How The Women Everyone Called "Marketing Girlies" Ended Up Running The Internet (And Silicon Valley)

This past week, I found myself watching dozens of videos about women in SPAM.

If you've somehow missed the trend, SPAM stands for social media, public relations, advertising, and marketing. The phrase exploded after TikTok creator Laura Cameron posted a video arguing that while everyone was focused on AI replacing jobs, many of the roles becoming more valuable sat inside these exact functions. Within days, thousands of women were identifying themselves as women in SPAM, sharing stories about their careers and pushing back against the idea that they were simply "marketing girlies" posting on Instagram all day.

And I could not stop laughing.

Not because the videos weren't funny, but because they reminded me of how often I've seen this movie before.

Back in 2018, I was managing an $18 million marketing budget for one of the fastest-growing direct-to-consumer brands in the world. The decisions our team made influenced customer acquisition, growth forecasts, retail expansion, hiring plans, and company valuation. We were helping shape the future of the business in very real ways, yet there was still an underlying perception that marketing somehow sat adjacent to the important work.

Looking back, it feels almost absurd. Not because marketing suddenly became important, but because it always was.

The more I thought about the women in SPAM trend, the more I realized it reminded me of something I've been noticing for years. I've seen it in beauty. I've seen it in creator businesses. I've seen it in female friendship. I've even seen it inside Silicon Valley.

The same pattern keeps showing up in completely different industries, and once you see it, it's hard to unsee. At first, I thought women in SPAM was a story about marketing. Now I think it's a story about power. And more specifically, who gets taken seriously before the money shows up versus after.

Because the most interesting part of this trend isn't the acronym…it's the pattern hiding underneath it.