Natasha Raja, VP of Marketing and Customer Service, Dice Holdings
A customer-centric global leader and strong believer in authenticity, Raja has helped revolutionize Dice. She’s implemented initiatives that have elevated the brand and modernize its marketing—always with a keen focus on improving the Dice customer experience. Her success is evident in the jump in the company’s customer retention rate, as well as the increases in registrations, applications, and revenue. Raja built her customer and analytics focus working for companies such as eBay, Pfizer, and Safeway. She puts her varied talents to work outside the office, as well. Raja works with organizations to build schools in developing countries, mentor young marketing professionals, and volunteer for hospitals’ inpatient care.
Defining moment: When I first came to the U.S. I planned to gain work experience after finishing school, and go back to India and join a family business. But working at eBay was life-changing because I worked with one of the smartest people, while following my passion. You can see how your work makes a difference in millions of lives across the globe. Once an eBayer, always an eBayer.
Words to live by: “You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over.” –Richard Branson
Strategy shift: Changing perception of a company’s hard, especially when it’s 20 years old. You need to make bold decisions, even if that means putting a real engineer in underwear on a billboard, which is what we did for our “Hottest in Tech” campaign…. It was a big risk, but we saw great results, grabbing headlines from Washington Post to Bloomberg and gaining 100 million impressions in just a few weeks.
Up next: Customer relationship management. Earning customer loyalty by effective targeting through the right segmentation, touchpoint, and market mix—while making every dollar count—can help build best-in-class CRM.
Advice to young marketers: Follow your passion and don’t settle: it’s OK not to have answers for everything, but be resourceful and curious. Most important, take risks; they’re worth it.
–Kristin LaFratta
