Kathryn Rose on Fixing MDF, Building Community, and Writing the AI Playbook for Channel Marketers

Kathryn Rose didn’t set out to build a movement—she just wanted to help her friends in channel marketing survive the chaos. Fast forward a year and the Channel Marketing Association is one of the fastest-growing, most energized communities in the space. In this episode, Kathryn dishes with Rick about how it all came together: the scrappy beginnings, the “holy crap” webinar moment, and what it really takes to build a community that works.You’ll hear behind-the-scenes stories from their intimate events, how they’re tackling channel marketing’s biggest headaches (hello, MDF!), and why they built custom AI tools for marketers, not instead of them. It’s tactical, honest, and packed with the kind of wisdom you only get from people who’ve done the work.