It's No Fluke

Steph Lager is the co-founder, CEO, and Executive Creative Director of Mango Creative Co , an award-winning creative agency that helps brands find the sweet spot between powerful, authentic brand storytelling and high-impact performance.  Steph has worked as a copywriter, creative director, brand and creative strategist for over 13 years, defining brand voice and leading creative work for some of...

Dr. Kristen Wager is PhD-trained consumer insights leader with deep expertise in the food creator economy. Over the past decade, she's led research initiatives at Kellogg Company supporting top CPG brands like Special K, Cheez-It, and Morning Star. Most recently she built research programs for the top 100 food creators at Raptive. That’s where she gained firsthand insight into the food creator...

Mike Nellis is a leading political strategist, social impact entrepreneur, investor, and the founder of Endless Urgency . Over the past two decades, he has helped elect leaders including Vice President Kamala Harris, Adam Schiff, Gretchen Whitmer, Jon Tester, and Lauren Underwood, while raising more than $1 billion online for campaigns and causes. He also built one of the nation's leading soci...

Emilia Costa has spent nearly 20 years in media and advertising, watching the digital landscape transform from the earliest days of podcast sponsorships to the rise of AI-enabled platforms. She currently serves as Senior Manager of Member Engagement & Development at IAB, where she works with some of the biggest companies shaping the future of digital media and advertising including TikTok, Pin...

Camille Dagorn, VP of Creator Partnerships, McCann New York, is an award-winning creator and influencer marketing expert with more than a decade of experience building high-impact campaigns for global brands including L’Oréal, Unilever, Pernod Ricard, GoPro, and Mastercard. She is known for scaling social-first programs, designing creator-led brand initiatives, and driving measurable growth across...

Margarita Neymark is a brand executive and community builder who operates at the intersection of strategy and human behavior, connecting physical media to the evolving landscape of technology to create experiences that resonate, while benefiting local communities.  Having spent the majority of her life building communities from the ground up, Margarita is passionate about reframing soft skills and...

Spy Ninjas Entertainment is a creator-led media company based in Las Vegas, and is home to Spy Ninjas , the longest-running serialized narrative show on YouTube, which has 47M+ subscribers and 18B lifetime views since its launch in 2018. Founded by creators and entrepreneurs Chad Wild Clay and Vy Qwaint, the company recently announced it is investing $25M into its content pipeline and production c...

Travis W. Keyes makes images and films that live in the spaces most people miss. Cinematic, story-driven work that celebrates connection, character, and the beauty of being seen. From film sets to nightclubs, studios to streets, Travis has always chased moments with energy, intention, and story at their core. Based in New York City, he is a cinematic portrait photographer, filmmaker, and content c...

Josiah Hritsko is a leading YouTube strategist trusted by the platform’s top creators and companies, including JesserCo, CrunchLabs, Theorist Media, Home Renovision DIY, Contrarian Thinking, and Blueprint. Over the past decade, he has shaped the ideas and thumbnails behind videos with 4 billion views. Through thousands of rigorous, data-driven A/B tests he has built a reputation around creating ba...

Kaleigh Moore is an AI search strategist who helps B2B SaaS content teams show up in AI-generated answers. She is now researching LLM information retrieval at Harvard, she advises content teams on AI search strategy, and publishes the Context Window newsletter.

Corey Martin has spent over 25 years contributing to powerful integrated earned communications programs – connecting influencer marketing with earned media to effectively take advantage of an ever-changing media landscape. Press + media influencers as well as social + cultural influencers create a media dynamic that requires a cohesive strategy and as Managing Director of Media & Influence at...

Jeffrey Matisoff is CEO & Managing Partner, North America at The Brandtech Group, the world's leading Gen AI marketing company. Over more than two decades, he has helped global brands including IBM, Nestlé, and Verizon navigate major shifts in media, technology, and consumer behavior. Before joining Brandtech in 2021, he served as Global President of WPP's dedicated IBM agency, where h...

