On May 6, an audience of journalists and seasoned and aspiring marketing professionals participated in the first “Conversations with…” event held at MSN. Valerie Block, deputy Managing Editor of Crain’s NY Business and one of the senior editors in charge of the magazine’s annual “40 Under 40” edition, quizzed Maryam Banikarim, Chief Marketing Officer of Univision, the premier Spanish-language media company in the U.S., and one of Crain’s 2008 “40 Under 40” honorees, about her almost nomadic journey to her current post.

Banikarim, who characterizes herself, not surprisingly, as a risk taker, talked about her childhood--her family fled Iran for Paris during the revolution and then settled on the West Coast of the U.S. She recalled the challenges of “fitting in” wherever she landed and her serendipitous associations with executives such as legendary retail CEO Mickey Drexler as she pursued her interests and her dreams.

Her “can-do” attitude, which comes from parents who encouraged her career pursuits, gave her the confidence a young person needed to navigate an unusual path that began at Barnard College. Ellen Futter, then the college’s president, and now head of New York’s Museum of Natural History, counseled her to establish a network of women she admires and to stay in touch with them. “Only recently have I put together that group, but we meet regularly,” she said.

She launched her media/entertainment career in Argentina quite by accident, garnering a post on a film being shot in the country and then joining the local television station. She had gone to Argentina to pursue freelance work as a journalist, but opportunistically seized the film job when it presented itself. Returning to New York to pursue an MBA at Columbia, she then held posts at Young & Rubicam and media giants Time Warner and Turner Broadcasting before taking a risk on the power of the Internet and moving to CitySearch. While colleagues thought she was crazy, the timing of the move was just right and she participated in the site’s growth and success.

Since coming on board in 2002 at Univision as SVP, Strategic Marketing, Banikarim said her primary goal has been to help “make it the No.1 network—not just the No. 1 Spanish-speaking network—but No. 1 overall.” Her position has evolved so that advertising, marketing and public relations for the company are her responsibility. Commenting on Univision’s public relations activities, she said that the company’s devotion to its customers, characterized by extensive community relations programs in many markets, provided a good base from which to build. A recent change in ownership has helped lift a long-standing policy of avoiding media inquiries and the PR department is dealing with the opportunities and challenges that media accessibility can present.

Asked what impact blogs, mobile and other new media are having on the overall marketing mix of the company, she noted that while they do some blog monitoring, new media does not yet dominate their focus.

Banikarim said she meets regularly with her counterparts at a number of companies—a kind of CMO roundtable—to exchange professional information and career observations. Responding to a question about mentors in her career, she noted that one of her colleagues in the CMO group, Tom Kelly of IDEO, practices “reverse mentoring”, or choosing a younger person who knows more about what’s current in media and other evolving social areas, to be his mentor. Reversing the age construct of the traditional mentor/mentee relationship raises interesting possibilities, she said—implying that she sees mentors in non-traditional places.

While the hour whizzed by, full of interesting anecdotes about the career of this very accomplished woman, the most compelling points the audience took away about life and career were:

• Never be afraid to take risks.
• Seek opportunities to work with, or hire, people smarter than you are.
• Always be willing to learn.

For more information about Maryam Banikarim, visit the Crain’s NY web site, www.crainsny.com, and click on “40 under 40”.