The Gentzler-Isenberg Multidisciplinary Diem Executive-in-Residence: Nataly Kelly

The Gentzler-Isenberg Multidisciplinary Diem Executive-in-Residence program in March brought a unique interdisciplinary experience to Isenberg students. Nataly Kelly, a global B2B technology executive, spoke to students about her deep cross-cultural experience working at the intersection of language and business.

For the program, which was designed to highlight the wide range of career opportunities made possible through cross-disciplinary expertise, Kelly, who serves as chief marketing officer at Zappi, a UK-based consumer insights platform and certified B Corp, spent the day engaging with students across both the Isenberg School of Management and the Gentzler Translation Center. 

Before joining Zappi, Kelly served as vice president for marketing at HubSpot, where she helped scale the company from $170 million to $1.7 billion in annual recurring revenue across more than 120 countries during her nearly eight-year tenure. She also served as an independent director at Lionbridge, one of the world’s largest language and localization firms, and authored four books while contributing regularly to publications such as Harvard Business Review and ADWEEK.

Her professional journey, however, began far from the C-suite. A former Fulbright scholar in Spanish sociolinguistics, Kelly started her career as a translator and interpreter for immigrants in the United States—an experience that would later shape her leadership philosophy and approach to marketing. 

During her day as executive-in-residence on March 31, Kelly visited three Isenberg marketing classes—Marketing 410: Consumer Behavior, Marketing 438: Multicultural Marketing in a Global World, and Marketing 301: Fundamentals of Marketing—where she shared insights from her career and engaged directly with students on the evolving role of marketing in a global context.

Later in the afternoon, she delivered a public talk hosted in Spanish 465: Spanish Translation for Community Health Services, titled “The Interpreter’s Edge: How Cross-Cultural Skills Prepared Me for the C Suite.” Drawing on her early experiences as a Spanish telephone interpreter, Kelly reflected on the foundational skills she developed—deep listening, radical empathy, and the ability to hold multiple perspectives simultaneously. She emphasized how these capabilities became critical leadership tools, shaping her ability to lead global teams, build impactful brands, and center human understanding in business decision-making. Her talk challenged the notion of language skills as “soft,” instead positioning them as essential to effective leadership.

In the evening, Kelly concluded her visit with a keynote as part of the Marketing Career Speaker Series, hosted by the Isenberg Marketing Club. In her talk, “The Unconventional Path to CMO: What Great Marketing Is Really Made Of,” she traced her non-linear career path—from interpreter to executive—highlighting pivotal moments that shaped her approach to leadership and marketing. She underscored the idea that great marketing is not defined by campaigns or channels, but by a deep understanding of people. Sharing the lessons she gathered across roles in product development, market research, and global marketing leadership, Kelly offered students a candid perspective on building a meaningful and adaptable career. 

Kelly’s visit exemplified the mission of the Gentzler-Isenberg Multidisciplinary Diem Executive-in-Residence program: to demonstrate the value of interdisciplinary thinking and to inspire students to see language, culture, and business not as separate domains, but as powerful, interconnected tools for success in a global economy.