Meet the Pathfinders: Lopamudra Chakraborty

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Every Passageways Employee is a Pathfinder

By definition, a Pathfinder is “one that discovers a way; especially one that explores untraversed regions to mark out a new route.” At Passageways, every employee is called a Pathfinder. In this content series, we take time to explore to find what drives and motivates our fellow colleagues.

About Lopamudra Chakraborty

As the Marketing Operations Manager for Passageways, the question isn’t “What does Lopa do?” but rather “Is there anything that Lopa does not do in Marketing?” (Spoiler alert: No, there isn’t.)

• Learn more about Lopa
• Find Lopa on LinkedIn

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1. In your own words, what do you do?
Marketing Ops supports all marketing strategies, events, and projects along with end-to-end implementation of the same. I also work on various marketing software stacks, governance and data hygiene, tracking and reporting that reflects the different aspects of the business, and keep track of various marketing channels to make sure they are performing at the desired metrics. Lastly, I conduct business with our various vendors for all marketing needs.

2. What is a typical workday like?
Crazy! I try to plan my week ahead on every Friday to know what to tackle and also to keep space for ad hocs. Marketing starts its day with a daily scrum at 9 am. I follow that up with the awesome coffee brewed by my colleague, Shane, to give me the proper motivation to tackle the heap of work ahead. But in marketing, you never how your day will end up. One insane idea will have us change all our gear!

3. What is your fondest memory of working at Passageways?
In the truest sense, every day at the Lafayette office is so much fun. I live an hour away from the office, but I just love coming to work rather than working from home because the people are just so fun to collaborate and work with – whether we are working, chit-chatting or having fun!

4. What is the craziest or silliest thing to ever happen at work or a work event?
The craziest are the trade shows! Planning, meeting deadlines, implementing ideas conceived literally hours before the deadlines, working with design and Demand Gen to implement all aspects of business in every single tradeshow, anxiety over our courier services misplacing our assets, staying on call with the reps attending the trade shows because their flights got canceled 7 times in a row… It’s a very happening scene!!

 

5. Complete this sentence: “Passageways is ______ because ______.”
Passageways is where it is because of the people. I have never seen a group where everyone moves so fast to get things done. That’s rare.

6. What’s the biggest misconception people have about your position?
Me being a straight shooter makes me come off very opinionated and strong-headed. But I always say it as I see it because at the end of the day, we are all working towards the same goal and getting better and better!

7. What do you like to do when you’re not at work?
I love sleeping! I also love to go out and explore the different places to eat and am a big fan of window shopping

 

8. With thanks to James Lipton and “Inside the Actor’s Studio,” what’s your favorite word?
Bifurcation. Some people made fun that I used a big unusual word, and that’s when I realized that my English is so British! Now I just wish I had a British accent to match my vocabulary.

9. Who or what did you have posters of on your bedroom wall as a teenager?
I actually did not have any. Posters weren’t really popular when I was growing up 

10. What was your first job?
My first job was at a marketing firm as a business analyst. I was doing business development for our clients through Facebook advertisements. When Facebook advertising was something new in India, it was my job to build the channel for my company.

11. If you could snap your fingers and become an expert in something, what would it be?
In this age where everything is technology-oriented, I don’t think we are ever at a stage where we are experts. We get comfortable with something when something brand new and shiny comes along. I like to understand the logic that drives processes and strategies, and then modify that logic in a completely different scenario to solve another work problem.

12. What piece of art – book, movie, music, artwork, etc. – inspired you the most and why?
Kelly Clarkson’s song “Stronger” is inspiring. The song’s rhythm and lyrics make me feel invincible, that I can do anything, and nobody can get me down.

 

13. What’s the best piece of advice you have ever been given?
I have two:

1. The sky’s the limit
2. Deep breaths, Lopa. Breathe in, breathe out

14. If you could know the absolute and total truth to one question, what question would you ask?
Is my big picture vision going to come true one day?

Now, for the $10 million bonus question: if a donor came to you today with $10 million to use with no conditions or restrictions, what would your first priority be?
I would first ask “Is it taxable?” Then I would use it to pay off all my debts so I can be debt-free.

 

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More About Lopa
Lopa is responsible for the technical infrastructure that supports all of Marketing. This includes tools and technology, process, measurement, governance, managing marketing automation tools, interfacing with CRM systems, supporting marketing demand generation programs, managing the marketing technology stack, and refining and advancing strategy for assessing the impact of marketing programs through development of standard and custom reports, KPIs, dashboards, and processes to track progress and improve marketing effectiveness.

Before joining Passageways, Lopa worked with SupplyKick as a Paid Media Specialist and JP Automation as a Web Marketing Specialist. She also has three years of work experience in India. She earned her MBA in Marketing & Operations and Bachelors in Computer Engineering.