Career Path of a Worldwide Public Sector Marketing Leader at Amazon Web Services

I actually did not have any internships in college. I graduated in 2011, which was a little bit of a different time in the world.

I have a degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where I had the pleasure of serving as student body president. As student body president for Associate Students Incorporated, it was a full-time paid position.

This role involved being everything to everyone, from university administration to the city of San Luis Obispo, to the state of California, and even nationwide, as well as, most importantly, my peers. Running a $12 million 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation at that age and stage of my life really propelled and prepared me for the career I have today.

After college, I launched into the PR world. I have a degree in English with a minor in Law and Society. During my collegiate experience, I had a lot of exposure to various Cal Poly alumni in corporate America who are still some of my closest mentors. They really shepherded me into trying out the PR world first.

I started at a global comms tech PR firm, Vache Communications, which was later acquired by Porter Novelli. My focus was on B2B Tech, based in Silicon Valley. I have been in the valley for my entire career and have always held global roles, which allows me to travel the world.

After being agency-side for three years, I went in-house and was the first PR manager for an ad tech company in Silicon Valley. From there, I was actually poached by IBM, where I spent six years. I led a variety of global communications and PR initiatives for them.

In 2019, I made a pivot into marketing. I oversaw the largest tech-for-good initiative of its kind, Call for Code, for our global ecosystem marketing. I eventually became Chief Marketing Officer for that.

After my tenure at IBM, I came over to Amazon Web Services, where I continue to lead various components of worldwide public sector marketing. Currently, I'm focused on the federal space, specifically senior-level executive engagements and thought leadership content from a fed-wide perspective, and sometimes even a pan-worldwide public sector view.

I also launched "AWS Behind the Cloud," a vodcast that has garnered 84 million views. It's exciting every day and a fun adventure.

All the different threads intertwine, largely based and embedded around communications, marketing, PR skills, and strategic partnerships. Since I also focused on strategic partnerships at IBM, I was able to round myself out, which has continuously served me well.