Season 01 / Episode 026
Candice Nobles – A discussion on marijuana marketing, digital marketing and the intersection of race, work and life
With Candice Nobles - Chief Marketing Officer, Papers and Ink
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Summary
Today I get the honor and privilege of chatting with long time industry vet, Candice Nobles. Cutting her teeth in the affiliate marketing world with Performics back in 2000, managing one of the most well known and vibrant affiliates programs in the space at Snapfish and Hewlett Packard, Candice has been one of the most successful digital marketers for almost the entirety of digital marketing. Her experience and successes have few peers.
During her 25 year career, Candice has pursued a journey to showcase her authentic self, and as a Black woman, self described data nerd and tattooed marijuana user, she has a lot of experiences to share with us. And we dive into each one. Candice and I talk about her experiences with race, equity, diversity and the weight of racism, implicit bias on her career and daily professional life. She shares how she felt safe in our affiliate community, how things changed as she grew in her career and what it feels like to have that weight lifted.
It is definitely an enlightening and eye opening conversation. Please be sure to listen.
We dive into weed as well. Yup, you read that right. We talk about the marketing of it, the opportunities and difficulties and how people have responded to her coming out as a recreational and medicinal user of the plant. You’ll also hear me stumble as I try to say the word “marijuana” on this podcast. Listening again, it’s quite funny.
Candice is an incredible individual with so much to share and I can’t be more proud to have her on the show. It’s our longest yet, but I think you’ll find it worth every single minute. We are totally going to have her back soon.
You can reach out to Candice at candiceATpapersandink.com
Oh, hey traditional affiliates, you may be missing a ton of revenue opportunity if you are not promoting marijuana products. But Candice has a solution — promote hers! Reach out to her to find out about this opportunity.
Top Tips
Remember your worth when accepting job offers. Candice dives into the culture around discussing personal pay and salaries with others. She remembers a time when a hiring manager told her – “When you walked in and told us what you would accept for the job, we gave it to you because you didn’t know how much you were worth.” Candice says she immediately accepted the job, thinking it was enough at the time. What you think you are worth and what you ask for is important!
Listen to feedback – whether it’s from your team or other colleagues. Many employees don’t have performance reviews or leaders who listen. Even if feedback isn’t easy to hear, try and take it to heart and use it as an opportunity to improve. Listen to the people around you in order to do better. For leaders, this can also help with any issues with equality in the workplace.
Highlights
Candice discusses how being laid off can be jarring and what you can do to help yourself.
“Maybe it has something to do with you, but a lot of the time it doesn’t. We put so much into our career as a part of who we are so it can be jarring. One of things I would of told my younger myself is that ‘that isn’t you, you are more than that [job/position] and it’s not the end of the world. There will always be another job.’ I try to embrace being in each moment.”
Candice talks about her experiences with race and diversity in the workplace.
“Growing up, a lot of Black children hear – ‘you have to be better, you have to be right and you have to fit in to get in.’ For me, I spent a lot of time trying to square peg, round hole the situation while not realizing that you can meet people and create a reality that uses all of your skills. I do understand I have unique skillsets and interests, I genuinely like data and marketing as much as I like other things… I want to be able to work with people while being my authentic self, where I can feel secure, comfortable and appreciated for who I am.”
Quotes
[18:30] – “Over the course of your career, you start learning and picking up on what makes you happy and what gets you going. For me it’s tangible products – when I think about the affiliate world, I realize I really do love online advertising and marketing, and understanding how to acquire a customer.”
[38:04] – “I am an emotional person. I couldn’t always show that range of emotion, whether it’s sadness or anger, because then I have a problem or I am showing a weakness. Even down to the little things like dressing.. little subtle things that you carry on your back.”
[57:53] – “You don’t know who people really are. In general, accept people as people. Many times as humans we have a hard time doing this… if someone isn’t in the same station in life as you, they may begin to be or maybe you can help them up. As leaders, we should think about how we help people up no matter who they are.”
