2020 Honorees

Martina England

VP Commercial Strategy & Alliances

“I was encouraged to soak up every bit of knowledge I could from those around me.”

Tell us about where you work and what you do there.

I am the Vice President of Commercial Strategy and Alliances at Corra, a global digital commerce agency. After many years as a client services professional, I came to Corra five years ago and established a best-in-class Strategic Alliances program where I’m responsible for choosing who Corra partners and goes to market with. Under Commercial Strategy, I’m also responsible for Product Marketing and any strategic initiatives for the business.

How would you describe yourself?

I love to travel and have been to all seven continents. By the end of 2020, I will have visited over 50 countries. I enjoy planning travel almost as much as the traveling itself. My friends know me as the go-to global restaurant concierge. Trying new restaurants is one of my favorite activities and getting to share my findings with friends and colleagues is an extra added bonus. I’m originally from a very small town in Arkansas, but I’ve lived in NYC for almost 10 years. I’m very lucky to have a job I truly enjoy and to get to work alongside friends but, in another life, I would’ve been an art history professor.

What do you think has been your biggest professional success so far?

I started my career in a very traditional print marketing role and after a few years, my company transferred me to work onsite for a new client that ended up declaring bankruptcy two months after. Due to personnel cuts, I ended up taking over most of their Marketing team — meaning the new girl in her early 20s was suddenly responsible for 25 people, many of whom had been working at this company for longer than I’d been alive. To make a long story short, I learned a lot by being thrown into that leadership position and eventually got the majority of the team on my side. It also introduced me to new disciplines, encouraging me to start a new career path in the digital space and soak up every bit of knowledge I could from those around me.

Where do you find inspiration?

Travel — especially to places with cultures distinctly different than my own.

Pattern art Pattern art

We're curating an honoree playlist featuring all of your favorite songs! Name your top three.

If I can only choose three:
The Weight — The Band
Safety Dance — Men Without Hats
Road to Nowhere — Talking Heads

What do you geek out over?

Great art museums, WWII history, planes, and new vocab words.

What's your guilty pleasure?

YA novels (e.g. The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, etc).