From being an intern to being a full-time product marketer at Google and championing roles at some of the world’s top companies like H&M, Bain & Co, and the likes, you’d be right if you said Melissa has had a good run. Truth is she has and she’s not keen on stopping anytime soon. What would any marketer (or anyone really) give to work in companies like Google? What would you give?
On today’s episode of Behind the Scenes, we interviewed Kenyan superstar marketer and founder; Melissa Kariuki, we say this because she is one _Try googling her name and then come back here_
From being the recipient to dishing out immense value, Melissa isn’t just a pretty face and her daring moves solidify that. Beyond BTS, we can say for sure that some of the things you’ll read here will be an eye-opener for you on what goes on in the industry. Read on, and you’ll understand.
P.S: This is not your regular “all-too-serious” toned content. Yes, we’re all about marketing but over here at behind the scenes, we want you to relax while learning a thing or two about your favourite marketers.
PPS: Here’s something else that’s more straight to the point and one you’ll learn a lot from
Top 5 Google Ads Courses For Beginners
Let’s meet Melissa>>>
Hi Melissa
Hiiii
Let’s just say we went through your page and you are very beautiful
Oh thank you so much, I’m flattered (she blushes in everything “blushable”)
(Melissa) Before we get started can I get a feel of what it’s going to be like?
Smart move asking us really, we explained and then got the ball rolling. By the way, this is us letting you know that BTS isn’t tailored to fit into a particular narrative. Your favourite industry experts are as real as they come when they sit on Blurpe’s seat.
(Melissa) Oh okay. Cool… Cool
We’re happy as long as she’s happy 😊
Great, so let’s start with you. Who is Melissa Kariuki? What is your background like?
Okay, so I am an entrepreneur and a marketer and just a lover of adventure in general. My background is a variety of things but mostly marketing and strategy. I’ll leave it there for now.
Okay. You’ve had quite an impressive track record, solid work experiences at Google, H&M, Bain & Co in Tokyo, Japan, and some. Walk us through that, the challenges you faced and how you overcame them.
Melissa: The challenges in terms of marketing or general challenges
Vera from Blurpe: Let’s do both
Okay so with general challenges. I’m not sure if this was much of a challenge as such but I’d say it’s always really important to understand the context within which you are working.
How so?
So having worked in different companies and different countries, the expectations can differ quite a bit and I think that if you don’t take the time to understand that context then your job as a marketer will be very very difficult.
Can you give us an instance?
Okay so an example I’ll give is when I was working for H&M in Berlin, we were tasked with designing their first fashion-tech line and they wanted to launch it in Germany. They brought people from all around the world and we all had different ideas of what could work and also very different styles but one thing that we did was that we spent a full day sitting at the heart of the city in Berlin watching people. The reason we did this was to see what people were wearing, kind of like immersing ourselves in the culture of people in Berlin and how their fashion decisions are affected by their context. And so it was through doing that, that we realized that people in Berlin are generally very very casual
Hmmm
Yeah, people are often, you know, wearing hoodies or shorts, sneakers because they tend to walk a lot. This made us sway away from our ideas that were previously high fashion, a bit more glamorous and try to look for more relevant ideas.
So that’s an example of where to do your job, you have to have a very deep understanding of the context.
Great work really. You have travelled quite a lot. Were there culture shocks?
Personally, I haven’t experienced any culture shock, but maybe it’s because I started travelling at quite a young age. I left my home country when I was five. I lived in Argentina before I moved to South Africa, so I have never really experienced culture shock. I think I’m quite open-minded.
But I have most definitely struggled with language barriers. I remember one instance where a shop assistant was shouting at my friend and me, I just literally had no idea what she was saying. So maybe that could be one.
That must have been hilarious.
At the time, no. Now, yes (lol). That one I could say was maybe a little bit of a culture shock because I would never expect a shop assistant to shout but really the language barrier was a huge struggle for me.
I can imagine the confusion, sorry about that. How many languages can you speak?
I like to say 2 and a half
Why the half?
The half is Spanish because I’m still learning. I’m still intermediate in Spanish so that’s why I put it at a half. I spent some time in language school in Spain which really helped me get to the half point but I’m still not fluent. The other languages are Swahili and English.
Cool stuff… Cool stuff. For someone who has achieved so much, you seem to like a lowkey lifestyle, especially because the industry you work in can be very PR-focused.
