Member Interview with Jessica Llarena

We are delighted to bring you a Member Interview with Jessica Llarena, Mobile Ecommerce Leader, Ex Decathlon

What’s your golden rule?

Discomfort is the price of growth; pay it willingly.

Who has been your biggest influence?

My biggest influence was my first manager. She was a female leader carrying big responsibility in an executive team dominated by men, yet she never hardened. She remained kind, warm, and loyal to who she was.

She taught me something I carry with me every day: that kindness is not weakness, it's a silent strength.

She also pushed me to find my voice. I used to hold back in meetings, but she looked at me once and said: "Your ideas don't count if they stay in your head." That changed everything. I started speaking up, then sought out public speaking, and discovered that inspiring others is one of my deepest passions.

She didn't just influence my career, she shaped the kind of leader I am.

What is your most hated business expression?

"It is what it is"

To me it closes a conversation that should stay open.

What’s the smartest business idea you’ve ever had?

The smartest business idea I championed was reframing how we thought about our mobile ecommerce app.
The business saw it as an additional revenue driver, a nice extra. I saw it differently. I believed the real opportunity was to transform it into our most powerful channel for retention and loyalty over time.

My argument was simple but not easy to sell: growth today shouldn't only be measured in immediate revenue. The real win is becoming part of your customer's daily life: their everyday companion. When your brand earns a place in someone's routine, loyalty follows naturally, and that's where sustainable growth lives.

What leader do you admire most and why?

Oprah Winfrey, built an empire by being radically herself.

What is on your mind the most right now as a marketing leader?

Two things keep me up at night as a marketing passionate.

The first is AI, but not the way most people talk about it. Everyone's asking "How do we use AI?" But the question I can't stop thinking about is deeper: as humans become less visible in marketing, "How do we stay emotionally relevant?". Because the brands winning right now aren't the most automated, they're the most felt. Technology can optimize a message, but it can't manufacture a feeling.

The second is trust. Consumers today are more skeptical than ever before. Loyalty is harder to earn and easier to lose than at any point in my career. And I think a lot of brands are still asking the wrong question, "How do we reach people?", when the real question is, "how do we deserve their attention?".

Why is being part of The Marketing Society important for your career?

Because I believe great marketing leaders don't grow in isolation, they grow in community.

Why does marketing matter to you?

Marketing matters to me because at its core, it's about people, with real emotions, real needs, and real lives.

Marketing for me, done with integrity, is one of the most powerful ways to make someone feel seen. And when people feel seen, they trust. And when they trust, they stay.

Tell us something that’s not on your CV

I'm a marathon runner.

And I'll be honest, I didn't expect it to be one of the most life-changing experiences of my life. Those 42 kilometres, and everything that came before them, taught me how much I trust myself when things get hard.

And most powerfully, it taught me to trust the process. The invisible weeks of training when nobody is watching. The progress you can't yet measure. The belief you have to hold before the results arrive.