Meet the speakers

Adam Gitlin is a data and technology leader serving as President of Annalect. In this capacity, he oversees the product and technology teams leading the development of Omni, Omnicom’s open operating system that helps marketers orchestrate better outcomes. Adam is particularly focused on the use of privacy-enhancing technology to enhance capabilities across consumer & creative insights, media investment & planning, targeting & optimization, and reporting & measurement. Prior to his current role, Adam held various data, tech, and analytics leadership positions across Omnicom Media Group, including leading OMG’s initial global data platform, founding OMG’s ad tech consultancy and operations business, and launching OMD’s digital analytics services.

Bio coming soon...

Alison Cuan is the worldwide Business Development Lead for Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) at Amazon Ads. Alison joined Amazon Ads in 2013 as a Product Specialist for the CPG vertical, and has held several roles in Agency Programmatic Partnerships and AdTech Business Development. She led the sales launch of AMC, and now leads the partnerships team focused on supporting adoption of AMC. Prior to joining Amazon Ads, Alison led analytics at an adtech start-up named 33Across.

Bio coming soon...

Bio coming soon...

Carly Zipp is the Director of Brand Marketing at Amazon Ads where she oversees brand strategy, executive programs, strategic events, social media, and the global content and creative studio. Prior to Amazon Ads, Carly was Global Head of B2B Marketing at TikTok where she launched the business brand and oversaw global marketing communications including the website, paid media, social channels, and lead generation. Carly has also held leadership roles at OUTFRONT Media, XO Group (now The Knot Worldwide), Time Inc., BET, and Centric Networks. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Communications and Media Studies from Vanderbilt University. Carly lives in Maryland with her husband and two kids.

Chris Bellinger is the Vice President over Creative and Digital for Frito-Lay and Quaker North America. He runs the in-house creative agency, known as D3, that is responsible for supporting a number of the biggest brands within the PepsiCo Foods organization. The responsibilities of the agency include traditional campaign and creative work, strategy, production, social, digital, and recently have added cause and purpose to their remit. The D3 agency has created comprehensive large-scale campaigns that range from recent Popcorners Super Bowl work to portfolio projects that include campaigns for the World Cup, Holiday, Summer, the NFL and more. The D3 team are also the Social Agency of record for the majority of the brands within the Frito-Lay and Quaker businesses and have been named The Drum’s In-house social agency of the year.

Chrissie is the CEO of OMD USA, and leads the agency's transformation of experiences that achieve better outcomes for brands, businesses, and people.

Having spent 23 years collaborating with global, regional, and national clients across many verticals, Chrissie has developed the paradigms, protocols and partnerships that empower teams to make more empathetic, effective, and efficient decisions on behalf of clients. Better decisions that propel brands into the heart of culture, with the rigor that marries creative excellence and strategic clarity to deliver the precision to drive revenue growth.
She is committed to supporting her teams to align their personal path to purpose with a shared path to growth, enabling OMDers and their clients to unearth the insights that inform actionable and outcomes-based communications.

As a regular contributor to industry and business publications, and frequent guest on industry panels, Chrissie is a passionate advocate for the unique roles that people, brands, and technology play in unleashing the power of creativity around the world. She serves on the Board of the Ad Council, and the American Advertising Federation, where she works to harness the efforts and commitments of OMD USA team members to support the broader priorities of the nation.

Chrissie has been a jury member and President on awards ranging from the Cannes Lions, to WARC Effectiveness, Shorty, Clio awards, and more. She seeks to actively champion the work that demonstrates greater DE&I and Sustainability effort. Chrissie is committed to celebrating the work that drives better business outcomes, and is deeply vested in ensuring the industry moves towards a net positive ecosystem.

Clarence Seedorf is one of the 'greatest' of Football. He is the only player in football history to have won the Champions League with three different clubs - Ajax, Real Madrid and AC Milan twice. Due to his holistic approach to performance and wellness, he played more than 1000 games at top level combining an innate talent, a superior intelligence on the field, great personality and physical strength. Seedorf has won trophies in every country he played and has also coached in four continents. Seedorf has always used sport as a tool to make the world a better place. He is one of the six persons chosen by Nelson Mandela to carry his Legacy worldwide, a blogger for the New York Times, speaks six languages, has a Honoris Causa degree in Humanities, the highest civil decorations from the Netherlands and Suriname. He is founder of Black Impact Foundation and Board Member of the UEFA Foundation for Children. Seedorf completed his education with PNL Courses, sport psychology, management and economics. He is a business consultant and counts different public speaking activities: from the Council of Europe to being the host of the FIFA Football Congress, to Oxford University, Harvard University, other institutes and multinationals.

