Women in Tech

mkeogh
HubSpot Moderator
HubSpot Moderator

Meet our Members | Interview with Stephanie Baiocchi

Stephanie Baiocchi, Director of Community & Events at IMPACT (and one half of the Chicago HubSpot User Group)

 avatar small baiocchi headshot.jpg

 



How did you start using HubSpot? Was it in your current role, or a different role?

 

I started using HubSpot in early 2013 at my first job which was with a company called Chicagoland Transportation Solutions (CTS). When I interviewed for the job, my boss and the owner of the company told me they had a 3 person team: sales, operations, and him. I’d be taking on all of the marketing including content, website, social, etc. and he had just bought a new software called HubSpot that I would be using. I was so excited and jumped right in starting with the HubSpot Academy resources that were available at the time. He was also working with an agency in Nashville called Inbound Marketing Agents. I got to have some coaching sessions with the legendary HubSpot alum Sam Mallikarjunan who, at the time, was working for this agency. He taught me the fundamentals of blogging and content optimization and we started tackling every aspect of inbound marketing from creating good old downloadable PDFs to CTAs on the website. I also went to INBOUND for the first time that year where I met other people using HubSpot which was the absolute coolest thing. 

 

Fast forward about a year to when I was offered a job doing similar work and with HubSpot at another company called in the medical waste disposal industry. I loved my job at CTS but wanted to keep growing and needed to be at a bigger company to have that opportunity. I worked there for a bit and eventually was offered a position at an agency, Duo Consulting, helping do their in-house marketing as well as helping clients with HubSpot. This was so exciting because I was going to get to help people the way Sam had initially helped me. 

 

While I loved working with clients, I eventually left Duo as they were being acquired by a larger company that focused on Drupal and open source web development and would no longer be working with HubSpot. Yes, I left the company because they were essentially no longer using HubSpot. 

 

From there I did in-house marketing for a company called Label Insight where I spent a lot of time integrating HubSpot and Salesforce and teaching our sales team how to use HubSpot’s sales tools including templates and sequences. I had attended INBOUND every year since 2013 but this was the first year applied to speak and I was chosen as a speaker! I was so happy to be following in the footsteps of one of the people who inspired me most (and one of the most popular speakers at INBOUND) author of They Ask You Answer, Marcus Sheridan. 

 

After about a year and a half at Label Insight I followed Marcus all the way to my current home at IMPACT. Marcus and IMPACT’s founder Bob Ruffolo joined forces and combined their agencies to become one of the top HubSpot partners out there. I was brought in to work on IMPACT’s marketing, community, and events. 

 

I’ve been at IMPACT for three years now and still use HubSpot every single day! From editing landing pages to creating sequences to segmenting with lists, I’m all over the platform all the time. I can’t imagine my life without HubSpot now.



Tell us a little bit about your company and your position.

 

I’m currently the Director of Community & Events at IMPACT and absolutely love it. IMPACT as an organization is focused on education both internally and for our clients. We’ve created IMPACT+, an online learning community which includes, among other things, virtual events. I’m involved in both bringing members together in the community and producing the virtual events. I also produce our previously in-person and soon-to-be-hybrid, annual event, Digital Sales & Marketing World. I can’t say enough good things about my job and my team at IMPACT. It’s absolutely the best job ever. 

 

What woman/women in technology inspire you?

 

One of the many reasons I love working at IMPACT is we have so many amazing women at our company. Our COO recently had a baby and while she was completely supported by the company she also doesn’t miss a beat even if it means bringing her baby to a meeting (which we all of course welcome!). It’s such a fantastic environment to work in. Women are valued, supported, and I really value that about IMPACT. 

 

My mom is another huge source of inspiration for me. She’s a photographer and the director of marketing for a lodge located at a state park in Illinois. She’s over 60 and is amazing at always being ready to learn whatever is new in technology and marketing. The day she set up her first green screen for her Zoom calls she sent me a photo right away. While she has a background in broadcast TV, there are still technical things in Zoom that could easily trip people up. But she’s always up for the challenge and takes learning new tech head on every time. 

 

Beyond IMPACT and my mom, there are many amazing women out there who inspire me but I’m not going to list off the big names you might assume. Sure, Reshma Saujani (Girls Who Code) is awesome. But honestly, truly, the people who inspire me are the people who are crushing it daily out here in the real world that I see constantly. The people who I see on LinkedIn asking thoughtful questions or sharing their struggles and how they’ve overcome them in Slack communities or our own IMPACT+ community. These are people who I’ve met at conferences, worked with in the past, or just follow online with dreams of meeting someday. 

