Zulykhoh Ijiyode

I am Zulykhoh, though most people call me Susu. I am a lifecycle and retention marketing specialist based in Lagos, Nigeria, with 5+ years of experience turning email and SMS into actual revenue channels for DTC ecommerce brands, not just another marketing checkbox.

My path into this started young, watching Nigerian TV commercials for Indomie and Coca-Cola. Those ads were not just selling noodles or soda, they were selling belonging, a family gathered around a meal, friends sharing a drink on a hot day. That stuck with me. It is the belief I still build every retention strategy around: the best brands don’t just sell products, they sell belonging, and email is one of the most direct ways to build that.

Professionally, I am Klaviyo certified and have worked hands-on across 50+ DTC brands, mostly in beauty, fashion, lifestyle, and wellness. My main contract role has been with Filedaria Inc., a Canadian hair and beauty brand, where I rebuilt their entire lifecycle system from scratch and took email revenue from under 10% to over 30% of total sales within a year. The piece I am proudest of is a 16-email nurture series I built for their professional stylist segment, which held a 38% open rate over 90 days and lifted repeat purchase rate by 35%.

Before that, I worked agency-side at Class-A-Dena Marketing Solutions, managing 8 to 12 client accounts simultaneously, where I lifted email-driven revenue by 45% and cut churn by 15% through segmentation and flow rebuilding. I have also directly managed retention for several 7-figure brands doing $1M to $5M annually, including Shortys, a men's underwear brand, Royal Roses, a high-end flower brand in Miami, and Oh Bubbles, a sparkling drink brand.

What I bring beyond the technical skill is a genuine obsession with the question of what makes someone stay, not just buy once. I think in customer journeys, not campaigns, and I care as much about the strategy behind a flow as the execution of it.

Outside of work, I spend my time cooking and hosting dinner parties, there is something about feeding people well that mirrors how I think about marketing, showing up, paying attention, making people feel taken care of. I am also an avid romance reader with a strong preference for slow-burn, emotionally earned stories, and I spend a fair amount of downtime with friends or deep in a good binge-watch.

I am currently looking for a CRM or retention lead role where I can take ownership of the full lifecycle strategy for one brand, rather than spreading across many, and build something that compounds over time.