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Welcome to the Women of HubSpot, a podcast celebrating 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.
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.
Intro:It's their mic. This is Women of HubSpot.
George B. Thomas:Alright. It's your boy, George b Thomas, and 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.
George B. Thomas: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.
George B. Thomas: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.
George B. Thomas:All of 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.
George B. Thomas:That's not me. I'm a guy of HubSpot, but I'm here with Christina Kay. Christina, how are you doing today?
Christina Kay:I'm pretty good and better that I'm talking to you. How are you?
George B. Thomas: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, at Impulse Creative and even back with Marcus Sheridan in the sales line. I'm excited to kind of dig into your journey, learn more about you, but let's get started there maybe.
George B. Thomas:Let's just let the listeners, the viewers know who you are, what you do, and maybe where you do it.
Christina Kay:As George said, I'm Christina Kay. I've been in the marketing world for a little over fifteen years in the HubSpot world since '9. So even more time than that 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.
Christina Kay:And now I am leading a new initiative at a place called Hopkins Printing. And Hopkins has been around for over fifty years. And they really primarily work with retail businesses, some of them I can't name, but the ones very big ones in the mall that 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, is different than digital, which I'm totally used to.
Christina Kay:So combining those two has been really cool. And what my role is now is taking this to market with their parent company, is Forover. And Forover is a trade only printer. They work with a lot of businesses, like multiple thousands of businesses and small businesses on everything from business cards to graphics in schools, things like that. And so with Hopkins, we have a more of a hands on touch approach.
Christina Kay:But with this new initiative that I'm building with a team that I am building out and hiring for, helping those brands 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.
George B. Thomas:I love it. I love it. And people are already learning stuff about you. Been in marketing HubSpot for a very long time. Grown up with HubSpot.
George B. Thomas: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 have a conversation.
George B. Thomas: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 Kay, if we could go back in time and meet young Christina, just starting out, one, what would we see? And two, what would she be most surprised about where you are right now?
Christina Kay:That's such a good question because when I was first starting out, and this is 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 wanna 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 cheerleading, things like that. So that's just kind of comes naturally.
Christina Kay: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. 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 woman in in that world and what I've had to overcome from that.
George B. Thomas: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. It's up to them. They can make the switch if they want to. 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.
George B. Thomas:So speaking of your journey, Christina Kay, I'm curious, along the way, who have been some of your biggest inspirations or mentors along the way?
Christina Kay:I mean, to start, I would my family, like my mom and dad. My mom was a in 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 her in 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 and like whatever I was doing.
Christina Kay: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 sometime when I was growing up here and then, 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.
Christina Kay:She is one of my biggest 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 Sandwich. 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.
Christina Kay: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 positive way and just helps me grow into who I am now.
Christina Kay: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 your inspiration and 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.
Christina Kay:And so I believe that there's more people I wanna mention, but those that, like, four, my little, like, crew of those two four
George B. Thomas:Yeah.
Christina Kay:Have really helped me become who I am and also let me become who I am fully and, like, authentically.
George B. Thomas:Yeah. I I love that so much. It might even be a rewind spot for people who are watching or listening to 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.
George B. Thomas:And it's funny, Christina, because I do remember the time that you're speaking about, because for years I've done this late show or after hour 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.
George B. Thomas: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 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 all of that. Just kind of like, Oh, that's a full circle moment for you and for me of understanding 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. A great job on that.
George B. Thomas: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 there And by the way, again, this can be before HubSpot, 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?
Christina Kay: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 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 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.
Christina Kay: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, it was a 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 too 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.
Christina Kay:It could be small to others. It doesn't really matter, but it matters what it is to you. 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. I'm struggling to say this one is I made some mistakes in choosing where I was going to work in that time.
Christina Kay: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.
Christina Kay:Even now going through I feel like it's not a it's always a valley in that saying that's always negative, but it's a way to really separate the two because 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 you're biased against whatever it would be. Little things like Salesforce versus HubSpot, we can talk through that.
Christina Kay:But if you have your own opinion on it, good for you. But we can see which one is better. It's going to 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.
Christina Kay:And I don't mean to sound very corny, but the HubSpot community helped me through all of that. And that would like, employees of HubSpot as well as the the community itself had really helped me through all of that.
George B. Thomas:Yeah. I 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 a a lot of them are great humans. And I have to say, Christina, when I asked the question, how did you navigate them? The the word that keeps coming to mind is, like, growth.
George B. Thomas:Like, she grew through it. But the but the takeaway that the I'm I'm missing tweetable moment, but the x moment, it just doesn't sound the same. Anyway, the moment that I pulled out of that is when you said, I understand that other people's biases 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, through the times when they're going through hurdles and biases. So that was so, so good.
