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What do Paris, New York City, Boston, London, Toronto, Montreal, and Fernie, British Columbia have in common?
They are all places that make up the (somewhat) nomadic life and career of today’s guest, Will Rizzuto.
Each location plays an integral part in Will’s story. He’s American, but spent his infant and pre-school years in Paris. The majority of Will’s youth was spent in New York City, but he attended university in Boston, returned to New York City to start his career in adtech before moving to London where he met his future Canadian wife, whom he relocated to Canada with.
And in-between he found time to indulge his passion for skiing on a fulltime basis.
Will Rizzuto, Sr. Manager, Advertising Sales & Partnerships at TELUS stop by to chat about his early life in Paris and New York City, studying business at Northeastern University, finding his way into adtech, the fast-paced story behind his relocation to London, his road-trip sabbatical from media, and helping to lead TELUS’ foray into media and data sales.
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Rob Meyers is the Managing Director and Partner at VERSUS—a studio crafting highly creative, one-of-a-kind work for brands and agencies.
A New Jersey native, pop culture played a big role in Rob’s early life. He refers to himself as an avid reader—everything from books to comics and was heavily invested in both TV and movies.
Studying Television, Radio, and Film Screenwriting at Syracuse University provided the education Rob needed to pursue his interests professionally.
He’s held a number of creative roles and has written and produced for the likes of BET, ESPN, NFL, Nickelodeon, CNN, and USA Networks—to name a few.
Rob Meyers stops by to chat about growing up in New Jersey, the life of a freelance writer and producer, why he started working for a homeless charity after 9/11, and how VERSUS is shaking up creative advertising.
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What does a strategy director do at a creative agency? According to VML’s Rory Petty—you figure things out. This includes everything from writing the creative brief to consulting with the client marketing team—with any number of things in-between.
Creative is actually a recent move for Rory. His advertising career started in broadcast media at Carat’s London office.
He took a role as a Planning Account Manager at Mediavest, before relocating to Toronto to continue his career.
Rory Petty stops by to chat about growing up in a village outside of London, how studying the human side of geography prepared him for a career in advertising, how the advertising industry in London differs from Toronto, and his move from media to creative.
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The word “coach” is closely aligned with sport, but it’s becoming ever more synonymous with the corporate world. More people are employing experienced professionals to provide career coaching.
Sometimes that coach is a colleague and sometimes it’s an outsider bringing fresh advice & insights.
And that’s exactly what today’s guest, Theresa Smith, does for her clients.
Theresa is the founder of The LeaderSmith—a company providing executive coaching and leadership development coaching, for all levels. This includes emerging leaders right up to the c-suite.
And Theresa has a tremendous amount of wisdom to impart.
Her media career started in print sales with the Financial Post, before pivoting into digital with CANOE and MSN Canada.
Most people familiar with Theresa’s story will recognize her from Olive Media, where she served as VP of Product, General Manager & VP, and President.
Theresa Smith stops by to chat about growing up in Strathroy, competitive figure skating, why she studied history in university, the culture shock that came with teaching English in Japan, her media sales career, both leading & sunsetting Olive Media, and how The LeaderSmith is shaping a new generation of leaders.
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Heads+Tales Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Amanda Shuchat, is part of a team that’s flipping the agency model on its head. Heads+Tales offers best-in-class integrated marketing services while focusing on high-performance coaching to foster greatness.
And Amanda is ideally placed to disrupt the agency model. Her career begins as a PR Intern with Strategic Objectives, and continues into senior roles at Hill+Knowlton, Citizen Relations International, and Middle Child.
The roster of clients Amanda has worked with is equally as impressive, and include Kraft, Pfizer, HP, Motorola, Canada Goose, and Endy—to name a few.
Amanda Shuchat stops by to chat about her early life in Toronto, completing high school in Israel, negotiating and reselling Yogen Fruz local elementary schools, why she studied journalism, her career in PR, and taking the entrepreneurial leap with Heads+Tales.
