PlayForbes stage · Forbes Video
Leadership, purpose, and practical frameworks — on stage with Hillary Clinton
A Forbes Under 30 Summit conversation with Secretary Hillary Clinton on leadership and purpose.
Watch on ForbesTech leader · Marketing executive · Forbes 30 Under 30
A strategic technology and marketing leader who moves the needle.
Forbes 30 Under 30 marketing leader building customer-led growth at Asana, Mixpanel, Anaplan, Signifyd, Talkdesk, and Adobe. Founder of KMB Studio and UnapologeTECH, Expert in Residence at First Round Capital, and USF lecturer. I partner with companies and audiences to drive measurable results — through full-time leadership, advisory work, or the keynote stage.
Strategic partnership inquiries
Let's build something that drives results.
Full-time leadership, advisory engagements, and keynote stages. Tell me what you are building — and where you need to move the needle.
$50M+
Influenced revenue across three IPO-stage companies
$30M+
Pipeline generated through customer-led growth
3
IPOs: Marketo, Anaplan, Asana
40+
Countries reached through UnapologeTECH
Selected work
Five companies. One playbook: make the customer the growth channel.
01
Asana
VP, Global Customer Advocacy, Community & Executive Programs
$26M$9M107%
Built Asana's global advocacy, community, and executive programs from zero across AMER, EMEA, APAC, and Japan — founding the Customer Advisory Board, the Executive Briefing Center, and Blacksana along the way.
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02
Anaplan
Director, Customer Advocacy & Engagement
30%25%$1.5M+
Built the customer marketing, community, and customer operations functions — including the global community platform, User Group Program, and the Master Anaplanner certification with Deloitte — and played a role in the 2016 rebrand.
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03
Mixpanel
Head of Regional Marketing & Customer Growth, Americas
$20M+$14.3M+7
Unified product marketing, demand gen, lifecycle, paid media, advocacy, and field into a single Americas GTM engine — and founded the global Customer Advisory Board that put C-suite leaders from Uber, McDonald's, Vuori, and AMC Networks in the product conversation.
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04
Signifyd
Director, Customer & Product Marketing
1stG2Global
Built global customer marketing, product marketing, brand, field, and community from the ground up — founding Signifyd's first Customer Advisory Board, first customer conference, and first reference engine.
Read →
05
Marketo (Adobe)
Sales Development Lead
$500K+100%+
Started on the revenue side of the category that invented modern marketing automation — carrying quota, and learning exactly how buyers move before ever designing a program for them.
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KMB Studio
The advocacy frameworks behind the playbook.
My consulting practice and home of UnapologeTECH — the program architecture I use to build customer engagement systems from zero, tied directly to revenue.
Start a conversationCustomer Advisory Boards
C-level forum providing strategic input into company direction. Charter, governance, recruitment, and agenda architecture. Target: ENT, Strategic.
Executive Briefing Center
Pairs client executives and stakeholders with your executives and subject matter experts to explore near-term expansion. Intake, speaker bench, day-of orchestration, follow-through.
Executive Sponsorship
Engages senior executives at your company with select executives at strategic accounts to deepen relationships and drive growth.
Councils
Focused groups on usability, product features, and functionality — generating structured customer feedback and insight. Target: MM, ENT, Strategic.
VIP Engagement
Roundtables, fireside chats, dinners, and meet-ups where industry experts discuss the state of the market — and the gateway into executive-to-executive programs.
Ambassador & Champion Networks
Membership programs for enthusiasts and champions that extend usage across teams and drive word-of-mouth advocacy at scale.
Advisory, teaching & community
Building the next generation of customer-led operators.
First Round Capital
Expert in Residence
Sep 2022 – Present
Embed with portfolio companies to architect and found Customer Advisory Board and customer-led growth programs from zero — program infrastructure, governance models, and executive engagement frameworks for early- and growth-stage SaaS.
Maven
GTM Instructor
Nov 2023 – Present
Design and teach customer-led growth systems for modern GTM leaders on Maven: lifecycle alignment, sustainable growth, and AI with a human-centered lens.
