MARZIA A. KHAMBATY

A Marketing Execution Analyst at Canadian Tire Financial 

Q1. Tell us about your journey right from the beginning.

I graduated from LUMS with a major in Economics and minor in mathematics. After that I landed a job as an Assistant Product Manager at Faysal bank for their preferred banking sector. That I would say was a dream job for any fresh graduate. In that job I got the opportunity to look after so many different things such as marketing, financial reporting, service quality, training. My days were not monotonous. And there was a protocol attached to this job as well because it was the preferred banking sector. I was doing great. Also got promoted as a product manager. On the side I was also doing a social media marketing part time job at VentureDive. But then I got married and moved to Toronto. And this is where the real professional struggle began! I had heard that the market was bad but experiencing first hand was a night mare. I applied for hundreds of jobs and did all the networking in the world but nothing worked. I finally took up a job of a front desk admin assistant which was just so that I could at least leave the house. I did that for 1.5 years. And can you imagine that the market was so bad that i got more appreciation and congratulations on landing this job than I did when Ingot promoted at faysal bank. And then I also took up make up artistry on the side. Did a certification in that but couldnt do that either. I missed the corporate world and being in a 9-5. In the middle, for about 6 months I got a project based job as an analyst with a Houston based company. This job was more on data entry. This was something that kept me motivated but it wasnt a full time job. Plus it was project based so sometimes we had projects and sometimes we didnt. I kept my fire on look and look. I used the linkedin jobs app to apply to 40-50 jobs a day which I could apply with just a click through the linked in profile. And finally the day arrived. I was hired as a Financial Analyst at Mindshare Canada. This was an amazing break. I got to manage a subordinate and got to innovate a lot. However, finance wasnt the path I wanted to take. My husband is a CFA and a finance guy. So I know the passion that they have. And I lacked that! I was doing well. But I knew this wasnt something I wanted to have a career in. I knew my interest was in analysis and marketing. At that time, there was an internal opening of a digital analyst Which I pursued. And at this time I was being considered to be the manager for client finance but I knew once I got into that loop, there was no going back! After being rejected once, the second time I was hired for the digital analyst within Mindshare and that job was something that got me to my passion. It was an amalgamation of digital, analysis, marketing all the things I was in love with. I learned about google, amazon, facebook, different metrics and systems so I was loving it. Then I got pregnant and went for my mat leave. With this new responsibility I knew I couldn’t do the commute that I was doing. 3 hours on the road so for my personal priorities I decided to look for a job closer to home. And I again looked for a job for 6 months. And I landed in my current job. Which where I get the opportunity to play with soo many different systems. At this job I get to work on an overall marketing/ campaign execution of a credit card. So Im enjoying it to the core and it really makes my brain cells work!

  1. 2 let’s break it down. WHAT is data analytics?

Data analysis in simple words is just making sense of data. Nowadays there is so so much data out there. Access to data is much easier and so is working on it and making sense of it. Almost all companies want to have data driven approaches. No decisions are made without analysis. Some people are involved with access of data, some are with refining it, then there is analysis and finally there is reporting. These are different stages that data passes through and there are data analysts involved at each step. This is a giant of a field that is pretty recent. Came about I believe 12-15 years ago!

  1. 3 Why is data analytics important in today’s world?

As I mentioned, access to data is easier and making sense of it is easier too. A benefit of being in the digital age. Companies are investing in sophisticated Systems and allowing so much on the job training to their employees to master in this. Plus there is so much affordable learning out there On the web. And I know for a fact that each department of a big company has a portion for analysis. Whether it’s marketing, digital, finance there is analysis happening everywhere. And can you believe there was no formal education being offered for this. No degree about 15 years ago. But now this is a formal subject.

And just to give you a simple example for marketing analysis. We all watch YouTube. And when an ad pops up, there is so much being captured about it behind the scenes. How many ppl saw it, how many ppl saw it for a certain percentage of times, did any click etc etc. So this is a basic example I can give you.

  1. 4 The field that you are in, how do you make sense of so much data coming in?

It’s all systems driven. I didnt have any background in running queries or doing coding. I took one course of coding at lums and hated it so never went back to it. But as the need for it arrived in my career I learned everything on the job. From colleagues or through formal trainings. And I started to really really like it. I feel good and happy when I get to a productive analysis in my work and can make sense of it.

  1. 5: As a woman in tech, how has your journey been in the world of data?

If you’re asking if I fit in well in this industry as compared to men then I’ll say that it’s a certain yes. I mean it’s probably because the country that I’m In where there is no such discrimination between men and women. We all have equal opportunities. The only time the difference comes is when a woman gives birth and goes for a 1 and 1.5 year break here in Canada. I felt rusty but got back on my feet in a month or 2. I’ve actually never felt that difference of being a woman or opportunities being taken away because of being a woman. In fact in all of my analysis jobs my managers have been women.

Q.6: Lastly, if more women want to become data analysts, what courses or route should they take?

So first you have to evaluate your interest. Whether you like math, charts, reporting. Too much data shouldn’t overwhelm you. If you tick these boxes then get into this field. For me as I said I had no background education. I learned everything on the job so anyone can do the same unless there are any hiring requirements which I haven’t heard off. You can learn everything online. There are limitless training sessions. I know some are even free and give you a certification too. Go for it and learn! And don’t be shy of asking questions. I hound my colleagues to teach me. So try and do the same!

Q.7: Your message for ElleTech