Christina Kay: Life Journeys, Community and Defining Success | Women of HubSpot

Welcome to the Women of HubSpot podcast, the show that celebrates the voices shaping marketing technology and the ever evolving HubSpot ecosystem. Hosted by George B. Thomas from Sidekick Strategies, each episode brings you the stories, strategies, and superpowers of the women driving this industry forward. It's their time. It's their mic. This is Women of HubSpot.

All right, it's your boy, George B. Thomas. We're back with another episode of the Women of HubSpot podcast. Now, let me give you a short intro. It was a Super Bowl. The Phillies were in the Super Bowl. Quarterback has an all women's team behind the scenes. I'm talking to my daughter. I see the excitement. I go, I should. By the way, if you want an expanded version of this, you should go listen to other episodes of the podcast where I talk about it even deeper. But I go to LinkedIn and I say, hey, why are we not shining a light on more women in the HubSpot space? No strategy, just being a human. I put it out to the world. The post goes nuts. All of a sudden, people start tagging all of the women that are doing awesome stuff. I look at my daughter and daughters and wife, and we all come to the conclusion we have to have conversations around this. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why you're watching or listening to this episode today. And I'm excited because today it's not just me, because that'd be weird because it's the women of HubSpot. That's not me. I'm a guy of HubSpot. But I'm here with Christina K. Christina, how are you doing today?

I'm pretty good. Better that I'm talking to you. How are you?

I love that I'm doing good and better because you're here, because I'm excited to hear kind of your journey. You're somebody who I've watched in the space for a while. I've had multiple interviews with you across the, you know, working at Impulse Creative and even back with Marcus Sheridan, the sales line. So I'm excited to kind of dig into your journey, learn more about you. But let's get started there. Maybe let's just let the listeners, the viewers know who you are, what you do, and maybe where you do it.

As George said, I'm Christina K. I've been in the marketing world for a little over 15 years in the HubSpot world since 09. So even more time than that in this, in that sense, because I started that when I was in college. I learned about HubSpot When I was in university. And honestly I've grown up with HubSpot in a sense with my career and it's always been there in some capacity, whether that be part of my full time role or consulting, freelancing. And now I am leading a new initiative at a place called Hopkins Printing. And Hopkins has been around for over 50 years and they really primarily work with like retail businesses like some of them I can't name but the ones very big ones in the mall that you see and they work with the in store signage and the influencer kits that are mailed out direct mail. So a lot of those tangible experiences which is different than digital which I'm totally used to. So combining those two has been really cool. And what my role is now is taking this time market with their parent company who is forever and four over is a trade only printers. They work with a lot of businesses, like multiple thousands of businesses and small businesses on everything from like business cards to graphics in schools, things like that. And so with Hopkins we have a more about like a hands on touch approach. But with this new and initiative that I'm building with a team that I am building out and hiring for. So helping those brands kind of have that value and that quality of Hopkins but paired with the national reach that we have with our other sister companies within the organization.

I love it. I love it. And people already learning stuff about you been in marketing Hubspots for a very long time, grown up with HubSpot. I love that. So when I ask you these questions, Christina, you can go pre HubSpot, you can keep it to just kind of 2009 and beyond. It's up to you. Basically what I'm saying is we're going to have a conversation, it's going to be your journey and you can share any wisdom or stories that you want to share. I will let you know that I jokingly say that these questions go into a little bit of like valley questions and then into mountain questions kind of towards the end. But let's go ahead and kick this off and get started. I'm super excited. Christina K. If we could go back in time and meet young Christina just starting out one, what would we see and to what would she be most surprised about where you are right now?

That's such a good question because when I was first starting out and this is pretty pre HubSpot, this is like maybe even high school Christina, I wanted to do like PR and work for like a magazine in New York City and that's what I wanted to Do I quickly realized that once I had some internships in that I did not want to do that. But I will say in, in my career now I have some aspects of pr, like my degrees in pr, but I feel like PR is such an open field of things. And so I feel that if I look back and they. Or if little me is looking at me now, this is gonna sound funny, but she wouldn't be as surprised or I wouldn't be as surprised that of the content creation world that I've kind of come into just because I've always been some type of entertainer, whether like musical theater, dance, all star truly and things like that. So that's just kind of comes naturally. And I think that she would be surprised that she got to have those passions, part of her profitable purpose, I guess you could say in her life. So I feel she'd be proud of it. She would be surprised. She's in tech, but she's always been like an Apple girly, so always like a kind of sort of ahead of things in that sense and loving that world. But. So yeah, I think she would be happy that she's really held on to that creative side but really pushed it with the tech world and having to be a woman in, in that world and what I've had to overcome from that.

