ANJA WINIKKA

FREEDA NETWORK FOUNDER & CEO - FORMER MAROO CO-FOUNDER (YC21) & THEKNOT.COM SITE DIRECTOR

I’m an entrepreneur and weddings industry expert–on a mission to deliver trends, insights, and education to the brands and businesses that power the $100BN US weddings & events industry.

 

WEDDING INDUSTRY EXPERT I EVENTS INDUSTRY ENTREPRENEUR

For nearly two decades, Anja has had her pulse on both–the consumer and small business–sides of the wedding industry. She pioneered the online wedding world from 2006-2016, marketing TheKnot.com to millions of engaged couples. AdWeek named Anja “The Knot’s Chief Innovator” in 2019 for helping connect thousands of local businesses to a social-savvy audience and in 2021, Anja co-founded Maroo (a Y Combinator-backed payments platform). Within its first year of launch, she had onboarded more than 7,000 small wedding businesses. Read more about Anja

 

ON-AIR WEDDINGS EXPERT & SPEAKER

Anja has been a trusted expert in the media with numerous appearances on the Today Show, CBS Early Show, Fox Business News, VH1 Morning Buzz, CNN, E!, Access Hollywood, and more. She has also appeared on industry stages across the country including Engage! Summits, Wedding MBA, WIPA, NACE, ICA and more. See more of Anja’s press

 

@ANJAWINIKKA ON INSTAGRAM

Two weeks ago on stage @engagesummits in NOLA giving everyone a quick overview of Maroo 💸🧡🎉 (swipe for a few of my favorite moments from the week!!) Having gone to Engage! more than 15 times over the past 11 years ‼️ I can for sure say this&hell
Losing our minds over here in KC waiting for this game to start. It’s been 14 years since KU won a national championship ‼️Since then, we added a purebred Jayhawk to our fam and indoctrinated her every step of the way… (swipe to cutest v
So this alien walks into a party… 👽🎉🤣 I think one of the best parts about us (ie, the weddings & events industry) is that we allow ourselves to be ALL that we are… no holds barred!! 🧡And I think that because of that, the opport
I needed her not to arrive before I had course-corrected my career. I needed to first show them that I could look and play the part—that I was deserving of that next level and title. 👩🏻‍💻📈 But she came before I could prove any of that.
Announcing…. The Maroo Money Summit 2022!! 💸🙌 The weddings industry is worth $90 billion, and IMHO we've played it small for far too long…It's time we get comfortable talking about MONEY 💸 This will be a LIVE, virtual event - taking