With more than a decade leading creative strategy and brand transformation across multiple industries, Emma Critchley-Lloyd has spent her career shaping stories that make people feel something and act on it. Today, as Chief Marketing Officer at Zodia Markets, she’s doing the same for a financial system on the brink of transformation, helping to define how the next era of money moves.

In this conversation, Emma reflects on her journey, why creativity belongs at the heart of institutional finance and how vulnerability, mentorship and reinvention can be the most powerful tools in a marketer’s career.

You’ve come from being the Founder of a PR and marketing agency, what made you pivot into an in-house role as Chief Marketing Officer for Zodia Markets?

You can experience the most incredible highs as a business owner, but the lows weigh equally heavy. 2024 was difficult for many businesses – mine included – and I’ve been very open about how hard it was returning to work nine weeks postpartum to protect what I’d built. I’m proud to say I saved the business and overcoming those challenges became the catalyst for the growth and opportunities that followed.

One of the lessons I learnt is that the right time to pivot is when you’re riding the top of the wave. After supporting Zodia Markets as interim CMO at the end of 2024, the opportunity arose to join as an employee. Having originally developed the brand with my agency in 2022/23, it felt like a rare chance to take something I had helped create and see it through to its full potential. That’s not a privilege you often get agency side and it was a real blessing to step into that ownership.

As I’d worked with the team already, the move felt like a natural step. The journey Zodia Markets is on is extraordinary – digital assets are reshaping a financial system that hasn’t fundamentally changed in decades and Zodia Markets is at the forefront of that shift. To be part of that, was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down.

What excites you most about leading marketing for Zodia Markets?

It’s the rare opportunity to tell the story of an entirely new financial infrastructure – as it’s being built. Stablecoins, tokenisation and on-chain settlement aren’t abstract ideas, they’re already disrupting how capital moves. My role is to connect those breakthroughs to the audiences that matter and to do it in a way that builds trust, but equally excitement.

I bring something unique into this industry – a creative agency background applied to a serious, highly regulated industry. Too often, those restrictions lead marketing teams to “play it safe” which leads to  messaging sounding the same. If you stripped the logos from most brands in our space, you’d struggle to tell them apart. What excites me is the chance to break that mould. To inject creativity and fun because yes, you can have fun in institutional finance, while still being credible, trusted and authoritative. The challenge is to not think like anyone else and that’s exactly what makes my work so rewarding.

What’s been your proudest achievement so far at Zodia Markets?

I’ve had so many, but launching our H1 2025 report is up there. It was a completely new initiative – an in-depth, data-led piece of content that showcased record-breaking volumes, client growth and landmark trades. As a team of one, I lead the end-to-end process from strategy to production, design to campaign execution so, seeing it land so well with clients, partners, investors and internal stakeholders was incredibly rewarding.

A second notable achievement is definitely the “steal our policy” campaign we ran for World Menopause Day in October 2024. Working with HR I drafted, designed and launched a Menopause Policy. Zodia Markets is one of the few firms in our sector where women make up 50% of the leadership team, so this was a natural extension of our values. The goal wasn’t just to support our own employees, but to spark broader change across financial services – an industry that rarely addresses topics like this head-on.

The campaign resonated. We secured press coverage, engaged partners and got five other organisations to ‘steal’ the policy for themselves. That ripple effect, showing that marketing can drive cultural as well as commercial impact, is something I feel immensely proud of.

How different has this felt compared to working agency side?

Agency side, you dive deep into many industries and brands, but often only for the lifespan of a retainer or project. You become highly knowledgeable on many topics, but once they’re over, you rarely revisit.

This role is different. It’s more regulated than I’m used to, which adds both complexity and discipline, but also a huge learning opportunity. This is an industry where something new happens every day. Everyone is constantly learning and always innovating. Like I said before, challenges are the catalysts for growth and in digital assets, the challenge is that so much of it is still being written in real time. The only way forward is to grow and learn with it.

The marketing industry is going through huge change. What’s your perspective on the rise of AI?

I saw an unsettling meme recently that said: “Start eating healthy because your future doctor is passing their exams using ChatGPT.”

AI is both an enabler and a disruptor, but like any tool, its value depends on how you use it. It can accelerate production, generate insights and automate tasks, but it’s also reshaping team structures and the skills that are valued. We need to be honest, AI is already doing more of the work than many want to admit. The opportunity lies in using it to enhance, not replace, human creativity and judgement.

The real risk comes when people don’t have the training, experience or critical thinking to know when or how to challenge it. That’s what concerns me for the next generation of marketers. If they grow up in a workplace where AI always agrees, where creative teams are shrinking and human mentorship is replaced by machines, where will their growth come from?

That’s why we have to double down on mentorship, knowledge-sharing and human-led creativity. AI can do a lot, but it can’t replace the value of experience passed from one person to another.

What advice would you give to other marketers navigating this shift?

Stay curious and adaptable. Learn how to use AI tools, but don’t lose sight of what makes marketing powerful – empathy, storytelling and strategy – these are all by-products of curiosity. Stay curious and you’ll keep growing. 

Also, seek out mentors. They can be older, younger, in your industry or not, but someone you admire and can learn from. I once heard of a company who would KPI their people on finding an external mentor. I think that’s important. Growth doesn’t just come from within your team, it comes from seeking out perspectives that challenge you to think differently.

Finally, don’t be afraid to reinvent yourself. I’ve had to do that several times in my career, and each time it’s been the catalyst for growth.

With women still underrepresented in leadership across finance and tech, what does it mean to you to hold a seat at the table?

Representation matters, but for me it goes beyond gender. Successful leadership is about uniting perspectives shaped by intersectional diversity. That’s exactly what a rapidly evolving industry needs. You can’t expect change if the same voices, backgrounds and experiences keep making the same decisions.

When there is balance, decision-making is sharper, strategies are stronger and cultures become healthier. I’ve spoken openly about my own career challenges, because I believe showing vulnerability is a strength of leadership. It shows humanity, makes you relatable, approachable and empowers others. Someone they feel they can learn from and grow with to become the leaders of tomorrow.

Looking ahead, what impact do you hope to make in the next few years at Zodia Markets?

My ambition is for Zodia Markets to be the standout brand in institutional finance, not just in digital assets. It’s a bold goal, but then so is our vision. We’re reshaping a system that hasn’t changed in decades and making sure the next era starts with us. That’s career-defining work and I want our brand to embody that same sense of excitement.

For me, the benchmark is how it feels as an outsider looking in, the kind of company you dream of joining because of what it represents. Like Apple under Steve Jobs or Netflix when it redefined how the world consumes content. I want to help build a brand that outlasts me, one that people remember, associate with a moment of true transformation and to be able to say, I was there.