Deirdre is responsible for the commercial strategy and growth of Nielsen’s core U.S. audience measurement product suites: Nielsen ONE, National TV, Local TV, Audio, and Scarborough. Deirdre brings deep digital and x-media expertise to her role, having previously focused on digital solutions and clients. She joined Nielsen in 2011 and has served in a range of digital and x-media focused roles during that time, including client
solutions, product, research, and product marketing.

Deirdre began her career as a consultant with McKinsey & Company, where she was a Business Analyst and later an Associate in the San Francisco Office. She has also managed online performance marketing for QuinStreet and Hotwire.

Deirdre graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. She hails from New York and currently lives in Charlottesville, Virginia with her husband, two young children, and a growing menagerie of pets.

Bio coming soon...

Elodie is originally from Cannes but has spent the last 10 years living in Singapore where she trained in both yoga and sound healing. She’s fluent in English and is a certified 500h E.R.T.Y. by Yoga Alliance. Her classes combine ashtanga, vinyasa, and hatha yoga. She can adapt to all levels of experience.

Bio coming soon...

Gemma leads the Twitch Brand Partnership Studio for EMEA and Asia-Pacific and brings 20 years global media experience in the worlds of gaming, travel and lifestyle. During her time at Twitch, Gemma and her team have won global and regional creative awards for brands including McDonalds, L’Oreal, DoorDash, 5Gum, HoYoverse and the Queensland Government. Prior to Twitch, Gemma served as the Head of Commercial Growth at Nine and the General Manager of Digital Development at News Corp Australia, where she led innovation and creative strategy. She is passionate about building and scaling creative teams and driving innovation in complex organizations.

Heidi Arthur brings together leading creative agencies, corporate brands, media and technology platforms, and nonprofit and government partners to drive public education, awareness, and action. She has more than 25 years of experience creating change around pressing social issues like diversity and inclusion, minority education, hunger prevention, Type 2 diabetes prevention, and high blood pressure awareness. Heidi’s work also includes the Ad Council’s groundbreaking COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative, which contributed to building trust and reducing hesitancy nationwide, and she currently leads the Ad Council’s mental health and racial justice efforts. Her campaigns have gone on to win numerous accolades, including Cannes Lions, Effies, Clios, and an Emmy.

To ensure continued creative innovation and excellence, Heidi also manages the Ad Council’s Creative Review Committees, comprising nearly 30 of the industry’s top agency leaders. The committees meet regularly to review, refine and raise the bar on the Ad Council’s social-good campaigns.

Heidi joined the Ad Council in 2000 after spending 10 years in the ad industry at Grey and Wells, Rich, Greene. She is a graduate of Union College and has a Certificate in Corporate Social Responsibility from Harvard Business School. She currently serves on the Board of Advisors for the Baylor College School of Medicine, the steering committee for the National Response to COVID-19 (an initiative of the Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention), and the Board of Directors for AIMM (Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing).

“The word is artist,” says Honey Dijon. She is talking about her new album Black Girl Magic – thirteen fierce tracks of attitude, energy, heart, community and engagement. But she could be talking about all of her work and life: her stratospheric DJing career; her fashion line Honey Fucking Dijon; her soundtracking of some of the most iconic fashion shows of the 21st century. “For me it’s just about creative energy,” she says. “It’s so human for me, to want to express my experience.”

Honey is talking from her home in Berlin. “As an artist, especially as a trans woman of color working in music, I wanted the album to be in-your-face, unapologetic, raw and honest,” she says. “The album is very timely. I’ve mostly collaborated with black, queer singers and songwriters. These are songs about love, life, resistance, fighting oppression.”

It’s also joyful. “That’s the trick of great dance music,” says Honey. “It’s why I always resonated with disco. Even though it was talking about the realities of life, it was also uplifting and liberating. That’s what great dance music does. Uplift and liberate while also reflecting. It’s affirmation.”

