Antoinette Okono, PhD Profile and Contact Information

Department of Business, Analytics, and Marketing
  • Assistant Professor of Marketing
  • Program Coordinator, Marketing (BBA)

Education

  • PhD, Business Administration with Specialization in Marketing, University of South Alabama
  • MBA, Business Administration, Global Business, University of Houston-Victoria
  • MBA, Business Administration, General, University of Houston-Victoria
  • MS, Economic Development & Entrepreneurship, University of Houston-Victoria
  • BBA, Marketing, University of Houston-Victoria
  • Graduate Certificate in Marketing Management, University of Houston-Victoria

Courses Taught

  • MTKG 4360 – Marketing Strategy
  • MKTG 4350 – Marketing Research
  • MKTG 4330 – Global Marketing
  • MKTG 3313 – Social Media Marketing
  • MKTG 3310 – Consumer Behavior
  • MKTG 3301 – Principles of Marketing
  • BUSA 2315 – Business Statistics
  • BUSA 2301 – Business Math

Teaching Focus

Dr. Okon specializes in consumer behavior analysis, marketing strategy, and quantitative marketing, with additional expertise in marketing research and statistical analysis. She teaches several marketing courses, drawing on over 15 years of professional experience in both corporate and agency settings. Over her career, she has worked with major brands such as Microsoft, Samsung, Kroger Corporate, and Henkel, building a portfolio of global, national, regional, and local companies. This experience drives her teaching philosophy: a real-world, case-based structure that prepares students for a competitive workforce.

In the classroom, Dr. Okono connects theory to the practical application of the marketing discipline, with particular emphasis on the capability-building skills of critical and creative thinking. She integrates the growing professional use of artificial intelligence into her teaching methods as a reflection of what happens in the marketing workforce, working with students to ethically apply Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and Search Engine Optimization (SEO), as well as statistical analysis, research, content strategy, and creative development. Her approach emphasizes not simply the use of AI tools, but the ability to evaluate, direct, and apply AI-generated outputs within marketing strategy.

She emphasizes evolving areas of the field to ensure students are prepared for a rapidly changing marketing landscape. Dr. Okono believes that combining industry experience, emerging technologies, current marketing practice, and established theory creates a richer learning environment while preparing students to make informed strategic decisions in contemporary marketing organizations.

Research Interest and Publications

Dr. Okono actively serves as a member of the American Marketing Association, Society of Marketing Advances, Association of Marketing Theory and Practice, Academy of Marketing Science, Society for Consumer Behavior, Marketing Management Association, Association of Consumer Research, Digital Marketing Institute, Product Marketing Alliance, CMO Alliance, and Association for National Advertisers. Through these academically focused organizations, she publishes research on digital consumer behavior, influencer marketing, creator marketing, consumer-brand relationships, and various marketing phenomena, especially parasocial relationships. Her research interests include applications of symbolic interactionism, stimulus-organism-response theory, attachment theory, and parasocial theory.

  • Okono, A. (2026, August 7). Recruitment strategies for the marketing major [Panel paper]. Marketing Management Association Fall 2026 Educators’ Conference.
  • Okono, A. (2026, February 27). Orchestrating culture: Global brand strategy in an era of fragmented consumer identities [Panel position paper]. Marketing Management Association.
  • Okono, A. (2026, February 9). Algorithmic obsolescence: Artificial intelligence, expectancy formation, and the acceleration of product lifecycles in consumer electronics [Development paper]. Marketing Management Association.
  • Okono, A. (2026, February 9). Marketing as a public policy intervention in child abuse prevention: Interrupting the escalation cycle as a developmental conceptual model of displaced anger and emotional dysregulation [Development paper]. Marketing Management Association.
  • Okono, A. (2025, November 24). Reimagining brand resonance: A symbolic interactionist framework for influencer-brand relationships and within-category switching [Extended abstract]. Association for Marketing Theory and Practice.
  • Okono, A. (2025, November 24). The dark side of authenticity: Examining the ethicality of influencer-led message framing in GLP-1 marketing [Extended abstract]. Association for Marketing Theory and Practice.
  • Hair, J, Ortinau, D, & Harrison, D. (2025). Essentials of Marketing Research. How Effective Are Social Media Influencers?. McGraw-Hill Global Education Holdings, LLC. Dubuque, IA.

Committee Services/Offices Held

  • Archie W. Dunham College of Business Curriculum Committee
  • Program Assessor, Marketing, BBA
  • Advisory Member, Women in Leadership Program

Additional Information

Dr. Okono is Executive Director of the Bethel-Mansfield Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on child safety and learning readiness. Through the Foundation’s initiatives, she supports programs designed to strengthen child safety awareness, promote early intervention, and help children enter learning environments with essential resources and greater readiness to participate and succeed. She also leads research and public-education efforts related to child safety, prevention, and community response.

With over 15 years of marketing experience, including approximately a decade with leadership and strategy responsibilities, Dr. Okono has managed shared project budgets exceeding $10 million across multiple agencies and client engagements. Across her career, she has supported organizations representing a combined market capitalization of approximately $34 billion across industries including consumer packaged goods, SaaS, energy, high technology, retail, restaurants, and financial services. She has directed marketing and operational teams across Chile, Singapore, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Spain, Bahrain, Belgium, and Iran, with particular experience in consumer electronics. She has also led global teams of content strategists, copywriters, and designers across Italy, China, Brazil, Israel, and North America, using consumer and client insights to strengthen digital strategy and market performance.

Her industry experience includes work with or on behalf of organizations such as Microsoft, Samsung, Kroger, Schneider Electric, Citizen Watch, Grammarly Business, ATB Financial, Portwest, and Ethos Life Insurance. She also serves as an advisor and network council member with GLG and AlphaSights, providing subject-matter expertise to organizations seeking insight into marketing strategy, digital marketing, consumer behavior, and related areas.

Dr. Okono has also contributed to professional and community organizations through roles including Brand Advisor for One Bread Foundation, Marketing Director for the Foundation for Black Heritage and Culture, Marketing Mentor with Houston SCORE, Advisory Council Member with Harvard Business Review, and Vice President of the African-American Marketing Association. Before joining Houston Christian University, she taught marketing at the University of Houston–Victoria and the University of South Alabama.

Her academic, professional, and community work increasingly intersect around questions of consumer behavior, digital and social media, influencer–brand relationships, marketing strategy, public policy, child safety, and the use of marketing knowledge to support stronger community outcomes.

Outside of her professional work, Dr. Okono enjoys traveling with her family, volunteering, fitness, and spending time with her two terrier mixes, Pyke and Junior.