Marketing Week Meets: Julia Goldin

Julia Goldin is Lego’s chief marketing officer, responsible for leading an 1,800-strong team on its mission to inspire the “builders of tomorrow” and give as many children as possible access to the developmental benefits of Lego. A keen pianist and scuba-diver, Goldin moved from Russia to the US in the late eighties to study communications at the University of Illinois before going on to do an MBA in international marketing and finance. Her marketing career began at Quaker Oats shortly after that, which was followed by 13 years at Coca-Cola and then Revlon, before she joined Lego in 2014. Five years later and Julia and her team are working on projects with NASA and sea life rescue in France. In this wide-ranging interview, Goldin discusses everything from how her early life influenced her move into marketing and the most pivotal moments of her career to what she hopes her legacy will be. Topics include: • Her biggest marketing influence (clue: it’s not a marketer) • “Growing up behind an iron curtain” - her experience moving from the Soviet Union to America • Making a mark and the defining theme in her career • Why her biggest career success hasn’t happened yet