that goes way beyond just email marketing.

Oh, btw, if you're not on my email list, you're seriously missing out - just sayin' (ethicalemails.co/subscribe - you can fix that here!).

P.S. A big shout-out to my former client, Chayelle, who consented to have this reply shared, and for always being in my corner.

Most companies think more emails = more sales.

Wrong!

My client had a small list of 800 subscribers.

They wanted to sell tickets for their annual event, so naturally, they planned to continue emailing everyone until the day before the event

That’s where I stepped in.

We segmented the 17% of ticket purchasers, AKA those who already “converted”.

Then, instead of sending “don’t miss out!” emails, we sent 3 short, personal messages from the CEO.

Each email followed our new playbook:

• Recognized the people who had already bought tickets
• Invited them to forward the message to friends
• Offered a genuine, values-aligned incentive

No countdown timers. No fake urgency.

And the results… Check the carousel below

Want your list to do more with less? Let’s talk. https://lnkd.in/gUTyunWE

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The Battle

Jess Cook

Yuval Ackerman

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taplio

The Battle

Jess Cook

Yuval Ackerman

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Jess Cook's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreJess Cook's LinkedIn Performance