curious, creative, analytical, precise
> User research fascinates my curious psychoanalytical brain
> Innovative problem solving delights my creative soul
> Analytical data analysis satisfies a deep desire for concrete answers
> Seeing your project executed with precision feeds my organized mind
Hi, I'm Amber
After 11+ years as a digital project manager preceded by three years as a graphic designer it was time to follow my heart and pick a specialty I am truly passionate about: Conversion Optimization! The best part? I’m awesome at testing and optimization. It’s my sweet spot.
Being a marketer and project manager in agencies or small start-ups for many years meant I morphed into any role needed to keep my projects moving forward when we didn’t have a dedicated specialist: copywriter, designer, analyst, strategist, etc. As a result I’ve become a very well-rounded marketing generalist, which is exactly what a conversion optimization consultant must be. In this role I look your website, landing page or app and offer creative solutions that might vary from UX improvements to content tweaks to traffic acquisition suggestions. Having a full-funnel, wide-vision perspective is imperative to ensure I’m giving you truly insightful recommendations.
Want to work together? Let's talk Conversions >
graphic design roots
School and Starter Jobs
My college years were spent at Chico State University in Northern California. I graduated with a double major: BA in Communication Design, Option Graphic Design + a BA in Spanish. I had an internship at the on-campus design studio that catered to local businesses and on-campus groups. After six months I was promoted to lead designer and the Creative Director had me dedicate part of my time to account/project management, helping to run the studio (this last sentence is foreshadowing, folks).
I ended up down in Orange County Southern California after graduation and freelanced in some agencies then landed a full-time gig as a print designer. I was a very precise designer but I struggled to be wildly creative on a daily basis, generally preferring production work to design work. My collegues loved working with me because I was organized and articulate.
LEAD DESIGNER
Union Graphics Design Studio
Aug 2004 to April 2006
Chico, CA
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
PSB Integrated Marketing Agency
Aug 2006 to Nov 2007
Lake Forest, CA
English Teacher for
Adult Professionals
Independent Consultant
June 2008 to July, 2009
Buenos Aires, Argentina
New Projects Director
Lead-To-Realty / Bizpeo S.A.
June 2008 to July, 2009
Buenos Aires, Argentina
marketing bootcamp
new projects director in argentina
At the venerable age of 25 I had a total quarter-life crisis and decided I hated everything (work/love/the OC). Solution? I moved to Argentina sight-unseen with little to no plan.
Turns out this was a spectacular career move. After trying to teach English unsuccessfully for a few months I got desperate and just started trying to get ANY job that would take me. The issue was that I was an illegal immigrant at this point and all I had to sell was my English. Thankfully I landed a gig answering phones at an outsourced call center for a Real Estate Lead Generation company called Lead-To-Realty.
Earning Argentine pesos will really make you appreciate how amazing our US dollars are! I was dirt poor, living in a home that was tantamount to permanent camping and teaching English before and after my eight hours answering phones all day.
That Communication Design degree actually paid off, though! The founders of the company noticed I had some marketing savvy. They promoted me to New Projects Director and it was essentially marketing bootcamp. I worked with a team of Spanish-speaking designers and engineers and I was the marketing lead + the English. I ran social media campaigns, authored emails, wrote copy for and project managed entire new websites, deciphered our google analytics account and figured out the algorithms for a new Facebook app. I freaking loved it there: for two years every day was different and I was learning constantly.
san francisco start-ups
surviving advertising & tech like a boss
After two years of scrappy Argentina life I was ready for some US comforts and returned “home” with my heart set on moving to San Francisco. I managed to get a job at an ad agency in SF. In that role I was the head for the Wrigley Account (Altoids, Juicy Fruit, Skittles, etc) and I learned that I don’t like working 12- to 16-hour days 7 days a week and sleeping on the couch for 5am sales pitches. I also learned to choose my words carefully because ad agency people can really be as mean as they are on TV (sleep deprivation will do that to you).
After the ad agency initiation to SF I ended up back in lead generation, this time for the Education sector working at a tech company/media agency called Tightrope Interactive. I worked hard there but at least work/life balance existed! Since they were a small company I was the project manager and beyond: I jumped in and helped with any and everything needed to make our projects a success.
One of the highlights of my career was launching a testing and optimization program to optimize Tightrope’s education lead generation form flows for PPC campaigns. I ran user tests to determine pain points, then worked with the creative team to create the assets for A/B and multivariate tests designed to optimize the landing pages and forms. Over the course of a year, my team and I were able to incrementally improve conversion rates for the campaign by over 200%. As the initiator of the program, I defined our testing methodologies, chose our tools and figured out how to analyze and present test findings to the entire organization. I personally set up, started, monitored, analyzed data and ended/implemented the tests. I also documented our process and created a knowledge hub to house testing summaries. The project management department grew and I was given two direct reports who I made into total testing enthusiasts as well.
Account Manager
for Wrigley
EVB Advertising
Sept 2010 to Jan 2011
San Francisco, CA
Senior Project Manager
Tightrope Interactive
March 2011 to Oct 2014
San Francisco, CA
Senior Digital Strategist/Producer
Salt Branding
Jan 2015 to Nov 2015
San Francisco, CA
Manager, Project Manager
Centric Digital
Dec 2015 to June 2017
San Francisco, CA
Senior Digital
Project Manager
Fitbit
June 2017 to May 2018
San Francisco, CA
is this success?
i hate corporate boxes
With over a decade in the land of digital marketing labeled as a project manager I got some lucrative opportunities at large companies: first working dedicated to the client Kaiser Permanente through the consulting agency Centric Digital and later as a Digital Project Manager for Fitbit. The tragic thing that happened here is that the more money I made and the larger the company I worked for, the less I was allowed to do. Turns out in a big company there are dedicated roles for everything and you’re supposed to stay in your box. In fact, if you try and leave the box people get mad at you. According to society and my salary I was “successful” but I felt stifled and frustrated.
After all the marketing experience I had collected, I couldn’t help but have opinions and ideas. I am not going to be satisfied making project schedules and doing process optimization; I have a more magic to offer than that, people.
So I thought hard about what I really loved doing over the course of my career: Conversion Optimization. I took the leap and quit not just my SF job but my entire SF life to chase my passions and start living with more soul.
bye boxes, hello conversions
Amber is Making Marketing Magic now
I‘m now working as a Conversion Optimization Consultant! This specialization suits me perfectly: I am fascinated by humans and how they interact with our technology. I love the creative problem solving required to look at a site and brainstorm what we can do to increase conversions. Getting to test out those creative ideas and receive real data as to what does and doesn’t work is immensely satisfying. I don’t want theories; I want answers. The best part is: testing really works I have seen marketing programs injected with new life due to conversion boots. I’ve had the PPC guy hug me. I’m actually making a difference for my clients and that kind of joy is contagious, right!?
I’ve also relocated to Mexico City where I can afford my rent, practice my Spanish and brainstorm with other smart digital nomads. Central time zone is perfect for my US clients and flights to the US are both inexpensive and frequent so we can have facetime anytime.
My clients are amazing. I’ve been partnering with the agency Decoder Digital since launching my consulting career and am continually inspired by the smart humans I get to work with there. I can normally accommodate 3 to 4 client accounts simultaneously. Reach out; I might have a spot just for you.
Conversion Optimization Consultant
Amber Makes Magic
May 2018 and beyond
Remote consultant
Based in Mexico City
