The Changeup

This week’s guest is principal and cofounder of Sparrow Digital Holdings, Ana Milicevic.  Sparrow advisors is a digital advisory firm that works with companies across ad tech, mar tech, e-commerce and media to generate and grow revenue.  We talk about the disconnect ad tech has with it’s intended value, our own perception of advertising, working with CMOs to get digital ready and building a busine...

Digital advertising was built on a false promise: the ability to track everything would lead to the right ad being served to the right customer at the right time. In reality, what it created was a massive multi-billion dollar arbitrage ecosystem where disinformation and bad actors pull money from advertisers who are unaware they are even running on these bad sites.  Nandini Jammi and Claire Atkin...

The business of sports is bigger and more integral to the game than ever before. And for athletes that means they have the chance to share their personal journey and personality outside of the field, on their own terms.  Walt Brock started his company, CrossOvr Collective, to help with just that. Working with athletes from all sports, his production team has built a stable of great, made for digit...

Nick Demos is a Tony and Olivier Award winning producer, filmmaker, business coach, as well as a yoga and meditation instructor AND he hosts his own podcast. We talk about growing up in Montana, his decision to leave dance and theater when from all outward appearances he was at the top of his game and how important the beginner's mindset is to his life journey. 

This week we talk with the founder and partner of agency Marcy Avenue, Benjamin Aziz.  Marcy Avenue is a creative collective of designers and strategists united by a common goal: to bring people together through art and culture. We talk about how his career has traveled from law to sports to politics back to sports and now helping some of the most innovative brands rethink art and culture. We lear...

What does fandom look like now? For Drop Party, it's the emotional relationship between brands and fans. Founder Marco Marandiz has been obsessed with how we obsess and build his company to further deepen that bond. With partners like Will Smith, Patrick Mahomes and the Mars 2020 initiative, Drop Party is creating culture with some of the coolest experiences.  We talk about how hurdles at a p...

The world of audio continues to grow and Steve Pratt has been at the forefront of the emerging medium. In 2014 he left a job at the Canadian Broadcast Company with a few colleagues to build Pacific Content, one of the first branded content audio studios.  We talk about the energy and excitement of hitting on an idea you love, finding the absolute best first client ever (they sold their first deal...

This week we are interviewing some of my favorite podcast companies and we start with Shira Atkins, Co-founder and CMO of Wonder Media Network.  Wonder Media Network is an audio-first media company focused on women at the intersection of politics, business and culture. They have created hit shows like Womanica, The Brown Girls Guide to Politics and The Growth League. Shira and I talk about what it...

What do you do when the industry you love seemingly has no job opportunities for you? If you are Kevin Jones, Founder and CEO of Blue Wire Podcasts, you create your own opportunity and shake up the industry. We have an open conversation about how losing his father was a driving force to build Blue Wire, how they are changing the sports audio game and how to find the right advisors/investors to com...

In the season premiere, we talk with CEO and Founder of Just Women's sports. 4% of sports media coverage is provided to women's sports. 4%. That paltry number is something Haley is dead set on changing by building her own media empire. We talk about her professional soccer career, why more need to invest in women and the early Instagram success that nearly derailed the company.  ***This...

New episodes every Monday starting Feb 21!  The Changeup is back for another season, featuring deep dive interviews with founders, innovators and those who made the brave leap from the corporate world to starting their own thing. 

In the season finale of Season 1, we have the pleasure of talking to the legendary broadcast journalist Soledad O'Brien about her decision to leave the cable news world and  create her own company, Soledad O'Brien Productions. We also discuss her new HBO docuseries "Black and Missing",  the phenomenal work done by her organization PowHERful Foundation, and the growing difficult...

In this episode we talk with  all around force of nature Tara McGowan, the CEO and Founder of Good Information, Inc, which owns Courier Newsroom. She shares her mission to help battle disinformation in media and increase civic engagement through trusted local journalism in critical local markets. We also talk about the gutting news coming from the Supreme Court in the Roe vs. Wade hearings and how...

In this episode, we sit down with the founder of Third City Advisory, Michael Miraflor. We talk about how his curiosity keeps him energized in an ever evolving advertising world, how the agency world is still not diverse enough and  he helps me wrap my head around Web3, NFTs and DAOs. 

Melanie, the Founder of Story Fuel,  is a keynote speaker, author, award-winning branded content creator, and lifelong storyteller.  In this episode, she talks about how she figured out what she was worth as a speaker,  why marketing is essentially just building a relationship, and how she ended up living in Raleigh of all places. 

In this episode, we sit down and chat with Akeelah Kuraishi, the Co-Founder of the subscription box service,  Little Global Citizens. Akeelah discusses how her later in life "gap year" ended up being one of her most profound experiences that ultimately led to her creating her own company. She shares her thoughts on the commonalities of people across the world, how exposure to others fost...

In this episode, we sit down with Co-Founder of Toolkits, Shareen Pathak and discuss her transition from being a journalist and editor to a business owner,  how to build up a good BS radar when interviewing people and how having a friend as a business partner makes even boring tasks seem fun.

In this episode, we talk with the CEO and Founder of Spikeball, Chris Ruder. He talks about what Spikeball is and why no one is good at it to start with,  what it takes to get on and win on Shark Tank,  the foreignness of getting to make all your own decisions as a CEO, and the difference between a calculated risk and just being stupid. Check out Spikeball

Today we sit down with S. Mitra Kalita and she shares her thoughts on how the pandemic shaped lives,  the importance of diversifying media content, and the subtle but important differences between local and community media

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and on this episode of The Changeup, we have the honor of sitting down and talking with Jeri Millard, CEO & Founder of In The Pink.   Jeri is a two-type cancer survivor who is using her experiences to better help other cancer patients with their durable medical needs.  Her non-profit boutique offers wigs, breast protheses, post-mastectomy bras, swimwear...

In this episode of The Changeup, we talk to the co-founder of an organic Tequila company, the founder and CEO of the startup Eliment & Co., a consultancy that focuses on how business can design culturally-relevant products and campaigns, the founder of Latinas Who Brunch and a Le Cordon Bleu trained Chef. The wild part? This is all one guest- the incredible (and energetic) Eliana Murillo.

In this episode, Emily explains how business and comedy intersect in her improv group- Four Day Weekend. She discusses how improv is not a talent but rather a skill that needs to be practiced, and how imperfect moments are really just opportunities in life and on stage.

Keith Stoeckeler joins The Changeup to share his thoughts on needing to "make it" before turning 40, the importance of Twitter when you're unemployed, and why starting something new isn't always a financial thing if you really believe in it. We also talk about the Mets. The underachieving, super frustrating, but we still love them, Mets. 

In this episode, Ray discusses his path led him from the music industry to brewing beer, how he was able to create an inclusive homebrew club in Southern California and why turning 40 is way better than anyone thought. 

In this episode, we talk with Jenna Porcelli, the director of Infant Swimming Resource, Lower Bucks PA. She shares some of the shocking statistics about childhood drowning, why floaties are dangerous, and what steps parents can take to protect young kids around water.  She also discusses the intensive training that is involved in becoming an ISR instructor and what makes ISR such a uniquely safe a...