George B. Thomas:So let's keep digging in here. You ever felt, and I know the answer is yes, but how else do you start the question? Have you ever faced moment where you felt underestimated, overlooked, maybe even out of place? And how did you handle that?
Christina Kay: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 I have I'm a confident person, and that is I know 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.
Christina Kay: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, but it actually really does. So where I knew that I didn't fit in or 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. 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.
Christina Kay:And those are the people I wanna be around, and those are the people that I wanna 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 it'll be there, but don't sacrifice your happiness for it.
George B. Thomas:Oof. Yeah. Don't sacrifice your happiness. Listen. It's funny.
George B. Thomas:You said it sounds kinda 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 Techstack 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 gonna feel out of place. You're gonna feel like a fish out of water.
George B. Thomas: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?
Christina Kay:I'm gonna go back to when I was laid off because that setback was pretty significant. But what I learned from it is that and I kinda pinned 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 wanna 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 all it's like, referring someone to a role, and then they're, like, real crappy.
Christina Kay: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 immersing myself into what I wanna 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 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. Also, it's a trust factor with that. It's not right away.
Christina Kay:You have to be 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, like, like romantic relationships, that's not the sort of 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.
Christina Kay: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 what I learned from that experience.
George B. Thomas: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 you, the viewer or 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?
George B. Thomas: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 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.
George B. Thomas: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.
George B. Thomas: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?
Christina Kay: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 wanna audit of you, you'll be able to empower others so much more easier, and it won't feel like work. Because there was a time where I felt like I was it was work to empower others, and I I had to do something. I had to make a video to inspire, and that was exhausting. And that only sucked my power and my empowerment of myself.
Christina Kay:And so I feel what I do to empower myself is just I journal a lot now. I I actually so I do videos because I'm really I'm big on how my, like, nonverbal cues are. And so seeing that and looking back and I, like, do it 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 a a fraud.
Christina Kay:I'm not saying I was ever a fraud, but they can sniff out when you're not truly being yourself. And I 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 on LinkedIn, like, earlier this year that I wrote basically all of AI, like, no Christina, like, twist at all. And she was like and she called me out on it.
Christina Kay:And I was at first, like, you know, but then I was like, girl, you you're right, though. Like, it's 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 kinda that were, like, tearing me down. So how who am I to put this post out to try to empower and 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.
Christina Kay: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.
Christina Kay: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 gonna empower this person today without you knowing you're empowering people
George B. Thomas:Yeah.
Christina Kay:With that, like, mindset.
George B. Thomas:Yeah. It's almost like empowerment becomes like a default state when I hear you kinda say this versus an action you're trying to take. And I gotta 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 gonna probably be very slim chances that that that can take place.
George B. Thomas:So, okay, we have a shared definition of empowerment. So, Christina, 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?
Christina Kay:Little backstory to how Troy and I got the hosting job for Inbound a couple years ago. Him and I had this idea to, like, pitch HubSpot this inbound three sixty five 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, like, Ecospace for a while.
Christina Kay: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 gonna send it over to the team. We were like, okay.
Christina Kay:Cool. So that came just us doing content creation. Like, that was when we like, awesome. We're gonna, like, be these, people interviewing people and whatever at inbound. And then came the email of, hey.
Christina Kay:We've talked internally, and we'd love for you guys to host inbound. And we were like, what? And this was this is 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.
Christina Kay: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 this 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, was like, oh, wow. Like, I do matter in this HubSpot community.
Christina Kay: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, like, 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.
Christina Kay: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.
George B. Thomas:Yeah. 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.
George B. Thomas: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 that you've 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 It's
Christina Kay:got goosebumps.
George B. Thomas: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 and I love that you even kinda tied it back to, like, it's the thing that, like, kept me going because I knew that I I mattered. And and at the end of the day, we as humans, we just wanna know that we matter. Oh, okay.
George B. Thomas:Christina, this is amazing. By the way, 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?
Christina Kay:I would change this is gonna sound awful. And I 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, like, 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, it has to have those, like, descriptive areas of it.
Christina Kay:So as much as I love love love love being, like, highlighted as, like, a top female on 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 you that's not nothing that you're doing because I know you as a person, and you are so whoever you are or whatever you are, you support and you wanna 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.
Christina Kay:Not even just, like, HubSpot, but the tech world or even in business. Like, see so many things like that. I was like, why why do you have to say that? Like, that's you 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 wanna, like, add to it, that's amazing.
Christina Kay: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 live 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 because people say, like, different quotas and things like that and that stuff. Wanna, like, wave a wand and get that
George B. Thomas:Yeah.
Christina Kay:Away because I'm tired of it.
George B. Thomas:Yeah. I 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 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.