I think it’s more of a combination of always looking forward, and so in my mind, I’m not like “Wow, I’ve achieved so much… I’m so great”. That’s not really a thought that crosses my mind very often. I’m mostly just thinking about what I’m going to do next and how I can get closer to my goals and so I think because of that, I post on my Instagram but I don’t post that much often. That is just because when I think of my priorities in a day, Instagram and the likes just seem to fall lower. It is something I’d like to do more often but I haven’t quite gotten to that point yet.
What was it like being the only African woman out of 120 interns at Google?
So at first, I didn’t know that was the case. When I first got my internship acceptance mail, I was just really excited. I was looking forward to living out the movie “The Intern” which made Google internships look so fun. And so when I got there, during orientation I started to talk to everyone and slowly I realized “Where are the other people like me?”. That was when it hit me.
How did that feel?
It was a bittersweet moment, I distinctly remember having a diversity session during the orientation and they were talking about people of colour and Africans. I remember people turning to look at me, waiting for me to comment, to ask a question. It was uncomfortable.
But you said bittersweet…
I say it’s bittersweet because it’s not great to feel like you’re a minority of people, like you are not represented. I never let it get into my head though, I don’t ever want to behave like I’m a minority or a victim.
I had the most fun during that internship. I was elected as the head of the Intern Social Committee and being an intern is a lot about social events, so I was the one organizing all our events. I organized a huge party and interviewed the head of Google EMEA for the interns. I did a lot of very, very cool stuffs.
You went on to work as a full-time marketer at Google, yes?
Yes, as a product marketer.
Take us through that. You must have come up with a lot of campaigns, and strategies. What did the BTS (Behind the Scenes) look like? How did you strategize and bring the ideas to life?
Right, so understanding context is very important. I put in the effort to understand how things were already being done, how products were already being marketed, and what campaigns had been done in the past so I could understand the context of the way that Google Sub-Saharan Africa markets itself.
And then I would also make an effort to understand customers of different products that I was in charge of, so I could understand what appealed to them, what was working well for them, and where the gaps were. And so throughout my role, it was a combination of continuous research, even if I wasn’t doing research, staying on top of the findings of the research, and doing that alongside running different campaigns to ensure that the campaigns were always informed by product insights.
And Ideation?
In terms of what it looked like, the ideation process looked different. For every product or campaign pre-covid, there was a lot of focus on “in person” as much as possible. And after covid, we just had to do everything online, of course. So I would spend a lot of time, you know, thinking and forming a strategy, go out and test it and then see what’s working and what’s not. Try again and make some alterations. That’s how it looked.
That screams “Data is King” and a lot of reiteration. Leaving your job at Google after one and a half years, that’s not something a lot of people would do. Most would hold on tight while shouting “I’m not leaving… I’m not leaving”. Why did you leave and how did it go for you?
(She laughs so heartily at this) I mean, I think for me I always knew that I would leave before I even started so it was never a question of if I was going to leave but what would be the right time and the right circumstance
(Cue in the sound of a jingle… yes this is an Ad but it is for your own good)
Kindly note that Google as a company is heavy on Data, as mentioned by Melissa, an Ex-Product Marketer at Google. You can see from reading this that we did not arrive at this conclusion ourselves. If you are a founder or marketer reading this, kindly invest in Growth Marketing tools.
This is a good place to start from. Click it, read it, and do the needful. Thank you.
Oh
Yeah. One of my mentors told me that I could apply for a master’s programme and that that particular one was so great and it would be life-changing. He mentioned that he had done it and he loved it and that I really needed to do it. He had been telling me for so long honestly and so finally I was like, well let me apply. The whole time I was applying I was like, I don’t know if I’m going to do this programme, if I’m going to get in because it was supposed to be a super competitive full scholarship program.
I received a phone call that I had been accepted to my master’s program and I just knew during that phone call that I was definitely going to do it.
Of course! It’s you. There’s no way you were not getting in.
Hahaha. My masters program was a full-time one and a full scholarship so it was a requirement that i quit my job, give it my full attention, and move to China.
Wow.