 

Some of them include: 

Tammy Duggan-Herd https://twitter.com/tammy_herd

Angela O’Dowd https://www.linkedin.com/in/angiemarie/ 

Salma Jafri https://www.linkedin.com/in/salmajafri/ 

Kady White https://twitter.com/kadyjwhite

Kathleen Booth https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathleenslatterybooth/ 

Emma Sepke https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-sepke/ 

MK Getler https://www.linkedin.com/in/mkgetler/

Meghan Keaney Anderson https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghankeaney/ 

Molly Falco https://www.linkedin.com/in/mollyfalco/ 

Kaitlyn Pintarich https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaitlynpintarich/ 

Carolyn Barth https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynbarth/

Hope Bertram https://www.linkedin.com/in/hopebertram/ 

Carina Duffy https://www.impactplus.com/team/carina-duffy

Myriah Anderson https://www.impactplus.com/team/myriah-anderson 

Amelia Wilcox https://www.linkedin.com/in/ameliamwilcox/ 

Tiffany Sauder https://www.linkedin.com/in/tiffanysauder/ 

 

What resources would you recommend for other women in tech to listen / read? (Podcasts, books)

 

This may be a bit biased but anything by my teammate Liz Moorehead, Editor in Chief at IMPACT, is incredible. She has courses in IMPACT+ and is a speaker at most of our virtual events. She’s so captivating and hilarious but also such a great teacher. 

 

There are some good books and podcasts out there but my favorite way to learn is in communities. From Slack to Clubhouse to HubSpot’s Community, there are so many great people to learn from who are so accessible in this digital age and virtual world. Take advantage of that. 

 

What does the future of Women in Tech look like to you?

To me, the future of women in tech starts with more diverse speaker lineups at events. We go to these conferences to learn from inspiring industry experts and, while things are getting better, I still see many events with predominantly male lineups. This is particularly important to me as an event producer because I know I play a big part in making this happen.

 

Also, I think the future must still include celebrating women. Female CEOs, women who win awards in tech and business, women in leadership and even government should be celebrated. I’ve heard people say that it’s just what needs to happen so it shouldn’t be celebrated but I disagree. What we need to do is celebrate the women themselves, not just the conferences that book them or companies that hire them. Instead of praising YouTube for having a female CEO, praise Susan Wojcicki for being a female CEO. We should continue lifting up and celebrating the accomplishments of these women no matter what. That’s how we’ll inspire future generations of women to embrace leadership, technology, and making their voices heard. 

 

Meghann Keogh,
HUG Program Manager
6 Replies 6
sharonlicari
Community Manager
Community Manager

Meet our Members | Interview with Stephanie Baiocchi

I loved your experience @StephanieB! really inspiring!

 

I agreed with you and @jennysowyrda on we need to keep celebrating women's achievements! 🙂 I'm so lucky to work with amazing women in HubSpot and non HubSpot, I keep learning from them every day!

 

 


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Lucila-Andimol
Thought Leader | Platinum Partner
Thought Leader | Platinum Partner

Meet our Members | Interview with Stephanie Baiocchi

Thanks @jennysowyrda for tagging me on this.

And a special thanks for @StephanieB for sharing her experience.

Without wanting to sound cliché, being a woman in the business world is still a difficult task.
It took me many years to earn my position, to prove that I am as or more capable than a man.
Many cultures are still macho, and I still have to deal with macho clients,

but I've learner and managed to assert myself and earn their respect. I talk about a lot of this with Mali Diez ☺️
In Andimol, my agency, today we are a majority of women, not because we want to set an example or draw attention to ourselves, but because I have really found in our current team my right hands, women really committed to their work,

and that makes me very happy.


I would love to connect with all of you and continue these talks!

Let's keep shining and making us proud!

 

 

María Lucila Abal | COO Andimol
HubSpot Expert, Community Champion & Certified Trainer (12+ years)

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StephanieB
Contributor | Elite Partner
Contributor | Elite Partner

Meet our Members | Interview with Stephanie Baiocchi

Absolutely! It's still definitely difficult. I'm lucky to work for an amazingly supportive organization but I see my friends and peers still struggling and I struggle outside my organization. I'm also so happy to hear your current team is so great!

0 Upvotes
jennysowyrda
Community Manager
Community Manager

Meet our Members | Interview with Stephanie Baiocchi

Thank you for sharing @StephanieB for the great writeup and @mkeogh for sharing! 

 

Your closing thought really stuck with me: "What we need to do is celebrate the women themselves...Instead of praising YouTube for having a female CEO, praise Susan Wojcicki for being a female CEO. We should continue lifting up and celebrating the accomplishments of these women no matter what." -  I couldn't agree more. I am thankful HubSpot is providing a platform for women to have these conversations and a space to celebrate and champion women in tech. 

 

I appreciate you sharing your thoughts on this subject! 

 

I want to tag in @Lucila-Andimol@Crystal_Hopper, and @sharonlicari who I think would also enjoy this piece! 

StephanieB
Contributor | Elite Partner
Contributor | Elite Partner

Meet our Members | Interview with Stephanie Baiocchi

Thanks so much, Jenny! 

0 Upvotes
StephanieB
Contributor | Elite Partner
Contributor | Elite Partner

Meet our Members | Interview with Stephanie Baiocchi

Thanks @mkeogh ! If anyone wants to chat or has questions hit me up here 🙂