“Carry the Tunes With You”
We asked our E-commerce Manager, Gerard Martins, to share his very own musical story with us, and how that ultimately led him to join our Digital Marketing & E-commerce Team at Native Instruments.
“I did not become a professional musician myself, but music has been shaping my life.”
Let’s talk music! When and how did you develop your connection to music?
Brazil, early 80s! I was born into a truly multicultural family with different backgrounds and different expectations, but with one thing in common — music!
I grew up with a remarkable collection of Jazz vinyl on every single wall in the house. Samba, bossa nova, Carribbean, jazz, classic rock, country, cajun music… a little bit of everything. So at a very early age, music started to be my main source of inspiration!
Back in the days I was moving quite a lot between Brazil and Portugal with my family, so my cassette player (K7 as we called it in Portuguese) was my best friend. During these travels I always wondered, “What if I just try playing an instrument myself?” And then finally when I turned 13, I got my first bass! Since then I was involved in the vibrant, alternative garage rock scene of the late 1990s/early 2000s in Lisbon. I did not become a professional musician myself, but music has been shaping my life for sure.
“Combining my love for music with a job focusing on marketing and sales was exactly what I was looking for.”
And how did you find your way to Berlin and NI?
What can I say — for me Berlin is one of the major hubs for talent, tech, arts, and creativity! A place where all of this comes together was what I was looking for in 2017 — so I moved over. With a sales and media management background, it was the right decision at the right time. There are only so many well-established music tech companies in Berlin, so I’d heard of Native already. Combining my love for music with a job focusing on marketing and sales was exactly what I was looking for. When I saw the job opening as E-commerce Manager in the Digital Marketing and E-commerce team, I tried my luck and applied. Now 1.5 years in, I must say I’ve learned a lot on the way, and each day comes with new interesting challenges.
“Acting in a global and cross-functional setup makes the difference to me.”
Tell us more about your work as an E-commerce Manager in the Digital Marketing Team.
My team consists of nine people (including myself) with different backgrounds and skill sets aiming for the same goal! From email marketing, performance marketing, content marketing, to e-commerce, we have the tools and combined decades of experience to bring the best online experience to our customers, and accomplish great results at the same time. Our website is a living organism with 1.5 million visitors per month, so there needs to be constant development, testing, and improvement.
When it comes to my daily work, acting in a global and cross-functional setup makes the difference to me. Collaborating with our offices all over the world — from Tokyo to LA, Shenzhen, Paris, and London — as well as aligning with Marketing, Sales, Finance and several product owners here in Berlin, summarises my job in a nutshell. E-commerce has many touch points within the business and I’m happy that I can contribute to NI’s overall success by shaping the best possible website experience for our customers.
In the end it all comes down to great teamwork and I am lucky to say I’m in a team that embraces weirdness, being part of a diverse group, and always being accepted for who you are. To be fair this actually goes for all of the teams. We all somehow experienced some sort of musical exposure. This is what makes the environment at Native so unique! Skilled and talented international people with many different areas of expertise joining our teams to work on products and projects in order to give everyone the opportunity to express themselves musically.
“Music is affinity!”
Home is wherever you want it to be, as long as you carry your tunes with you.