Yeah, I love so much about that entertainer, content creator, creative. Also Apple person will let people be happy or mad about that as they view or listen to this. Um, it's. It's up to them. You know, they can make the switch if they want to, but. But just this idea of this journey that you've been on and that you've kind of known, but it's been a windy path that gets you where you're at and you do still use some of those things. So. Speaking of your journey, Christina K. I'm curious along the way who have been some of your biggest inspirations or mentors along the way?

I mean to start I would my family like my mom and dad. My mom was in her own field being a female leader in higher education because back in the day that really wasn't a thing. And she really drove music therapy and has helped written programs internationally and she's speaking at, has spoken at conferences all over. And I think that's really been for me like looking up to that, something I always wanted to do in like whatever I was doing. And then with my dad, his passion for music and his students and just seeing him work with them from when I, when I hear sometimes I was growing up Hearing them, like, in his, like, studio in our basement, I'm like, oh, my gosh, I would be going crazy right now, you know? But that just patience he's had. So besides my immediate family, I would say, honestly, one person that comes to mind and this person came around not too long ago was Christina Garnett. She is one of my biggest, like, cheerleaders, hype girl. And I think it goes both ways for her and I. But just how she shows up so authentically, and that has helped me be able to feel okay with that. Another big inspiration for me has been, and I have some that are, like, celebrity related, but I'm gonna talk more of, like, interpersonal connection that I have with people is Troy Sandage. Him and I met on a. I think you might have been on this call, but it was inbound after hours during, like, pandemic era. And him and I have never. We never met. And then we met at one of those after hours, and then we just stayed in touch. And then a year later, we met in person for the first time. And then him and I just kind of became really good friends and supporters of what we do. I mean, we have worked on different clients together. And he puts me in my place. That sounds really weird, but in the most, like, positive way and just helps me, me grow into who I am now. And with all of these people, whether I listened or not, have always loved me and encouraged me for being me. And I think that's something that we all need to get out of our own way. Whoever is like your inspiration and your. Your muse, essentially, we have our own. We have. We have flaws. We all have flaws, but we also have amazing things about us, and we need to be able to say that and own it. And so I believe that there's more people I want to mention, but those that, like, four, my little, like, crew of those two, four have really helped me become who I am and also let me become who I am fully and, like, authentically.

Yeah, I love that so much. It might even be a rewind spot for people who are watching or listening this, because there's some really good lessons in there. We have flaws, but we also have things that are good about us. We all need that group of core people that can call us to the carpet in the best way humanly possible. And it's funny, Christina, because I do remember the time that you're speaking about because for years I've done this, like, late show or after hours show where we'd get people together and we'd do like, hey, what did you think of Inbound this year? And I remember having you guys on. I love me some Christina Garnett. I love Troy. He's super dope. So the fact that you're naming these folks, but I gotta be honest with you, when you mentioned your mom and that she was kind of, you know, in the forefront and she had spoken at places, my brain immediately went to how for years now, you and Troy have done kind of the inbound thing and being front and center stage and. And all of that and just kind of like, oh, that's a full circle moment for you and for me of understanding, like, that was an inspiration and then you ended up there. So I'll just say a kudos. And by the way, you have a dope group of folks that are inspirations and mentors to you. So a great job on that. So we're going to dig into the start of the Valley questions, right? As a woman, as somebody in tech, in the HubSpot space, or just even the tech space, have their. And by the way, again, this can be before HubSpot, you know, your journey in marketing, whatever your story, have there been times that you've had hurdles or biases that you've had to overcome in your career? And the real question is one that comes to mind, like, how did you navigate? Well, one or two, how did you navigate them?

