BENTONVILLE (KFSM) —In 2018 Barbara Messing was hired as Walmart's first-ever woman to hold the position of Chief Marketing Officer. With her new job, she has set some big goals for the new year.
"We are in an amazing transformational point in the brand. What excites me is we have this incredible retail footprint. We are within 15 minutes of 90% of America. We are at the fabric of America which is exciting. But then, we have this incredible online experience and no brand, but Walmart can connect with customers in such a rich way."
Messing has had an incredible journey getting where she is today. When she was just six years old, her parents moved their family to Germany. For over seven years, Barbara found herself immersed in a whole new culture.
"We didn't have American television, and we didn't have stores. We really had a nontraditional elementary-middle school experience."
Following college, Messing pursued a law degree from Stanford. It was during that time that a mentor sparked her interest in business. Barbara found herself in the right place, at the right time. She was in the peak of the Silicon Valley (dot-com) boom.
"I was three years at Keen.com; then I was a Hotwire a travel company for nine years in a series of leadership roles, then got recruited to go to TripAdvisor in Boston."
At TripAdvisor, Barbara credited with moving the world's largest travel site from a media-only company to a competitor in the e-commerce space. Barbara believes strongly in delivering the right customer experience. It's a philosophy she hopes to build on at Walmart."
"We have an incredible mission to serve the busy family. The beauty with Walmart is we have physical customers coming into stores. We have to make sure we always think of the customer first."
Barbara says she can't think of a better place to be in her professional career.
"Walmart has been unforgettable; I knew it would be incredible to work with and to leave marketing for. But, it has far surpassed my expectations.
Barbara says she has once again found herself at the right place at the right time.
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Segment Presented By: P&G and First National Bank of NWA
Produced in Partnership with Celebrate Arkansas