Episodes
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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 set up the global events team responsible for high-profile events for some of the world’s biggest TV shows. She went on to start her own consultancy, working with well-known brands like NBC Universal, Rolls Royce Motor Cars, and Caterpillar.
Charlotte refers to her career journey as squiggly; we call it stratospheric! Her success is a testament to her passion for events and her ability to adapt and thrive in a rapidly evolving industry. We’re delighted she’s joined us today. Welcome to the podcast, Charlotte.
Our sound and mix engineer is Matteo Magariello and our producer is Peter Kerwood.
About Elevate: Elevate is a pioneering free mentoring programme that has been designed with a specific goal in mind – to inspire, inform and empower people within the event industry.
Elevate operates thanks to the generosity of our partners and supporters; We Are Collider, PSP, Jack Morton, Smyle, Powwow, Special Sauce, TIMES x10, Nic Neal, The Hoxton, tvg hospitality, ABPCO, CastleBell, event:decision, TRO and Live Union. Together, we're changing lives, careers and the events industry for the better.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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 recruitment numbers through creativity, imagination and innovation.
With a 27-year career that spans collaborations with celebrities, artists, promoters, brands, agencies, local governments, prisons, universities, colleges, schools, and charities around the globe, Dan’s CV is an A-Z of some of the world's most famous names, brands, and events.
Dan’s personal and professional journey has inspired him to bridge the gap between education and employment, working with employers to better promote their sectors as dynamic places to work to candidates demographics from ALL backgrounds including vulnerable, disadvantaged young people and ex-prisoners. He has held full-time roles at some of the industry’s biggest agencies, founded several companies, and worked as a freelancer.
Dan believes it’s not what we have in our lives, but who we have in our life that truly matters. He reminds us that we don’t need to make sense to everyone; the right people will appreciate your kind of crazy. Welcome to the podcast, Dan!
Our sound and mix engineer is Matteo Magariello and our producer is Peter Kerwood.
About Elevate: Elevate is a pioneering free mentoring programme that has been designed with a specific goal in mind – to inspire, inform and empower people within the event industry.
Elevate operates thanks to the generosity of our partners and supporters; We Are Collider, PSP, Jack Morton, Smyle, Powwow, Special Sauce, TIMES x10, Nic Neal, The Hoxton, tvg hospitality, ABPCO, CastleBell, event:decision, TRO and Live Union. Together, we're changing lives, careers and the events industry for the better.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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 O2 remains both world-class and fit for the future in a dynamically evolving consumer landscape.
Steve says he’s spent the best times of his life working in both football and music – talk about being blessed! He says life is for living and there is so much to live for. Be as present as you can be, soak it all up and take it all in.
Welcome to the podcast Steve Sayer.
Our sound and mix engineer is Matteo Magariello and our producer is Peter Kerwood.
About Elevate
Elevate is a pioneering free mentoring programme that has been designed with a specific goal in mind – to inspire, inform and empower people within the event industry.
Elevate operates thanks to the generosity of our partners and supporters; We Are Collider, PSP, Jack Morton, Smyle, Powwow, Special Sauce, TIMES x10, Nic Neal, The Hoxton, tvg hospitality, ABPCO, CastleBell, event:decision, TRO and Live Union. Together, we're changing lives, careers and the events industry for the better.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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 Guardian, MailOnline, Yahoo and Unruly.
Brixton Finishing School's award winning family of courses she founded include the flagship ‘Summer School’ in London, ‘ADcademy’, the virtual program, which gives over 2500 students a year across the UK a fairer chance to succeed, ‘ADventure’, the schools programme, which aims to introduce 100k diverse 14-18 year olds to the industry, and ‘Visible Start’ for women over 45.
Ally is on a mission to disrupt the elite media and advertising industry so it includes all voices and gives them the opportunity to thrive. She says talent is distributed equally but opportunities are not.
Ally is a force of nature and force for change and we loved talking to her.
Our sound and mix engineer is Matteo Magariello and our producer is Peter Kerwood.
About Elevate
Elevate is a pioneering free mentoring programme that has been designed with a specific goal in mind – to inspire, inform and empower people within the event industry.
Elevate operates thanks to the generosity of our partners and supporters; We Are Collider, PSP, Jack Morton, Smyle, Powwow, Special Sauce, TIMES x10, Nic Neal, The Hoxton, tvg hospitality, ABPCO, CastleBell, event:decision, TRO and Live Union. Together, we're changing lives, careers and the events industry for the better.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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, starting as an intern while at Uni and worked her way up the business as it grew from just three people to over 55. She found her flow in the people space, falling in love with thinking about how people work and behave.
Nic says clarity always comes from engagement, not thought. You just need to dive in, take chances and go and grab what the world has to offer.
Welcome to the podcast Nic Neal.
Our sound and mix engineer is Matteo Magariello and our producer is Peter Kerwood.
About Elevate
Elevate is a pioneering free mentoring programme that has been designed with a specific goal in mind – to inspire, inform and empower people within the event industry.