When I was laid off in 2023, this was shortly after. A lot of great things were happening with the work that I was doing. So it was pretty like a blindsided moment. And navigating that in the bias of what I can, like, bring to an organization, because I was so. I was down. It was, it was rough. And having to. It was almost like a bias of myself because that same year was the year that Troy and I were the main stage hosts at Inbound, and him and I were both going through some things at the time. So having to, like, get out of our own biases of what we. Because of everything that was going on that year, had your. It was. It was struggle. But when I look back, you would have never known. Based on some of the videos and the photo, you would have never known. And what I learned from that two is that we all put on a face and we all mask in some way, whatever the moment, whether that be big or small, it's big to you, it could be small to others, it doesn't really matter, but it matters what it is to you. And for me getting over that to then figure out what or where I was supposed to be. And it took almost like a year and a half for me to go through that. Struggling to like say this one is, I made some mistakes in choosing where I was going to work in that time. I did land somewhere that really was good for me at the time. Prior to that, I left a job before having a job, and I've never done that. And that was because of the biases of some of the owners they had on me because of my experience with speaking. And they had a. Like a bias towards me in a sense or an expectation that I was going to be that way for their business. But I learned from when I was laid off. Sometimes businesses are it's business. And I had to separate those two. And even now going through, I feel like it's a not a fault, it's always a valley. And not saying it's always negative, but it's a way to really separate the two. Because my. I know now, not that I didn't know before, but now I am not in my own way and I have a strong voice and I believe in myself and I don't give a hoot what others say. And so if it's like a bias now, I'm like, whatever. Like, you can think what you want and your bias against whatever it would be little things like Salesforce versus HubSpot. I can. We can talk through that. But if you have your own opinion on it, good for you. But we can see which one is better. That's never gonna like, it's gonna be hours of going back and forth. And so I feel like for me is realizing people's biases should not affect my beliefs or my being. And so that is. It's kind of what has come to be the past two years now, really, I feel, and I don't mean to sound very corny, but the HubSpot community helped me through all of that. And that was like employees of HubSpot as well as the. The community itself had really helped me through all of that.

Yeah, I don't think that sounds corny at all. First of all, the HubSpot community, it's one reason I've been in the community since 2012 is it's just a lot of them are great humans. And I have to say, Christina, when I asked the question, how did you navigate them? The word that keeps coming to mind is like growth. Like she grew through it. But the. But the takeaway that the I missing tweetable moment, but the X moment, it just doesn't sound the same. Anyway, the moment that I pull out of that is when you said, I understand that other people's biases should. Shouldn't affect my beliefs or my being. And I would just hope the listeners and the viewers grab onto that and they can leverage that through their own lives, through their own struggles, to the times when they're going through hurdles and biases. So that was so, so good. Okay, so let's keep digging in here. Have you ever felt. And I know the answer is yes, but how else do you start the question? Have you ever faced a moment where you felt underestimated, overlooked, maybe even out of place, and how did you handle that?

So I was working somewhere and I had a boss say to me, they're like, I would be so intimidated by you if I didn't know who you were. And I was very taken aback by that because I was. I know that I have. I have. I'm a confident person. And that is. I don't. That's just who I am. But I was like, oh, wow. Like, am I coming across a way that is not what I'm thinking? And so what I learned from that and from that experience and what I learned even to, like, interacting with the team that I was leading there, like, I had a team of like, 15. I say this jokingly, but it kind of has some truth to it, is tech stacks don't fully matter when it comes to happiness at a job. Like, but it actually really does. So where I knew that I didn't fit in or my. My mindset was not the same as others, it really had to do with the tech they were using. And I learned that that wasn't the place for me. And that probably sounds crazy, and it sounds crazy as I'm saying this out loud, but it goes back to the HubSpot community side HubSpot users. The HubSpot community is very different than any other community of either association or tech that I've ever experienced. And those are the people I want to be around and those people that I want to work with and for. And having to figure that out in an interview virtually or even in person maybe once or whatever it is, that's hard. But coming to grips with that is super important. And for anybody, it might not fully matter. And you might feel like you need a job, but you. You also need your happiness. And your. It'll be there, but don't sacrifice your happiness for it.

Oof. Yeah, don't sacrifice your happiness. Listen, it's funny you said it sounds kind of crazy, because I'm saying it aloud. Christina, I don't think it sounds crazy at all because the question I asked was underestimated, overlooked, or out of place. And what's funny is you went to Tech Stack and you. And, and I get it. If you're used to swimming in the orange waters of HubSpot and all of a sudden you're in a different, you know, the blue waters of wherever or the purple waters of wherever or whatever color the water is, you're going to feel out of place, you're going to feel like a fish out of water. And, and that does affect the way that you can impact the world, the way that you can work and, and the way that you show up as a happy, helpful, humble human. So I think that your story around that absolutely fits and made a lot of sense. I don't think it's crazy at all. Talk to me about a time where you've experienced maybe a significant failure or setback. And again during that significant failure or setback, what did you learn from it?

