About The Marketing Edit, Powered by Rokt
The Marketing Edit, Powered by Rokt is an original video series from The Female Quotient that spotlights bold leaders shaping the future of marketing. Each episode features leaders from the world’s most influential brands sharing the defining decisions, lessons, and leaps that changed the trajectory of their careers. Together with Rokt, The Marketing Edit explores how today’s marketers are unlocking the Transaction Moment™ to build real-time relevance, drive growth, and meet customers in the moments that matter most.
In this episode, Shelley Zalis, CEO of The Female Quotient, sits down with Michelle Crossan-Matos, Chief Growth Officer at SharkNinja, to discuss the power of staying relevant throughout the customer journey, from awareness to intention,and how agility and empathy shape modern marketing leadership.
Mid-funnel is the new battleground
Most marketing strategies focus on the top of the funnel, where brands fight for attention, or the bottom, where they push for conversion. But for Michelle Crossan-Matos, the real opportunity lies in the middle.
“When is someone going to get obsessed with the middle part?” she asks. “That’s where people move from awareness to intention.”
It’s in this space, between curiosity and commitment, that Crossan-Matos believes brand growth happens. At SharkNinja, her team builds this connection by making data and creativity work together in real time. Attribution, agility, and fast feedback loops are essential.
“You’ve got to know if your content’s working,” she says. “We look at results hourly. If something’s not landing, we pivot.”
Relevance starts with empathy
Crossan-Matos has both growth and customer experience in her remit, a combination that ensures the voice of the consumer stays central to every decision. That means listening deeply, not just measuring engagement.
She recalls sitting in on call center calls and hearing an older customer struggling with a product issue. Instead of passing it along, she acted immediately.
“Imagine that’s your grandfather,” she says. “If you can’t feel that, you’re not going to fix it fast.”
That moment became a catalyst for change. Her team resolved the problem quickly and that empathy became embedded into SharkNinja’s operating model.
Speed fuels creativity
When it comes to innovation, Crossan-Matos challenges her team to think boldly and move fast. While many brands take months to bring an idea to life, she believes creativity accelerates under pressure.
During Cannes Lions, a casual “imagine if…” conversation led to The Joy Project—a collaboration with Deepak Chopra launched in record time.
“Give an unreasonable deadline,” she says. “Then watch how the must-haves shrink, and the nice-to-haves fall away.”
For Crossan-Matos, urgency doesn’t compromise quality; it clarifies it. The result is a culture that prizes experimentation and turns ambition into action.
Why this moment matters
The insights from The Marketing Edit go beyond SharkNinja, they’re a call to every marketer rethinking how to connect with modern consumers. The Transaction Moment is no longer confined to checkout; it’s shaped by every signal of intent, every conversation, every chance to add value.
Crossan-Matos proves that when brands move with empathy, agility, and intent, they unlock more than conversions, they unlock connection.