Elevate operates thanks to the generosity of our partners and supporters; We Are Collider, PSP, Jack Morton, Smyle, Powwow, Special Sauce, TIMES x10, Nic Neal, The Hoxton, tvg hospitality, ABPCO, CastleBell, event:decision, TRO and Live Union. Together, we're changing lives, careers and the events industry for the better.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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 red carpet parties, world-class runway shows, in-store events and VIP brand experiences on the global stage.
Jen makes her own luck by working hard and having fun and says there is so much beauty and so much learning in all the small moments of life.
Our sound and mix engineer is Matteo Magariello and our producer is Peter Kerwood.
About Elevate
Elevate is a pioneering free mentoring programme that has been designed with a specific goal in mind – to inspire, inform and empower people within the event industry.
Elevate operates thanks to the generosity of our partners and supporters; We Are Collider, PSP, Jack Morton, Smyle, Powwow, Special Sauce, TIMES x10, Nic Neal, The Hoxton, tvg hospitality, ABPCO, CastleBell, event:decision, TRO and Live Union. Together, we're changing lives, careers and the events industry for the better.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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 waste champion with a passion for seasonality, locality, and provenance that ensures his food not only tastes and looks incredible, but also tells the story. His career journey to date has been a roller coaster ride doing things his unique way making the most of the luck he’s been given.
This podcast was powered by Wonder, an independent specialist creative events agency reimagining what’s possible across business experiences. They do this by helping businesses think differently about how they connect with the people that matter to them. We hugely appreciate their support in bringing this podcast series to life.
Our sound and mix engineer is Matteo Magariello and our producer is Peter Kerwood.
About Elevate
Elevate is a pioneering free mentoring programme that has been designed with a specific goal in mind – to inspire, inform and empower people within the event industry.
Elevate operates thanks to the generosity of our partners and supporters; We Are Collider, Owl Live, Special Sauce, The Hoxton, ABPCO, CastleBell, event:decision, TIMES x10, TRO and PSP. Together, we're changing lives, careers and the events industry for the better.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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 say yes to everything, keep learning every day, stay kind and empathetic, be useful – and most of all, remember that ‘The world is run by people that turn up!
This podcast was powered by Wonder, an independent specialist creative events agency reimagining what’s possible across business experiences. They do this by helping businesses think differently about how they connect with the people that matter to them. We hugely appreciate their support in bringing this podcast series to life.
Our sound and mix engineer is Matteo Magariello and our producer is Peter Kerwood.
About Elevate
Elevate is a pioneering free mentoring programme that has been designed with a specific goal in mind – to inspire, inform and empower people within the event industry.
Elevate operates thanks to the generosity of our partners and supporters; We Are Collider, Owl Live, Special Sauce, The Hoxton, ABPCO, CastleBell, event:decision, TIMES x10, TRO and PSP. Together, we're changing lives, careers and the events industry for the better.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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 industries now in its 6th year, and a former lecturer at Kingston University.
Shannie is a born entrepreneur. Her ability to build, connect and develop relationships with young people from the wider creative industries drives The Elephant Room’s talent network beyond any traditional agency’s reach.
Shannie is a window into completely untapped generation and a bridge between opportunity and people. She trys to find those people that are hungry and passionate, from the spaces and places the industry doesn’t usually look. She says that’s where the gems are.
Shannie says her success story could be so many other people success story if someone just took a chance on them, and that’s why she’s the perfect guest for this podcast.
This podcast was powered by Wonder, an independent specialist creative events agency reimagining what’s possible across business experiences. They do this by helping businesses think differently about how they connect with the people that matter to them. We hugely appreciate their support in bringing this podcast series to life.
Our sound and mix engineer is Matteo Magariello and our producer is Peter Kerwood.
About Elevate
Elevate is a pioneering free mentoring programme that has been designed with a specific goal in mind – to inspire, inform and empower people within the event industry.
Elevate operates thanks to the generosity of our partners and supporters; We Are Collider, Owl Live, Special Sauce, The Hoxton, ABPCO, CastleBell, event:decision, TIMES x10, TRO and PSP. Together, we're changing lives, careers and the events industry for the better.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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 that include the Foreign, Commonwealth &
Development Office and the Ministry of Defence. Michael is currently leading the expansion of the business into the Middle East with the opening of offices in the UAE.
His agency is renowned for their meticulous management of big-ticket, high stakes events, most recently they helped deliver the Coronation of King Charles III. With a global audience of 2.5 billion, events don’t get a lot more high-stakes than that!
This podcast was powered by Wonder, an independent specialist creative events agency reimagining what’s possible across business experiences. They do this by helping businesses think differently about how they connect with the people that matter to them. We hugely appreciate their support in bringing this podcast series to life.
Our sound and mix engineer is Matteo Magariello and our producer is Peter Kerwood.
About Elevate
Elevate is a pioneering free mentoring programme that has been designed with a specific goal in mind – to inspire, inform and empower people within the event industry.
