When I look back at my journey of growing and leading teams, I see a story of transformation—of people, processes, and collaboration. It wasn’t just about increasing headcount or restructuring; it was about building a culture where teams worked seamlessly across functions, shared a unified vision, and delivered impactful outcomes.

This is how I did it.

Forming the Right Team: From Fragmentation to Cohesion

Early on, I recognized that fragmented teams and siloed functions hinder progress. I had to bring people together—not just physically but strategically and culturally.

• I started by identifying the right talent mix—ensuring we had the necessary expertise in UX, analytics, product, and engineering.

• I created a hiring roadmap, focusing on both skill and cultural fit. The goal was to bring in people who not only excelled at their craft but also thrived in a collaborative environment.

• I emphasized integration, bringing existing team members into the fold, ensuring they saw the value in working together as a unit.

One of my key initiatives was setting up in-person and virtual team-building activities. I knew that in a distributed team, regular touchpoints mattered. We began hosting team off-sites, where we could step away from the day-to-day and align on big-picture goals. These sessions became instrumental in building relationships, sparking new ideas, and breaking down barriers between teams.

Creating a Cross-Functional Powerhouse

Bringing a team together was just the beginning. The real challenge was making sure we functioned as one, even while operating across different time zones and areas of expertise.

I structured the team into four core pillars:

1. Analytics Operations: The foundation—handling data acquisition, automation, and ensuring that clean, actionable data was available for decision-making.

2. Activation & Optimization: Working closely with marketing teams—social media, email, events—to improve performance and optimize strategies.

3. Marketing Effectiveness: The strategic layer—ensuring that every marketing effort was measured for its true impact on sales, engagement, and brand recognition.

4. Project Management & Governance: Bringing structure—prioritizing initiatives, managing cross-functional requests, and ensuring alignment with larger business goals.

This structure helped eliminate redundancy, created clear ownership, and improved our ability to deliver results.

Instilling a Culture of Collaboration and Continuous Learning

Scaling isn’t just about numbers—it’s about culture. I wanted a team where knowledge-sharing, innovation, and problem-solving were embedded into the daily workflow.

To do this, I introduced several key rituals:

• Cross-functional reviews: Weekly sessions where design, data, and product teams discussed ongoing projects and gathered feedback.

• Show & Tell Fridays: A platform for the team to share wins, experiments, and learnings.

• UX & Analytics Workshops: Bi-weekly sessions where team members upskilled each other on new tools and methodologies.

• Structured Onboarding: I designed a detailed onboarding plan for new hires to ensure they ramped up quickly and felt connected from day one.

These initiatives did more than just improve our work—they strengthened our relationships, encouraged collaboration, and built a sense of shared purpose.

Standardizing Strategy: The Birth of the Impact Framework

With a strong team in place, the next challenge was ensuring consistency in how we measured success. The reality was, different regions and teams were measuring marketing effectiveness differently, making it difficult to compare results and optimize strategies.

That’s when I led the creation of the Impact Framework—a standardized methodology for evaluating marketing efforts across channels and regions.

• We defined clear metrics based on campaign goals—whether it was brand recognition, engagement, or conversion.

• We ensured that both North America and EMEA teams followed the same structure, allowing leadership to get a unified view of performance.

• We worked with data teams to automate reporting, ensuring that decision-makers had access to real-time insights.

This framework was a game-changer. It not only streamlined how we measured marketing impact but also made reporting more transparent and actionable.

Navigating Challenges: Merging Cultures and Managing Expectations

Scaling a global team wasn’t without its hurdles.

• Cultural differences: North America and EMEA had different ways of working, and I had to bridge the gap. I took the time to understand regional nuances and customized processes without losing consistency.

• The pace of change: Leadership wanted rapid execution, but true transformation takes time. I managed expectations while ensuring we delivered incremental wins along the way.

• Data maturity: Many marketing metrics weren’t automated, which meant manually collecting and cleaning data until we could invest in automation.

Through transparent communication, stakeholder alignment, and iterative improvements, we overcame these challenges and set a foundation for long-term success.

Taking Ownership: Project Management & Governance

One of the most critical projects I took charge of was the Adobe Analytics implementation. The goal was to transition from Google Analytics to Adobe Analytics by May-June, but the initiative was falling behind.

• Consultants had failed to deliver, wasting months with no progress.

• Leadership needed a strong PM to step in and drive execution.

I took ownership, stepping in as the interim project manager to ensure the project stayed on track. I coordinated stakeholders, set clear timelines, and removed roadblocks.

By establishing structure and accountability, we got the project back on track and ensured a successful rollout.

Scaling the Team & Setting Up for Future Success

As we continued to grow, I focused on long-term scalability:

• Governance models: Standardizing processes and decision-making frameworks.

• Automation initiatives: Reducing manual work and improving efficiency.

• Cross-team alignment: Ensuring that marketing, analytics, and product teams operated in sync.

Today, the team is stronger, more collaborative, and better equipped to tackle new challenges. But more importantly, we built a culture of shared ownership, innovation, and impact.

Final Thoughts

Scaling a team isn’t just about increasing numbers. It’s about building a vision, structuring collaboration, and creating a space where people can do their best work.

Looking back, I’m proud of how we went from fragmented teams to a global powerhouse, from disconnected strategies to a unified impact framework, and from stalled projects to successful execution.

But this is just the beginning. The best teams are always evolving, always improving, and always learning. And I’m excited for what’s next.