Which puts Honey’s work firmly in a cultural tradition as urgent today as it was in the days of disco and early house. Dance music is as much of a force today as it was then, especially in this age of structural racism and media-fueled transphobia. “It’s the politics of the party,” says Honey. “It’s no different from when Joe Smooth made Promised Land over thirty years ago. The conversation is still valid. It has always been queer people of color using dance music to create spaces for themselves.”

Honey knows what she is talking about. Born and raised in Chicago, she grew up surrounded by House music, and the creative souls who started a global movement. Moving to New York, she learned her art of DJing the right way: by playing records night after night after night. She worked the dancefloors of the city to master her connection with the crowd, that special magic she now brings to every set she plays. It led to some legendary residencies, such as Sunday nights at Hiro, and Ladyfag’s Battle Hymn party, where every Pride she would play twelve hours sets.

As a kid, Honey had educated herself about fashion, devouring magazines while knowing, at that time, fashion would have no place for a queer person of color. When she started DJing, the New York fashion crowd soon took notice. Finally, Honey could share her knowledge and understanding of fashion, mixing its creativity and self-expression into her art.

Honey has put in the work in music and fashion, the results of which are clear for all to see: the legendary Sugar Mountain DJ set for Boiler Room with now over 6,000,000 views on YouTube; her fashion line Honey Fucking Dijon now stocked in stores worldwide; her 194K followers on Instagram; her work mixing catwalk music for creative director Kim Jones, now of Dior Men, including the soundtrack for his show in his previous role as creative director of men’s at Louis Vuitton which revealed the game-changing Supreme collaboration.

Which is all just a beginning.

“When I think about the physicality of the music, I think about the journey of the night,” says Honey. “What makes a really good party is the journey. It’s like sex: fast tempos, slow tempos, giving people a break to catch their breath, then bringing them back up. Whenever I write music, I really write it from an emotional standpoint. Dance music doesn’t have to be above 125bpm.”

This knowledge comes to every track of Black Girl Magic, from the euphoria of Love is a State of Mind to the intense drive of Don’t Be Afraid to the new classic deep house of Finding My Way.

“I think about the journey of the dancefloor when I think about the physicality of the music that I make,” says Honey. “Storytelling – I think of it as storytelling. I make physical music. It’s not just between your ears. I want it to be in your legs, your arms, in your torso, and in your lower body, my favorite area!”

Every track reveals truths about Honey, her life, her beliefs. “It’s there in the titles of the tracks,” she says. “Don’t Be Afraid, Stand, Love is a State of Mind, Tension: these are all words I use in my everyday life. This record is my life.”

Like the communities found on true dancefloors, Black Girl Magic is a work of collaboration. “We wrote the music first,” says Honey, “then we would back-and-forth with the songwriter, so they could bring their energy and emotion. I collaborated mostly with queer people of color, because I wanted to give them the platform to express their art. The album is a true collaboration, which is how it should be.”

Honey collaborates with the new generation, such as Hadiya George on In The Club or Josh Caffe on La Femme Fantastique. And then there are legends, such as Junior Labeija, who opens the album on the intro of Love is a State of Mind, or Douglas McCarthy of Nitzer Ebb, who features on Tension. “It’s basically about S&M sex,” says Honey.

Just like she said: this record is unapologetic. “I want to own my narrative,” says Honey. “I feel like so much of the trans narrative is from a heteronormative point of view. Trans people are always seen as standing in opposition to the binary. I want to stand for exactly who I am, and not be perceived through a straight lens any longer.”

It goes into all aspects of life. “I’m tired of having to make other people feel comfortable about my existence,” she says. “Why is it that marginalized people have to gain the acceptance of the majority? I don’t get it. I don’t need to be validated by those I do not respect.”

A key to unlocking Honey Dijon comes near the beginning of La Femme Fantastique. Josh Caffe makes an announcement: “Ladies and Gentlemen… Miss Honey Dijon”. It’s a direct nod to the line spoken by actor Ian McShane on the 1985 Grace Jones album Slave to the Rhythm: “Ladies and Gentlemen… Miss Grace Jones.”

Grace is everything to Honey, serving as a constant inspiration for bringing worlds together. “When I first saw a Grace Jones album,” says Honey, “not only did I see music, but I also saw fashion, art direction. I heard different textures, from reggae to French ballads to covering a punk song.” She’s talking about Grace’s album Nightclubbing. “It is the most important album for me. It is the impetus for me to never separate creative energy.”

