The conversation explores the necessity of collaboration between insights and marketing professionals, specifically through stakeholder mapping and involving cross-functional teams like product, technology, legal, and compliance. Staples also provides professional development advice for women in the field, emphasizing the importance of identifying sponsors, navigating complex business dynamics, and crafting a value story to demonstrate how insights drive strategic organizational goals.
Cultivating Empowerment
This year, TMRE is part of the Insight to Impact Conference, October 5-7. A special event will be this year’s Impact Exchange: Women in Insights & Marketing Luncheon. Can you share with us what central themes might be explored, and what do you hope that women attending will take away from the event?
“This is actually the third year that we’re having our Women in Insights luncheon,” says Staples. “We’re really at an exciting time because we are getting to expand the space and invite even more conference attendees to join us. But the theme is going to remain constant across the conference, and it’s really about moving from insights to actually driving impact. The unique part of this year’s luncheon is how we bring together the intersection of insights leaders and our marketing professionals to truly drive business impact and value.”
Staples adds, “When our attendees walk away from this year’s luncheon, we really want them to feel more connected. We really want them to feel more grounded in what it means to drive impact across their organizations, and we want them to feel empowered through the conversations and the strategies that are shared in the room to help them carry their work forward. We feel very confident that we’re cultivating a space that will allow the attendees to be able to do that.”
Making An Impact
The conference this year is highlighting impact, and how insights drive decisions at their respective organizations. What does impact mean to you when it comes to insights work and marketing?
“I think for me and probably everyone else joining in the room, it is how do we drive strategies forward to truly drive value for our organizations?” says Staples. “There are oftentimes where, as insights professionals, we might come in after decisions have already been made. So it is getting us, at the beginning, framing the decisions and the journey ahead. That is a unique area where marketing and insights professionals can really work well together. Uncovering those key gaps and critical needs for our customers, shaping strategies around what our customers and consumers truly want, and then helping to make sure that our organizations are investing dollars, resources, and initiatives that help back that and drive the business forward.”
“Ultimately, we’re here to serve our customers,” Staples adds. “When we come together, that is the unique thing that insights and marketing are able to do together. I think we’ll see more events where we’re all joined together at the table having conversation. We want to take that from the conference and move that into our business meetings and our corporate settings every single day.”
Finding Champions
Everyone talks about collaboration, but you’ve been on the front lines of this with insights and marketing teams. What can strengthen the process between these teams? Any best practices as far as storytelling or other influencing types of tactics?
“We might oversimplify this across some settings, but, really, stakeholder mapping is key,” says Staples. “Who are your champions? Which individuals are going to be critical to moving the work forward? Understanding that each one of your journey milestones is really mission critical. When we think about collaboration and partnership, it is the joining together of insights and marketing teams, but it is also how we reach across other functional areas and pull in our members from product and technology, how we bring in our individual contributors and stakeholders, even from our legal and compliance teams. Depending on the industries you are in, this may look very different. But for us, it is beginning the conversation with what problem do we need to solve? Who is an expert in the space or that functional area to help us solve it?”
Staples asks, “Where would we potentially have bottlenecks or areas where we might have a miss if this voice is not in the room? Collaboration really starts with asking the question of what problem do we want to solve? Who will help us solve it? When the rubber meets the road, who is going to help us get that work done? Because those are the voices that really should help shape our work and the strategies as we move forward. Those conversations really need to start before work even kicks off. We sit at a very dynamic space when you think about what our insights professionals do as well as what our marketing professionals do. When the two of them join together, we’re really able to drive great business value.”
Meeting at the Crossroads
Let’s talk a little about women in insights and marketing. What does it take to become leaders, from being assertive, to balancing advocacy and inquiry, confidence, the passion for the business. What are some personal growth strategies that you’ve experienced?
“There is a session at the conference this year titled leadership from any seat, and so I’ll be joined with a few leaders to really talk about this very thing,” says Staples. “When you begin to think about advocacy and what it looks like to sponsor certain initiatives or to ensure that you’re being put in the right position to carry your work forward or the work of your team, or even as you begin to look at what is required to continue to move forward in your own career path, it’s very important that you understand how to map out those critical stakeholders.”
She continues, “This shifts from just looking at the work you’re trying to do to beginning to look at who will be those important board members. Who are those sponsors for you that will help you get into the conversations in the rooms that are going to be critical for you to get exposure and access? Who’s going to be a good team player for you as you begin to ideate around specific solutions and where opportunities exist for you to solve some of the greatest business challenges? We would be remiss if we didn’t acknowledge the fact that all of us, regardless of industry or business, are all facing very unique challenges that require a lot of thought. They require a lot of resourcing. There is a great deal of complexity.”
“When we think about all the different dynamics that are at play, all of those who are joining in the conference or even joining for a luncheon are at this crossroads of what’s going to be the most important thing for me to prioritize?” observes Staples. “Who do I need to work with to do it? How can I begin to create my value story so that I can share how I’m driving work forward and why it matters to the organization and our bigger strategic goals and pillars?”
TMRE Session Spotlight: How to Approach Leadership
Looking for more career advice? TMRE 2026 will be held in Denver on October 5-7, and will highlight the session, “Part I: Leadership From Any Seat.” The session will feature Nisreen McConkie, Director of Insights, Agentic Commerce, Platforms, and Innovation, PayPal; Emily Neville, Director of CX Research, Rocket; Elizabeth Oates, Vice President, Consumer Insights, Molson Coors; and Antoinette Staples, Senior Director, Customer Insights & Success, McKesson.
Leadership is not a title, but a practice. Some leaders build influence through deep methodological expertise, others through cross-functional advocacy, and still others through organizational design and change management. This panel brings together a distinguished group of researchers and leaders to explore what it truly means to lead in today’s insights landscape—and why the answer looks different for everyone.
Panelists will reflect candidly on how their leadership styles and goals have evolved over the course of their careers. They will share the values, philosophies, and techniques that shaped the leaders they are today, celebrating the diversity of approaches that drive impact. Attendees will leave this session with both inspiration and practical frameworks they can apply to refining their own leadership style.
Click here for more TMRE 2026 registration information and the show agenda.
