Media People Podcast

Planning and transacting media used to be a straightforward process. You hired an agency, and benefitted from their collective buying power, vendor relationships, and knowledge. But in an age of data, disruption, and a slew of new platforms, many marketers are rethinking this time-old formula. One option involves finding new & innovative ways of working closer with your agency partners. But in som...

Joel Dembe, Paralympian and former #1 ranked Canadian wheelchair tennis player returns to the show. When I first introduced Joel back in Episode 15, he had just retired from wheelchair tennis and was balancing a corporate communications career with becoming a media personality. Joel still works in corporate communications, but with increased responsibilities that include public relations. But that...

Model, entrepreneur, talent manager, ad tech and marketing professional—these are just some of roles comprising the eclectic career of Amanda Dorenberg. A native of Prince Edward County, Canada. Amanda fast-tracked her education, graduating high school when she was just 16 before moving on to study computer programming in college, and marketing in university. Modelling was Amanda’s first big caree...

For most of us? 2020 hasn’t been good for business, but if you work in the sport media world, it has been an absolute disaster. Professional leagues abruptly shut down mid-March because of COVID-19, and would spend months trying to find ways to safely restart. For today’s guest, Jamie Saull, his professional world came to a grinding halt. Jamie’s the Head of Brand Partnerships at TSN, a Canadian s...

Do you work in digital media? If so, then you already know how comprehensive it can be. You could be working with anything from data to content to search or social—and that’s not even the full list. Today’s guest, Celeste Normington, has seen her career grow with the evolution of digital media. Celeste started out at the old Toronto.com, which offered local search engine advertising solutions well...

Marketer, strategist, and nerdologist—that’s the way Boris Cho introduces himself on LinkedIn. But if you dig a little deeper, you’ll learn that the Midas Exchange’s Senior Director of Strategy has one helluva story to tell. Boris was born in Sao Paulo, Brasil, and emigrated with his family to Canada at an early age. 1980’s & 90’s pop culture was a big part of his upbringing—everything from cartoo...

Science argues that people are either left brain or right brain thinkers. Left brain people are more likely to analytical, while right brain thinkers tend to be more creative. However, today’s guest, Jordan brooks, defies this theory by straddling both sides of the spectrum. A native of Barrie Ontario, music was one of Jordan’s passions growing up, but upon graduating from university he found hims...

Entrepreneurship is something that was engrained in Jerrid Grim’s psyche from an early age. In fact if you ask Jerrid, he’ll tell that his younger self believed that starting a business was the only way to make money. A native of suburban, Edmonton, Jerrid’s first job was a local flyer route. But unlike most kids who are stuck spending hours bundling flyers before lugging them out for delivery, yo...

Wine: It’s one of the few things as old as time. There are different types & colours, and it can range in price from inexpensive to unaffordable. It’s also the one of the few exports many countries aggressively compete to be known for. Picking the right wine is enough make your head spin, but today’s guest, Angela Aiello, has spent the better part of her career helping young adults make sense of i...

Going out and starting your own company isn’t easy, but it’s difficult to resist when you have a solution that could benefit an entire industry. And that’s what today’s guest, Joshua Alvernia, and his peers have done. Josh is the co-founder and CEO of Clue Digital: a comprehensive marketing service that leverages automation, data science, and analytics to improve media performance on customer acqu...

From small-town Northern Ontario to the heart of Canada’s media industry, today we chat with Terra Sharek, Group Director of Strategy at Omincom Media Group’s, Red Magnet. Originally from Dundalk, Ontario, Terra spent the early part of her life on a farm. She moved to Beaverton during her high school years and then relocated to Barrie, Ontario to study advertising at Georgian College. Terra’s medi...

Data, it’s what many people refer to as the ‘new oil’. It’s supposed to provide the unbiased insights companies need to make key decisions. But extracting those insights is easier said than done, and that’s what today’s guest, Kris Makuch, aims to change. Kris is the founder of datakris, a consultancy that interprets and uses data to help companies retain and acquire new customers. Originally from...

