We were lucky to catch up with Emily Rosenblum recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Emily thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?
Of course, and thank you for sharing my story! Like many others, the COVID-19 pandemic was a time of deep reflection for me. In March 2020, I considered how to deconstruct some artificial boundaries I had created. At the time, I had no idea that the pandemic would disrupt our lives as long as it has now, but I still felt profoundly altered by the complex challenges facing the world. During this time, I took the risk of pursuing a Master’s degree abroad. I had considered continuing my education for years, but I didn’t want to fall behind in my career by leaving the workplace. However, after two weeks of a strict shelter-in-place order, I stumbled upon an MBA program at Central Saint Martins in London that had intrigued me when it launched a few years prior. While it’s most well-known for fashion design, CSM caters to various artistic disciplines (from architecture and film to city planning). The MBA program recognizes the importance of the cultural economy to the future of business and is customized specifically for creative industry professionals. While providing a traditional business curriculum, there is an added focus on using innovation and creativity to tackle challenges in an ever-evolving, post-digital world.
I applied, telling myself that I could always worry about logistics if I was accepted. In the late spring. A few months into a pandemic with no end in sight, I was offered a place in the next cohort and decided to pursue the degree. As there is an expectation that students work full time while studying, I was able to continue my role at The Walt Disney Company (where I was the head of Brand Experience and Planning for a content marketing platform within Disney General Entertainment). Travel to London was virtually impossible when the course began in the fall of 2020, so I joined virtual classes at 3 am US time and studied nights and weekends. In February 2021, Disney permanently dissolved my business unit as part of a massive round of layoffs. I arrived in London a few weeks later and had the opportunity to finish my studies alongside my cohort.
Recounting this story ignores an exhaustive list of complications related to pursuing a degree during a global crisis with endless unknowns, and coinciding personal trials. However, I acknowledge my privilege in opting to take this journey and am grateful for the opportunity. In March 2022, I completed the MBA by submitting my dissertation (on offline brand experience design for digitally native brands), and I will graduate in July. There are countless times and ways this undertaking could have gone wrong (and plenty in which it did), but I have an enormous sense of pride about reaching this moment; it was a critical reminder that you never lose when you bet on yourself.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
Well, my career certainly hasn’t been a linear path! When I was five, I declared I would a doctor (“so I can help people”). However, I realized towards the end of my undergraduate degree in Biology that I no longer wanted to attend medical school, and I was at a loss at what to pursue instead. I’d always heard the saying, “Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” My first thought was music. I’d always been a massive music fan, but since it wasn’t my career focus, I was naive and had never considered the hundreds of people required to release an album or design a tour. I started in Austin after college, managing bands, volunteering at local music festivals, and eventually overseeing operations for a record label and recording studio. Within a couple of years, I moved to NYC to work on the management team of one of my favorite bands. Artist management is a great way to try a bit of everything (every day is different) and figure out what you’re passionate about moving forward. In my case, I felt drawn to marketing and promotions. I loved crafting campaigns and designing experiences for fans. This path led me to run the College Marketing department at Warner Music Group in LA, where I hired, mentored, and motivated 40+ Marketing Representatives across the country, helping them develop strategies specific to the needs of their particular market. Eventually, I realized that the crux of my passion for working in music was the desire to build community and facilitate the distinct pleasure of being in a space where you’re amongst kindred spirits. So, I left my role at Warner and spent five years consulting media and entertainment companies on marketing strategy and executing bespoke events for clients like Spotify and Universal Music Group. I knew that the future of entertainment marketing (and, quite frankly, sustainable careers for artists) was through brand partnerships. At that point, the industry had just scratched the surface of what that meant. Now we have artists like Rihanna who exemplify this idea, but I found that companies couldn’t fully see the value at the time, so they were dipping their toes in through branded experiences with artist involvement. The intersection of brands and bands through experiences became my specialty. However, I started to miss working with a dedicated team. I opened myself up to the idea of client-side roles, then found my way to Disney.
The first year there, I was flat out working on two brands with very different audiences (I designed the strategy and oversaw the execution of our experiences and events all over the country). On top of that, I created and pre-produced two music festivals (one for each brand). We’d prepared one of them to go on sale in the spring of 2020; however, a year into my role, the pandemic hit, and in-person events stopped. My team and I shifted to promoting and activating through our digital channels and negotiating our involvement in virtual experiences with different partners. A year into the pandemic (2021), our business unit was closed permanently in a round of thousands of layoffs, I was already several months into my MBA, so I shifted focus entirely to my studies.
Taking the time to reflect on my career and sharpen my skills during grad school was a gift. I began to think about business through the lens of future-proofing and staying ahead of the dizzying pace of innovation in which we live. I became particularly interested that most companies moving forward will operate primarily or exclusively online, and these digitally native brands will have to work smarter to stand out (especially as paid media becomes more expensive and less effective). Though I work on hybrid and virtual events, I still believe that one of the best ways to accomplish solid connections with an audience is through in-person experiences. In my dissertation, I proposed a model to design offline brand experiences, specifically for digitally native brands.
As an experiential marketing strategist, my goal remains the same as when I worked in the traditional music industry: community and connection. Whether working with a start-up or a global corporation, I help clients create experiences that delight their audience by speaking directly to consumers’ needs. I’m a 50/50 mix of left- and right-brain thinking, so I translate data into actionable strategy. Insights and trend analysis always inform my work, so all those research skills gained from my pre-med and MBA days come in handy.
My career trajectory is more complicated to define than some who have held one role throughout their career, but I’m very proud of that fact now, as my breadth of knowledge is my secret weapon. Since I’ve worked with companies at all stages of growth, both in-house and at agencies, and across many organizational structures, I’m highly adaptable and fluent in cross-functional collaboration.
If there’s one thing I want potential clients to know about me and my work, it’s this: I don’t believe in a “one size fits all” solution. I approach challenges from many angles to customize a result that will be most effective in achieving strategic goals. Also, I’m an advocate for others; I genuinely love watching people win and contributing to that when possible.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
In my experience, establishing individual relationships with colleagues is the only effective way to motivate a team, and it’s critical to recognize that everyone has different needs for feeling safe and inspired at work. As a leader, I believe it’s my responsibility to communicate the strategic vision (for the company, department, or project) to energize the team around shared goals. This approach requires a high level of transparency and a rejection of gatekeeping. Finally, I create an “open door” policy where colleagues feel free to offer constructive feedback or ask questions.
Have you ever had to pivot?
It’s hard to point to one pivot in my life because I believe that innovation — personal or professional — is an iterative process. I’m entirely comfortable with calling it if a situation is not working (again, this applies to hitting a wall with a work project or in my day-to-day life). For example, I have moved frequently throughout my life, starting as a child (my parents’ work required us to spend time overseas). I gained a wanderlust that impacted my outlook and made it easier for me to adapt to change. In a personal sense, this means that, when my employer allows, I occasionally take the opportunity to work remotely from a new city to gain inspiration. This flexibility extends to my work life: I don’t fluster when there’s a shift at the organizational or project level. In my experience, pivots are a necessary and often integral part of a creative process.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.emilyrosenblum.com/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilyrosenblum/
Image Credits
Austin Nelson, Elli Papayanopoulos, Carissa Riccardi, Lauren Kallen, Josh Brasted