Yvonne Chen

Had a great time chatting with Camille Ricketts and Mada Seghete about where AI is driving impact for Marketing teams, especially those targeting technical audiences. The fundamentals haven’t changed. Developers still want authentic, helpful content vs. the hard sell. Now we just have more tools to help them faster. Check out their full series - they have an awesome lineup of speakers on deck from a range of backgrounds and companies.

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Last week I had the chance to join a powerful conversation on The Female Quotient #FQLive panel, on anchoring our teams and ourselves as leaders in a world being fundamentally reshaped by AI. A huge thank you to my friend (and former colleague!) Heather Conklin and Maya Shankar for the brilliant insights, and joanne bradford for leading such a great chat. Here are the three key takeaways that are staying with me: Vulnerability is a Superpower: I’m absolutely done calling it a soft skill—it’s our biggest strategic advantage. As leaders, we must create the psychological safe space for our teams to experiment, take risks, and, ideally, fail and move forward. The courage to say, "I don't know" is the foundation of trust. Be the Calm, Embrace the Change: Change is scary, but resisting it means standing still, or worse, going backwards. Our role is to be the sense of calm for our teams, giving a clear vision of why we're climbing the mountain together. We need to lead with authenticity and stability in a chaotic world. Focus on the "Soul Work: At Workday, we know AI should make humans better. Let’s use it to automate the "salary work" and free up our teams for the "soul work"—deep strategy, creativity, and connection. We must invest in our authentic human selves. Loved being a part of this brilliant discussion! 🙏 #Leadership #Character #AgeofAI #Workday #TheFemaleQuotient #Vulnerability

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Turning Engineers into Influencers: A Repeatable System for Thought Leadership The best BD tool in technical services is not an ad. It is your engineers’ credibility. by Jenny K. Toole The problem Most firms agree SMEs are the most trusted voices. The challenge is bandwidth. People are busy, content is ad hoc, and drafts stall in review. You end up with a trickle of assets that do not support pursuits or move pipeline. Good news. There is a simple system you can run every quarter. The framework: Topic mining → SME briefing → 1-hour interview → content atomization → approval lane → distribution plan 1) Topic mining Start with demand signals: upcoming pursuits, client FAQs, RFP themes, regulatory moments, and win–loss notes. Score each idea on buyer value, proximity to revenue, and SME availability. Pick 3 to 5 topics for a 90-day cycle, mapped to target accounts or segments. 2) SME briefing Send a one-page brief 3 to 5 days before the interview: audience, business problem, desired outcome, five guiding questions. Confirm the use case you want: risk reduction, cost avoidance, time to value, or compliance assurance. 3) 1-hour interview Record one focused session with the SME and a facilitator. Use a buyer-first arc: Problem, Impact, Approach, Proof, Next Step. Capture specifics: before and after metrics, constraints, what changed operationally, what the client cared about most. Transcribe right away to speed drafting. 4) Content atomization From one interview, create a cohesive set: One technical paper or long-form article to anchor the theme One case study that shows the approach in the real world One webinar with the SME and a client-facing moderator Three short posts that pull highlights from the paper and case study Sales enablement: a one-slide solution narrative, a two-page brief, and three talk tracks for BD calls 5) Approval lane Predefine reviewers by asset type to prevent endless edits. Technical accuracy: SME and project manager Brand and positioning: marketing lead Legal and confidentiality: compliance owner Limit to two rounds. Use a checklist and a change log. Lock style rules for numbers, acronyms, and claims to cut friction. 6) Distribution plan Publish the anchor piece first. Release the case study within 7 days. Host the webinar within 21 to 30 days and align invites to ABM tiers. Repurpose into three short posts over 30 to 45 days, tag SMEs and partners. Enable BD with a short outreach email, a call script, and tracking codes for attribution. Need a jumpstart? DM me for a plug-and-play template and SME coaching steps. 💬 #ThoughtLeadership #ExecutiveLeadership #MarketingStrategy #GoToMarket #ABM #DemandGeneration #ContentMarketing #SalesEnablement #B2BMarketing #BrandStrategy #DigitalMarketing #MarketingImprovement

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Excited to share part two of my conversation with Rachel Botsman, this time digging into how trust is going to shape 2026. During our conversation we covered: 📈 Purchase decisions happening inside LLMs 💬 Language becoming the new trust currency 🧭 AI reshaping who (or what) we take advice from If you’re a marketer thinking about where trust, influence, and decision-making are heading, give this one a watch! 

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Tech doesn’t have to be lonely. SMBs are expected to scale like startups and secure like enterprises—often with a fraction of the resources. That’s why mentorship and real-world guidance matter just as much as the tech stack itself. This San Francisco Business Times piece echoes what we see every day: tools are just one piece of the puzzle. What really drives growth? Clarity, community, and making intentional tech decisions that actually serve the business. Because strong tech foundations aren’t a luxury. They’re what keep your momentum moving forward. https://lnkd.in/epGKeQrE  #SmallBusiness #TechStrategy #SMBsupport 

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Sierra partnered with Curative to build their AI voice agent that's creating faster, better experiences for members and providers while freeing up their team to focus on what matters most: building deeper relationships

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I hit my 3-month mark today at Xnurta. Here are 3 things I did differently to ramp quickly and deliver value 👇 This is the third time I’ve joined a company as a senior leader, and I’m happy to say I’ve learned a couple things with each experience. It’s tough to jump onto a moving train (or rocket ship), let alone get out in front and start leading. It’s especially hard to do that remotely. I’m going to skip over the stuff you can read in books like The First 90 Days (although you should def read that book if you’re starting a new role!) and go straight to the things you might not otherwise think about. Without further ado, here are my top 3 lessons to ramp quickly: 1/ Attend an event (early). On day 5 after joining, I found myself manning a 20x20’ booth at Prosper. It was terrifying but amazing. Why? Because I got to talk to a multitude of existing and prospective customers, I got to hear how our top sales reps pitch our solutions, and I got to see how our competitors position themselves. I also got to spend a full week with my new team, colleagues, CEO and founder. It was the best crash course possible. 2/ Ask “stupid” questions. Normally, I hate sounding like I don’t know what I’m talking about. But I’ve noticed a trend among high-performing execs: they ask really basic questions. Questions no one else has the guts to ask. And often those basic questions open up amazing insights. So I swallowed my fear of sounding ignorant and asked some simple questions. And guess what? More often than not, it opened the door to more open and honest conversations. Other times it revealed the need for further clarity or internal alignment. 3/ Slow down. In my last VP role, I started executing before I fully grasped what was needed for the business. I was so eager to deliver results that I jumped straight into things that, in hindsight, weren’t always optimal. This time I did my best to balance immediate deliverables with taking time to determine how marketing should support our business goals. I dove into the forecasts and budgets. I got to know my team, stakeholders and executives. I listened to sales calls. I audited past content. Our team is doing A LOT, but it’s work I believe will drive true business impact rather than “random acts of marketing.” And that’s because I’m viewing it from a position of understanding versus trying to prove my value. What are your favorite tips to ramp quickly into a new role? (Pic of me and the marketing team during an epic brainstorm) #careertips #90days

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