University of San Francisco
Lecturer, Marketing & Brand Strategy
2022 – Present
Four years of applied curriculum bridging enterprise SaaS marketing with academic frameworks, with an emphasis on equity-centered approaches and mentoring underrepresented students.
UnapologeTECH
Founder
Aug 2022 – Present
Global leadership platform advancing women and underrepresented professionals in tech across 40+ countries.
“She brought a unique combination of experience, perspective, enthusiasm, and energy to the workshop. We are looking forward to having her back again.”
Speaking
Keynotes, workshops, and panels on customer-led growth.
From the Forbes 30 Summit to the 160th Saint Mary's College Commencement — on leadership, advocacy, and customer programs that drive revenue.
Request a speaking kitRecent stages
- Forbes 30 Summit 2026
- Forbes Women's Summit 2025
- CMX Summit 2025
- Social Innovation Summit 2025
- 160th Commencement, Saint Mary's College 2023
- Penn State University 2023
Topics
Customer Advisory BoardsCustomer-led growthBuilding advocacy from zeroCommunity as a GTM channelExecutive engagementInclusion and equity in tech
On stage & on air
Talks, keynotes, and interviews on leadership, frameworks, and customer-led growth.
PlayForbes stage · YouTube
Forbes Under 30 Summit 2026: Women in STEM
Panel on the women reshaping STEM and redefining leadership in tech.
Watch on YouTubeTalk · YouTube
Customer-Led Growth on stage
Keynote on turning advocacy into a measurable growth engine.
Watch on YouTubeCommencement · YouTube
160th Saint Mary's College Commencement
Featured Commencement speaker Kalina Bryant '14 on empowerment, trust, and openness to opportunity.
Watch on YouTube
PlayInterview · Urban Magazine
Interview: Kalina Bryant of UnapologeTECH
On founding UnapologeTECH and building platforms that outlast titles.
Read the interview
PlayInterview · First Round Review
The Startup's Guide to Customer Advocacy
On champion networks, advisory boards, and turning relationships into multi-year revenue.
Read on First RoundAs seen in
Education & credentials
Psychology first. Technology second. That order is the advantage.
Understanding why people commit — to a product, a community, a company — is the foundation of every program I've built. Design thinking and integrated marketing gave that instinct a method.
Degree
Saint Mary's College of California
B.S., Applied Psychology (Honors) — concentration in social and personality psychology. Minor in Ethnic Studies. Returned as the 160th Commencement Speaker in 2023.
- Psi Chi International Psychology Honors Society
- Gael Mentor
- Black Student Union Chapter
Certificate
Stanford University — Introduction to Design Thinking
XCDT110, conferred by Stanford Engineering and verified by the Stanford Center for Professional Development. Completed March 2024.
- Design thinking
- Innovation practices
- Prototyping
- Creativity
Certificate
Cornell University — Integrated Marketing 360
Full-funnel marketing strategy across brand, demand, and lifecycle — the operational counterpart to the human-centered work.
Recognition & media
- Forbes 30 Under 30 — Enterprise Technology, 2022
- Top 100 Customer Advocacy & Marketing Influencers, 2022–2025
- Forbes Contributor — Social Impact, 2022–2024
- Walmart Creator, 2025
Keynote stages
- Forbes 30 Summit 2026
- Forbes Women's Summit 2025
- CMX Summit 2025
- Social Innovation Summit 2025
- 160th Commencement, Saint Mary's College 2023
- Penn State University 2023
UnapologeTECH platforms
Tools, community, and media for the next generation of tech leaders.
Leadership platform
UnapologeTECH Academy
Courses and live workshops on Maven, built from the playbooks used at Asana, Mixpanel, Signifyd, and Anaplan.
Community platform
UnapologeTECH Community
A global network of women and underrepresented professionals in tech across 40+ countries — mentorship, workshops, and career acceleration.
Join the communityFor tomorrow's leaders
Young Professionals Track
Built for early-career professionals ready to lead before the title. Career mapping, executive presence, and the soft skills that accelerate promotion.
Learn morePartner with Kalina
Ready to bring customer-led growth to your company?
Keynotes, workshops, and CLG Academy engagements built on the same systems that drove growth at Asana, Mixpanel, Anaplan, Signifyd, Talkdesk, and Adobe.