Entrepreneur, senior media executive & leader, award winning media buyer, and one of the early advocates for mental health & wellness in the media industry, Cynthia Rubino, stops by to chat. A Cosssette media alumnus, Cynthia landed at the agency right out of university. In an industry where it’s not uncommon for talent to move around she stayed at Cossette, moving from planning assistant to media...

Starting a website might be easy, but finding success in today’s digital publishing world is extremely difficult. Both audiences and advertising dollars tend to be concentrated between a few popular platforms, with the rest of the internet duking it out for the leftovers. But that didn’t deter today’s guest, Manny Bahia, from jumping in. Manny is the co-founder and Chief Revenue Office of Daily Hi...

You can call Brooke Robinson many things- social media maven, entrepreneur, and multiple sclerosis survivor. One of the OG’s of social media strategy, Brooke’s career started at Sunlife Financial, where she was charged with managing their social media presence. Her experience took her to the agency world, where she would start and head-up, Mindshare Canada’s first-ever social media department. The...

Educator and Sales Leader, these are two ways you can describe today’s guest, Ivan Pehar. Ivan’s media career started agency side, where he worked at a number of (agencies) including Mediacom and OMD. His work in performance marketing caught the eye of AOL, which recruited him to manage advertising campaigns for their home internet service. He pivoted to AOL’s media sales department after the comp...

Many people have made the jump from media sales to agency life. But few have left the world of media sales to start their own agency, but that’s exactly what Zoltan Toth—Managing Director of Mellor Croy has done. A lifelong music aficionado, Zoltan's first media gig was overseeing the jazz time slot at his University's campus radio station. After graduation he parlayed that passion into a full tim...

From selling domain registrations to media buying & planning to building & managing advertising trading desks, Tessa Ohlendorf has quite the expansive resume. But if you look back at the early part of her life, you’d be hard pressed to find a direct path to the ad tech world. Born & raised in Toronto, Tessa’s early passions were rooted in photography and art. But it was philosophy that captured he...

Jamie Schouela, Blue Ant Media's President of Canadian Media stops by to chat. A Montreal native with a life-long passion entertainment, Jamie always found a way to tie this passion into both his academic and work life. From campus DJ to summer student running the promo van for a Montreal radio station, after university Jamie moved into full-time marketing gigs for some of the biggest names in Can...

The Media People Podcast turns the big 3-0! For our 30th episode we get a look into the life and career of educator & entrepreneur, Emily Baillie. The founder of Compass Content Marketing, Emily’s story starts in the small town of Grand Bend, Ontario, and continues to cities like Kitchener-Waterloo, Toronto, along with a brief stint in Dublin, Ireland. Social justice has played a major part in her...

Have you ever volunteered your way into a management role? Tracy Ball has. The founder of Stars & Strollers- a program where parents enjoy a day at the movies with their toddlers, impressed corporate partner Cineplex so much that they bought the idea, and made her made their manager of groups sales and special events. But this just one of many roles in the career of Tracy Ball. This Waterdown nati...

Tyler Cameron, published author and media sales leader stops by to chat. What make’s his story so interesting is that it’s full of career jumps and pivots. Born & raised in small-town Northern Ontario, Tyler relocated to study radio broadcasting at college in Hamilton, Ontario. After college he pivoted into media buying and planning, landing at mega media agency, OMD. From there he made the jump t...

Yuli Shumsky, the Director of Digital Marketing & Operations for Canadian financial institution, CIBC, stops by to chat. Born in the Ukraine before the fall of communism, Yuli, emigrated to Canada as a teenager. He went on to study at York University in Toronto, and quickly caught the advertising bug through a summer marketing gig. He liked both the work and the paycheque, and decided to swap his...

INNOCEAN Worldwide Canada Head of Insights & Analytics - Seif Khemaissia, stops by. Born in Algeria, Seif's personal and professional journey has taken him across four continents, and from entrepreneur to analytics & ROI guru. He shares with us his thoughts on the media industry- and where he thinks it's all going, his passion for football, and why he calls retired Manchester United player Eric Ca...

From the front desk to the corner office: Michelle Kelly stops by to talk about her rise from receptionist to Editor-In-Chief of Cottage Life Magazine.