Tony Winslow's Linkedin Analytics

2005, my first job at McDonald's, starting an 8-year stint in restaurants teaching me customer service, efficiency, empathy, and hard work. 2008, college. I wanted to "help people," so I tried nursing school. Long story short, not for me. I switched to marketing mostly because it wasn't math, science, or blood-related. 2011 brought my first marketing lightning strike. My professor is Czech, and the accent alone was a joy; plus, he brought us Nutella. Dr. Raska taught us "mindful marketing" and brand purpose and empowered us to use marketing to help solve global and cultural issues and change the world. 2013, I started in sales at Cengage, expecting to spend a year gaining experience. 4 years later, I hit my goal multiple times and was awarded the Circle of Excellence 2 years in a row. 2017, promoted to Product Specialist sitting in the marketing org. I worked on messaging, created tools, and trained sales through live training, fun videos, and Zoom calls. But I didn't feel like a "marketer." I convinced myself that I wasn't because I wasn't doing what I thought marketers did or what I went to school for. 2018, I pursued an MS in Marketing. My brothers both had their master's, and maybe getting an extra credential would open me up to more opportunities to be a marketer. 2020 was crazy. COVID, full-time school + job, my second child was born. I even finished a final paper in the hospital. But 2020 brought two more lightning strikes. My Brand Strategy course was about how brands must lead with purpose and authenticity. It ignited the passion I felt in 2011, and I became convinced that driving purpose in organizations is what I was meant to do. Fall 2020, final semester. I still didn't feel like a marketer. I had applied many times to be Marketing Manager and was told no. But, mid-semester, my professor told me something that changed my life. He said, "You know when you become a marketer? When you decide you are a marketer." Who cares if I didn't have a specific title? This mindset turned me into a lifelong marketing student and convinced me that I could create new opportunities for myself. I became a marketer. 2021, pink slip. At this point, I had applied eight times to be a Marketing Manager at Cengage. 2 weeks to get hired, or I was jobless. There were three open MM roles. I was denied two, then lucky (God ordained, I should say) number 11 came. 2022, MM for Cengage. I left Cengage in October of that year to work for a small B2B Marketing Agency.