evm_december-2023 - 43

WOMEN IN EVENTS
2018
KIMBERLY WHINNA
COTTRELL
Senior Marketing Programs Manager
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
E
vents are Kimberly Whinna Cottrell's " happy place. " She continues
to use the skills picked up from marketing and developing content
strategy for Cisco Live and from managing experiential and content
marketing at Autodesk in her role as senior marketing programs manager
at Amazon Web Services (AWS). " The most amazing career paths can't be
planned, " Cottrell said in her 2018 profile, and she didn't anticipate becoming
the global marketing leader for AWS Skills Centers, community spaces
that offer free instructor-led cloud training and opportunities to explore
cloud careers. Having joined AWS when the program only had its first center
in Seattle, she has led the marketing team in omni-channel campaigns,
events and activations as new centers have popped up in Arlington, VA,
and Cape Town, South Africa.
Back in 2018, would you have thought that you'd be
where you are today?
When I graduated with an art history degree from NYU and was working
in the galleries, would I have imagined that I would live in Southern
California, work for Amazon and do global marketing? I would not have
predicted this, but it totally feels like it makes sense. If you follow your
passions and do really good work, you'll continue to have that self-fulfilling
prophecy of where you're meant to go. I'm very happy with where I've landed
five years later.
What skills or experiences from your early career
in events do you still leverage?
When Cisco Live pivoted from an in-person conference to digital, our scale
went from tens of thousands of individuals to millions of viewers. I take
that with me in this current role. Our centers are for the local community,
but I always think about what serves them and then how do we also reach
people all over. And so we've done live broadcasts from the skill centers on
the AWS Twitch channel in the past year. I still have a passion for producing
content and using events as kind of a set for virtual content.
Something I've been working a lot on in the last several months is
influencer partnerships and integrations. They've become super integral for
most of our events to tap into what the next generation is consuming. I'm
working with TikTok influencers, inviting them to our events, having them
promote our events and then create content after to promote the benefits
of the center to their local community. I'm really excited about the intersection
of influencers and events.
What advice would you give to the next generation
of marketers who are coming into the workforce?
Work really hard, add value, have fun and take the opportunities that come
to you. It might not be the perfect thing that you had envisioned, but it's
more about just finding something where you can do good work and more
good stuff will come. The value that we provide the business around touching
the hearts and minds of customers is really powerful. Don't lose sight
of that as you're doing all the operational stuff that might not be that fun
earlier in your career. It all makes an impact when you put it together for
the customer.
What is the biggest trend in the marketing world
from where you sit?
We're only in the beginning of AI. I have a ton of fun playing with different
AI tools. We are going to be supercharged in terms of what we can do as
marketers, like I see AI will help us to do 10x what we could do as our
individual selves. And so I would encourage everyone in marketing and
events to get familiar with it; AI's going to add value to the industry.
Book or podcast recommendation:
" Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, " by Elizabeth Gilbert
eventmarketer.com
WINTER 2024 EVENT MARKETER
43
http://www.eventmarketer.com
evm_december-2023

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