Recorded IRL at Pavilion’s GTM2025, Washington DC!

Amanda McGuckin Hager has worn many hats in her career—sales, marketing, fractional consulting—and today she holds two big ones: CMO and CRO at TrueDialog. After starting out in sales and quickly realizing her heart was in marketing, Amanda built a path through Austin’s B2B tech community, leading teams, experimenting with growth plays, and eventually taking on dual leadership of sales and marketing.

In this episode, we unpack Amanda’s journey, her approach to building strong cultures without “duds,” why she’s protective of her CMO title, and how she’s testing AI and search in practical, creative ways.

Here’s what we cover:

• Amanda’s early pivot from sales into marketing (and why it stuck)
• What it really looks like to be both CMO and CRO at the same time
• Resetting a sales org from comp plans to quotas to team structure
• Why fewer silos and more shared accountability reduce finger pointing
• How to spot (and avoid) “duds” when building teams
• The role of fun and positivity in high-performing leadership
• Fractional marketing lessons: variety, freedom, and choosing clients
• Why Amanda protects the CMO title (even while running sales)
• Experiments with LLM optimization, long-tail queries, and AI tools
• Guarding deep work time with “no meeting” blocks and shitty first drafts

Key Links:

Guest: Amanda McGuckin Hager: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda/

Host: Jane Serra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janeserra/

Recorded live from Pavilion's GTM2025: https://attendgtm.com/

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**Originally published on October 16, 2024**

This replay features the brilliant Liza Adams - AI advisor, fractional CMO, and one of the top 50 CMOs to watch in 2024. We talked about her journey from Manila to Michigan, why gratitude fuels her leadership, and how she’s spent 20+ years helping B2B tech companies elevate marketing from “tactical” to truly strategic.

Liza’s perspective on AI, trust, and building defensible moats is refreshing and practical - I left this convo inspired and with about ten new quotes for my wall.

- Jane

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In this episode of Women in B2B Marketing, host Jane Serra sits down with Liza Adams, AI advisor and fractional CMO. Liza shares how her engineering roots shaped her early entry into AI, and why she’s passionate about marketing’s role as a strategic driver of business growth (not just the “campaigns and events team”).

This episode covers:

• Liza’s journey from immigrant roots in the Philippines to tech executive in the U.S.
• Why marketing must reclaim its North Star: deep customer understanding
• The three passions guiding her career: elevating marketing’s strategic value, championing diverse voices, and using business as a force for good
• Practical frameworks for evaluating product-market fit and building defensible moats
• How AI can shrink research cycles, spark alignment, and elevate marketers from tacticians to strategists
• Trust as the ultimate differentiator - why “brand building” is really “trust building”
• Examples of how teams are using custom GPTs to boost productivity and decision-making
• Her advice to CMOs in today’s “pressure cooker” environment

Liza also shares the golden rule of modern marketing: be an amazing human first, then an amazing marketer. (yesssssss!!)

Key Links:

Guest: Liza Adams: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lizaadams/

Host: Jane Serra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janeserra/

Discussed in Episode:

Disrupt or Be Disrupted: AI's Verdict on Your Product's Defensibility

Competitive Defensibility Analyzer GPT

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Paige Tills didn’t set out to be a marketer. After starting in international relations and higher ed, she pivoted into business development at #samsales - where she built her way into marketing and ultimately grew into the role of VP of Marketing. Paige has built her role from the ground up, shaping the company’s content engine, experimenting with paid and organic channels, and scaling what started as one newsletter into a multi-channel brand presence.

In this conversation, we dive into Paige’s journey, her lessons learned on newsletters, social, ads, webinars, YouTube, and AI, and what it takes to market with personality, precision, and scrappiness.