I'm going to go back to when I was laid off because that setback was pretty significant. But what I learned from it is that, and I kind of hinted towards it almost in all my answers really is don't fully put yourself into a role unless it's like your side hustle that you're trying to grow for yourself and your business. Because business is business. And I don't want to say we're all just numbers in some places, but we kind of are. And so if you need a mental health day, if you also, if you have connections that you're like, oh, this would be really awesome for the business, are you willing to risk that relationship if that business also isn't aligned with them? And then it makes you look, it's like, it's also, it's like referring someone to a role and then they're like real crappy and then they look at you and they're like, it's that same type of thinking. So for me it's putting my full time hat on when I have to and then when I don't have to fully immerse in myself into what I want to do, what I'm passionate about, and not giving all my passion and passion and purpose and pep to something that doesn't fully love that or they feel like they have to wrangle it. And it's a hard pill to swallow. But I learned that not everyone deserves your energy all the time. And you have to be able to learn and navigate when to give and not to give. And also it's a trust factor with that. It's not right away. You have to be like one step in. Because old me was like, everything, here's everything, and just gave it all the time right away. And in relationships, friendships in like, like romantic relationships, that's not the smartest thing to do either. And so I need to do that in like almost like courting a job and having them also realize how amazing you are and give you what you deserve, whether that be more time off that you want or more money. Like, you have to speak up for yourself and also not give yourself all the time on weekends and just be there for you, but separate when it, when you feel like it's not for you. And that's kind of like what I learned from that experience.

No, I love that so much. I think there's something powerful about being your own advocate. One, two. I do love this kind of picture that you're painting of, you know, you, you, the viewer, listener, could be sitting in an organization right now and I would ask you, when's the last time you've done like an audit around. The word that comes to mind is balance. Balance of. Is this relationship a give and take? Is this relationship one sided? Am I living in a world where because I'm getting a paycheck every week, every two weeks, however you get paid, I'm leaving it all out on the field. And should I be leaving it out all out on the field, or have I created this matrix in my brain of that's what I'm supposed to do versus what you could be doing? And by the way, is it all the narrative in your own brain? And you haven't even talked to the people in the organization to be your own advocate in there. So there's a lot of good pieces where it's like just diagnosing this idea of balance, this idea of self love. And then of course, you started hitting triggers that I'm very passionate about right now, which is this like, purpose, passion, to be persistent in the thing that you love. And that's love for yourself, that's love for the people that you're serving. That's potentially love for the organization that you work for or the organization that you're building. And so I love this idea of just balance. Okay, Christina, let's talk about empowerment. And I've loved some of the answers, many of the answers that I've gotten on this question, but I'm curious for you and the journey that you've had. What does empowerment mean to you and how do you try to pass that on to others in the field?

Empowerment for me. And I think this goes to that self love side of it because you also can't truly empower other people until you empower yourself and your cup is full. And so when you are authentic and have your own like balance audit, life audit, empower audit, whatever you want to audit of you, you'll be able to empower others so much more easier. And it won't feel like working work because there was a time where I felt like I was, it was work to empower others and I had to do something. I had to make a video to inspire and that was exhausting and that only sucked, like my power and my like empowerment of myself. And so I feel what I, what I do to empower myself is just. I journal a lot now. I, I actually. So I do videos because I'm really big on how my like nonverbal cues are. And so seeing that and looking back and I like doing on my phone and I have a folder in my hidden like videos. So just kind of looking back on that like a little like video diary essentially. And that helps me know when I have the time to empower and I have the time to be really me when I'm empowering. Because people can sniff out of a fraud, not saying I was ever a fraud, but they can sniff out when you're not truly being yourself. And, and I know for a fact, like I had a friend, Tamara. She's one of like, she's one of my other like inspirations. I had some posts and LinkedIn, like earlier this year that I wrote basically all of AI, like not know Christina, like twist at all. And she was like. And she called me out on it and I was at first like, you know, but then I was like, girl, you, you're right though. Like, just because I wasn't even empowering myself to be the creative person I was because of the biases I had on myself and things that was kind of that were like tearing me down. So how. Who am I to put this post out to try to empower, inspire others when I'm not like being me? And so that's for me, that's what I've been doing recently. And I just. Empowering others. It's very interesting now because I have taken a step back from helping a lot of people within the HubSpot community just because I got to a point that I was, I felt like I had something to prove because of a lot of the things that I'VE done and the things that people have said. And then I was like, what? Like, this is not. This is not. This is not good for, like, for me. And so. But now I'm to the point now that I'm, like, all ready to, like, go back into that. But we kind of talked about this, I think, before we started recording, is that burnout is real and you can't empower anybody if you are in that burning out phase, whatever phase that is. And in that sense, too, you're burning it at both ends. And you will be able to empower yourself, other people. And so for me, it's just really that gauge that you have to look at to be able to create empowerment, to exude throughout your life. And when that happens, you don't even have to be like, I'm going to empower this person today without you knowing you're empowering people with that, like, mindset.

