Alumni Spotlight: Wanda Newman-Johnson

Wanda is a Digital Marketing Channel Director for Fiserv, where she drives revenue through creating and executing digital marketing and lead generation campaigns for Fiserv's partners. She is responsible for developing online advertising and email marketing campaigns, as well as providing other digital assets to the company’s partners. Prior to joining Fiserv, Wanda worked for Verizon Wireless for thirteen years, where she had various roles in digital marketing, branding, segmentation and marketing communications.

How has your learning been applicable in your profession?

One of the things I was tasked with while I was at Verizon was helping the paid search team be more effective in terms of their spend. They were spending millions of dollars a year, but were on a trajectory to try and improve that. With what I learned from the program I was able to help the team be able to drive what we were doing through data by looking at the customers, specifically what and how the information and content were displayed to them. Through our efforts we were able to be one of the number one channels in terms of digital marketing, which was a success I felt really proud of.

What motivated you to pursue these programs?

Digital Marketing: I was already in Digital Marketing at the time, and most of my training was on-the-job training. We were going through a big digital transformation and I felt it was important for me to get some hands-on, real-time knowledge from a class to help with my training.

Customer-Centric Management: I know how important it is to understand who your customer is and what drives their behavior, so I wanted to take this program because we were looking at customer journeys and creating experiences to really delight the customer.

Data-Driven Management: We were using data analytics a lot to analyze the campaigns and drive our business objectives and decisions, so I wanted to take a step back and look at what was really going on in terms of being data-driven and how to use data to your advantage.

How has completing these programs helped you to be more effective in your career?

I made sure that each time I took a class that I took that learning and started using it immediately. I was using the knowledge from the programs on a day-to-day basis already, but it helped me accelerate how I was using it and how I talked about it, while also allowing me to help my fellow colleagues accelerate their learning in those areas as well. Now not only did I have on-the-job training but I also had educational training, and I was able to implement that by taking those tools and utilizing them immediately when I came back to the organization, and to use them at a higher level.

What does the term "Reinvent" mean to you?

To me, reinvent means your ability to reinvent yourself, or to reinvent how you move about in your professional and personal life. One of the things I always challenge people with is the idea that if you don’t have knowledge in a particular area, you can’t be successful or get a job in that area. I debunk this all the time because I believe that if a person has a brain and if they have the desire, the passion, and the ability to learn, they can do anything they put their mind to. If you want to reinvent yourself and if you want to stay relevant, I feel it’s important for you to have a competitive advantage. Technology and access to data are changing rapidly, so it’s necessary for you to change just as rapidly as that.

What does the term lifelong learning mean to you?

Throughout your life you should improve on your competencies and improve on your knowledge and skills, whether it be through taking workshops or through reading. I feel that it’s important to be on a path of lifelong learning because I think it’s really easy to get caught up in on-the-job training without taking advantage of stepping back and learning something, so I’m always on that journey of lifelong learning. No one can take that away from you; it’s something that helps you grow as an individual, it helps you grow in your community, and it helps you grow as a citizen.

In looking back on your program experiences, what stands out to you?

The caliber of the professors really stood out, and I enjoyed having a good cross perspective of the different views of the professors as well as the ability to interact with colleagues from different organizations and realms. It was good working with other professionals and being able to understand the trajectory of digital marketing - that it ebbed and flowed, that things were changing rapidly, and that everybody was experiencing the same thing.