Here’s what we cover:

• Saying yes to pivots and building a career in unexpected places
• How #samsales scaled from one newsletter to a full content ecosystem
• Zero-click content and why click-through isn’t always the goal
• LinkedIn ads, thought-leader campaigns, and what not to do with targeting
• YouTube lessons: shorts, long-form, and CTAs that actually work
• Why founder-led brands win - and what to do if you don’t have one
• Making webinars engaging without the slide deck snoozefest
• Early AI + LLM experiments: traffic, Wikipedia, and Reddit potential
• The role of personal storytelling and motherhood moments on LinkedIn

Key Links:

Guest: Paige Tills: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paige-tills/

Host: Jane Serra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janeserra/

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Michelle Denogean has one of those careers that makes you stop and take notes. From dreaming of Super Bowl ads to running marketing at eHarmony and Edmunds, advising dozens of startups, writing a book, and now leading as CMO at Mindtrip—she’s lived the full spectrum of B2B and B2C.

In this conversation, we dig into what’s working in B2B marketing today, how to scale reputation and relationships, and the career lessons Michelle learned the hard way (and turned into her leadership superpower).

Here’s what we cover:

• Why “reputation” resonates more than “brand” with startup founders
• Customer-as-hero marketing and the power of relationships in B2B
• Scrappy (not crappy!) ways to build brand without big budgets
• How to “punch above your weight” as a startup and look bigger than you are
• The decline of email as a pure demand channel (and what to do instead)
• Why culture is your frontline brand asset
• How tough feedback reshaped Michelle’s leadership style
• Breaking out of the box: taking on projects beyond your role
• Networking early and outside your company to open career doors

This one is packed with practical takeaways and some real talk about the realities of leading teams, advising founders, and building reputation in 2025.

Key Links:

Guest: Michelle Denogean: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelledenogean/

Host: Jane Serra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janeserra/

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**Originally published on April 12, 2023**

This episode features the one and only Thao Ngo - SVP of Marketing at Uptempo and a total gem of a leader. We talked about building team culture across time zones, leading through three back-to-back acquisitions, and why she ditched PR and the company podcast (and what’s actually working instead).

Thao’s smart, hilarious, and brutally honest in the best way. One of my fave convos.

- Jane

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In this episode of Women in B2B Marketing, host Jane Serra interviews Thao Ngo, SVP of Marketing at Uptempo. Thao shares her unique journey from early-career marketing student to global marketing leader - and the lessons she’s learned from decades in high tech, M&A chaos, and building high-performing, human-first teams.

This episode covers:

• Leading through three acquisitions (and merging tools, teams, and time zones)
• The chaos and lessons of combining CRMs, MAPs, websites, and work cultures
• How to actually build team culture on Zoom (hint: not forced virtual lunches)
• Why they paused their podcast, PR, and newsletter, and what’s working better
• The live, no-recording MOPs huddles that build real community
• Her onboarding playbook, including a slide on "how to work with the CMO"
• Burnout prevention tips like calendar audits, Slack boundaries, and no-meeting blocks
• How Thao uses Slack photos and custom statuses to lead with personality
• What it's like to lead as an Asian woman in tech, and how she speaks up when it counts

Thao also shares why building trust and being yourself is the most powerful tool a marketer can have.

Key Links:

Guest: Thao Ngo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thaongo/

Host: Jane Serra: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janeserra/

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In this episode of Women in B2B Marketing, Jane Serra sits down with Neha Verma, founder of the Partner Marketing Community and a 15+ year marketing leader, to explore the evolving world of partner marketing.

Neha shares her journey from studying economics in New Zealand to becoming a global voice in partner marketing - and how an “accidental” career move turned into her passion and purpose.

