Kicking off another great conversation in our LinkUnite V Interview Series, we sat down with Holly Barnes, Director of Marketing at Perform[cb]. She stepped into the performance marketing world fairly quickly after college and has been rising through the ranks ever since. Holly shares how she went from thinking she’d work in traditional advertising to discovering a career where creativity and B2B strategy can co-exist, especially now, with AI opening new doors for campaign ideation, copywriting, and experimentation.
She talks about what it was like entering a space she’d never learned about in school (because no one teaches college students about affiliate marketing), and how much she’s learned by being thrown into an industry built on relationships, velocity, and constant change. After five years at Perform[cb], Holly feels like she’s learning something new every day.
This was also Holly’s first LinkUnite event, so she shares what it meant to walk into a room full of women who genuinely support each other, and why spaces like this feel rare and needed in the broader industry.
She closes with simple but important advice: never be afraid to ask questions. The worst thing you can do is pretend you understand something when you don’t. Staying curious, speaking up, and learning in real time have helped shape her career.
To watch more interviews from LinkUnite V, along with other videos from across the email marketing industry, check out our full Video Library or YouTube channel.
