An Interview with Mary Hager, CX Strategy Consultant at Publicis Sapient
By: Alisha Kumar
By day, alumni, Mary Hagar, is a Customer Experience (CX) Strategy Consultant at Publicis Sapient, an agency which helps brands thrive in the digital world. By night, she is engrossed in completing a Master’s in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University.
Q: Why did you decide to become a CX Strategy Consultant?
Mary: I started in the Division of General Studies. I toyed with about six different majors my first year and even thought about creating my own major. The summer going into my sophomore year, I told my parents that I wanted to be in a creative business, and my parents were like, “That’s an oxymoron. How can you be creative and in business?” So, then I really leaned into where I could be creative in business and that was advertising.
Sophomore year, I joined ADV 150, and Steve Hall told us about the American Advertising Federation. I had about three weeks of ADV 150, but I applied to NSAC, since I’m a competitive person and had done speech and debate in high school. I read through the descriptions of each position, and strategy sounded good. I’ve always been one to explore and research (hence the six majors). Getting onto NSAC my sophomore year was really a formative experience.
My junior year, I was able to intern at a media platform, but I learned I didn’t want to go into media. It just wasn’t for me. My last semester, I was in Shachar’s Sandage class, and I was the strategist. Probably like the third week of Sandage, Shachar announced that a company, then called Sapient Razorfish, was hiring. They had a college program, and I hadn’t seen a lot of agencies doing that. I applied, got through, and landed on this position of strategy and consulting. It wasn’t like I walked into college saying, “I want to be a CX Strategy Consultant.” It just happened! A CX Strategy Consultant looks into how customers are perceiving a brand and how to be the customer’s voice.
Q: What do you enjoy about your work?
Mary: The most enjoyable piece about CX strategy and just strategy in general is finding those nuggets of information that you’re like, “Oh my gosh! This makes sense now. We can put the pieces together.”
One of my first managers told me the strategist is supposed to be the smartest person in the room. That doesn’t mean you have a Harvard degree, but you’re acting as a voice of reason. Another manager put it slightly differently and told me a strategist has to act like an engineer sometimes more than an artist. There’s always a lot of art and science in what we’re doing, but in the end of the day, we have to be that logical engine and make sure the pieces connect.
Q: What are the challenges you face?
Mary: I’m a big baker. If your cookie comes out perfect, every step of the recipe is right. That’s how I think about strategy. I would encourage people to think about strategy as how to build a foolproof recipe, so you can give a piece of paper to somebody, and they will know what to do. It’s the biggest challenge because we’ll have times where we’ll hand off a document or a deck to a client, but if they don’t have the right context, they’re not going to get it.
Q: Why did you choose to get a Master’s in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University?
Mary: I knew when I was getting into work, I wanted that next level of understanding, and going to grad school was fully my own idea. It wasn’t pressure from my boss or my parents. It was, “how can I deepen the understanding of what I really like to do, and do it at a time where I have time?” I talked to co-workers who tried to do an MBA when they were a little older, and with every year, life gets more complicated.
Northwestern offers this IMC program as both full-time and part-time. The part-time program was my preference because I wanted to keep working, and there was a wider array of students.
Q: How has it been juggling work and school at the same time?
Mary: Part-time school plus work is a lot, but I like to be busy. I go to work, and then we have synchronous classes from 6-8:30, sometimes 9, depending on the day. It is a 12-hour day, but it’s not bad, since I’ve been able to live at home, so having my parent’s support has been nice. I think COVID has a lot to do with my experience too because I have no distractions.
The program recognizes everyone is working, so the classes are accommodating. My work is great in that it's flexible with taking time off. During my midterms, I took a day or two off to focus.
Q: What is one piece of advice you’d like to give students entering the advertising industry?
Mary: As an applicant, I was always worried about fitting in to the company’s culture. You’re nervous, and you don’t know what to expect, so you pick on the little things. That girl is wearing designer shoes. Do I need that? We’re not hiring for culture anymore. We should be hiring for values. What are your values and how can you communicate that in an interview? That’s what most people will be interested in during an interview.
One benefit of virtual interviews is you don’t have the swirl of the office. Now, you can focus more on yourself and your points. Don’t be afraid to talk about the weird things you do. Be who you are, and remember you have a unique skill set and a resilience getting through half of your college career in a very nontraditional way. Speak to it with authenticity, and it will resonate with employers.