Elevate operates thanks to the generosity of our partners and supporters; We Are Collider, Owl Live, Special Sauce, The Hoxton, ABPCO, CastleBell, event:decision, TIMES x10, TRO and PSP. Together, we're changing lives, careers and the events industry for the better.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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, creator and consumer audiences.
Seán believes that life is an adventure to follow your dreams and make it fun wherever you can and if you’re not having fun it’s time to choose a new adventure.
This podcast was powered by Wonder, an independent specialist creative events agency reimagining what’s possible across business experiences. They do this by helping businesses think differently about how they connect with the people that matter to them. We hugely appreciate their support in bringing this podcast series to life.
Our sound and mix engineer is Matteo Magariello and our producer is Peter Kerwood.
About Elevate
Elevate is a pioneering free mentoring programme that has been designed with a specific goal in mind – to inspire, inform and empower people within the event industry.
Elevate operates thanks to the generosity of our partners and supporters; We Are Collider, Owl Live, Special Sauce, The Hoxton, ABPCO, CastleBell, event:decision, TIMES x10 and TRO. Together, we're changing lives, careers and the events industry for the better.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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 behaviour.
Her fail fast mantra has shaped so much of her career and business. She believes that failure isn’t the end, in fact it’s a step to where you want to get to.
Charlotte has just got back from New York where she has been working with Idris Elba to promote his new Netflix film Luther: The Fallen Sun.
This podcast was powered by Wonder, an independent specialist creative events agency reimagining what’s possible across business experiences. They do this by helping businesses think differently about how they connect with the people that matter to them. We hugely appreciate their support in bringing this podcast series to life.
Our sound and mix engineer is Matteo Magariello and our producer is Peter Kerwood.
About Elevate
Elevate is a pioneering free mentoring programme that has been designed with a specific goal in mind – to inspire, inform and empower people within the event industry.
Elevate operates thanks to the generosity of our partners and supporters; We Are Collider, Owl Live, Special Sauce, The Hoxton, ABPCO, CastleBell, event:decision, TIMES x10 and TRO. Together, we're changing lives, careers and the events industry for the better.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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-week stint, and four years later was the Managing Director and has been there ever since. She has just been promoted to CEO and is currently spearheading global expansion.
This was an incredible conversation. One that it was both inspiring both in terms of personal growth and career success and equally with courage and vulnerability that had us on the edge of our seats.
This podcast was powered by Wonder, an independent specialist creative events agency reimagining what’s possible across business experiences. They do this by helping businesses think differently about how they connect with the people that matter to them. We hugely appreciate their support in bringing this podcast series to life.
Our sound and mix engineer is Matteo Magariello and our producer is Peter Kerwood.
About Elevate
Elevate is a pioneering free mentoring programme that has been designed with a specific goal in mind – to inspire, inform and empower people within the event industry.
Elevate operates thanks to the generosity of our partners and supporters; We Are Collider, Owl Live, Special Sauce, The Hoxton, ABPCO, CastleBell, event:decision, TIMES x10 and TRO. Together, we're changing lives, careers and the events industry for the better.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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.
This session is absolute gold dust. Because we get to know the man behind the brand and we get to hear about the highs the lows of running one of the most successful agencies in the events industry. You’re not going to want to miss any of it.
You can find Jonathan’s letter to his younger self, a transcript of the whole conversation and watch the video recording of the whole interview on the episode web page.
This podcast was powered by Wonder, an independent specialist creative events agency reimagining what’s possible across business experiences. They do this by helping businesses think differently about how they connect with the people that matter to them. We hugely appreciate their support bringing this podcast series to life.
Our sound and mix engineer is Matteo Magariello and our producer is Peter Kerwood.
About Elevate
Elevate is a pioneering free mentoring programme that has been designed with a specific goal in mind – to inspire, inform and empower people within the event industry.
Elevate operates thanks to the generosity of our partners and supporters; We Are Collider, Owl Live, Special Sauce, The Hoxton, ABPCO, CastleBell, event:decision, TIMES x10 and TRO. Together, we're changing lives, careers and the events industry for the better.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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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 themselves now if they only could. Our discussion is based on this letter. Be prepared for refreshingly, honest and sincere conversations, wise words of wisdom and insider secrets.
We’ve interviewed some incredible people and we’re excited to share them all with you.
You can find full details of the podcast including transcripts of the conversations and letters to the younger selves of each of our guests here.
This podcast was powered by Wonder, an independent specialist creative events agency reimagining what’s possible across business experiences. They do this by helping businesses think differently about how they connect with the people that matter to them. We hugely appreciate their support bringing this podcast series to life.
Our sound and mix engineer is Matteo Magariello and our producer is Peter Kerwood.
About Elevate
Elevate is a pioneering free mentoring programme that has been designed with a specific goal in mind – to inspire, inform and empower people within the event industry.
Elevate operates thanks to the generosity of our partners and supporters; We Are Collider, Owl Live, Special Sauce, The Hoxton, ABPCO, CastleBell, event:decision, TIMES x10 and TRO. Together, we're changing lives, careers and the events industry for the better.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