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Media and commerce are closer than ever before. Retail Media is the term used to reference this convergence. And it’s where today’s guest, Victoria Cromie, is leaving her mark.
Victoria is the Managing Director, Canada for Mars United Commerce—a global commerce company, dedicated to driving growth for brands and retailers.
Before helping retailers get more hustle out of their media dollars, Victoria was applying similar principles to her babysitting business. While most teenagers were sitting around waiting for referrals from friends & family, Victoria was putting up flyers around the neighbourhood and generating her own leads.
She honed her marketing skills at York University and Sheridan College before jumping into agency life with Carat.
Victoria Cromie stops by to chat about growing up in Toronto, her affinity for do-it-yourself projects, working on the Hyundai and Ford media accounts, selling Olympic-calibre balance beams on Amazon, and her move into retail media.
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When CHUM Radio wanted to monetize its online audience for the first time, they called Debbie Benadiba.
When Rogers Media launched its first online, on-demand streaming video app, they called Debbie Benadiba to lead ad sales.
Debbie has a knack for launching new advertising products to market. There are other examples I can touch on—they include both mobile and OOH advertising, but you’ll have to listen to this episode to hear those stories.
Debbie Benadiba, CEO of Talon OOH Canada, stops by to chat about growing up in Toronto, her love of dance, how her original life plan was to become an orthodontist, why she left agency life early in her career for media sales, and what lured her back into the agency world.
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Brigitte Sachse is the founder of Bee Video Production—a digital video producer specialising in branded content.
But securing content production budgets from clients such as the Toronto Star, Accenture, and the Royal Bank of Canada is a bit of a 180 from her early work.
Before founding Bee Video Production, Brigitte’s career focused on providing public and private financing for documentaries, TV shows, and feature-length films. This included reviewing grant applications for the Canadian Media Fund & the National Film Board of Canada, and advising private media lenders on which TV shows and movies to invest in.
Brigitte Sachse stops by to chat about her nomadic childhood, cleaning kennels, why she studied business and french literature in university, a career in public and private media financing, and the founding of Bee Video Production.
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Pary Bell’s CV is stacked with leadership roles at some of Canada’s biggest media companies including, but not limited to, the CBC, Rogers Media, and TorStar.
He’s made a career of leading organizations through digital transformation, but his original plan didn’t involve building teams, managing people, and navigating internal politics—Pary’s first love was drawing.
Pary studied General Arts at Queen’s University, but departed after two years to pursue a Fine Arts Degree at Emily Carr University of Art & Design.
It was difficult making it as an artist, and Pary made the choice to enroll in the Communications & Multimedia program at Centennial College.
He aggressively chased an internship opportunity with the CBC, and his digital media career took off. His current role? Leading The Podcast Exchange.
Pary Bell, CEO of The Podcast Exchange stops be to chat about growing up on a farm outside of North Bay Ontario, the impact sport has had on his life & career, his passion for drawing, and leading teams and departments at some of Canada’s most prolific media companies.
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Sue Haas is the President and COO of NLogic—Canada's leading provider of audience analysis technology and data.
But Sue’s career didn’t start in data and analytics. Her first job in media was an internship on eTalk Daily, researching and writing interview questions for celebrities like Phil Collins, John Mayer, and Nelly.
This was a complete shift from her childhood in the rural town Melbourne, Ontario.
How rural? No cable TV, dial-up internet was the norm, she had to travel one town over just to go to school, and there weren’t many opportunities for part time work.
Sue Haas stops by to chat about her growing up on a hobby farm, studying English and Journalism in university, a career that includes everything from digital product development to getting John Mayer coffee, and what NLogic has in store for the future.
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It’s episode 100 and we welcome back our episode nine guest, Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada President, Sonia Carreno.
Sonia was only a handful of months into her presidency when we first chatted back in 2015. Nine years later, Sonia returns to talk about how the IAB Canada has evolved under her leadership, while providing insight into how the organization tackles issues and shapes policy impacting the digital media industry.
A big thank you to all of our loyal listeners and past guests. We couldn’t have hit the 100-episode milestone without your support.