In Grace, Honey found how to harness your own personal motivation. “Grace is constantly questioning everything that she does. She is restless. It is her own need to find something new, to keep herself interested, to keep pushing forwards.”

Music. Fashion. Art. It’s in everything that Honey touches. “I come from a background where art is interdisciplinary,” she says. “If I think about the artists I love, from Keith Haring to Jean Michel Basquiat, from Kenny Scharfe to Klaus Nomi, they all mixed worlds together. Look at Klaus Nomi singing back-up vocals for David Bowie. These worlds should collide.”

And so Black Girl Magic is the next chapter in Honey Dijon’s personal journey. “I am always asking questions,” she says, “about myself, about the world. That is what I want Black Girl Magic to be. For me, this questioning is a lifelong pursuit. I’ve been questioning things my whole life. It’s what energized my then and it is what fires me today. I’ll never settle.”

Jeff Cohen is a Tech Evangelist at Amazon Ads. Jeff travels the world sharing insights on Amazon Ads technology and best practices. Jeff joined Amazon in January 2022 to build community in the Amazon Ads tech space. Since joining he has created a weekly LinkedIn newsletter that is read by thousands of partners and advertisers who seek to keep up on the world of Amazon Ads. Prior to joining Amazon Ads, Jeff was head of product and marketing at Seller Labs, an Amazon Ads tech partner.

Jeff Lewis is a home design extraordinaire, entrepreneur, podcast host and television personality who became a pop-culture staple through his house-flipping series that aired for 11 seasons.

After renovating properties for over two decades, Lewis launched his own full-service interior design firm in 2009, Jeff Lewis Design, specializing in design finish selections, furniture and accessories, and residential remodeling and new construction around the country.

In 2017, Lewis began hosting his highly acclaimed weekly radio show Jeff Lewis Live on SiriusXM. His show quickly expanded from one to five days per week and can be heard Monday through Friday on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy, Channel 102. 

After a brief break from television, Lewis returned with an all-new series, Hollywood Houselift with Jeff Lewis, now on Amazon Freevee. 

Jen Sargent is a successful entrepreneur and executive with 20 years of digital media experience. She is currently the CEO of Wondery, a premium podcast studio acquired by Amazon in 2021, known for its character-driven, binge-worthy stories including Dr. Death, The Shrink Next Door, Even the Rich and Business Wars. Wondery is behind seven of the “Top 10 New Shows of 2021”, according to Podtrac, including #1 (The Apology Line) and #2 (Suspect).

Jen was previously the President of Uproxx, a Comscore Top-100 digital publisher and award-winning content studio programming cultural content for Millennials. As President, Jen led the strategy, revenue generation, partnerships, and operations across the organization. Uproxx was acquired by Warner Music in Summer of 2018. Prior to Uproxx, Jen was the CEO and co-founder of HitFix, a multi-platform entertainment news brand focused on helping consumers discover and experience movies, TV and pop-culture. HitFix featured entertainment’s most celebrated tastemakers and a cross-platform reach of 300 million monthly viewers. HitFix was acquired by Uproxx in 2016. Previous roles include head of Online Marketing & Development for Reed Business Information (parent of Variety); the International Media Group of top ad-serving technology company DoubleClick; venture capital experience from BV Capital in Hamburg, Germany; and finance experience from JP Morgan investment banking in New York. Jen earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Jérôme Bloch started his career in the food industry, and in 2000, found his calling in the Telecom business. In 2008, he joined Samsung’s European Telecommunication Operations, and in 2012, became the Global Account Director for Orange Group. In January 2021, his career brought him to Samsung Electronics France as the Marketing Director for the Mobile eXperience Division, where he and his team are responsible for business strategy, pricing, and offer policy.

Jon is the Global head of Agency and Partner BD and Solutions at AWS. His role focuses on developing strategic advantage for partners and customers via their use of AWS services and Solutions for Advertising and Marketing technology. 

He has more than 20 years of experience in the advertising and marketing industry. Prior to joining AWS, Jon developed and led global agency, partner and customer sales organizations at Oracle Data Cloud, Microsoft, LinkedIn, and Snap, Inc.

Jonathan Cloonan is an Agency Group Head, US, at Amazon Ads leading a talented team responsible for business development and partnerships across several ‘Big 6’ Holding Companies. Jonathan also runs Amazon’s American Creative Agency Development unit across IPG, OMG, Publicis and WPP. He is most proud to be a Board Member of ‘glamazon’, Amazon's LGBTQIA+ affinity group, focusing on a mission to unite and empower LGBTQIA+ communities around the world.