Yeah. It's almost like empowerment becomes like a default state when I hear you kind of say this versus an action that you're trying to take. And I got to be honest with you, my brain is screaming when you. When you said prove and perform and listen, if you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you live in a state where you feel like you have to prove and perform, the possibility of you having the power to empower yourself or others is going to probably be very slim chances of that that can take place. So, okay, we have a shared definition of empowerment. So, Christine, I have to ask you, can you share a moment in your career where you felt especially empowered or proud of something that you had achieved?

Little backstory to how Troy and I got the hosting job or inbound. A couple years ago, him and I had this idea to, like, pay pitch HubSpot this inbound 365 movement, essentially, because the feeling it inbound, I'm just. It's. You can't describe it. And it's something that I was like, I feel people need that throughout the year to empower themselves and, like, feel something. And so him and I created this deck essentially, that we pitched blindly. Even though, like, I knew Kip and I knew John Dick from just being in the ecospace for a while. I have never asked something like this of them, like, blindly in an email. And when we got the email back from Kip saying, oh my gosh, I love this, I'm going to send it over to the team, we were like, okay, cool. So that came just us doing content creation. Like, that was when we, like, awesome. We're going to like, be these people interviewing people and whatever at Inbound. And then came the email of, hey, we've talked internally, and we'd love for you guys to host Inbound. And we were like, what? And this was. This would have been, like, Troy's second year doing it. And so we were just so proud of ourselves for that. Because of that. Of that year of. We were. He was going through some stuff. Personally, I had, like, my layoff and everything that kind of came to be. And so for me, it's like, I have more guts to either ask for things now because of that. And that had also, like, confirmed. And I never. I never had a. Like, I never, like, suspected or I've never, like, I don't even know. Like, I never even thought of this in the sense of me not being knowledgeable in HubSpot or anything like that. But that, for me, I was like, oh, wow. Like, I do matter in this HubSpot community. Like, it is not just a numbers thing. And I think that, for me, deepened my connection and, like, how many. There are thousands, hundreds of thousands of HubSpot users and people in the community and customers. But the fact that I had an email response and this kind of turned into something that makes me feel that what I'm doing, it matters, and that it's not like I was doing it for that, but that my voice holds something. And so that kind of helped put a stamp on that and that moment. I mean, yes, it was, like, two years ago now. It helped me through the darkest times I've had the past two years.

Yeah, it's. It's interesting. My brain is going in so many directions. One from a person who was, like, there and watching, and I saw you and Troy doing your thing. I was like, dang on. That's a big freaking deal. And I was also like, and they're killing it because you guys were doing good. But where the human side of my brain goes, too is, like, the story that you're telling, the journey you've been on. I just want the viewers and listeners to know that everything could be falling apart and being amazing at the same time, which is really hard to grasp.

Because you've got goosebumps.

Yeah, these pieces are crumbling. But then there's this other, like, elevated state or thing that you're able to do in those moments. And I love that you even kind of tied it back to, like. It's the thing that, like, kept me going because I knew that I mattered. And at the end of the day, we, as humans, we just Want to know that we matter. Okay. Christina, this is amazing. By the way, I did get goose gums. Goosebumps as well. So if magic wand moment. If you could change one thing about how women are supported in this industry, what would be the thing that you would change?