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Kevin Bartus is a terrible employee—those are his words, not mine. But that’s OK because he’s a very successful entrepreneur.
Kevin is the President and CEO of Ideon Media—Canada’s largest digital rep firm, responsible for monetizing Canadian ad traffic for brands such as VICE Media and IGN, to name a few. Ideon also owns and operates several sites including SavvyMom, 29Secrets, and AmongMen.
A Chicago native, Kevin was quite the academic in his youth. He found subjects like math easy, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that he graduated from both MIT and Harvard.
He moved into consulting after university and then founded Blue Spark—a company building websites for TorStar and Rogers.
Despite an exit and the chance to lead Rogers Media’s foray into digital advertising, Kevin had the itch get back out on his own. He saw the success Olive Media enjoyed in the rep space, and decided to emulate their business model with Ideon Media.
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Cracking the media industry can be tough for an employee, but for an entrepreneur? Building something from scratch can be a tall order.
But it was a challenge that Sotero Bernardo was up for. Sotero is the Co-Founder, Head of Business Development at Coastal Digital Group—an experience agency combining creativity with technology.
The original goal was to make it in media sales. But sales opportunities are scarce when you’re fresh out of school, so Sotero took a job as a jr. media planner at Cossette Media—working on both the Nike and Sony PlayStation media accounts.
He moved into venue advertising before networking his way to a sales role with Ideon Media. His success led to a promotion along with expanded responsibilities that included managing people and acquiring new publisher representation deals.
But Sotero saw an opportunity within the creative space. He had a plan to capitalize on it, and co-founded Coastal Digital Group with his business partner.
Sotero Bernardo stop by to chat about growing up in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood, attending high school in suburbia, working at McDonald’s, monetizing charisma lessons, his media sales career, and entrepreneurship in the ultra-competitive media space.
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Sales is a performative art, and presentations are like a play. Notes serve as the script, while the PowerPoint deck acts as the set. The boardroom the stage, and clients the audience. At the heart of the production—the sales rep.
When comparing the two professions, you can see why today’s guest, Kristie Painting, has enjoyed a successful sales career.
Kristie is Pinterest’s Country Manager for Canada, and while many people in her position have a marketing or business degree, Kristie majored in drama.
Her first job out of university was handling pharmaceutical orders. Kristie wasn’t enthused by the work, and quickly moved into media sales with NOW Magazine.
She progressed into roles with Yahoo! and DoubleClick, and ascended into leadership positions at Olive Media and Bell Media, to name a few.
Kristie Painting stops by to chat about growing up in suburban Toronto, her passion for the dramatic arts, her media sales career, why she took an agency job, and leading Pinterest’s Canadian office.
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When Valerie Tyson interviewed for a marketing role with the Charlotte Hornets, it was team owner and NBA legend, Michael Jordan, who handled her final interview.
And this is only one of the many stories comprising Valerie’s sports marketing career.
Valerie is the Co-Founder, Head of Strategy + Sports at Unrivaled Group—a female led, sports driven tech consultancy.
Valerie’s career didn’t start in sports, but local radio—running promotions for stations in Arizona and San Diego. She moved KLSX in Los Angeles, where it provided her first taste in sports marketing. It included LA Kings radio broadcasts along with west coast events for the Howard Stern Show.
She jumped at the chance to lead marketing for the LA Avengers inaugural season in the Arena Football League, and it was from here her sports marketing career took off.
Valerie Tyson stops by to chat about growing up in Chicago, why she studied journalism in university, creative ways to launch an arena football team, relaunching Charlotte’s NBA team after the original Hornets moved to New Orleans, and what she’s out to accomplish with Unrivaled Group.
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Kensington Grey is an influencer management agency rooted in diversity, representing an extensive roster of black and brown creators. At the heart of the agency is President & CEO, Shannae Ingleton Smith.
Born in Toronto, raised in Calgary, Shannae studied finance and economics in university. But marketing was her real passion. There wasn’t an option to major in it, so Shannae filled her electives with every marketing class available.