Seth Akkerman is a creative technologist driven by curiosity, humor, and a desire to leave things better than he found them. With a background in architecture, product design, UX, development, and motion, he thrives on cross-disciplinary collaboration and complex challenges. Instrument's  Playspace is a living archive of in-progress experiments: a home for scrappy builds, tiny tools, and inter...

Eva Nassery is a public relations professional specializing in media relations, influencer partnerships, and brand storytelling. Her passion for PR began at a young age through building online fan communities for her favorite artists and TV shows, where she developed an early understanding of audience engagement and digital culture. Today, she serves as a Senior Account Executive at APC Collective...

Kenny Gold is Edelman's Global Chief Creator Officer, leading Edelman Creator, the firm's global creator marketing offering. In this role, he is responsible for advancing Edelman's creator-first approach to communications and marketing, helping clients harness the power of creators, culture, and emerging technologies to drive business impact. Kenny joined Edelman from Deloitte Digital, where he se...

Jason Y. Lee is the Founder and CEO of Jubilee Media, a digital media company with a mission to provoke real human conversation. Under his leadership, Jubilee has grown into one of the most recognizable digital-first media brands for Gen Z, reaching more than 380 million monthly views across platforms through flagship series including Middle Ground , Surrounded , Odd One Out , and Versus 1 . Jubil...

Zach Blume is the co-founder and president of Portal A, an award-winning brand and original content company built for a social world. Portal A has been named Campaign’s Brand Entertainment Agency of the Year, Digiday’s Video Agency of the Year, the Streamy Awards Agency of the Year, and Cynopsis Digital Studio of the Year. The company's work has been viewed over 4 billion times online and rece...

Michelle Makasini is a D1 All-American soccer player turned award-winning digital marketer who has built social ecosystems from the ground up for some of the world's most iconic brands; Hilton, American Airlines, and Asana. As the architect behind Hilton's first-ever Shorty Award, Michelle proved that the most powerful marketing moments aren't bought, they're earned through authent...

Wes Elder is an entrepreneuer, filmmaker and actor. He's the co-founder of Creatorspace , a marketplace connecting brands with creators for everything from standard sponsorships to ambitious branded productions. His background is in film and TV. He co-created and starred in the 2016 romantic comedy The Matchbreaker (a two-year Netflix title) and produced the renovation competition series Gutte...

Nia Testamark is the Director of Strategy and Client Leadership at We Thrive Media, a millennial-led, Gen Z-powered digital marketing agency specializing in digital & social media, influencer marketing, and creative production across culture, entertainment, education, healthcare, sports, and social impact. With nearly a decade of experience across marketing, creative strategy, and digital stor...

David Clarke leads communications at Oh Hello Agency , specializing in public relations, strategic messaging, and brand storytelling. His career spans NYC Public Schools, NYC Pride | Heritage of Pride, Inc., The WNET Group, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, earning high-impact media coverage and shaping resonant campaigns. A published journalist in OutSmart Magazine, BroadwayWorld , and...

Sara Currie is a video editor for MrBeast turned founder and CEO of the trusted creative agency, Rich Bear Brandworks. She has her finger on the pulse of the real inner workings of the creator economy. And now she's here to share it with you.

Jacques Keyser is the Director of Programming at VidCon, where he leads the strategy and execution of event programming across the US and international markets. With over 15 years of experience in music, entertainment, and the creator economy, he has worked with leading platforms, labels, creators, executives, and global brands. At VidCon, Jacques has helped launch and scale events worldwide, cura...

Drew Sutton is the founder of Drew Sutton Leadership and creator of Culture Systems — a proprietary leadership architecture that replaces force-of-will management with scalable systems for aligning people, culture, and execution across an entire organization. This episode was recorded live at Innovate Summit in Louisville. Check out their next event in Nashville in October. Vibes improved by Old C...

Holly Hartman is an AI governance strategist and founder of FWS Enterprise LLC (Future Workforce Systems), where she works with enterprise leaders to build the guardrails, policies, and workforce readiness programs that make responsible AI adoption real, not just a talking point. She is also the co-founder and President of The WO Network, Kentuckiana’s largest professional women’s community with m...