Inside Horizontal: Ashley Dodge

Next up in our Inside Horizontal series, we head over to our marketing team to meet Vice President of Global Marketing, Ashley Dodge. Ashley says her favorite part of her job is that, “I get to solve new problems every day, many of which impact the lives of our employees, our customers, and their customers.”

Tell us about your background and what led you to start working at Horizontal

I have a deep passion for process improvement and customer experience which led to many fun years as a CRM and Digital Marketing Consultant. As a consultant I helped drive enterprise level change through the optimization of processes, alignment of teams, and technology configured to remove friction -- providing employees and customers with a better experience.

What industries have you focused on?

I've worked across many industries including Healthcare & Life Sciences, Banking, Hospitality, and Higher Education.

What personal or professional accomplishments are you most proud of?

I have had the chance to work on a lot of great teams and deliver a lot of cool projects for customers. But one of the moments that makes me the most proud was when I organized a hackathon to build a website for a non-profit that I am passionate about, Kenya Community Education and Action (KCEA).  KCEA provides scholarships for Maasai girls in rural Kenya, where girls are often unable to remain in school beyond 8th grade. In less than 48 hours we sourced the content and imagery, and designed a site that supported the non-profits biggest needs; to connect with donors and process donations online. In the first year alone, the non-profit tripled the number of students they could sponsor!

Why you are excited to join Horizontal?

Horizontal offers an incredible product -- it's people. Everyday I get to work alongside world class digital strategists and recruiting experts that understand the importance of each customer touch point. There is never a shortage of people to collaborate and brainstorm with because we are all focused on the same thing -- building amazing experiences for our customers, and our customer's customer.

Who are your role models and mentors?

I have had a lot of mentors over the years. All relationships can help us grow in some way so I look at mentorship at 3 different levels and believe each is equally important. To me it's important to always be surrounded by; someone who you can teach, someone who understands where you are today, and someone who can help you get where you are going. Indy has a thriving community of professionals, both in marketing and in tech, I feel lucky to be able to connect with several strong, local, leaders regularly. Karen Mangia VP, Customer & Market Insights Salesforce and author of Success With Less is one of those great local leaders- she is constantly engaging with other women in sales and tech. She has been a great sounding board and champion for me as I have grown in my role as a leader.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

I love to travel! From spontaneous weekend trips to bike or hike around Indiana's state parks to our recent road trip touring Iceland - I love the free time my brain gets while riding in the car and even more the feeling of exploring a new place for the first time.

What is your dream vacation destination?

I truly enjoy planning a trip to a new place so my next "dream vacation" is always changing. Although, lately I've been dreaming of making the great trip out West to check out Yellowstone, Grand Teton, & Glacier National Parks.

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