Ep 31 Melissa Hobley - In the Business of Connections.

The Marketing Marriage

Matchmaking runs in her veins. Thus, it comes as no surprise that she’s been successfully climbing the professional ladder in the business of connections. Melissa Hobley - a ball of endless energy, a mom of two and the global CMO of the biggest dating app in the world Tinder - loves being the wing(wo)man.

While switching between Cocomelon (baby parents will understand), Tik Tok and the Wall Street Journal, Melissa continuously obsesses everything about the Gen Z and isn’t afraid to step into polarizing topics. First weeks into the job at her her previous employer OKCupid, she launched a pro-choice filter within the dating app questionnaire and committed to this topic for several years to come. In our truly unplugged conversation, we talk about:

• How serving a higher purpose is one of the key criteria when choosing her job and the employer.
• Why she talks a lot about being a parent at work.
• The correlation between feeling supported and being creative.
• Why Tik Tok currently holds one of the top spots in her media mix but out-of-home is not dead.
• What she looks for when hiring for her team.
• Why the The Tinder Swindler Netflix show actually drove a lot of people back to Tinder.

A leading expert on brand-building, Melissa Hobley has a reputation for marrying powerful brand marketing with data-driven digital advertising. Prior to her current CMO role at Tinder, it was under her marketing leadership that OkCupid has become famous for its message of inclusion and affirmation, winning numerous awards for its breakthrough campaigns. Melissa was featured on the Forbes Most Influential CMOs list, named to AdAge’s “Women to Watch”, and featured on AMA’s “40 Under 40.”