Since I joined LinkedIn in 2012, I've went through many changes in my role and career which have brought me to the professional marketer I am today. Credit goes to my team and managers!
My name is Pascale Comaty – and I’m the marketing manager for MENA based out of Dubai. I joined LinkedIn a year an 10 months ago and today I wanted to share with you how I transformed myself in the last 3 years
First I wanted to share a quote from one of my favorite movies into the wild – I truly believe that every experience will enrich you and teach you something new wether good or bad and do today I’m going to highlight 5 lessons I’ve learnt from my transformation
Ok so my journey began in 2010 the year I took a leap of faith
it kind of felt like this
It’s the year where I left my home town lebanon and moved to
The city of love. Paris
I continued my studies in Paris and eventually joined Orange for a one year internship. . I spent 2 amazing years in Paris, met great people and discovered a whole new life in Europe. For me it was a big deal to leave my family but also my country, I was very attached to the people and the culture and leaving meant leaving part of myself there, but this was probably the best decision I’ve ever made.
Which brings me to m y first lesson learnt: Take intelligent risks. You’d be surprised by the results
So I spent my 2 years in Paris and then in July 2012, I went on to my next destination. The big smoke or London
I moved to London
And I was actively looking for a job. So I reached out to my boss at my previous company, Bruce who happened to know Christina Jenkins, head of insights for EMEA. Initially I was asked to interview for a role in dublin, in the insights team, but I really wanted to stay in London so I didn’t proceed with the interviews A few month months after, I was contacted by the recruiter for a marketing coordinator role so I interviewed and
I got In! I was based in
I felt like the luckiest kid in town. I met so many people in just a few days, it was a enriching and I was delighted to kick off my career
Which brings me to my second lesson: relationships matter, if I hadnt reach out to my previous manager at Orange, I might have never joined LinkedIn, and landed my dream job.
So I joined the UK team and from this point onward it was all about learning. Learning
At that time, Laurence’s team was covering both LMS, LTS and Consumer, so I had to juggle by head between the different lines of business. I was lucky enough to have a great manager, amy who guided and was patient enough throughout the process. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for her when she was doing this by herself.
But then the UK team grew and Cliona joined the team. This is amy cliona, gary the introduer and me. We were now focusing on talent solutions marketing for the UK.
The emea team doubled in size too! And so did our targets which meant better planning, better alignment, better results.
And so my lesson learnt as part of the UK marketing team was demanding excellence. In a mature market and an ambitious team, we had to make sure we delivered great campaigns which led to great results
London was amazing but the rain and weather werent working for me and In January 2014, the sun called me up and I has the opportunity to take on a new role in Dubai
Now if you’ve been to Dubai, you’d notice that it is completely different from Europe. It’s full of contradictions as you can see in this picture and It’s quite hard to understand how this country works. To be honest, I was a bit hesitant at the beginning, I wasn’t sure I could stand the 45degrees heat but LinkedIn made me an offer I couldn’t refuse! So I took it !
I know had the full responsibility for marketing in MENA. It was exciting!
When I joined the team, there was less than 15 people but the team is growing fast. I’ve noticed how important it is during this growth phase to collaborate. It’s still easy to just sit all together and share our learnings and get feedback on the work you’ve done. The team has big objectives so it’s important to understand where the sales team needs our support and I everyday I get a new suggestion or request from a sales rep which is great but can also be quite overwhelming
So every now and then, I try to find myself again and do what I love to do which is climbing. Yes there are rocks in the UAE its not just desert!
I try my best to switch off and go outdoors during the weekend- it’s a bit more complicated now that it’s 40 degrees outside.
My lesson from the past 6 months as a marketing manager is to always be open honest and constructive. And you can only do that if you actually take time to reenergise yourself doing what you love
And to finish I think that everything I’ve experienced till now has transformed me
And has made me more daring. Last month I was invited to speak at event and public speaking is not my number one strength lets say. But Ali the head of sales for MENA and Laurence both encouraged to go for it so I did. And it felt great to go up and represent LinkedIn for the first time.
I’ve also become more compassionate. The MENA team is now composed of 2 marketers! Zeina actually joined as a marketing coordinator and is doing a great job. I used to be in her shoes a few years ago so I’m able to relate to what she’s going through and I can help her get on board faster.
And finally I’ve become more grateful, for a wonderful team and for this opportunity to grow my career and myself
And this comes back to my last lesson that relates to member first. I was just a member on Linkedin looking for the right opportunity and I had the chance to land the perfect job and start an amazing journey
I’m hanging in Dubai for a couple of years, but where my next play will be?