Rising Stars: Meet Bernadette Abasta of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bernadette Abasta.

Hi Bernadette, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I began my career in Direct-to-Consumer marketing working for Ron Popeil, the godfather of direct response and DTC marketing. That experience became the foundation for a career spanning over three decades of building, managing, and scaling performance-driven marketing campaigns. Throughout my career, I’ve focused on helping brands achieve significant growth through the combination of media strategy, creative, analytics, and disciplined performance optimization.

I’ve had the opportunity to work with brands including Philips, SharkNinja, Jacuzzi Bath Remodel, Latha Pool, Walgreens, NewDay USA, and many others, overseeing media investments at tremendous scale across linear TV, CTV/streaming, digital, radio, and emerging channels. My career has been split between both the client and agency sides of the business, which gives me a unique perspective in the work I do today. I understand what brands need from their agency partners, but I also understand the realities of buying, optimizing, and scaling media from the agency side.

Last year I co-founded Machina, an advisory to leverage my experience and provide clients a powerful and inique approach to finding and developing new revenue channels. And about 6 months ago, Machina launched RogerRoger, an AI video production division that is completely changing the way commercials are produced for TV and streaming. I wake up everyday and focus on challenging conventional thinking, identify opportunities for growth, and build performance marketing strategies designed around one goal: measurable business results.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
My biggest struggle was balancing work and family. I went through a divorce when my kids were young, so managing childcare while working long hours in the agency world was tough. It wasn’t always easy, but it taught me how to juggle a lot, stay resilient, and keep moving forward.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I specialize in helping brands grow and scale, with a heavy focus on Direct-to-Consumer and performance marketing. I’m very data-driven and probably best known for digging into the numbers, figuring out what’s working and what isn’t, and then finding ways to optimize and scale. I’ve spent my career on both the client and agency sides, which I think really sets me apart. I understand what it’s like to be the client managing multiple agency partners, budgets and business expectations, and I also understand what it takes on the agency side to actually execute the media and deliver results week over week, and each quarter. Today, I work across media, creative, analytics and overall growth strategy, overseeing more than $100M in annual media investment. I’m also a big believer in challenging the way things have always been done and continuing to test new channels, technology and creative approaches. What I’m most proud of is the longevity of my career and the relationships I’ve built along the way. I’ve been doing this for more than three decades, and genuinely love the challenge of taking a business, finding the opportunities for growth and helping it scale.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Yes, I come from a family of artist that are well know in the Filipino American community and at some point in my younger years I was an actress. I also love major league baseball…the Red Sox to be exact, and have been to Fenway Park more times than I can count!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mymachina.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernadette-abasta/
• Other: https://rogerroger.us/