Jonathan joined Amazon in 2019 from Fullscreen Media, where he served as VP of Business Development. In this role, he was overseeing agency relationships, managing a direct-to-advertiser sales team, and deploying ‘PLAYA’ - a SAAS tech platform focused on influencer marketing and social content at scale. Prior to his time at Fullscreen Media, Jonathan spent over a decade working in strategic planning, media buying, and branded entertainment roles across GroupM, Ogilvy, VICE Media, and Wunderman Thompson, where he focused on AT&T, GSK, Nestle, Unilever, and VW.

An alumnus of the prestigious ‘WPP Fellowship’, Jonathan has worked in Singapore, London, and New York. Recognized as a ‘Forbes 30 Under 30 Innovator’, he has been a keynote speaker at ‘The Web Summit’ and ‘Intellectual Property World Forum’.

Joseph Wilson who has been a queer drag performer, currently an artist and moving image creator who has been working with and documenting the eclectic East London queer scene for the past five years. Since graduating from University of the Arts London with a BA in Fine Arts (print and time-based media).
He wrote and directed a series of films amplifying marginalised voices of in LGBTQI+ community, and his first documentary project was entitled ‘Drag is my Ecstasy’, an intimate portrait of underground drag collective Sink the Pink, which was accepted into the program of the BFI Flare: London LGBTQI+ Film Festival and screened at The East End Film Festival. Wilson has recently been commissioned to create a long form documentary on the history of Sink The Pink, commissioned through Sky Arts.

Four of Wilson’s films centring on the LGBTQ+ lived experience have been previewed on global arts video channel NOWNESS. In 2019 he directed ‘Il-Widna’, a reimagined reality of queer people banished from the UK after Thatcher’s Section 28 amendment. The film had its online premiere on iD at the start of 2021 and has just been accepted into the 2021 Fringe! Queer Film & Art Festival.

Wilson was recently selected as one of the FLAMIN (Film London Artists Moving Image Network) artists in recognition of his film ‘Isn’t it a Beautiful World’ (2021), which, through lipsyncing, depicts the stories of Queer performers Soroya, Harry and Kenya.

With the “Isn’t it a Beautiful World’ film, which was part of the LFF Festival, Wilson also won the prestigious CIRCA x DAZED Class of 2021 – announced by Marina Abromovic with the prize winning award of a Studio at 180 The Strand and a £30,000 prize.

Recently Wilson has enjoyed making work with Amazon, directing the Amazon Prime x TIKTOK LGBT+ Modern Love Stories, and also directed the ‘Just so you know’ music video for Bailey.

Kacie is a leading ecommerce expert with deep CPG and agency experience. She has spent the last 15 years in the digital and ecommerce space. Currently, she is responsible for end-to-end ecommerce capability creation and evolution from digital shelf, retail media, DTC to ecommerce assortment and their ecommerce growth strategy

Prior to Kacie joining Kenvue, she held various roles from Global Ecommerce Strategy to Ecommerce Trade Marketing Lead, Agency Commerce Lead to Head of Retail Media across brands such as Graco, Rubbermaid, FoodSaver, Sistema, Arm & Hammer, IKEA, LOL Surprise, Little Tykes, Sharpie, Papermate, Parker and Waterman. Her specialty is both organizational redesign and ecommerce general management.

Kate McCagg is Head of the Brand Innovation Lab at Amazon Ads, which builds new and groundbreaking experiences that expand the horizons of how advertisers can grow their brand with Amazon. She led the Brand Innovation Lab in the US for over three years before moving to London in 2021 to lead the team globally. Prior to Amazon, she worked as an Executive Creative Director at Havas and a Creative Director at Razorfish, where she embraced the constantly evolving world of technology and social media. Kate’s work has been recognized by the NY and National Addys, The Epica Awards, The Andys, The Kellys, Communication Arts, and Lürzers Archive.

Nationally renowned news and sports correspondent Kaylee Hartung joined Prime Video’s inaugural Thursday Night Football game crew in July 2022, working with Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit as the announce team’s sideline reporter. Kaylee is also a national correspondent for NBC News’ The Today Show.

