Jocelyn Rasekhi: Bringing Marketing to Vivid Life

April 2019 Consultant of the Month

Jocelyn Rasekhi has a zest for tackling challenges and managing complex projects. As a Senior Marketing Consultant, she specializes in a variety of disciplines including content marketing, integrated digital marketing campaigns, and sales enablement. Jocelyn’s easy-going yet “Get Stuff Done” attitude makes her a prime asset in companies large and small. With her broad expertise and creativity, you can drop her into any situation and count on her to deliver solid solutions from start to finish.

Currently, Jocelyn consults for PayPal’s Mid-Market Merchant Group developing sales enablement assets for account managers. She helps them improve productivity and equips them with the right content to succeed in merchant interactions by administering the segment’s online content management platform. As a testimony to her high-quality work and dedication, PayPal has extended her contract twice.

Jocelyn appreciates the specialized work large corporations need to move the needle, but she also loves helping small businesses get off the ground. Through her own consulting firm, Joyness Marketing, Jocelyn enjoys the creative process of fine-tuning who small businesses are, what makes them special, and how to get their message out into the world.

This Is the True Story (True Story!)

“…of seven strangers picked to live in a house and have their lives taped. Find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real.” You may remember this introduction from MTV’s The Real World series back in the day. Film and television is how Jocelyn got her start, working on the production crew of this show when it was in San Francisco.

Having just come from expansive La La Land, the “7×7” urban lifestyle of San Francisco surely appealed to her senses. Her new connection to the City compelled her to stay in the Bay Area and make a go of it. That’s when she transitioned to marketing communications for a multimedia company. Her experience there made her fall in love with the marketing world. Later, she focused on channel marketing for a company that had just gone through an IPO. This put her squarely in the middle of Silicon Valley, the “Hollywood” of Northern California.

Her next move was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity… to join her then-boyfriend (now husband) in Italy for his sabbatical leave. A three-week vacation turned into a blissful year off experiencing a new culture and a different way of living. They finessed their Italian-speaking skills and scratched the itch to travel while journeying throughout Southern Europe. Meanwhile, dot coms were booming Stateside. They eventually moved back to find out what the hubbub was about.

Jocelyn and her husband decided to become partners in consulting — she in marketing and he on the product side. (See Jocelyn’s thoughts on the perks of consulting.) It proved to be a powerful combination for startups looking to launch new brands and products. They both tremendously enjoyed a rhythm of working intensely for six months, then taking a couple months off to travel. This went on for a while until children entered the picture.

La famiglia è la patria del cuore. (Family is where the heart is.)

With a daughter in high school and a pre-teen son, Jocelyn feels so blessed to be living a balanced life. When her children were young, she did not want to miss a thing. Consulting has afforded her precious time with her family. It’s allowed her the flexibility to continue working with clients to help “keep her brain alive.” (There are only so many Dora the Explorer cartoons one can handle!)

Jocelyn’s husband now works full time for an Italian company and travels to Italy every quarter. The family takes trips to that side of the world so they can experience what it’s like in other cultures. Contrasting the fast-paced nature of the Bay Area, the kids can appreciate how life is lived in other (calmer) parts of the world.

Now that her children are more independent, Jocelyn dedicates more time to consulting (in between whipping up a pasta alla norma for dinner). She has truly enjoyed every moment. She considers herself very fortunate to continue contributing her marketing expertise at large companies and to help small businesses succeed. With a wealth of positivity and optimism, she pours that energy back into her work. And clients are absolutely benefitting from it.