Dr. Mara Einstein is a powerhouse marketing critic who pulls no punches. After working for a decade in corporate marketing for some of the biggest names in the business, she left for academia.
That transition was motivated by a desire to pull back the curtain on consumerism’s dark side with the goal to 1) persuade companies to do better and 2) give people tools to increase their power in the marketplace.
She has written books on branding religion (Brands of Faith), cause marketing (Compassion, Inc.), and deceptive marketing practices. This last book was Black Ops Advertising, which The New York Times called “well-researched and accomplished” and The Guardian agreed, saying “Einstein’s explanations of all this – from internet news organisations to TV product placement and even dating sites – are thoroughly researched, elegantly explained and often alarming, even for readers familiar with most of the above facts in the abstract.”
Mara is regularly quoted in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, and The Wall Street Journal, among many others, and has appeared on HuffPost Live, The Brian Lehrer Show, NPR’s Marketplace, and popular podcasts, such as The Majority Report with Sam Seder.
She has written for Advertising Age, Salon, Harvard Business Review, Newsday, and Fastcoexist, and given talks from New York to San Francisco, from Brazil to the UK.
Dr. Einstein (and, yes, she is distantly related) has a BFA in theater from Boston University, an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, and a PhD in Media Ecology from New York University. She is a tenured professor, and former chair, of media studies at Queens College (CUNY).
What I Believe
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Be a straight shooter.
I believe in telling it like it is—good or bad. If it’s good, terrific. If things are bad, it’s best to know what you are dealing with.
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Empower others.
My teaching and writing is all about giving you the tools you need so you can decide where you want to spend your hard-earned cash.
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Doggedly pursue what you want.
No one is going to hand it to you (your future husband isn’t going to come knocking at the door and a million dollars isn’t going to fall from the sky.) Marketers create the mindset that getting your heart’s desire is easy—it’s not.
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Lead with compassion.
Today, one-upping the next person and jumping on the rage bandwagon has become sport. That’s because algorithms feed on our anxiety and anger. Don’t buy into it. Take a breath.
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Create with purpose.
At some level we are all creating something. Best to be conscious of it and do what you can to move the planet and its people in a positive direction. My favorite Albert Einstein quote (you know I collect these!): “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
Say My Name, Say My Name
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Say My Name, Say My Name 🎤
How to pronounce my name: Mara, like Sara and Einstein, like Albert.
More to Explore
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Writing
Want more in-depth knowledge? Discover my books and other writings where I tackle the insidious ways marketing affects you every single day.
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Speaking
Virtually or on stage, I provide audiences with messages that are equally eye-opening, inspiring, and actionable.
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Media
The Guardian called my work “thoroughly researched, elegantly explained and often alarming.”
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