Rethinking Workflows in the Age of AI with Lena Waters
February 19, 2026
In this episode of Future of Marketing, hosts Camille Ricketts and Mada Seghete sit down with Lena Waters, CMO of Notion, to explore how AI is reshaping not just marketing workflows, but how teams work together. They unpack how Notion integrates AI natively into its product and go-to-market, why “show, don’t tell” beats traditional enterprise selling, and how to scale brand, PLG, and enterprise motion without losing warmth or clarity.
AI isn’t your new employee. It’s your new teammate and that changes how marketing, product, and go-to-market teams operate at a fundamental level.
In this episode of Future of Marketing, hosts Camille Ricketts and Mada Seghete talk with Lena Waters, CMO of Notion, about how one of the world’s most beloved productivity tools is evolving into an AI-connected workspace and how that shift shows up not just in the product, but across the entire organization.
Lena shares how Notion avoids the common trap of treating AI like a feature add-on. Instead, her team challenges customers to rethink whether existing workflows should exist at all. The conversation explores how Notion collapses discovery time in enterprise deals by bringing prospects directly into the product, why PLG and enterprise are part of the same continuous loop, and how internal teams move from idea to market in hours, not weeks.
They also tackle bigger questions most marketers aren’t ready for yet: whether traditional websites and landing pages are becoming legacy artifacts, why storytelling still matters as much as attribution, and how empowering customers and employees to tell your brand story creates more consistency than strict brand governance ever could.
This episode is a blueprint for marketing leaders navigating the shift from AI as automation to AI as augmentation and what that means for how teams build, sell, and communicate.
What You'll Learn:
- How to reframe AI from automating workflows to questioning whether those workflows should exist
- Why “show, don’t tell” collapses enterprise sales cycles by putting prospects directly into the product
- How PLG and enterprise motions reinforce each other instead of competing
- How Notion moves ideas from concept to market in hours using AI-enabled knowledge sharing
- Why traditional websites may be becoming a growth liability in an AI-first discovery world
- How to balance storytelling and measurement when proving marketing’s value internally
- Why letting customers and employees shape your brand creates stronger consistency than rigid control
- The “warmth vs. competency” framework for moving upmarket without losing what made you loved
About the Hosts:
Mada Seghete is the CEO and co-founder of Upside, a next-gen revenue intelligence platform for B2B leaders. Previously co-founded and was CMO of Branch, helping scale to $100M+ revenue. Cornell Engineering graduate with Masters and MBA from Stanford. Partner at XFactor Ventures investing in women founders and organizes yearly retreats for 100+ women founders.
Camille Ricketts is a Partner at XYZ Venture Capital, where she leads investments in product-led growth and go-to-market software startups. Prior, she was the first marketing leader at Notion, building the brand and community during its earliest growth years. She also founded First Round Review for First Round Capital, managed communications at Tesla, and reported for The Wall Street Journal.
About the Guest
Lena Waters is the Chief Marketing Officer at Notion, where she leads global go-to-market strategy as the company evolves from a beloved productivity tool into a leading AI-connected workspace. With over 20 years of experience at companies like Grammarly, Docusign, Responsys, and Lookout, Lena has built and led global teams across growth, demand, and brand, helping organizations scale through major platform shifts while maintaining strong brand affinity.
Future of Marketing is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so