Pledge 1%'s #WomenWhoLead series celebrates female leaders who are paving the way for the next generation. While our featured leaders come from a variety of backgrounds and industries, they are united in their efforts to promote equality for all women in the workplace. We’ve asked them to share a bit about their journey to success, as well as lessons they’ve learned along the way.
Natasa Marinkovic
Vice President of Marketing, Atrium
Sanford, Florida, United States
What is your current role? Briefly describe in 1-2 sentences.
I am responsible for leading Atrium’s marketing strategy by working across all departments to align marketing efforts with overall business goals while building and maintaining our brand image and driving customer acquisition and engagement.
This year's International Women's Day theme is "Embrace Equity." What does this mean to you? How can we build workplaces that are more equitable and inclusive?
To me embracing equity means not only acknowledging that different circumstances lead to different outcomes and opportunities for people, but also being part of driving change. For most businesses the easiest place to start is providing diversity and inclusion training to create more awareness about unconscious bias and educating on the difference between equity vs equality. That awareness alone often inspires inclusion councils that want to drive change and from there the main goal should be to support and enable them to do so.
Do you have any mentors or role models who have helped you on your personal journey?
I’ve been lucky enough to have many mentors and role models and I’ve been blessed to have leaders who allowed me to take on various roles and carve out a career path for myself based on my interests as opposed to boxing me into a standard career path. This experience has clarified that I am very passionate about marketing and the previous sales and business development experience has made me a better marketer.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
Growth happens with every mistake you make, whether you realize it at the time or not.
The past few years have brought many new and unprecedented challenges. What keeps you motivated or inspires you to stay optimistic?
What really inspires me as we navigate change is the resilience that is born from it. Seeing people come together for support, to innovate, and find new ways to solve problems keeps me motivated. What specifically keeps me optimistic is the small acts of kindness that you can find in the midst of any terrible situation or headline. You just have to look for them.
Pledge 1% helps companies of all sizes and stages leverage their assets for social good. Why do you think it's important that companies prioritize social impact? Do you have any specific stories or examples from your work or colleagues you can share?
Companies have a platform that individuals don’t necessarily have. They can contribute to the sustainable development of their communities and the world by leveraging that platform to create awareness and opportunities for individuals to come together and create change.
There’s one story in particular that comes to mind for me. Recently, Atrium worked with Housing Development Alliance, Inc. (HDA) to improve their Salesforce infrastructure in order to better support their response to flash flooding in Kentucky that caused damage to over 2,000 homes and businesses in late July. You can read the full story on Atrium’s website: https://atrium.ai/resources/how-hda-quickly-supported-flood-victims-with-improved-salesforce-infrast...
If you could describe yourself in one word what would that be and why?
Open-minded. I want to always be open to trying new things, taking on new challenges, and also be a safe space for those around me. In order to do those things, I have to be open-minded.
What are you looking forward to this year? Are there any goals (personal or professional), activities, or experiences you are excited about?
Watching my daughter transition from infant to toddler has been delightful! She's got such a fun personality and I can't wait to see what she'll be into as she starts exploring more of the world. In caring for her, I have been gifted the opportunity to view the world with a fresh perspective and it has allowed me to appreciate the small things in life, like stopping to smell the roses. I'm excited for more of that this year!
