Christin Wade
M.S. in Commerce 2017, Marketing & Management Track
Undergrad: B.A. in Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication, University of Georgia
Currently: BounceX, Business Operations Manager (New York, NY)
We recently sat down with Christin Wade to talk about the impact the M.S. in Commerce has had on her career trajectory and life after graduate school.
Since graduating from the M.S. in Commerce in 2017, Christin has thrived in her career at BounceX, advancing every year from her initial start as a Client Strategist to her current strategic and operationally focused position as Business Operations Manager. For context, BounceX is a leading marketing technology company that allows clients to accurately measure and market to the people behind every visit in real-time. This ability allows clients to drive conversions, personalize visits, and send emails at scale. Christin loves working at BounceX, as she believes the startup environment has given her more freedom and allowed her to advance her career quickly.
Christin’s previous roles in client strategy and customer success dealt with managing digital marketing strategies for various high-profile customers, such as Nike, Xfinity, and Samonite. Tasks included driving email programs for these clients, choosing segmentation, and monitoring engagement and conversion metrics. Christin was promoted to Senior Customer Success Manager in June 2019, which offered her the opportunity to run entire marketing programs for specific brands.
Her exposure to C-suite level executives and ability to help them problem solve led Christin’s promotion to Business Operations Manager in January of this year. In this role, she is able to leverage her knowledge in marketing, management, and finance; address integral business challenges; and develop product roadmaps. She has greatly enjoyed being able to solve issues that are core to BounceX’s strategy and operations and, in the future, wishes to continue advancing in the operations space.
Christin credits the fast success in her career to the multitude of resources and classes offered during her time in the M.S. in Commerce, adding how much she benefited from learning how to leverage data and analytics in her “Global Strategy & Systems” course. These courses enabled Christin to understand how data drives decisions in business and allowed her to become comfortable working with data upon starting her role. In addition, learning how to succinctly communicate one’s skills and goals in a two-minute elevator pitch has benefited Christin constantly throughout her career—something Commerce Career Services works with students to perfect early on in the Program. Lastly, her Marketing & Management Track courses “Social Media Marketing Metrics & Strategy” and “Consumer Behavior Research & Pricing Strategy” taught her the importance of metrics and data in digital marketing, how to frame the context for how consumers make decisions, and the implication and reasons for price changes.
When asked to provide some advice for future M.S. in Commerce students, Christin advises students to be proactive in reaching out to alumni and to begin networking early. She closes by emphasizing her strong belief that McIntire and the natural drive that M.S. in Commerce student have set them up for career success.
