September 9, 2026
Happy Wednesday, Alpaca!
Pour yourself a cup of ambition, because today we’re celebrating Marina Erickson’s FOURTH anniversary at Alpaca!
Four years! Head of Fulfillment, then Office Manager, now Head of People Operations. Marina has done so many things so well here, and leaves her mark in so many generous, indelible, and delightful ways, that summing it all up is hard. Then a couple of weeks ago, I heard a story about Dolly Parton that I hadn’t heard before, and my immediate reaction was:
Wait. Are Marina Erickson and Dolly Parton actually the same person?
And I knew what this letter needed to be about. So here’s the story.
Back in the early 90s, Sevier County, Tennessee had a serious school dropout problem. More than a third of the high school students in this rural Appalachian county weren’t graduating, and many of them left school as young as 14.
Dolly wanted to do something about it, so she launched the Buddy Program. Silly name, but it had an extraordinary impact.
Here’s what she did. She gathered every 7th and 8th grader in the county (at Dollywood, of course) and she made them a promise. Each kid picked a “buddy” of their choice. If both buddies graduated from high school, she gave each of them $500. If one graduated and one didn’t, neither got it.
The dropout rate fell from 35% to 6%.
Why did it work? Well, if you’re trying to get a bunch of 8th graders to do something difficult, like stay in school when a third of their friends are dropping out, you can’t think like a philanthropist or a school administrator or a country music star. You have to think like an 8th grader. As the mother of one, I can tell you that middle schoolers care deeply about two things: making their own money, and being cool.
The program worked for two reasons:
It made success everyone’s job. The program assigned the work of holding kids accountable to the kids themselves. When your parent wants you to go to school, you might not. If you and your buddy made a promise to each other for that $500, you show up.
It made the act of taking care of each other cool, and it made it rewarding.
When you can inspire a group of 8th graders to help each other stay in school and make the act of doing so fun and rewarding, you’re winning bigger than any graduation rate can measure — you’re creating an ethos in a young person that is focused on both being successful and taking care of one another.
Which brings me back to Marina. If I had to sum up four years of her work in one line, it would be this: she makes positive culture everyone’s job, and she makes taking care of each other fun and rewarding. Those two talents go hand in hand, and they’ve built a true “culturemaker” mentality in every single person at this company.
How does she do it? Thank you for asking. Let us count the ways. Four big ones, one for every year:
Morning Greetings.
Every morning, Marina greets every single person as we walk in the door, with the joy, positivity, and ambition we expect of our team. She’s here early, she’s ready to work, and she’s here to help you start your day. It’s a lovely way to begin the morning and a joyful reminder to take the time to greet one another.
Fearless on the Phone
Before this year, Marina had never picked up the phone for an outbound sales call, stepped foot on a trade show floor, or interviewed a candidate for a job. This year she’s done all of that (and so much more), constantly setting the example that we can all do the hard work of building this company, and nothing is “not our job.” At our stage, that matters enormously.
Power Hours
When Marina noticed productivity and energy flagging in the afternoons earlier this year, she created “Power Hours” to get everyone calling, selling, moving, and drinking water, so that sales is everyone’s job and everyone contributes to our goals. When it’s time for Power Hour, we hold each other to the highest energy level possible to achieve big things.
Setting Up New Hires for Success
This year, Marina helped build true onboarding at Alpaca, bringing together Alpaca leadership, working principles (like “Phone! Keys! Wallet!”), customer voice, shared peer experiences, and highly organized information so that new hires feel set up for success from the day they arrive (and even before). She helps each of us welcome new hires, and helps each new hire introduce themselves to the company in creative ways.
Marina builds culture the way Dolly built the Buddy Program: by thinking like a new team member, a sales team member, a people manager, and a leader, and then creating the work experience each of us can love and share with one another.
She asks us and inspires us to care for one another in unique and delightful (and hilarious!) ways.
She doesn’t take herself too seriously and demands the same of each of us. And above all, she makes our company’s success every single person’s job.
Marina, you’ve got dreams we’ll never take away. I can’t wait to see what’s next!
Happy Anniversary!
KB