Marketing Panel Recap 

by Riley Mason 

Marketing Panel in Grady Studio 100

On Nov. 19, 2024, PRSSA hosted a marketing panel with three wonderful speakers. If you are curious about marketing, what it is, how it’s different from public relations or what a job in it looks like make sure to read on. 

Briona Brooks is a global campaign senior lead at Salesforce in Atlanta. Brooks, who earned a degree in journalism from Georgia State and an MBA in marketing from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, said that no two days are alike in her role. One of her main priorities is to manage Salesforce’s content strategy, which includes what they are launching, where they are launching and all digital properties. Brooks enjoys telling a globally cohesive story about Salescloud. 

Grayson Windham is a marketing consultant at Mac Cosmetics in Atlanta. Windham graduated from Grady College with a degree in public relations. She started at Estée Lauder, the umbrella brand for many different beauty and cosmetic companies. But, now at Mac, Windham works in the marketing face team, curating launches for new products quarterly. 

Emily Palazzotto is a brand growth and innovation coordinator at Brav0 NBC Universal in New York City. Palazzotto graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in journalism. Palazzotto connects with Bravo in real life by planning events that require coordination across cross-functional internal teams and external agencies. She also spearheads licensing initiatives for merch and intentional collaborations with other brands to boost visibility. 

How do the skills learned from your degrees transfer into a marketing role? 

Windham: Windham noted that in Grady there is an emphasis on writing skills. If you are in Grady, you are a great writer. Windham has translated those writing skills to her current job. Windham said that marketing at any company is advertising your product, believing in your product and you can’t do that if you can’t communicate efficiently. Every skill that she learned in Grady she has used every day. 

Palazzotto: Palazzotto thinks that being extremely organized has helped her, especially in an entry role. It is your job to compartmentalize all of the tasks for an entry role. Those soft skills make the hard skills more teachable and digestible. Take a step back, take it day by day and be organized. 

Brooks: Being able to communicate as a human has helped Brooks throughout her career. Brooks said that you learn this skill in school because you are surrounding yourself with peers all the time. Take those moments as a learning opportunity for not only communication with others but also project managing for yourself. 

Brooks- Do you have any advice about what type of company to work for? 

The agency world helped shape Brooks early on in her career, preparing her for bigger companies later on. Agency work helped her learn the type of marketing that she wanted to focus on. A smaller agency specifically allows you to work with different teams and expose yourself to multiple different skills. 

Windham- How involved are you with digital analytics on a day-to-day basis? 

Windham works with data daily, but when she started she didn’t know how to approach data analysis. Almost every role in marketing must know how to look at data trends, identify important data and then put them into words. Windham advises sharpening those skills and connecting with people who work with data. Keeping that skill in your back pocket will help you in future marketing roles. 

Palazzotto- What prompted your switch from the news to the marketing side? Was it a difficult transition?

Palazzotto specialized in news before she switched from the NBC news desk to the marketing side at Bravo. As she started to make that switch she realized that marketing was where she wanted to be. She utilized LinkedIn Learning and did it on her own time to learn about marketing. Palazzotto said that it was a decision she never thought she would have made, but is so happy she made the jump. 

If you could give one piece of advice to your college-age self what would it be? 

Windham: Don’t compare your journey to anyone else. What should happen for you will happen. 

Brooks: Trust your gut. There is going to be a lot that you feel like you need to do, so you should be confident in your choices. Don’t let someone else influence your choices, be rooted in your own values. 

Palazzotto: Don’t let your idea of what you think should happen get in the way of what is right. You can have a plan, but 9/10 that plan may not be perfect.