CMO Spotlight | Monica Lopez Gonzalez - Feeding America
The CMO Spotlight offers an inside look into the minds and journeys of high-performing marketing leaders.
Setup CEO + Founder, Joe Koufman, sat down with Monica Lopez Gonzalez, the Chief Marketing Officer for Feeding America, to talk about curiosity, action, trust, purpose, and what it takes to lead marketing in a mission-driven organization.
“Your personal reputation and the trust that people put in you are your most valuable assets. Be known as the person who is eager to learn. Be known as the person who is going to get stuff done. It might not be perfect, but nobody is perfect anyway.”
Q1 | What is your superpower?
Gonzalez’s greatest strength is understanding people and helping them work together in ways that create momentum. “I believe that I am able to identify what my teammates and my peers are really good at, and I tend to connect them. ‘You're good at this. You're good at this. Why don't we work together on making X or Y happen?’ I think that I have a knack for understanding people.”
She recognizes talent, connects strengths, and helps others do their best work.
Q2 | What advice would you share with marketers?
“You have to stay curious, and at the same time, you have to have a bias for action,” she shared. “Learn the fundamentals. Marketing is campaigns, channels, technology, and AI—but most importantly, apply that. Start small and then take it from there.”
She also made the case that marketers need to understand far more than marketing alone. In her view, strong marketers are students of the business itself. “You need to understand: are you in the business of selling more? Understand how the supply chain operates. Understand how finance operates. Understand how we can be more efficient. There is a business acumen that has to be applied to all of that.”
And while skill and strategy matter, she emphasized that trust and reputation are just as valuable. “At the end of the day, your personal reputation and the trust that people put in you are your most valuable assets. Be known as the person who is eager to learn. Be known as the person who is going to get stuff done. It might not be perfect, but nobody is perfect anyway.”
Q3 | What values are important to you?
Curiosity, bias for action, respect, and trust are big values for Gonzalez. She shared, “You need to respect the business. I want to make sure that people come with the best intentions. We challenge things, and then we should have a bias for action. So respect, dignity, and trust are the values that I look for in people. Can I trust the person? Can I trust that they are going to manage this in the best possible way? Can I trust that they will give their very best?”
She emphasized the importance of being curious and respectful, especially when working with different perspectives. “We need to work with people from a lot of different backgrounds and beliefs, and we need to respect that. I need to make sure that my team has that sensitivity, and I need to role model that sensitivity as well—to understand that we are not here to correct; we are here to help.”
Q4 | Tell us about an impactful campaign.
Gonzalez highlighted a campaign that connected Feeding America’s mission to a major cultural moment around food, using the NFL Super Bowl as a test case. The effort proved that the organization could reach audiences in a new way, leading to continued experimentation and a larger realization that there are many more cultural moments where Feeding America can show up meaningfully.
Q5 | What brand do you admire?
Gonzalez loves Patagonia because they are values-driven and very purpose-driven. She shared, “What I have seen over several decades is that they have remained consistent—the layout of the stores, the offerings, how you can exchange your garments—all of that in service of the purpose that they have. They have not backed down a single inch. So I have a lot of respect for the mission, but also respect for how that purpose has shaped the business strategy.”
For more marketing leadership advice and insights into the mindset of marketing executives in various industries, be sure to watch the full interview with Monica Lopez Gonzalez, and keep an eye out for more thought leadership from our CMO Spotlights.
If you know an impactful marketing leader who would be a good candidate for the #CMOSpotlight series, nominate them here.
Watch the Full Interview to the right.
Setup CEO + Founder, Joe Koufman, sat down with Monica Lopez Gonzalez, the Chief Marketing Officer for Feeding America, to talk about curiosity, action, trust, purpose, and what it takes to lead marketing in a mission-driven organization.