I would change. This is going to sound awful, and I love that you're doing something like this, but I feel like I would love to change that. This wouldn't have to be a thing, but our voices wouldn't have to be out. That it wouldn't be so awesome for, like, Jalen to have a whole crew of white women on his team. I would change like, that. Those news, like, factors are really awesome, but. And I love that they're there, but I hate that it has to be, like, defined as full female or, like, has to have those, like, descriptive areas of it. So as much as I love level of love being, like, highlighted as, like, a top female in this and everything, because I love being a female and I love that about myself. But I. It makes me sad that some people feel like that's they have to do that to get, like, views on something. And, like, for me, and I know that's not nothing that you're doing because I know you as a person and you are. So whoever you are, whatever you are, you support and you want to uplift. But there are some that are doing it for the clicks and they're doing it for that, and that's a magic wand moment for that. And I feel it also goes into even, like, the tech world. Not even just like, HubSpot, but it's the tech world or even in business. Like, I see so many things like that. I was like, why do you have to say that? That's. You shouldn't have to say that because it's not like being a female or female CEO is something that. That's. Being a CEO in general is a big deal of a big company, and having to be like that, that is a factor that they want to, like, add to it. That's amazing. Like I was saying, it's so awesome, but I just wish that we didn't have to make it so different and define it different between, like, man and, like, female. Because we all believe the same, no matter however you identify, that we all should just celebrate each other and that it shouldn't have to be so in a box of, oh, she got this. Because people say, like, different quotas and things like that and that stuff. I want to, like, wave a wand and get that away, because I'm tired of it.

Yeah, I love that. It's like, I just wish, George. I wish it didn't exist. I wish it wasn't in the news. I wish you didn't have to do this podcast. I wish, I just wish that people would realize it's human beings, just human beings, flesh and blood, all doing the thing that we need to do and being who we need to be created equally. Yes. Yeah, exactly. Like, let's just take it back to real basics, right? Okay. So let's keep diving. And by the way, as you can tell, we're getting out of the valley questions. We're kind of moving up into the mountain. This is the Women of HubSpot podcast. So I at least have to ask one question around HubSpot. And so, Christina, I'm super curious if there's any particular tools, strategies or trends in HubSpot that excite you right now.

I am loving to see and it's something that I haven't really done recently, but seeing the amount of companies coming up that are like apps created just for HubSpot because of the needs of the people need, because HubSpot can't build everything. And I love that HubSpot knows that and that they're open to having that be a possibility for people to do because there are other CRMs that could never, never, ever. And I love to see that. And that also shows their own confidence. And I mean, I don't want to say AI because I feel like that's so over said with things because I feel in a sense that with lookalike audiences and like workflows that you could create five, eight years ago, AI was around, but it wasn't as Buzzword talked about that HubSpot had, has always had some type of magic in it. Whether that be people want to call it AI or whatever they want to call it or like C SQL or wittily, whatever the possibilities that it's not even a certain hub within HubSpot, it's that it's maturing. And I, and I love seeing that from what it was when I first started. And it's interesting to also now see too. It's like, oh man, I wish it, I wish it did this or I wish it did that. There are more moments of, you know, it does this like you could be doing this instead of to make your life easier. And I think that's. Those are my favorite HubSpot moments to really help people with their day to day. And mostly it's within like sales teams, to be very honest. Because that area is people. People don't know sales hub or even like CRM in general that well, even if they've been on it forever, but you're in it and your day to day and you get so accustomed to doing what you're doing that this is a blessing and a curse. HubSpot's product updates, which I love you guys do like your daily thing because it is overwhelming if someone is new to it, it's overwhelming. It was. It's been overwhelming for me to kind of get up to speed because I kind of took a backseat for a little bit and getting up to speed to what it is and even seeing all of the betas you can like enroll in and like opt into it if someone could get very overwhelmed with that. And so for me, I think it's my favorite area. It's. It's almost like the connectedness of HubSpot, I guess you could say. But I love seeing people's aha moments and oh my gosh, I didn't know it. It could do that and that could. And that again, like I said, it's mostly sales hub. I have seen that in recently. For me, it's. I know it's just getting started, which sounds crazy because they've been around a while now and I feel like it's just scratching the surface. Like it just. I know it sounds so crazy, but I can't even fathom what it could be in five years. Honestly. Like, I, I can't at all end it. That really excites me sometimes scares me a bit. But I also, I love it because HubSpot makes it easy. As much as there's so many updates, you grow with it and that's. It's just got to keep. Keep at it like anything in life and you could like become an expert in it in your own little like, niche of what you're doing with it. And you could help others. And that's the thing I think is so special about HubSpot is so many people could be experts in their own lane and empower and help other streams of income for them possibly. And it just is a special ecosystem.