Yeah, it ended up feeling like the perfect time for me to leave Google and I had had a really good run. Covid had hit during my time at Google which had given me a whole bunch of opportunities. I had gotten great speaking opportunities where I would speak alongside the CEO of Mastercard or the Head of Executive at Standard Bank. I got to represent Google in some really great spaces, try out a lot of my ideas, lead diversity initiatives… I just got to do so much, launch a bunch of products in Sub-Saharan Africa and I just really felt like “You know what, this has been great and I am ready to try something new.
You definitely had a kick out of that one. If you don’t mind us asking, how old are you?
I’m 27.
You look 16
(Melissa laughs at this compliment.)
Has age ever been a limiting factor for you?
Not that I know of. I’ve had instances where I have noticed that I am the youngest person in a room, especially as a founder
Yes, your founder’s journey. Let’s talk about Whip Africa. What made you venture into starting the company and what solution is Whip Africa offering?
I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur. I’ve always felt like it was my calling, something that I really really wanted to do, so it was a question of “when” not “if”. And yeah throughout my time in the university, I felt myself drawn to the art space. I led the art departments at my faculty in my university, basically, the art club that had the dance club, music club, and all other art-related clubs underneath it.
Pretty cool stuff.
Yeah, I was constantly interacting with artists, I used to organize art festivals, fashion shows, and all sorts of things really. I remember watching so many talented artists try to pursue their art as their full-time career and struggle with that. I found myself wondering why. You know? Like why it was so difficult for them to make it. Along the line, some of my friends and I decided to manage an artist that we thought was very talented or the most talented in our university, so we managed her for some time and then we realized “Oh my goodness, this is so difficult”.
An eye-opener that must have been
You know? She had such a beautiful voice but it was still so difficult to just get her music out there and grow her fan base beyond just her friends, family, and immediate network. With that kind of problem brewing in my mind, I went on to start Whip Music Africa and our mission is to help artists get their music heard. We pride ourselves on using technology to make music distribution and marketing accessible to both upcoming and established artists.
That’s beautiful work. I don’t know if you’ve heard of the Naira Marley and Mobhad situation in Nigeria. It just seems like an artist can be talented but not a lot of thought goes into management and the business side of things.
Yeah, I am aware of what’s happening. Very sad really and this is something that a lot of artists struggle with. They get exploited. Crazy things are happening to artists who are just trying to share their talents with the world.
So Whip Africa got selected alongside 15 other startups in Africa for Google for Startups Accelerator. That was mind-blowing. What would you say you did right to achieve that feat?
I always say the most important step to achieving anything is knowing what you want. A big signal that indicated it was time to leave my job at Google was when they had selected Google for Startups Cohort. I think it must have been the 2020 cohort.
They had sent out an email to all staffs in Africa asking if we were interested in signing up to be a mentor for the program.
I remember really looking at the email and just feeling like I was on the wrong side.
Hmmm
I didn’t want to sign up as a mentor because I wanted to be the startup that had been selected, not the mentor mentoring the startup.
Great! The music industry is booming and has gone global with A-list stars like Wizkid, Burnaboy, Rema, Davido, to mention a few. How do you handle the expectations of artists from your company?
Lol, honestly it’s crazy! An artist will pay for one promotion and be like “Why am I not famous after spending $10?”
$10 😂
Like, why? And so we try to be very clear. I don’t know if you noticed but I’m a numbers person and very data-driven naturally and so what we have done is make over 100 services available for artists. We have a pick-off-the-shelf model. I make it clear that we are not an agency, we are not a label, we are not a talent manager. We are a marketplace for music services, so artists can come on our web app and select the services they want. So yeah, we do our best to set very clear expectations for each service, estimating to our clients the amount of reach they would get based on the services they go for.
That’s pretty much as clear as crystals. It’s like a customizable plan and making it decentralized. They have the power to customize and curate how the marketing goes.
Exactly! Exactly!
Back to you, what is it like as a woman in the business and marketing side of the music industry? How has your personal experience been?
It can feel like women are just a speck to be honest, that’s how I’ve felt with most of my professional career. I’m used to being in places where I’m either the only woman or the only black woman. What I always like to do is not frame it in my mind as a disadvantage but try to see how it can be an advantage for me. I try my best not to victimize myself and to work with what I have available.
Tell us your worst experience as a woman in the marketing industry or as a founder and how you navigated that.
Hmmm let me think for a moment.
