Community Advisor Spotlight: Katja Keesom

Jon_Chen
Marketo Employee
Marketo Employee

In this spotlight series, we interview @Katja_Keesom, who is a Community Advisor for the Marketing Nation Community. Katja is a Senior MarTech Consultant at Chapman Bright BV, based out of Oosterhout, The Netherlands. Read her spotlight below to learn about how she got started in Marketo, her advice for Marketo novices, and more! 

 

 

What was your first job? 

After university I was actually looking for inspiration and worked at a Tobacco wholesaler for a while, before starting a role as Analyst in the Commercial department of DHL Express. That proved to be the environment I would do well in, as I stayed with the company for more than 20 years.


How and when did you get started with Marketo Engage?

What was your first role and initial reaction to the platform? At DHL Express Netherlands, I had been in a database marketeer role for several years, without any automation tools. I don’t give up easy, so leveraging tools like Excel and SPSS I managed to get some processes running “being my own automation engine”. When the Global Marketing team were looking to migrate from the old tools to a Marketing Automation Platform, they asked me to be involved in the platform selection process and set up of the pilot, which was run in my country. It was a great joy to see that a tool like Marketo could actually add the automation to run what was in my mind at scale. Very exciting!


What is your favorite thing to do in Marketo and why? 

Running checks on the database and finding opportunities to optimize background processes. It can be very satisfying to optimize performance and improve data quality.


Throughout your Marketo career, what are you most proud of? 

Being able to jumpstart so many users’ journey in Marketo around the world.


What piece of advice would you give to someone who is just starting a career with Marketo?  

Don’t be daunted. Start with learning the basics and trust that between your growing experience, the documentation you hopefully have in your organization and the community you will learn really quickly.

 

What did you want to be when you grew up?  

Myself, really.

 

Your house is burning down...what do you grab first? 

My phone I’m afraid.


If someone gave you $5 million tomorrow, what would you do? 

Spend my time supporting local initiatives in my hometown.

 

If you could have an endless supply of any food, what would it be?

Button mushrooms.

 

What is your hidden talent?

Giving others the chance to shine.


What is your guilty pleasure?

Going for a nice long walk, alone with my thoughts.


What is your most prized possession?

Pictures, they are the memories of all the special moments of my lifetime.

 

 

Connect with @Katja_Keesom:

Katja-Keesom-2021-1080x1080.jpg

 

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1 Comment
Balkar_Singh
Level 9 - Community Advisor + Adobe Champion

Great context - Would be keen for your thoughts on one of my question!