Throughout her distinguished career, Hartung has worked in a variety of high-profile reporting roles. With ABC News, she contributed to Good Morning America, World News Tonight with David Muir, and Nightline, covering top headlines and interviewed notable figures spanning sports, entertainment, business, and technology. Prior to ABC, Hartung was a national correspondent for CNN, reporting on breaking news from coast-to-coast. Hartung first gained acclaim as an award-winning sports reporter for ESPN, appearing regularly on SportsCenter and contributing to the network’s coverage of the biggest college sporting events in the country, including the College Football Playoffs, NCAA basketball, and the College World Series.

Hartung began her career in CBS News’ Washington bureau as an associate producer for Face the Nation, working alongside the program’s then-host, Bob Schieffer. Originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she is a graduate of Washington and Lee University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in broadcast journalism and politics.

Keke Palmer is an Emmy award-winning actress, singer, songwriter, producer and television host. She recently starred in Jordan Peele’s Universal summer blockbuster Nope opposite Daniel Kaluuya, earning unanimously rave reviews from critics and audiences alike as well as a NY Film Critics’ Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress. Lauded as “incomparable” and “unforgettable,” Keke also voiced the new character “Izzy” in Disney/Pixar's Lightyear, and hosted NBC's reboot of Password with Jimmy Fallon, which had the largest unscripted ratings of summer 2022 across broadcast networks. She launched her record-breaking podcast, Baby, This Is Keke Palmer, with Wondery/Amazon and will next star in (and produce) The Universal Studios comedy, The Backup opposite Kevin Hart, followed by David O. Russell’s Super Toys opposite Sascha Baron Cohen.

In fall 2022 Keke launched her own digital network, KeyTV, dedicated to spotlighting a new generation of diverse creators and democratizing the entertainment industry. For KeyTV she has written, produced and/or starred in various scripted and unscripted original content including her directorial debut, the short film Big Boss, that was accompanied by an album of the same title which was released in May 2023.

In 2021, Palmer received a Primetime Emmy Award for her portrayal of the five Taylor family members in her own series, Turnt Up With the Taylors which she produced with Kids at Play for Facebook Watch based on the original characters who rose to popularity
on her social media.

She lends her voice to “Maya” in Disney+'s revival of The Proud Family and voiced “Rochelle” in Netflix’s new Big Mouth spinoff, Human Resources after appearing in Season 5 of Big Mouth. Palmer hosted Disney+’s food competition show, Foodtastic and can be heard voicing the role of “Brynn” opposite Pete Davidson in Broadway Video’s Audible scripted podcast, Hit Job. Keke was tapped to host Vogue’s first-ever official Livestream for the 2021 Met Gala which garnered 15 million views across all platforms and 54 million minutes watched in
the first 24 hours alone, with Vogue touting record breaking viewership and digital engagement around the event. She also hosted the 2020 MTV VMA Awards which boasted a whopping 4.1 million social media impressions, the most impressions of any event that year just behind the Super Bowl. In 2020 Keke received an Emmy nomination for her work as a host on ABC’s GMA3: Strahan, Sara and Keke and hosted Quibi’s Singled Out based on the iconic 90s MTV series. She also released two hit EP’s, Virgo Tendencies: Part 1 & 2 from her own Big Bosses Record Label. She hosted Nickelodeon’s Kids Pick the President and Our White House, the official inauguration day program for kids. Keke recently starred opposite Jennifer Lopez, Cardi B, and Constance Wu in Hustlers for Gloria Sanchez & STX, directed by Lorene Scafaria, which was released to massive critical and popular acclaim.

Palmer rose to prominence through her breakout role in Akeelah and the Bee at age 12 starring opposite Angela Bassett and Lawrence Fishburne and has gone on to star in over 25 films and 30 TV shows. In 2018, she played the lead in the dark and gritty film, Pimp, executive produced by Lee Daniels. She also starred in 20th Century Fox Television and Lee Daniels Entertainment’s hit television show Star, EPIX’s Berlin
Station and FOX’s Scream Queens produced by Ryan Murphy.

Keke has broken barriers from a young age, becoming the youngest actress ever to receive a SAG Award nomination in a lead actor category for her work in The Wool Cap at the age of 10, the youngest and first Black Cinderella in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s iconic musical, Cinderella on Broadway, the first Black woman to star as Marty in the Emmy-nominated TV movie version of Grease Live! and the youngest talk show host in
history. She is a passionate activist for the causes she believes in and an advocate for young people. She hopes to inspire her millennial contemporaries to harness their power and drive the change they hope to see in the world.

