Directions Magazine (DM): What is your position in your company and what do you do there?
Carolyn Hodge (CH): I joined Locaid, the location as a service company, as head of marketing in December. It’s an exciting time for the company as a startup that gained serious traction in 2011. They have an incredible story about the adoption of location services. Now you can use your smartphone to make sure your kids are where they are supposed to be, to keep tabs on a parent with dementia, to get a $1 off your favorite beer when your flight is delayed, to find out about sales at your local boutique, or to place bets on your favorite sports teams. At this stage it’s all about building the team and living the dream.
DM: What was your career path to your current position?
CH: A pivotal point for me after holding management positions at Edelman Worldwide and Organic Inc. was joining TRUSTe, a privacy management solutions provider, where I built the marketing team and the brand for seven years. I learned to love distilling complex B2B problems and solutions and gained appreciation for the consumer privacy issues around location. After TRUSTe I provided some interim marketing leadership to startups, one of which was UrbanMapping – where geographic data are offered for business intelligence. Then I met Rip Gerber through a mutual friend and it was a great match to help them build their brand in location and promote their privacy leadership.
DM: What are your personal interests and hobbies?
CH: I got a Garmin Edge 500 for Christmas so I can track all my cycling, and I joined Strava so you can see where I’m riding. Not much to show for 2012 so far, but last year I rode about 3500 miles. Check back in July and I’ll be logging some vertical feet in Spain. I also open water swim with the South End Rowing Club in San Francisco.