Nora Ismail on Finding Her Place in Marketing
Updated: Oct 21
Nora is currently a Community Manager at Cossette, working across social media, content, and community for clients including Walmart Canada. But getting there wasn't a straight path.
When Nora first started at TMU, she planned to pursue a career in human resources. That changed after completing her first co-op in Talent Acquisition at HelloFresh.
“I really enjoyed the people there. I really enjoyed the company. I just found the work to be a little too redundant for me, doing the same processes over and over again, like interviews and looking at the same kind of applications.”
So, when she returned to school, she picked up a marketing minor and joined the Ted Rogers Students’ Society (TRSS) as an apparel manager, where she began building experience in marketing, social media, events and content.
She credits that experience with helping her land her next co-op role at Interac, where she worked in brand and internal communications.
“If I didn't have student group experience, I don't even know how I would get my internship at Interac because my only other experience was talent acquisition at HelloFresh and then my two marketing classes that I did for my marketing minor.”
Even after building experience through student involvement and two internships, that didn't immediately lead to a full-time job. After graduating, she spent around two years looking for one. Instead of waiting for the right opportunity to come along, she continued building experience on her own.
“It took me maybe two years to find a full-time job, but through those two years, I was just trying to work on my own social media, post on my own channels, and work with different brands. I wanted to show off my content creation skills the best that I could.”
That experience became one of the things she believes helped her stand out when applying for marketing roles. Through campaigns with brands including Amazon Prime, Charles & Keith and Call It Spring, she was able to point to work she had created independently.
“I was able to gain so much experience with different brands that I've worked with. When having those interviews and saying those names, I think it helped me.”
Having recognizable brands on her resume certainly helped catch attention, but more importantly, it showed initiative and gave potential employers something concrete to look at.
“Nobody makes you do those things. Nobody makes you do content creation. It's something you do on your own. So I also think it shows a high level of initiative.”
It also gave her an opportunity to demonstrate another skill she would later use in her agency role: adapting to different brands, audiences and guidelines.
“It showed my manager that I was interviewing that I'm able to switch tones, be adaptable, and also just follow guidelines. Because once I stepped into the role, it's immediate. I'm not having anyone shadow me because I'm just online commenting. They need to make sure that I can do it right away.”
Having content creation experience on her resume gave Nora relevant experience to point to when applying for roles, but getting that resume in front of the right person can be a challenge in itself. For Nora, networking helped bridge that gap.
When Cossette posted that they were hiring for a freelance Community Manager position, Nora applied, but initially got no response.
“The reason I even got this freelancing job is because I was connecting with anyone and everyone on LinkedIn, asking for coffee chats. I saw another team member post the opportunity on LinkedIn. Even though I had already applied through the website, I hadn't received a response, so I reached out directly. That led to an interview with them and my now-manager, and eventually, I got the job. We didn't have a previous coffee chat or anything, but definitely that small gesture helped.”
From there, Nora joined Cossette as a freelance Community Manager, supporting Walmart after the
previous community manager left.
“I would say it was more of a trial run.”
During the freelance period, she was able to take on additional work, including supporting McDonald's Canada, while also building strong results. One of her comments even received one million likes.
“The fact that I was able to take on more work, show initiative, communicate well, and also do good at my job, have a million likes on a comment, I think that's why they wanted to bring me on full-time.”
After a couple of weeks freelancing, she was offered a full-time position.
Today, Nora works primarily on Walmart Canada as a Community Manager, where her day-to-day involves managing and growing the brand's online community across Instagram and TikTok. Her work includes responding to comments and DMs, posting content, and helping foster the community around the brand.
“Since I am in a creative role, I have the opportunity to also ideate content and shoot them. So if you go on the Walmart social media, you'll see me in a lot of the videos. Not a lot of people want to be in the videos, but I feel like it's fun, it's cool, so I like to be in some of them.”
Here are a few posts Nora has been featured in!:
Working at an agency also means Nora isn't focused on just one brand. While Walmart is currently her main client, she also supports Princess Margaret's Payday for Life Lottery and has previously worked on McDonald's Canada.
“I think you need to be able to adapt quickly, especially being a community manager.”
Nora's path into marketing wasn't straightforward; it was built through trying different things and continuing to find ways to gain experience. Her advice to students reflects that same approach:
“If you can, be your own content creator. I think that's something brands really want and really look for... Just try to do it yourself. Just a little bit, put yourself out there.”
For students trying to figure out where they fit in the marketing industry, Nora's experience is a reminder that you don't necessarily need to have your career mapped out from the beginning. Sometimes, the most valuable experience comes from being willing to try something new, learn from it and keep moving.
Thanks for reading The Field Report! The Field Report is TRMA’s interview series where, each month, we hear directly from a marketing professional about how they got to where they are, what it looks like to work in the field, and their advice for building a career in the industry.
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