Alumni Spotlight:

What I do now: I’m in advertising sales management at Amazon within their advertising business (separate from AWS, Retail, etc.) and manage a team on consumer packaged goods (CPG). The account sells multiple products for the home for people’s different life stages, so a lot of my work facilitates a chief marketing officer’s (CMO) ability to reach customers at the right time and place using our advertising.

Not only do I mentor and coach our team, but I also build executive relationships where I can have influence. Because Amazon is, at heart, a technology company, I’m also helping our sales organization how to go to market with our technology stack.

My Day-to-Day Work Life: A typical day starts with 20-30 minutes of organizing and prioritizing against “big rocks” vs. what needs to happen today. I’m watching revenue closely and reporting on trends of where advertising customers are investing, whether it’s advertising on Prime Video, Thursday Night Football or using our search products. I may also co-lead a meeting where I’m presenting the latest ad tech updates to our CPG sales organization.

I may also be doing some document writing since writing is a big part of our culture in how we do operational plans, report on the business or bring new innovative ideas to the forefront. It was very important to make time to connect with people. Whether it’s scheduled 1:1s with my team, speaking cross-functionally with my AWS counterpart, getting coffee to catch up with a colleague or networking to stay on top of developments in other departments and divisions.

How the Hartwick Experience Impacted My Professional Life: My education at Hartwick impacted my profession by cultivating a fundamental love of literature and books. I also got involved as an associate photo editor for Hilltops, the College newspaper, where I would interview fellow students. And this sparked my initial interest in hearing different perspectives and journalism.

I first started with a career in book publishing at Random House, Simon & Schuster and B&N.com before making the jump to Amazon. Storytelling, good narrative writing and a curiosity and sense of discovery through books were introduced and facilitated by my English professors. It inspired me to pursue books and literature in my professional life in sales, marketing and business development.

Bringing me to the current day, Amazon, at its heart, started as an online bookseller and many aspects of that business permeate the culture there, whether it’s imbued in the (organization’s) leadership principles or our strong emphasis on good writing.

The Secret to Landing a Job: You need to be your authentic self when looking to land a job. It is important to present yourself in a professional manner and hold yourself to the highest standard of excellence. You want to be polished and portray a clear mission and strong work ethic. Networking is also extremely valuable for the job search.

My Personal Take on My Career Field: It’s a place that has no end to learning, given all the innovation and the fast pace of development. Whether speaking with a client or a fellow team member or examining the industry at large, I am constantly hearing different perspectives and gaining new insight.

A career in sales requires you to understand human behavior and the wants and needs of customers to better help them, drive the business forward, observe the competition and develop your persuasiveness. I’m inspired by the mission of the company and its impact on people’s lives.

Spotlight by Stella Giustino ’25