(A few moments later)
Okay, so I think my worst experience as a female marketer has been experiencing men that I work with trying to be inappropriate with me and not knowing exactly how to handle it.
Any instance?
I’ve had an instance where I was in a meeting in an office, in the meeting room with a colleague and he was trying to ask me to go out for drinks. I politely declined and he kept on insisting and when I tried to leave the meeting room, he blocked the door and wouldn’t let me leave.
What?!?
I felt very unsafe. It’s all fun and games until you feel like your safety is at risk so yeah that’s a low light. I did end up reporting the incident and the person was dealt with. That was a low light, feeling unsafe or men you’re trying to do business with, hitting on you or objectifying you and not seeing your value beyond your appearance. So that can be very difficult to navigate.
We were going to ask if the person was handled and you already answered that. That’s such a huge relief.
Yeah, they were handled and I made sure of it. When I was speaking to some of my female friends about the incident, they said something along the lines of if something like that happened to them, they wouldn’t have reported it and that worse things had happened to them and they didn’t report it.
That’s a lot to be honest. Sadly, it’s a reality for women…
For me, I always just feel like it’s really really important for us as women to speak up when these things happen. In the early stages for me, I have always been the “Let me speak up when I’m being locked in a room” woman and not wait for it to progress or get bad enough for me to report it
I just really believe in nipping it in the bud. When that incident came up, one of my other colleagues also shared that that person had been inappropriate to them as well. So for me, I always just tell myself, you know what, even if I’m not reporting for myself, let me report it for the people that that person has harassed before and the people that they plan to harass in the future.
There was complete admiration in our eyes for this brave woman.
The fact that I reported it, affected that person’s career progression because he wasn’t allowed to get promoted and had to go through a series of training sessions. it is permanently on their record with the company and so for me, it’s just like they’ll definitely think twice before they do that to any other woman and that is okay with me.
I also spoke about it on my Instagram stories because I think that it’s important for women to speak about these things that are happening, there’s no manual on how to deal with it. When you’re young and going into these industries you think that what’s important is how smart you are or how hard you work and then you realize that there’s like a whole other game that is being played, that you were not made aware of.
Wow. Saying we’re speechless is a gross understatement. Sorry about that experience.
I’ve also had instances where I have been selected for opportunities amidst my male colleagues and on one of such occasions, a male colleague made a comment about me not being deserving of the opportunity and that the person who gave it, had ulterior motives or was just interested in me romantically. So yeah those are my two worst moments.
First, thank you for being a voice for women. It was a really brave thing to do, not cowering in fear and just keeping quiet.
Away from that, people say the founder’s journey can be rough, but we also have some founders earning roughly between $15,000- $50,000. Which side of the story are you on as the founder of a Google-backed company?
(She laughs out loud) Right, I mean, like I always say, I like to enjoy my life. I don’t believe in glorifying struggle. There’s no award for struggling the most. There’s no medal so I don’t think It’s something we should aspire to. And so for me, I always try my best to balance working hard, showing results and enjoying life.
If there was anything you could make happen right now, what would it be?
It would be for more Black-women-owned businesses to get financial support. The reason being, I think there are a lot of free programs out there where they train women of colour, programs targeted at Black women and founders and so we have over-trained Black women entrepreneurs who are underfunded
Great! Any advice for anyone looking to achieve some of the things you have?
Sure! Step One is to figure out what you want. You can’t achieve a goal you haven’t set. Once you’ve done that, I would say, focus on any issues with your confidence, focus on the way you show it because energy is really important. If you show up with an energy that shows that you don’t believe you are worthy of something, nobody is going to try to convince you or hand you any opportunity that you don’t seem to believe you’re worthy of.
The third thing is to really do the work, I think a lot of the time, we are the ones standing in our own way. People make jokes about procrastination and being busy but sometimes it’s just symptoms hiding the real reason they’re not getting stuff done. So figure out what is stopping you from doing the thing you need to do and then do it! Don’t be that person who is just online, looking at people getting all the opportunities and awards.
In summary, know what you want, show up with confidence and passion, and then do the work.
That was really great advice! And this was a delightful and interesting conversation.
I enjoyed talking to you Vera and I love the work Blurpe is doing. I’m rooting for you guys.
Absolutely insightful, encouraging and uplifting. Although, I’m not in the marketing space (yet), I have gained a lot just as a young black woman with globally related goals.