George B. Thomas:Created equally. Yes. Yeah. Exactly. Like, let's just take it back to real basics.
George B. Thomas: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 kinda moving up into the mountain.
George B. Thomas: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.
Christina Kay:I am loving to see, and this is something that I haven't really done recently, but seeing the amount of companies coming up that are 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. I love to see that. And that also shows their own confidence. And, I mean, I don't wanna say AI because I feel like that's so over said with things.
Christina Kay: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 if one people wanna call it AI or whatever they wanna call it or, like, SQL or whatever. The possibilities that it's not even the 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.
Christina Kay: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 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 sales teams, to be very honest, because that area is people people don't know Sales Hub or even CRM in general that well, even if they've been on it forever, but you're in it in your day to day and you get so accustomed to doing what you're doing that and 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.
Christina Kay:It's overwhelming. It was it's been overwhelming for me to kinda 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 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 moments and, oh my gosh, I didn't know it it could do that.
Christina Kay: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.
Christina Kay: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 gotta 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.
Christina Kay: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.
George B. Thomas: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 moments and and the rate of change in 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 has has been crazy.
George B. Thomas: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. I was forcing myself to put eyeballs on what is changing because it it does come down to those 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.
George B. Thomas:Like, Christina, to you, how important is networking with other females or just networking in general? And there are any strategies that you do to kind of help build those connections along the way?
Christina Kay:Going back to the beginning of this, I come from a line of networkers. 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.
Christina Kay: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, will say inbound coming up in a few weeks, like, pace yourself. And that's any conference, and that's any networking event.
Christina Kay: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 you come home, and you're like, what 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 what I've been saying this whole time.
Christina Kay: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 work 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 gonna swear. I'm gonna 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.
Christina Kay:And I feel like I've always had that confidence to speak up in meetings as just who I've been at helping other women and even, I mean, anyone really, honestly, to speak up. And that's something for me is at net networking events now, I kind of look for people who who you can see they wanna 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.
Christina Kay: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.
Christina Kay: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.
George B. Thomas:Yeah. I love there's a couple of reoccurring themes. One, it's this idea of balance in the things that you do. Two, the importance of who you are in the things that you're actually doing. So, Christine, I've got a couple more questions.
George B. Thomas:Let's just kind of dive into these. What has been the most rewarding aspect of your career so far?
Christina Kay:As much as the layoff was my valley, that role, And I will say the role that I currently have is could quickly replace this answer.
George B. Thomas:Yeah.
Christina Kay:But we can follow-up in like a year.
George B. Thomas:There you go.
Christina Kay:I had a lot of wins because of how I showed up and how I 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 gen reports, like B2B marking technologists of the year. And then that was the same time with the HubSpot case study and the Panadot case study, and the ZoomInfo case study. There was so many great things 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.
Christina Kay:I'm not saying I'm chasing those case studies, but what I'm what I'm chasing is to prove 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.
Christina Kay: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 gonna be bigger and better. And I I'm excited because this momentum are snowballed, 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.
Christina Kay: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.
George B. Thomas: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 I what I want the viewers and listeners to take away is, Christina, you're trying to be able to have, like, the the greatest hits. Like, here's here's Christina's greatest hits because she wasn't a one hit wonder.
George B. Thomas:And I think there's so many humans out there that we we wanna 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.
George B. Thomas:What are your long term goals from here to wherever you're headed next?
Christina Kay:This answer is gonna 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.
Christina Kay:And I think this is gonna, again, not make 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. Like, fur fur kids, but not human children.
Christina Kay:I love human kids. But having that 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 this goes back to being a woman too, if we wanna really ground that out. And I I wanna 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 coworking space because I love going to coffee shops to work, but I can't bring my dogs.
Christina Kay: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 too.
George B. Thomas:Yeah. I don't think it's left field. It just aligns with what you wish there was for you. I'll be honest with you too. My daughters have dogs.
George B. Thomas:We have dogs. A little unknown fact about us is that we actually have a lot of dogs. Anyway, not here for
Christina Kay:my interview. I want a lot. Yeah.
George B. Thomas: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?
Christina Kay: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 creating a fantasy football league. And last year, we had two, and that I 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.
Christina Kay:That was really successful last year. I have, like, all of these, like, one zero one 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.
Christina Kay: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, and then these are 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'll be helpful. And so that's a fun unknown fact about me.
George B. Thomas: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 of my daughters do.
George B. Thomas: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.
George B. Thomas:Final question. We'll land this plane. Christina Kay, 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.
George B. Thomas:Success to me means blank.
Christina Kay:Success to me means being truly happy. And if you would have asked me that a couple of 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's a successful day if that's what you need.
Christina Kay:And for me, success is happiness.