Together, Jane and Neha dive into:

• How Neha pivoted from economics into marketing and discovered a career in partner marketing
• The story behind the Partner Marketing Community and why it’s intentionally focused on collaboration, not selling
• Why partner marketing is resurging as companies lean on ecosystem growth and relationships
• The top challenges for partner marketers today: budget cuts, AI adoption, and navigating layoffs
• Why partner marketing is a critical revenue driver that should never be first on the chopping block
• How to measure partner marketing impact when attribution is messy (and why “marketing vs sales credit” should end)
• The role of partner enablement and field marketing in staying top-of-mind and driving account growth
• How to manage partnerships when a partner goes silent - and when it’s time to move on
• Neha’s advice for marketers: focus on impact, people, and health more than titles

If you’ve ever wondered how to thrive in partner marketing, build stronger collaborations, or simply get off the “marketing vs sales credit” hamster wheel, this conversation is packed with insights you can put to work.

Key Links:

Guest: Neha Verma – LinkedIn

Host: Jane Serra – LinkedIn

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In this episode of Women in B2B Marketing, Jane Serra sits down with Sheevaun Thatcher, VP of Revenue Enablement at Demandbase, to unpack what enablement really means when done right.

With decades of experience spanning pre-sales, sales, and enablement leadership, Sheevaun shares the lessons learned from building programs that actually move the needle on productivity, retention, and revenue influence. Far from “just training” or “content delivery,” her approach treats enablement as a true business within a business - complete with strategy, investors, and measurable outcomes.

Jane and Sheevaun dive into:

• Sheevaun’s career path from pre-sales into enablement and the lessons learned through each “version” of enablement she built
• What revenue enablement really means (hint: it touches everyone who influences revenue, not just sales)
• The difference between being responsible to sales versus responsible for revenue
• The five key questions that keep enablement focused on what matters most
• The four pillars of enablement: GTM clarity, aligned content, just-in-time training, and tribal knowledge
• How to align enablement with marketing and product to ensure content is actually adopted and useful in customer conversations
• Why “standard demos” and “budget questions” don’t work - and better approaches to both
• The role of coaching, why high performers don’t always make strong managers, and how to train managers to actually coach
• How AI and just-in-time enablement are changing how sellers learn and apply skills
• When a company is really ready for enablement (and why your first hire should be senior, not junior)

Key Links:

Guest: Sheevaun Thatcher – LinkedIn

Host: Jane Serra – LinkedIn

Sheevaun's LinkedIn Articles Mentioned:

• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/r2n4-enablement-keystone-sheevaun-thatcher-cpc-tsqcc/
• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-5-fave-enablement-questions-sheevaun-thatcher-cpc-xr7gf/

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In this episode of Women in B2B Marketing, Jane Serra chats with Ashley Artrip, GTM Engineering Manager at Clay, author of Career Design, and host of Career Advice You Never Got, to demystify one of the fastest-emerging roles in revenue: go-to-market engineering.

Ashley shares her unconventional path from career coaching and entrepreneurship to helping companies architect systems that accelerate growth and create better buying experiences. From her work at Clay (where GTM engineering was born) to her own startup journey, she reveals why intentionality and creative problem-solving are at the heart of every successful go-to-market motion.

Jane and Ashley cover:

• What GTM engineering actually is – and why it’s not just “rev ops with a new name”
• How to design systems that reduce friction across marketing, sales, and customer success
• Real-world examples of value-led prospecting from brands like Canva and Vanta
• Why GTM engineers need both systems chops and business acumen
• The role AI plays in building smarter, more efficient revenue processes
• When to hire your first GTM engineer (and when to recognize you already have one)
• How to approach tools like Clay without falling into “blank canvas syndrome”
• The career skills that make great GTM engineers – and how to build them

Key Links:

Guest: Ashley Artrip – LinkedIn

Host: Jane Serra – LinkedIn

Ashley’s Newsletter: Engineering Revenue - a GTM engineer’s playbook for success, written by Ashley Artrip.

Ashley’s Book: Career Design: Design Your Career to Change Your Life by Ashley Artrip, published December 2022.

Ashley’s Podcast: Career Advice You Never Got - a career‑transition playbook hosted by Ashley Artrip, tackling all those questions you wish you’d been told.

Clay University / GTM Resources: Clay University and blog for learning GTM and Clay tools.

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