Ep. 228: The Payoff of Taking Career Risks

Jennifer DeFrenza is the Vice President of Marketing at Surex, an online insurance company based in Ontario, Canada. As Vice President of Marketing, she is responsible for employing, developing, and overseeing the company’s many marketing initiatives. She helps Surex achieve their short and long-term goals, improving their brand awareness, and executing marketing strategies for revenue and growth. Before becoming Vice President, Jennifer was Surex’s Director of Digital Marketing.

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Jennifer joins us to discuss the professional risks she took to get where she is today. She shares the challenges of raising a family, helping her husband start a business, and climbing the ladder to success in insurance. She explains her role at Surex, the importance of digital marketing post-COVID-19, and what it means to have a team assigned for your company’s social media growth. Jennifer also describes the benefits and drawbacks of outsourcing and having your own group for marketing.

What you’ll learn:

• Jennifer’s childhood story, her life in Toronto, and why she pursued sales in college
• How Jennifer started working in insurance
• Jennifer’s role as a Vice President of Marketing at Surex
• The pros and cons of outsourcing to an outside agency vs growing a team internally
• How Jennifer improved the way Surex worked on data gathering, transparency, and social media
• What Jennifer does to incentivize team members to engage with their social media presence
• The career risks she took to get to where she is today
• What it’s like to lead a new company in a place where insurance isn’t that popular
• The challenges of raising children while helping her husband launch his business
• The projects Jennifer is currently working on

Key Takeaways:

• It’s critical to have someone who is an expert with social media and video
• There are a lot correlations between sales and marketing

Connect with Jennifer:

• Surex
• LinkedIn

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