Leaders of Change: Amanda Wolff

AMANDA WOLFF is Chief Marketing Officer, at OneSpace, leading the marketing team and helping shape strategic initiatives as part of senior leadership.

A marketing leader with more than 20+ years of experience in marketing and sales, she balances the right brain and left brain of the marketing profession, using data-driven decision making to deliver excellence in storytelling and customer engagement.

When she’s not working, she enjoys spending time with her son, cooking, and imbibing. 

Why did you choose to pursue eCommerce in your career? eCommerce found me. I was in an organization as a marketing manager, when the company I worked for decided to branch out into eCommerce. I was asked to lead the D2C initiative, and the work there fueled a long-term interest and passion. 

What is your biggest strength, and how have you used it for your success in eCommerce? Authenticity. I approach my career as being an advocate for my customers. I believe that to be successful as a marketer whether in eCommerce or beyond, you need to be genuine in your concern and respect for what’s best for your customers. 

What is the weirdest skill or talent to come in handy in your eCommerce experience? I love a good meme and make good use of them.

How have you most successfully influenced change within your organization (or with your clients)? We have a lot of inspiring examples of clients and organizations who have been able to transform with our help. We aren’t just producing software and content… we are driving organizational change. Seeing brands create momentum for eCommerce merchandising is exciting to be a part of!

What was your most “valuable” career failure, and why? Not understanding my personal brand. Realizing that I could control my destiny by reshaping my brand was a turning point for me in my professional growth and the relationships I was able to forge.

In the last five years, what new belief, behavior or habit has most improved your life? I was given some advice a while back by a former colleague that our home lives and work lives could be represented by a rubber ball and a glass ball. You can always let one bounce and you always need to cradle and protect the other. You can’t let both your work-life and your home-life bounce at the same time, but you also can’t cradle them both or you’ll burn out. The trick to happiness and success is knowing which one can bounce and which one needs to be protected, and then being able to switch those roles fluidly. 

What are you learning right now? Everything. #cantstopwontstop

What are the 1-3 songs that would make up your career soundtrack today?

?Great question.

• Changes by David Bowie.
• True Colors by Cyndi Lauper
• Wake Up by The Arcade Fire 

What are the 1-3 books you’ve gifted the most or that have greatly influenced your life, and why?

• My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss: This board book is the one I’ve gifted the most. I read it to my son every night as a baby until a toddler, and it’s my go-to for new parents. I travel often for work, and since he had it memorized, we would even recite it to each other over the phone and eventually over Facetime together, when I was away. It’s beautifully illustrated, and the theme is about articulating your emotions in colors. I credit it with helping fuel my son’s love for reading, and with helping him articulate how he felt. 

If you could have a gigantic billboard for the world to see with anything on it, what would it say, and why? 

Be nice.

It’s easy to take others for granted – especially those closest to you. We need to be giving and receiving more grace and patience.

What are the worst recommendations or advice you have heard related to eCommerce? Not to prioritize it because it only represents 1% of your company’s business today.

What advice would you give to a future leader of change about to enter business, or specifically the eCommerce field?

1. Be humble & inquisitive: What you knew to be true yesterday will probably not be true tomorrow. and
2. Focus your attention on the importance of forming relationships. You can’t move a mountain by yourself. 

What specific, industry-related change do you believe will happen that few others seem to see? I’m far from alone in this observation, but I’m surprised that eCommerce is still often viewed as vastly separate from brick and mortar. As brick and mortar stores are defining their eCommerce user experiences (including click and collect,) pure play eCommerce retailers are working to establish brick and mortar. The lines are blurring more every day.

What is the last thing you bought online, and why? Patio furniture. I figured it could be delivered, and I wouldn’t have to fit it in my Prius (but those hatchbacks DO hold a lot.)

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Leaders of Change is a weekly interview series featuring select industry pioneers who are driving the evolution of commerce, the consumer and everything in between. If you would like to recommend a Leader of Change for consideration, please reach out to me on LinkedIn.