Nancy Luong is a Senior Campaign Manager at Salesforce, where she works with clients to execute their marketing programs from start to finish.

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1) To kick things off, could you tell us a little about your career background and current role?

I graduated with a Business Marketing degree at Long Beach State and don’t recall ever learning about email and digital marketing. This is why internships are so important – you get to learn things at a company that sometimes you don’t learn in school.

I started an internship in my junior year of college and by the end of my senior year I had worked at 4 different companies/internships. The last company I worked at was at Experian, I worked with the marketing team for freecreditreport.com.

I wore all the hats there and worked with the social media, SEO/SEM, email marketing teams. I graduated in 2009 when there was a recession, it was so hard to find a job! My parents basically told me to figure it out, as Asian immigrants that came with nothing, they were like nope if we figured it then you can too!

Well they were right, I saw a role open for Experian’s sister company CheetahMail AKA Experian Marketing Services. I asked my coworker at freecreditreport.com (where I interned) to send in my resume and she did. I’m so grateful for her doing that, I still thank her (thanks Karla!) for submitting my resume!

I got the job and have been in email and digital marketing since. I have worked both on the brand side as an Email Marketing Manager and now I am working at Salesforce as a Senior Campaign Manager where I have clients and help them execute their marketing programs from start to finish. 

2) What does a day in life look like for you? Can you take us through a recent workday?

I wake up around 6:30AM, I do a quick 20 minute HIIT workout from a YouTube video or workout on my stationary bike.

I shower, have some coffee, a piece of toast then start work! I have deadlines that need to be met everyday and I manage the workflow of our team, making sure everyone completes their tasks on time for our clients.

I work on all the email marketing campaigns for our clients and make sure everything goes out flawlessly. I have lunch sometime in the afternoon. After work I usually take a walk around the neighborhood, I either listen to a podcast or call/catch up with my parents or sisters.  

3) Does your current role allow for flexible or remote working? If so, how does that fit into your life and routine?

I have been WFH for over 3 years now! This helped a lot with quarantine since I was already WFH not much changed with that! When I started job searching from my last job I really wanted to find a great company to work for and wanted it to be remote.

I live in the Los Angeles area and have commuted for over a decade, usually I’d commute for 2-3 hours a day. I wanted my job to be remote and I really love it. It is so nice to have the convenience of working out, eating at home, and big plus – no driving!

One thing that I think is important is getting ready everyday: taking a shower in the AM, doing my hair/makeup. I do wear comfortable clothes (sweater/yoga pants) while I work unless it’s a call where I need to dress professionally!

4) What does work-life balance mean to you and how do you work to achieve that goal?

I think it’s important to take physical and mental breaks. The 20 min workout helps start my day, taking time away from my computer for lunch. I am busy but I will set a timer, have lunch without interruptions.

Taking a walk also helps decompress. I also like having a routine this helps so much with not having to think about my day – such as knowing what I am going to wear, eat, etc. I also set an alarm on my phone for every meeting I have.

I get calendar notifications but I also like having my phone alarm going off it gives me peace knowing I won’t miss a notification. I do love my job but I think it’s important to do what makes your happy.

For me that includes helping students at my alma mater Long Beach State or local High School students. I do workshops, speaking engagements and help them with their career path. This is important to me because I value education and having professionals with experience come and help the students really makes an impact for them.

I also love money and finances! For fun, I started a TikTok @fi.nance_hacks and made fun videos about financial hacks. I had NO idea what I was doing on TikTok when I started and taught myself, it’s been a fun creative outlet and it’s nice to share and help others with a topic I am passionate about!

Also, no one is ‘too old’ to join TikTok, there are so many great content creators out there at any age even in their 80’s and 90’s that I love watching! 

5) In the past 12 months, have you started or stopped any routines or habits to change your life?

I started journaling every morning, this has been very helpful writing down things you are grateful for and what/how your day could be great. It holds me accountable for what I want to accomplish during the day.

I tell myself everyday to try my best for that day. I think that we often put so much pressure on ourselves to get so much done when we really don’t NEED to. Getting more tasks in a day does not necessarily mean that you’re highly accomplished or doing well.

It is important to be kind to ourselves, do what you can in the day and give yourself a high five for that! Then you have the next day to continue on whatever you didn’t complete. 

6) Do you have any favourite books, podcasts or newsletters that you’d like to recommend?

I love reading, one of my favorite books is the Four Agreements. It is a book everyone should read; It will help everyone live a better, easier life, highly recommend! 

I also love Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations podcast, she always has great enlightening topics for self growth and development. I also have the guilty pleasure of watching reality TV!

I love the Real Housewives of all those cities and I listen to some of their podcasts. I thoroughly enjoy self growth, improvement content but sometimes you just need a little “trashy tv” or something to balance that all out! 

7) Are there any products, gadgets or apps that you can’t live without?

The Calm app is great, it’s good for meditation and I use it every night before I sleep and listen to calm, relaxing waterfall sounds. Helps me wind down and sleep!

I love my robot vacuum for my home, the best $100 I spent to never sweep/clean my floors – the robot cleans it all!

8) If you could read an interview about work-life balance by anyone, who would that be? 

I love Jeannie Mai! Jeannie Mai is a producer, Emmy winning TV personality and hosts The Real & Holey Moley (golf game show with Stephen Curry), she has her ownYouTube show, called Hello Hunnay and a podcast called Listen Hunnay.

She is an advocate for stopping sex trafficking and slavery in Vietnam and is a philanthropist. She fights for many movements such as BLM and now, amid the Asian attacks, is fighting against Asian racism.

As an Asian-American myself I admire her all of her accomplishments especially how she talks about personal matters and the importance of mental health. I would love to know how she balances it all!

9) Do you have any last thoughts on work, life or balance that you’d like to share with our readers?

I think it’s important to know how valuable you are! Knowing your value and what you bring to the table whether it’s work, family, friends, etc. is so crucial. When you value yourself, your time, your experience/skills, you start prioritizing what is important to you and what makes YOU happy. 

We get to decide what story we write for ourselves, what we want and what we enjoy. We can decide what we want and what we don’t want. Placing healthy boundaries will help create balance as we don’t need to say yes or give our time and energy to everyone and everything.

Perspective and gratitude is also key for balance. Focusing on what we have and appreciating that while working towards our goals will give us the momentum to get there faster. The “lack mindset” and comparing ourselves to others is detrimental and will make one miserable and slow one down from accomplishing a goal.

Everyone’s journey is different and being kind to yourself through the process is key to living a healthy, loving life to yourself and those around you.

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