How I joined Organifi and became CMO of a $50mm company in under 2 years

Below is a stream of consciousness with little editing.

Many people ask me how I came to work for Organifi. There is a simple story and a much more in-depth version of how my intentions and choices in life brought me to work at such a great company.

The short-short story is that I met, now-CEO, Djamel Bettahar through our mutual friend Kevin at a brunch he hosted in May 2016. And, the rest was, eventually, history.

When I met Djamel, I had built a 9-year sales career in a variety of industries – sold billboards for a top corporation, jumped ship to a startup without a proven technology, became the first employee at a, now very successful, SaaS company, participated in a holistic health coaching program, learned to code full-time, and helped launch a new city for a coding bootcamp.  

I never wanted to settle with work I didn’t love and it took a lot of jumping around to figure out what I enjoyed (LESSON: for the younger folks reading this, it sometimes takes figuring out what you don’t like to do – so keep trying).

After leading sales for a tech startup and moving to San Diego to work remotely from the beach, I left that sales role in the Spring of 2016 and was in a place where I was determining my next steps.  I committed to myself that I wouldn’t jump back into a sales role for the money, which I had done in the past.

Ever since college, where I was an athlete, I was drawn to health & wellness. I considered getting a personal training certification, participated in a health coaching program, and competed in a NPC bikini competition. Any time I was not happy in a job, I continually went back to that passion and desire to work in health & wellness.

I also studied Advertising in college. I thought, at the time, that I would work as a Creative in an ad agency. Reason being, I loved seeing ad campaigns and breaking down why they work/didn’t work and thinking about the psychology of the campaign. I’m not sure why I always innately asked “WHY” the advertiser created the ad they did.

To add another layer to the story, I was always great at math and was drawn to tech/development.  When I was in middle school, I took High School math and finished HS math two years early. I also dabbled with Geocities (who remembers this??) and loved playing around with the CSS to design my own site.  

Reflecting back, I was primed for today’s digital world which is a blend of creative and analytics.

In 2016, I was clear I wanted to get into marketing and health & wellness.  (LESSON – when you are clear on what you desire, it will begin to manifest in your life)  I didn’t know how I would do this. How does a 30-year old with a 9 year sales career transition to marketing? Do I need to take a Junior Marketer position to learn?

Then, I met Djamel.  Djamel transitioned from aerospace engineering to running an eCommerce company, Organifi.  After meeting him at Kevin’s brunch, I asked if he’d be up for going for a walk at the beach (which has since been an ongoing joke) so I could hear more about his experience in making that transition.  

After strolling down the Pacific Beach boardwalk, we had exchanged stories and Djamel thought their may be a role, similar to his, for me with a friend of his who ran an online fitness business. After speaking with this woman, she was not quite ready to hire.  From my understanding, Djamel liked my experience and knew he needed to begin to duplicate himself to scale Organifi.

So, he made me an offer and I joined Organifi running split tests on landing pages with our web designer.  My intention from Day 1 was to eventually oversee all of the Organifi marketing.

I am very curious, so I asked A LOT of questions. I truly believe that those who are curious and jump in and ask questions (and implement) learn much quicker than others.  (LESSON – ask questions, take risks, go after what you desire and don’t wait for it to come to you)

I absorbed anything and everything I could. I immediately saw gaps and added value. Within two months of starting I was setting up Promotions and a promotional calendar (which never before existed at Organifi). After around 3 months, I began taking over managing our paid media agencies. And, after a little over 6 months, I was managing the product launch of our Protein product.

The biggest lesson and advice I would offer anyone reading this is to take initiative. I really value people who do not wait but go out and create. Whether it is a person on my team at Organifi or applying for a job, those who stand out are going above and beyond without being asked.

As time progressed at Organifi, I was taking on more and more of the marketing and eCommerce function until I was officially given the title, by Djamel and Drew, of CMO at the end of 2017. The journey has been exciting, challenging, and stressful at (many) times.  

What have I experienced during this growth?

It has caused me to question whether I am good enough.  How did this 30 year old woman with no experience running a team or marketing organization lead growth from ~$18mm annually to over $50mm annually? Can I lead this organization to $100mm and beyond?  What I’ve realized is that no-one has it figured out. As I talk to others in the eCommerce industry, CPG, and marketing, I am constantly reminded of how well we’ve done and are continuing to do. Not many brands can say they have hit the $50mm mark, been named INC 500 Fastest Growing three years in a row, and are bootstrapped and profitable. (LESSON – you are enough. Stop questioning what you’re capable of and believe you are capable of anything)

It has challenged me to consistently grow as a leader.  As a successful salesperson, I was always focused on creating individual results.  Of course, I do have a background in team sports but had no management experience in the professional world. The greatest challenge I have personally faced is communicating with such a large variety of personalities and communication styles.  Creating a cohesive team and organization requires way more time and energy than I ever imagined – the large majority behind the scenes. This has given me a whole new respect and admiration for managers and Executives who have grown organizations.

It has challenged me to release control and shift into flow.  If you can relate to being a striver, hustler or tying your identity to being a “hard worker,” you can probably relate to this.  When growing and scaling an organization, you can personally only “do” so much. To quote a book, “life wasn’t meant to be a struggle” and I have learned that you can create results without being stressed or feeling like you need to muscle it.  One thing I’ve learned from Drew and Djamel is seeing possibility in others and speaking to their future self. This has been done for me many times in my life and my focus has shifted to inspiring the team to rise.

Many more lessons have been learned along the way and Organifi has provided so much growth.  I’ll be breaking this down into additional blog posts along with other lessons learned in life. Please shoot me a note if you have any questions or suggestions to content to cover.