Just One Thing with Mel Noakes and Max Fellows

Our guest on this episode is my friend Mel Noakes , Head of Sponsorship and Events at Santander , and co-founder, with me, of the event industry’s largest mentoring and training provider, Elevate. Mel has worked both agency and client side and has spent the last 20 years creating and delivering world-class brand experiences and sponsorship activations globally for Santander, Sony Ericsson and Sony...

Our guest on this episode is Max Fellows , the founder of Allpoints and Co-founder of Elevate, the event industry’s largest mentoring and training provider. With nearly 20 years of experience, Max has successfully scaled global event businesses in commercial sales roles at some of the world's biggest agencies, and now leads a team of consultants delivering best in class support, helping business o...

Our guest on this episode is Simon Mitchell , CEO of KERB Food and founder of events agency KIN . Simon’s impressive career spans over two decades in events and hospitality, beginning behind the decks as a DJ before moving into event production and leadership, where his creative drive and commercial instinct really stood out. Ten years ago, he joined the fledgling street food collaborative KERB as...

Our guest on this episode is Natalie Duvall , Creative Director of March Muses and Culture Marketing Events Manager at Red Bull, a Diversity and Inclusion Champion and a presenter on the award-nominated Black Mums Upfront podcast. Natalie’s work spans culture, creativity and entrepreneurship. At Red Bull, she leads event marketing across dance and music, working with major global artists and deliv...

Our guest on this episode is Louisa O’Connor , Managing Director of Seen Presents , one of the UK’s fastest-growing brand experience agencies. Louisa’s impressive career spans nearly two decades in experiential marketing, working with major global brands like Netflix, TikTok, Amazon, and Live Nation. Starting as a project assistant, she quickly progressed into senior roles, ultimately founding the...

Our guest on this episode is Nina Ferguson the co-founder and CEO of INCA Productions . INCA Productions is a global events agency with head offices in London and New York. They serve as a strategic partner and creative studio, delivering extraordinary experiences for ambitious brands. With a prestigious client roster that includes Apple, Google, Moët & Chandon, Chanel, Netflix, EA Sports, and...

Our guest on this episode is Charlotte Saynor , Head of Global Events and Experiences at Google DeepMind, Google’s pioneering artificial intelligence research laboratory. Charlotte's career has included senior positions at some of the world’s biggest media and technology companies. Starting at Disney, and then Apple, heading up their European events team, before joining FremantleMedia, where she s...

Our guest on this episode of the Just One Thing podcast from Elevate is Dan Howson , the creative producer and biz dev at Imagineerium , the multi-award-winning design agency that creates immersive experiences for architecture, installations and events. Dan is also the founder of Immersive Industry Experiences, an initiative focused on working with employers to increase industry awareness to drive...

Our guest on this episode is Steve Sayer , Vice President and General Manager of The O2 , the world's most popular music and entertainment venue.  Steve has worked in the sports and entertainment industry for over 20 years with a career path that includes various roles at Manchester City Football Club, AEG Europe, and The O2, where he currently heads up the senior leadership team ensuring The...

Ally Owen is an inclusion activist, digital leader and founder of the award winning Social Enterprise Brixton Finishing School , an accelerator that finds, trains and places ‘under-represented’ talent into roles within the Media, Creative and Digital Industries .  With 30 years experience in the media and advertising industries; Ally amassed her early experience working with the likes of the...

Our guest on this episode is Nic Neal , who is a freelance people and culture strategy consultant but, until very recently, she was head of people and operations at the brand experience agency, Owl Live which is where she has worked for over 16 years. That’s quite a jump for a self-confessed control freak that likes to play it safe!  She has built her career on her innate people skills,...

Our guest on this episode is Jen Bonassera , Global Events Director at Charlotte Tilbury Beauty where she leads a global team creating aspirational events around the world. Formerly Global Head of Experiences at Soho House and Global Director of Events for Burberry, Jen has 15 years experience in luxury fashion and lifestyle. She has honed her skills delivering an enormous variety of events from r...

Our guest on this episode has been called the prince of pop ups, tycoon of temporary restaurants and Baron of barbecues, and the Sunday Times called him London's Pop-Up King.  Jimmy Garcia runs his hugely successful catering business like a creative agency, designing brand experiences with food for clients that include Google, Meta, Netflix, Pinterest, and Spotify.  He's a zero food wast...

From career that almost began as an officer in the Royal Air Force to President of Havas Play UK , Rosie Holden ’s journey has been nothing less than spectacular.  Rosie’s passion to ‘do something creative’ has seen her work with enormous global brands including Adidas and Vans to holding senior leadership roles in some of the creative industries biggest agencies.  Rosie’s ethos is to sa...

In this episode our guest is Shannie Mears , co-founder and head of talent at London based creative agency The Elephant Room . She’s a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, former government advisor, Adweek Future Female and 2023 Forbes 30 under 30. Formerly at GUAP as brand and talent manager she created The Blacklist, a list of 30 under 30 Black creatives and professionals across the creative ind...

In this episode, we have the privilege of talking to Michael Gietzen , the CEO of the independent global live events agency, Identity . He started his career as a chartered accountant and now heads up one of the fastest growing companies in Europe. Michael leads a growing team delivering live events for global brands that include Google, Netflix and Apple and has worked on public contracts clients...

Our guest on this episode is the brilliant Seán Doyle . Seán has worked in the events industry for 20 years with a career path that includes working, agency side, with some of the worlds biggest brands including Instagram, Facebook and PlayStation. Seán is currently Director of Experiential Marketing at Pinterest , leading a global team with responsibility for brand experiences across advertiser,...

Our next guest is the wonderful Charlotte Mair , founder and managing director of The Fitting Room, an award-winning agency she founded seven years ago with just £17.22 in her bank account.    She believes culture comes first and it's at the heart of everything she does. She runs her agency driven by a deep understanding of sub-cultures that go on to shape popular culture and influence b...

Our next guest on our podcast series is the incredible Sarah Jane Benham , or SJ as we know her. When we recorded this episode SJ was the managing director of Kru Live. Kru Live is a global live engagement agency that specialises in providing authentic brand ambassadors, entertainment, and event implementation services worldwide. SJ first, joined the agency as a booking agent for a two-w...

Our first guest needs no introduction. He is a huge friend of Elevate, it is the amazing Jonathan Emmins . He is the Founder and Global CEO of Amplify , Global CEO of Wonder and Seed , and has worked with the likes of Google, YouTube, Airbnb, Nike, Facebook, I mean, you name them, they’ve worked with them. And he’s been joining the dots between people, brands and culture for over 15 years. Th...

If I Could Tell You Just One Thing is presented by  Mel Noakes   and  Max Fellows  and is a brand new event industry podcast brought to you by  Elevate , providing mentoring and building community within the events industry.   In this podcast we invite industry leaders to write a letter to their younger self and consider what wise advice they would give themselve...