Career Path of a Senior Manager Global Strategy at Taco Bell
Kristan's career path began with entry-level jobs, then transitioned to an internship and full-time role at a startup, eventful.com, where "you are forced to wear a million hats," gaining diverse experience in sales, marketing, and product management. After a stint at CBS and an agency focusing on performance marketing, a move to Taco Bell six years ago saw Kristan progress through digital media, broader marketing, analytics, and finally, their current role in marketing strategy, highlighting the value of early startup experience in a corporate setting.
Marketing, Digital Media, Performance Marketing, Strategic Planning, Agency Experience
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Kristan Hannigan
Sr. Manager, Global Strategy
Fast Food Chain Company
University of California, San Diego
MBA from UCLA Anderson
Business Management & Admin
Food, Beverages & Alcohol
Business Strategy
Honors Student
Video Highlights
1. Taking entry-level jobs to gain basic skills and build a resume is a good starting point.
2. Working for a startup provides diverse experiences and allows you to wear many hats, which is valuable in building a career.
3. Consider working at a startup or agency before applying for entry-level positions in large corporations to gain diverse experiences and learn different skills.
4. Starting in an internship role can be a great launching point for a full time position.
Transcript
I'm wondering if we could start off today by learning a little bit about your career path. Could you walk me through your experience in college, any internships, or jobs you had as you've led up to this marketing strategy role?
When I was in college, I had a few entry-level jobs. I worked at a small mom-and-pop pizza place and at the UCC San Diego college gym. I also worked the front desk at my local dance studio, helping with classes.
These were entry-level jobs to gain basic skills and build my resume. My first real-world work experience was as an intern the summer before my senior year. I worked for a startup website called eventful.com.
Working for a startup gave me a lot of experience. I was forced to wear many hats. Although I started as an intern, I was involved in management and sales, and did marketing and product management. You learn a lot by working at a startup.
I was an intern throughout my senior year. After graduation, they offered me a full-time position. I had the opportunity to build out their advertising platform and revenue models. I also started working with brands and clients to get the right products in place for the website. I worked there for about four years.
After eventful, we were bought out by CBS. I tried CBS for a little while, but it wasn't where I wanted my career to go at that time. So, I made the jump over to the agency side.
I worked for CPC Strategy, which is now Tinuiti. It was focused on performance marketing. From the agency side, we partnered with clients and the websites we worked for. We worked a lot with Google, Bing, and Facebook, building performance marketing capabilities for our clients. I also did a lot of analytics behind search and social performance marketing.
Honestly, I kind of fell into my role at Taco Bell. It was a really amazing opportunity at the time. I had a lot of media experience from the partner and agency sides. I started at Taco Bell about six years ago in digital media.
Then I moved into a broader media and customer marketing role, then an analytics role, and now a marketing strategy role. I've had the opportunity to explore a broad range of marketing experience.