When I started working at Walmart eCommerce, I would tell my friends that I was a greeter as an attempt to tone down the fact that I took a high paying job at a corporation that essentially pushes consumerism. It conflicted me in a specific way (because, let's face it - I lean quite a bit hippie and think we need more quality products and far less cheap quantity), but I also knew it would be an amazing learning experience and a challenge to my adaptability at the same time.
What I discovered in that behemoth of a company was unexpected. While there were plenty of challenges (a Fortune 500 company the size of Walmart will naturally be rife with them), I discovered new ways of thinking, learned how to make big differences despite limitations, and found a work family of kind, funny and intelligent people.
Initially, my work was mostly content management, content ideation and creation, and a lot of recipe database management. Over time, content marketing became more accepted within the company, and less of a red-headed stepchild. The Content Team eventually became the Editorial Team, and our role within the story of the site became more visible. During my tenure, I began to really find power in leading the creative teams for site-wide campaigns, developed strategies for content and editorial within the site itself, pushed for curated shopping experiences. Throughout the company, our roles focused on storytelling but our goal was to be a champion for the customer and their experiences on and off the site. Read below to gain some more insight into the specific work that I did at Walmart.