Work in Progress with Alison Feldmann
Alison Feldmann is a creative marketing exec and consultant known for building brands people care about. She’s built a career crafting narratives and strategies where culture and creativity drive growth, working with companies including Etsy, Zalando, Booking.com, Ikea, and Eventbrite. She’s based in Amsterdam.
What are you working on right now?
In 2026, I aspire to master the art of the portfolio career with a few new ventures to indulge my need for humanity and creativity.
The first: My friend Jessica and I are building a new, intentionally curated community for senior marketers and creatives in Europe called Friend of a Friend.
I’ve been part of many communities—I highly recommend Old Girls Club—but most skew US-centric, and we noticed a gap in the market for women with ambitious careers in Europe. Our mission is to create a non-performative space to find collaborators, share opportunities, get and give advice, and build a meaningful network, both digitally and IRL. Also, to escape the hellscape that is LinkedIn.
In short, I just wanna work with cool, inspiring people. Come join us.
The second: The Substack that haunts me (I’ve procrastinated so hard on this), which is either:
Going deeper on modern marketing (creative! social! brand! creators! the future of advertising!), insights and frameworks to apply to your work, case studies on brands that are doing it right, how to make it as a consultant.
My design-obsessed life: Objects, trends, curated secondhand finds, recommendations, *quilts*, art movements, and 1930s bathrooms. Tentatively called: Something cutting but woo woo. (Zoe Latta already has “Rotting on the Vine” and I’m so jealous, what a banger name.)
If you could change one thing about the world of work right now, what would it be?
Woof. I really struggled to answer this question, as my list of work qualms is seemingly endless at the moment: AI as a mandate with no strategy, constant layoffs, short-termism…
Honestly? Everyone I know in the marketing/creative bubble is deeply unhappy. The result is an attitude to work that is transactional at best. If I could change one thing, I would wish to create environments where people could find meaning and growth in their work, not constant stress and/or fear of losing their livelihood. (“It’s PR, not the ER.”)
What can we do to change it? Well, companies need to work on behalf of their stakeholders, and that includes employees: things like pensions, 10% time to work on passion projects, equity for all.
We are deeply social animals who want to do good work, with people we enjoy, and be fairly compensated.
Is that so hard?
Also top of mind for me: Portfolio careers with complementary activities to make a living, like consulting, speaking, and coaching. Making space for alternative ways of working with a focus on output over time spent. Making space for caregiving. Flexibility.
What’s giving you hope lately?
As an American watching ::gesticulates wildly:: the current state of the world at a distance, the energy is thick.
One thing gives me a sliver of hope: As a New Yorker for 15 years, I am electric at the election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of NYC. The inclusivity! Bodega owners! Multi-language interviews! If this isn’t a sign of a positive future fueled by diversity, intelligence, and empathy, I don’t know what is.
That’s my mayor.
Work in progress is a celebration of the effort and mindset required to make real change exist.
The most important jobs are never done and great work happens somewhere in the messy middle, where its all too easy to give up. But optimism is a pragmatic choice we make daily, so if you’re navigating change and want a thinking partner along the way, explore how we work.