Beth Mahoney of Spotify -- A 1stFive Profile

As a Senior Client Service Manager Beth manages an east coast team of four helping advertisers and brands best utilize Spotify39s advertising opportunities and run impactful campaigns As streaming has taken off Beth39s focus has been to communicate to brands the value of Spotify39s engaged audience whichamp160she admits can be challenging for clients who are accustomed to traditional radio quotWe have to constantly remind them that our users are on demandquot she says quotThey choose when they want to listen and if they39re listening you should be therequotEven before it launched in the US Beth had her sights set on Spotify both as a product and a company at which she could see herself building a career amp160After studying abroad in Copenhagen for sixamp160months taking marketing courses at the Copenhagen Business School amp160she quickly became an avid user turned on to the platform by her Danish classmates and fellow exchange students quotI was like 39What is this magical thing39quot she jokes When Spotify hit the states the summer before her senior year she was one of the early adopters urging her friends to download and sharing her playlists to get them hookedWith graduation approaching user soon turned job hunter While finishing up her marketing degree at Bentley University she received a piece of key advice from her career advisor that kept her laserfocused on the streaming company quotYou don39t realize in college that in marketing you can go anywhere and do pretty much anything which is daunting when you graduatequot she says quotThe best advice I got from my career counselor was to make a list of my top five dream companies and really focus my energy Obviously Spotify was No 1 on that list because I was a userquot When her advisor introduced her to a Spotify recruiter she jumped at the opportunity quotIn about a week I had already gone through three interviews and then two days after that I got the offerquot she recalls quotIt was so crazy fastquotamp160Such was the nature of Spotify at the time which was still very much a startup environment Working on a small team Beth describes her first position as a quotglorified intern rolequot in the hustle and bustle of a company still defining its brand productamp160and business goals quotEveryone was on the ground getting shit done doing whatever you needed to doquot she saysamp160of the experienceBecause the company had limited resources early in her career Beth was easily able to take on increased responsibility as she felt more comfortable allowing her to quickly move up the ladder transitioning from tactical roles to her current position which is strategyfocused On managing a team of other client service managers she remarks quotI39m in sort of a playercoach role I still work on accounts I still have clientsamp160but from my experience doing the day to day I also help my team think of solutions and make sure they are on the right trackquotOutside of the office Beth has a passion for travel sparked amp160like her love of Spotify amp160from her study abroad experience in Copenhagen She has an ambitious personal goal to visit 30 countries before she turns 30 At the time of our interview she had just returned from a family trip to Ireland pictured below and reflected on Portugal Barcelonaamp160and Amsterdam as three of her favorite vacation spots With only fouramp160countries left to go she39s on track to meet her goalPerhaps not surprisingly her love of music expands outside of Spotify39s walls she jokesamp160that she39s quota huge fan girlquot Because she has eclectic tastes she travels to all types of concerts showsamp160and music festivals around the country some even in her own office Music is of course a huge part of Spotify39s culture and when artists are brought in to perform Beth can usually be found in the front rowHer love of all things audio is not limited to music Recently she39s developed an obsession with podcasts especially programs about true crime quotThat might make me weird but I can39t get enough of themquot she laughs She39s also extremely excited at the prospect of Spotify ingesting podcast content into their catalogue quotI think it39s going to be interesting whether that content brings on new users or whether that shifts our current users39 behavior or demoquot she exclaims quotA year ago I never listened to podcasts at all and now I have so many that I can39t keep up with themquotIn a way Spotify and Beth have grown and continue to grow in tandem an experience that few can share Embedding herself in the company during its major growth stage she is now an expert on all things Spotify and a voice of reason for the sales team To upandcoming media professionals she suggests that the best advice can often be found from the person sitting next to youamp160quotPeertopeer mentorship has been a huge influence within and outside Spotifyquot she says quotBeing able to feel comfortable and asking questions ofamp160people who are at your same level who might have different experiencesamp160or thoughts is something to rely onquotThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers

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Beth Mahoney of Spotify -- A 1stFive Profile

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