“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”
― Maya Angelou
Eleven years ago today, I published my very first post on this blog. My last post was in 2023, when I fully intended to start the blog up again, but life came at me fast. I won’t go into every detail now, as we have a long time together ahead of us. But this year, especially in the last few weeks, I have felt a calling and a duty to use this platform to teach, mentor, and be a resource for anyone trying to find their way in marketing.
So consider this the end of the 404. The page has been found. 🦋
What NK has been up to
Funny thing: My career in CRM started long before I knew what CRM stood for.
My path has been anything but a straight line. I’ve given campus tours in Iowa, registered toll-road customers in Bergen, and spent nearly three years in a call centre for a Norwegian mobile brand. There, I ended up leading a team during busy product launches and became the link between our team and the software providers during a CRM overhaul. Along the way, I also co-founded a small handmade accessories brand, NsoromaKwapong, and made more than 100 sales on Etsy and at expos. That was my first real taste of online marketing, and I was hooked.
Then came Minneapolis: an MBA, followed by a whirlwind of roles. I ran social media campaigns for a medical association, did research on workplace inclusion, worked at a creative agency (whose president I later interviewed right here on the blog), marketed a nonprofit preparing young people for careers in construction, and handled web and social media at the Business School at the University of St. Thomas. That’s when NK the Marketer was born, as a place to document everything I was learning.
In 2017, I said farewell to Minnesota and hello to Oslo. Then the blog grew quieter as the work got louder:
I spent seven years at Avidly, one of the Nordics’ leading HubSpot agencies, where I grew from Inbound Marketing Consultant to Senior CRM Specialist. I led HubSpot implementations and CRM migrations, untangled messy portals, designed customer journeys, and trained teams across marketing, sales, and service.
I served on HubSpot’s Customer Advisory Board, representing my clients’ needs directly to HubSpot teams. I’m also a HubSpot Sprocketeer.
Then came my biggest challenge yet: helping build a CRM practice from scratch at an agency in Oslo, working with clients across Norway and Sweden.
And now, AI, up close. I’ve set up AI agents inside live client CRMs. It taught me that the most important question about AI isn’t what it can do, but what it should be allowed to touch. Also, if your data isn’t clean, AI is just going to amplify the mess.
And of course, I’m always still learning. Right now that means SQL, because the line between marketing and data keeps getting thinner, and two HubSpot Bootcamps in AI and Reporting and Analytics.
And outside work? Still singing, drawing, travelling, and stopping to pet every dog I pass 🐶
Why I’m relaunching the blog
Over the past year, I’ve had the same conversation again and again: with students, aspiring marketers, people already working in the field, career changers, and even their parents, partners, and friends who reach out on their behalf.
Almost every one of those conversations comes back to the same question:
How do I find my way in marketing when AI, layoffs, and constant change keep moving the goalposts?
It’s a fair question. There’s a lot of uncertainty right now and a lot of noise. Advice is everywhere, but much of it comes from people who teach marketing rather than people who do it every day.
This autumn, I hired an intern (my first in a while) and worked with them over eight weeks. It changed something for me. I watched someone at the start of their journey ask the same questions I once asked, and I saw how much a little guidance, an answer, or the right introduction could change. It rekindled something I’ve always loved: teaching, mentoring, and connecting people with what (and who) they need.
By the end of those eight weeks, I knew I didn’t want to have these conversations with only one person at a time.
That’s what NK the Marketer will be moving forward: a resource, a mentor, and a connection point for anyone finding their way in this field. I don’t have every answer, but I’ve spent years doing this work, and I know a lot of brilliant people who’ve figured out different pieces of the puzzle. Together, I hope we can help you do more than survive this moment, and instead thrive in it, with a little passion, compassion, humor, and style.
What’s coming
Real conversations with marketers and creatives about how they built their careers, what’s changing, and what they’d tell someone starting today
Practical how-tos on HubSpot, CRM, and the tools I use every day
Career guidance, including which skills and certifications are actually worth your time right now
Your questions, answered. The questions I hear most will become posts and videos of their own
A YouTube channel, in English with Norwegian subtitles, because good marketing knowledge shouldn’t have a language barrier
A Substack newsletter with the key takeaways from every interview, delivered straight to your inbox
Let’s do this together
To everyone who has been here since 2015, thank you for sticking around. And to everyone who’s new: welcome. I’m so glad you’re here.
As we start back up again, a question for you: What’s your biggest marketing career question right now? Drop it in the comments or email me at nkthemarketer@gmail.com. Your answers will shape what I create next.
If this sounds like your kind of content, subscribe on Substack, follow along on YouTube, and share this post with someone who needs it.
Here’s to the next eleven years. 🦋
Thanks for reading!