She moved into finance after graduation, but quickly pivoted into media sales with Mediaplanet Publishing.
Shannae moved to Rogers Media, holding sales roles at MacLean’s Magazine, Elevate Multi-Platform Sales, and leading a multi-million-dollar territory of education-based clients.
It was during this time that the seeds for Kensington Grey were planted. Shannae ran a private Facebook group providing business advice to black influencers. She noticed that opportunities were slim, and their services were undervalued. She saw an opportunity to rectify this, and Kensington Grey was born.
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Ian Dallimore is Lamar Advertising’s Vice-President, Digital Growth & General Manager of Programmatic, but his path to OOH advertising didn’t start with a typical agency job.
A New Orleans native, Ian’s original plan was to be a pediatrician. He studied medicine at Louisiana College while on a basketball scholarship. An injury nixed this, and he transferred to Louisiana State where he graduated with a degree in marketing.
He moved into minor league baseball, taking marketing roles with AAA affiliates of the Atlanta Braves and the Houston Astros.
Ian pivoted into OOH advertising with Lamar, rising from strategist to where he is today.
Ian Dallimore stops by to chat about growing up in New Orleans, running marketing for minor league baseball teams, why Michael Jordan is the GOAT, and working for Lamar Advertising. And be sure to check Ian’s podcast, the Digital Dirt Podcast—featuring conversations with inspiring and influential thought leaders from the advertising world.
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It’s difficult to refute social media’s supremacy in the platform hierarchy. Brands are increasingly trying to find new & innovate ways to leverage social for audience engagement.
And it’s exactly why they turn to today’s guest, Darcy MacNeil. Darcy is the Head of so.da—a full service, specialized, and award-winning social first agency.
Darcy’s career started behind the camera as a clearance coordinator. This involved securing commercial rights to content so it could be legally integrated into programming. Her work led to a series of producing jobs before she moved into content marketing, joining agencies like UM and getting the opportunity to start Mindshare Canada’s Content+ department.
Darcy MacNeil stops by to chat about growing up in suburban Toronto, playing ringette, why dance is such big part of her life, how a pop culture history class at the University of Victoria got her thinking about a career in media & journalism, and running one of Canada’s largest social digital media agencies.
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Science has always played a role in marketing—whether it be focus groups, surveys, or any other form of research. But the marriage between the two disciplines has grown increasingly closer over the years. So much, that it has formalized the role marketing science plays in advertising.
And PHD Canada has entrusted Matt Devlin, to handle this for their roster of clients.
Matt is their first Managing Director, Marketing Science, where he’s responsible for connecting media investments back to their results.
An Ottawa native, Matt left capital city to attend university in Toronto. But unlike most students who enter with a major, Matt used his first year to dabble in a variety of different classes before settling on a degree in Cinema Studies and Semiotics.
After graduation, Matt relocated to the United Kingdom, taking his first media role at Zenith Optimedia’s London office.
He moved back to Canada and continued with Zenith at their Toronto office.
He was let go by Zenith, but picked up by PHD where he continues today.
Matt Devlin stops by to chat about growing up in Ottawa, being the youngest of five siblings, the differences between Canadian and UK media life, and the increasing role marketing science plays in advertising.
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You might know David Cairns as the co-founder of Cairns Oneil, but the agency he started with Sherry O’Neil back in 2012 is just one of the many companies he’s had a hand in founding.
In fact, some of those agencies became the entry points for international holding companies looking to enter the Canadian market.
For example, David’s first agency—David Cairns & Company, was acquired by Aegis and rebranded Carat.
But if you look back at David’s passions and education, you would have thought a role in the creative world was forthcoming.
A life-long artist with degrees in visual arts and education, David worked for two years as an art teacher in rural Prince Edward Island.
David returned to Toronto and took a job as a Media Estimator with Ogilvy & Mather, and it was from there that his media career took off.
David Cairns stops by to chat about growing up in Toronto, his passion for painting, working the late shift as a taxi driver, his career in media, and why every entrepreneur should have an exit strategy.
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