In our latest Top Women in Marketing feature, Binna Kim from Vested shares the moments that shaped her career, the risks that paid off and the perspective driving her forward. We will celebrate her alongside the full roster of the 2026 Top Women in Marketing June 4 in NYC.
Watch the full conversation here.
Transcript:
Kaylee Hultgren:
Hi there, I’m Kaylee Hultgren, Content Director for Chief Marketer and PRNEWS. I am here with Binna Kim, Group CEO and co-founder at agency Vested. Welcome Binna.
Binna Kim:
Thank you for having me.
Kaylee Hultgren:
We are talking to Binna today because she has been named a Chief Marketer Top Woman in Marketing. Congratulations.
Binna Kim:
Thank you so much.
Kaylee Hultgren:
So I’d love to know what this award being a top woman in marketing means to you.
Binna Kim:
Well, it’s a significant honor because one, I love celebrating the accomplishments of women in our field. We probably rarely take a moment to celebrate ourselves or recognize ourselves since we’re all working so very hard on behalf of the clients and brands that we’re representing. So it’s wonderful just to take a moment to be able to recognize ourselves and there are so many amazing women being celebrated here that it’s just an honor to be named alongside them.
Kaylee Hultgren:
In your view, what is the biggest challenge facing marketers today and how are you tackling it?
Binna Kim:
There’s so many different challenges facing marketers today. I think, you know, with challenge comes opportunity. There are two sides to the same coin. I think one of those is just the speed of change. I think brands more than ever have to really be on top of how quickly environment, context, circumstances change. One clip can go viral and then suddenly brands are having to pivot or take advantage of an opportunity that presents itself. AI is really changing how quickly we can produce things, but also creating a lot of noise in the marketplace. So again, challenges and opportunities. I think it’s an environment that is putting a lot of marketers and marketing teams into positions where we have to be adaptable. We have to keep our eyes open, we have to be willing to embrace change. And I think, you know, any team that’s able to kinda lean into that change, and take advantage of it, I think will be better positioned than most. So I think the speed of change is definitely the biggest thing we’re all dealing with.
Kaylee Hultgren:
Let’s go with a fun question. What advice would you give your younger self just starting out in marketing?
Binna Kim:
<laugh> I love this question because if I could go back in time, I would have so many, so many things to say to my younger self. Um, like, uh, you know, like peplum tops are gonna be back in at some point. But, um, you know, one of them is probably that you would be surprised at how many people also feel imposter syndrome. I think when you’re younger in your career and you’re going into meetings or maybe even environments where maybe you are the only woman in the room, I’ve certainly been in situations like that, or you’re younger than everyone and you’re feeling like, oh, do I even have a right to be here? And what’s incredible to me is, you know, decades later, even in conversations with people who are, you know, have retired or getting ready to retire, almost every one of them say they still feel imposter syndrome, which is incredible, right? It’s kind of like no matter how much experience you have, you just have this moment. Sometimes you’re like, oh gosh, like, do I really know what I’m talking about? And I almost wanna tell my younger self, like, sit in that discomfort, and it’s okay because I think it makes you self-aware. But also don’t underestimate that probably everyone else around the table might be feeling the same way you do.
Kaylee Hultgren:
That’s great advice for all of us. <laugh>
Kaylee Hultgren:
What is one trend in marketing that you’re excited about right now?
Binna Kim:
You know, what I think is really exciting is probably also challenging is our ability to get messages out really specifically to micro communities. I think decades ago, you know, before, you know, TikTok was really a thing, or even like the ability to get data at such granular levels was really a thing. You’d kind of reach communities at large, but now we can get so deep into people’s preferences, habits, affinities, and really reach them at the point of what they might be feeling when they’re starting to make a decision. And I think it means that we as marketers, we can just, we can be so much more authentic, but also just so much more impactful in how we talk to the different demographics and in really authentic ways. And I actually think that’s something that we as marketers should really take advantage of and own because I think it can’t be, no more spray and pray marketing.
Binna Kim:
I always joke about the fact like everybody says my Instagram algorithm knows me so well. I’m sure every person who is on a social media feed will open up their feed and go, wow, I really do want that product. Or I’m really being influenced in that because the right things are being served to you and you’re actually actively considering making a decision. Now we work in financial services, but even for corporate or B2B or highly regulated industries like that is still such an important development for marketers that I think is actually really exciting. It’s only gonna get better to be honest. It’s only gonna get even more powerful. So, really exciting opportunity.
Kaylee Hultgren:
Last question for you. How are you setting yourself apart from competitors in your business?
Binna Kim:
I think it’s a great question. And one thing about Vested and probably really important thing actually is that we are a specialist agency and there’s a lot of change in the agency landscape right now. It’s interesting. I think some of the holding companies are getting bigger and, you know, people are getting split up. But I think there’s this big opportunity which we are seeing, it certainly has always been part of our value proposition, is for being vertically specialized. And we are financial services only, and I appreciate finance is not always — on the surface of things doesn’t always feel like the most exciting vertical. But I think it’s exciting and I think it’s really important because finance is complex. I think a lot of people have complicated relationships with money and oftentimes people think about finance and they go, Ooh, like, I don’t know that much about it, or it’s very confusing, or, oh, that’s like the domain of Wall Street bros.
Binna Kim:
And I think what we do at Vested is we specialize in finance and actually try and really make finance feel fun, fresh and engaging. And we do that through really, really understanding what financial services is all about. So I think our ability to get super nerdy about finance and then find those opportunities to be creative is what has allowed us to do such exciting work for such notable financial brands. So I love what we do and I’m really excited about how the future of our industry is gonna continue getting more fun, fresh and engaging.
Kaylee Hultgren:
Excellent. Well thank you very much Binna for taking the time with us today. We will be celebrating all of Chief Marketers Top Women in Marketing, alongside PRNEWS Top Women in PR, on June 4th at the Top Women Awards Gala in New York City at Current. We hope to see everyone there.
Binna Kim:
Lovely. I’m looking forward to it. Thank you.
