Tuesday, December 12, 2006

She Is Thinking Of Starting Her Own Marketing Company

I love stories like this one, How a Highflier in Marketing Fell At Wal-Mart, because it is so close to home. Julie Roehm studied marketing at the University of Chicago's business school and was recently written up in their impressive alum catalog about how she is a person to watch or most likely to succeed. Hands down, she is an exceptionally bright and bold businesswoman.

And while I was reading the story about her last night in the WSJ, I was eager to get to the end knowing that this woman needs to get out from under, or better stated, exit corporate America now. She has way too much firepower and talent to let the big guys push her around.

Why did Wal-Mart fire her? Take a deep breath. Two reasons:

1. They accused her of having an affair with her protege, Sean Womack.
2. They accused her of accepting gifts from customers.

True or false? Hard to say but if No. 1 is false, she has a strong lawsuit case against either Wal-Mart or the WSJ for publishing that statement. By the way, she is married with kids. We will find out the facts soon enough or we can only hope.

Moving right along, here's what the final paragraph says:

"Ms. Roehm says she believes Wal-Mart decided it no longer wanted to pursue the approach embodied by the new advertising agency. "They had a change from a strategic point of view. That's their prerogative," she says. She adds that she is thinking of starting her own marketing company, perhaps with Mr. Womack."

And that my friends is what this blog is all about.

You can bet I will be calling her to see what she can do for my business once she is up and running.

Separately and from the book "Women Who Changed The World:"

Chapter 14
Queen Victoria

She was a part of the establishment -- an essential part as it seemed -- a fixture -- a magnificent, immovable sideboard in the huge saloon of state. ~ Lytton Strachey, Queen Victoria

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Laurel,

Love the blog! Ms. Roehm is certainly one to watch and this just may be her opportunity to do it on her own.

I'm certain you will be following her next move closely.

http://www.kellymccoywilliams.com/worklife2.0.htm

Laurel Delaney said...

Hi, Kelly. Thanks for your message. Nice site you have but I could not access your blog. Not sure what's up with that.

And as for Julie ... no matter what ... she will be a bright and rising star.

Stay in touch.

Warm regards,
Laurel

Anonymous said...

Great post, amidst a thundering story. Kudos. I'm tired of reading others saying "she got what she deserved" or worse. Lots of raw nerves tapped here. The playing field is beyond uneven--it's perilous--as this story proves in spades.