I feel like overall, yeah, without a doubt. I love that you mentioned the app marketplace. I love that you mentioned the connectiveness. I love that you mentioned the aha moments and, and the rate of change and where they were kind of this, like, I'll say dumb blog keyword kind of tool in 2012, you know, with an extra little pieces here or there to what they are now is. Has Been crazy. The rate of growth and what they'll be in five years, who knows? But it's funny because you mentioned the customer platform podcast in there too. And like, literally, I asked if I could be on that podcast just as a way for a daily thing to put in my life to keep up with a platform that I had loved for years and the rate of change that was happening. So I was forcing myself to put eyeballs on what is changing because it does come down to those aha moments of being able to allow teams to do something that once might have been impossible. Let's talk about you, your journey, but in this light, let's talk about networking. Like, Christina, to you, how important is networking with other females or just networking in general? And there are any strategies that you to kind of help build those connections along the way.

Going back to the beginning of this, I come from a line of networkers. I, I come by it very naturally. And I know for some people it gives them the highest anxiety possible. So I know if you're an introvert going to inbound, you're like, what am I doing? What am I doing with my life? And for me, I'm like, let's go all the energy, you know, but for me, it's allowing yourself breaks and you don't have to do it all at once. I mean, especially, I will say inbound coming up in a few weeks, like, pace yourself. And that's any conference and that's any networking event. But I always go in with what my purpose is and goals for myself because otherwise you can stress yourself out and go all over the place and then go home. And you're like, well, what did I even do? Why was I even there? And for me, that's something that I have had to learn to do because I used to network all the associations all of like, all the time. But then I had to realize what, where I'm putting my time. And kind of, I've been saying this whole time, and for me it's, I do love the, like, women in sales groups and like rev ops and like women like in HubSpot. Like, we're all with HubSpot because we do share a common core of the biases that we have against us in a lot of scenarios. But I also love that nowadays I will say that, and I'm not going to, I'm not going to swear, I'm going to use professional language here that we can be ourselves and not be like, oh, she's too much, or she's too manly or she's whatever it would be if you're, if you're talking in a meeting, if anything like that that has helped me become who I am. And I feel like I've always had that confidence to speak up in meetings as just who I've been. But helping other women and even I mean anyone really honestly to speak up and that's something for me is at networking events now I kind of look for people who, who you can see they want to engage. They just like don't know how to kind of help bring them in. And that's one of my favorite things I would say. And I'm excited for inbound in a few weeks to be in that, in that world and I'm doing content again for the inbound channels and the biggest part of that is networking and showing that HubSpot community factor of it. And so I'm excited to maybe break the ice or bring people in that normally aren't highlighted in the HubSpot communities to kind of show them, not show them but make them feel like important and prove to them like hey, like you are capable because some people just have that self doubt. And when it comes to networking and being around marketers or founders sales, that's a lot of energy that can be overwhelming. I get it. And just helping people network how they want to network in their own. In their own like in their own bubble if it be or without any bubbles.

Yeah, I love. There's a couple reoccurring themes. One, it's this idea of balance in the things that you do to the importance of who you are in the things that you're actually doing. So Christine, I've got a couple more questions. Let's just kind of dive into these. What has been the most rewarding aspect of your career so far?

As much as the layoff was my valley, that role and I will say the role that I currently have is could quickly replace the Samser.

Yeah.

But we can follow up in like a year.

There you go.

But I had a lot of wins because of how I showed up and how I um, was consistent and proved. Proved what needed to be done. And like from that that's where I won my various awards with like Zapier with demand and report with like B2B marketing technologists of the year. And then that was the same time with the HubSpot case study and the Panadot case study. The zooming for case study there was like so many great things but that wouldn't have been able to be done if I didn't have the trust of the leaders of the company. And so I feel I'm not always chasing that. Again, I'm not saying I'm chasing those case studies, but what I'm. What I'm chasing is to not prove but show that it's possible for those things to almost be repeated, essentially because I want more than a couple success stories. That's probably sounds really greedy, but I want to inspire others. And I feel other wins that I've had in my career has done that. But I also want it to come in a sense now that it's not just rainbows and butterflies and peaks that now my wins, the story is even going to be better and it's going to even mean more to me and it's going to impact more than just what it says on paper. And so those wins from the past, they're almost on paper, essentially, like on a landing page. But for that next step, I, it's going to be bigger and better. And I, I'm excited because this momentum or snowball and some of this snowball has some sticks and stuff in it because of the past two years. But that has been, that's helped me also realize what I'm capable of and those amazing successes that have gotten me here, even though the path hasn't. What might not be the path that I would have chosen, but it was chosen for me and that is what. And I'm still here today and I'm still fighting for me. And I feel like that helped me with my win.

