"I am a digital marketer with a technical background, startup experience, and a strong focus on growth, performance, and human-centered marketing. Currently based in the Netherlands, studying Content & Media Strategy and building data-driven and AI-driven marketing skills for international roles."
How My Path Slowly Turned into Digital Marketing
Digital marketing was not a random turn in my career. It started much earlier, with an academic background in IT.
My first steps were technical. I learned HTML, CSS, and PHP, got familiar with how websites work, and then moved into website management using WordPress. From there, I naturally landed in SEO.
If you have ever worked with SEO, you already know this. SEO is where technology and content meet.
That was the point where content stopped being “just writing” for me. It became about strategy, structure, intent, and performance. From that moment on, moving into digital marketing did not feel like a shift. It felt like the next logical step.
Getting into startups and learning marketing in real life
I started with content creation and content management, but the real learning began when I joined startup teams. That was where marketing stopped being an isolated task and became deeply connected to business, growth, and decision-making.
My first serious professional experience was with a creative startup called Komodaa. When I joined, I was the first marketing hire. There was no team and no clear structure. Just a strong idea and an innovative founder.
I learned on the job through self-study, hands-on experience, and solving real problems in real time. The startup’s growth and my own growth happened in parallel.
Growth, experiments, and real numbers
In a relatively short period of time, we attracted around 500,000 users and grew the Instagram page to 400,000 followers.
Our growth strategy was a mix of influencer marketing, creative social media campaigns, Google Ads, consistent content production, and a strong focus on conversion. The goal was to turn followers into actual app users.
This was a C2C business, but in reality, it felt much more human-to-human.
That experience taught me something early on. Marketing is not about traffic or followers. It is about human behavior. It means understanding values, building trust and connection, and growing communities instead of pushing promotions.
Why Komodaa meant more to me than just a job
Komodaa was not just a platform.
The core idea was bringing second-hand clothing back into the consumption cycle, making fashion more affordable, and actively promoting anti-consumerism.
People could refresh their style without unnecessary production or waste by buying items that were new or barely used from someone else’s closet.
Working in a business with environmental values changed how I looked at marketing. It was no longer just about growth. It became about meaningful growth.
From working solo to leading a marketing team
When I started, I was alone in the marketing role. Over time, we built a full team.
We had a graphic designer, copywriters, and an outsourced SEO specialist. Eventually, I led the digital marketing team for a period of time.
My responsibilities expanded beyond execution. I was setting OKRs, managing budgets, and planning monthly campaign and content calendars.
I reported directly to the CEO and worked closely with product, technical, and customer support teams to make sure marketing goals were aligned with the overall business.
I spent almost five years at this startup, and a big part of how I think about marketing today was shaped there.
The next step: performance and pressure
After Komodaa, I worked for about a year with another startup called Easyminar, an online webinar platform.
This role was very different.
My main responsibility was lead generation for VIP webinars. The work involved short timelines, clear targets, and performance-focused campaigns.
The goal was simple and challenging at the same time. I had to reach the agreed number of leads before each webinar date.
This experience pushed me deeper into performance marketing and made my approach far more data-driven. While my earlier work focused more on creative execution and leadership, this role was highly performance-oriented. It reinforced my goal of developing deeper expertise in data-driven and AI-driven marketing.
Where I am now
Since September 2025, I have been living in the Netherlands.
I am currently studying for my Master’s degree in Content and Media Strategy at an applied sciences university in Leeuwarden. Continuing my studies was not just an academic decision. My main goal was immigration and, eventually, finding an international role in the Netherlands.
What attracted me to this program was how well it matched my background. It is practical, industry-oriented, and designed to connect students to the job market.
Right now, my main focus is going deeper into data-driven and AI-driven marketing. I am investing my time and energy in analytics, strategy, automation, and intelligent decision-making.
In parallel, I am also learning Dutch and getting familiar with the local culture as part of building a sustainable, long-term career here.
Enjoyed this article?