I love that so much. And by the way, I don't think it's greedy because literally there are people out there that are, there's a term for it, one hit wonders, right? And what, what I want the viewers and listeners to take away is Christina, you're trying to be able to have like the greatest hits. Like here's, here's Christina's greatest hits because she wasn't a one hit wonder. And I think there's so many humans out there that we, we want to live a life that has the greatest hits and not just be a one hit wonder. And like, oh yeah, you remember when. Okay, three last questions. Rapid fire to close this out and land this plane. One first one. Christina, what are like you've been on this crazy journey. What are your long term goals from here to wherever you're headed next?

This answer is going to come out of nowhere. But I would say five years I want to truly fully consult myself. But also in the five years I want to save money and Start my own dog park bar. There's this one in Columbus that's like really cool. But there's things that I would change and I just love being around people who have dogs and love their dogs. And I think this is gonna again not makes some people happy, but some people just don't want kids. I personally do not want children. I'm not judging people who have them because I love my friend's kids. I just. I don't want my own. I for kids, but not human children. I love human kids. But having in that. In that mindset is becoming more popular as of the times because it's more accepted nowadays. It's not forced upon. That's a whole that goes back to being a woman too if we want to really ground that out. And I, I want to have a place that people can network, like meet friends, bring their dogs, have a coffee, have a mocktail, have a beer, like whatever it would be. Have like music and just have a place that people can. And even a part of that too would be like a co working space. Because I love going to coffee shops to work but I can't bring my dogs. And I'm like that would be the best place ever. And so that would. That. I know that sounds totally left field, but that is a goal for mine in the next five years to do.

Yeah, I don't think it's left field. It just aligns with what you wish there was for you. And I'll be honest with you too. Like my daughters have dogs. We have dogs. Like a little unknown fact about us is that we actually have a lot of dogs. Anyway, not here for my interview.

I want a lot. Yeah, yeah.

Not here for my interview here for years. So let's go ahead. What is a surprising or little known fact about you that people might not expect?

Last year I posted in this Facebook group that I'm part of. It's like called Columbus Girl Gang. It's basically a bunch of females in a group to meet friends or say what the best restaurants, whatever. I love football and I posted about crew creating a fantasy football league and last year we had two. And that part of this also was for me to teach other females about football and fantasy football so they can win their fantasy football leagues at work. That was really successful last year. I have like all of these like 101 docs and strategies and not just drafting but looking at like waiver wires and everything like that. This year we tripled the amount of females in this league and so now we have four teams And I'm. There's a potential sponsor for game day watch parties this year. And so that's probably an unknown fact. Some people, like, know I love football, but not that I. I create videos about fantasy football drafting. This is all, like, private to those girls. My friend's like, you should just start a TikTok with this stuff because people would actually listen to that. Like, it would be helpful. And so that's a fun, unknown fact about me.

No, I love it. And your friend might not be wrong. I literally was coming back, by the way, yesterday from a dog show with my wife and daughter because my daughter shows a poodle. My both my daughters do. It just was only one daughter was at that show yesterday. And my wife is telling me the story about how Taylor Swift was on the Kelsey podcast and one of the conversations was about how she's trying to learn football because she just didn't kind of understand. And so I love that you have that little kind of vein or little unknown fact around that as well as football and like being able to do things like. I love that. Okay, final question. We'll land this plane. Christina K. First of all, thank you. This has been amazing. I've had so much fun learning more about you, bringing this value to the world. But finish this sentence. For me, success to me means blank.

Success to me means being truly happy. And if you would have asked me that a couple years ago, that answer would have been probably had to do with money or had to do with titles. It had to do with whatever. But for me, in this state that I'm living in right now, and I feel going forward in my life is success means happiness. And that's happiness in whatever you're doing. If it's sitting on your couch and like couch rotting, watching Netflix, that could. That's a successful day if that's what you need. And for me, that's success is happiness.