After launching his Twitch channel in early 2020, Koji has seen an instant rise in popularity establishing himself as one of the top creators on the platform in the UK. He has built a loyal community through his accessible variety streams, creating a safe place for viewers to relax and escape.

Whilst streaming regularly five days a week, Koji’s upbeat personality had led him to working with some of the world’s top brands and developers in the space, including Coca-Cola, Xbox and StockX.

Latasha Gillespie is the Executive Head of Global Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) for Amazon Studios and Prime Video. In her role, Latasha is responsible for the development and management of all content related and customer facing DEIA work for the organization. Under her leadership, Amazon Studios created the entertainment industry’s first Inclusion Policy and Playbook, and standardized DEIA into its Greenlight Process. Prime Video is currently leading all streamers in percentage of women and underrepresented film directors. In her current role, Latasha created the Howard Entertainment Program, the first of its kind partnership between a major studio and a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). Prior to her current role, Latasha led the Global Diversity and Inclusion Organization across Amazon Corporate where she worked with Jeff Bezos, and regularly briefed both the Board of Directors, and Congressional members on Amazon’s DEIA Strategies and progress. In addition, Latasha is credited for Amazon joining the HBCU Partnership Challenge, and founding Amazon’s Conversations on Race and Ethnicity (CORE) annual conference and curriculum.

Prior to Amazon, Latasha spent 20 years in Finance and Human Resources with Caterpillar Inc. She started in the Caterpillar Finance Rotation Program, as an analyst with assignments in Treasury and both North America and Latin America Dealer Organizations. In 2000, Latasha joined the Human Resources department; holding various positions including: Six Sigma Black Belt, Compensation and Benefits Director, and Employee and Labor Relations Director for the organization’s facilities in both U.S. and Mexico. During her tenure with Caterpillar, Latasha is credited for launching the first diversity recruiting team and the company’s Employee Resource Groups. She also held the position as Caterpillar’s Chief Diversity Officer for three years prior to relocating overseas to Singapore to serve as the organization’s Head of Human Resources for Africa, Middle East, CIS/ Russia and Asia Pacific.

Latasha is a celebrated speaker, host, and moderator with organic relationships with Talent, Content Creators, and other influential public figures. Latasha has been called upon to publicly interview several different prominent celebrities including: Chef Marcus Samuelson, Simone Biles, Meagan Good, Barry Jenkins, Jemele Hill, Gloria Calderon Kellett, Congresswoman Karen Bass and rapper and author, Common to name a few. She has moderated panels for Sundance, New York Ad Week, IMDb and Easterseals. Comfortable speaking on both national and international stages, Latasha has been a featured speaker at Stanford University, the Hollywood Commission, the Recording Academy, the Television Academy, the NFL, Rio2C, re:Invent, and CES.

Latasha was recently honored as a 2022 Multichannel News Wonder Woman. In 2021, the Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce named Latasha Executive of the Year and she ended the year on the cover of Inclusion Magazine for her leadership in implementing organizational inclusive and equitable practices. She was featured in Variety’s 2021 Women’s Impact Report and Variety’s 2021 Inclusion Impact Report. Latasha was also featured in Forbes in 2020; Black Enterprise Magazine named her one of the 2019 Most Powerful Women in Corporate Diversity and she is a 2018 Ebony Magazine Power 100 Honoree. Latasha is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and currently serves on the Board of ThinkLA. She previously served on the Boards of the Tri-County Urban League, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale - College of Business Administration External Advisory Board, and City of Refuge. Latasha grew up in the Chicago area and received her degree in Finance from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Latasha currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

As Vice President, Global Sports Video, Marie Donoghue leads all of Prime Video’s global sports content business. She oversees Prime Video’s global sports strategy, identifying and evaluating new opportunities, managing acquisitions, programming and production, enabling Amazon Prime customers to access original and live sports content on hundreds of devices, in over 240 countries and territories.

Marie led the groundbreaking acquisition and production of Thursday Night Football, marking the first time a streaming service aired an exclusive national broadcast package from the NFL. In addition, Prime Video’s sports content includes Premier League in the U.K., UEFA Champions League in Germany and Italy (U.K. starting in 2024), ONE Championship (U.S. and Canada), and the WNBA.

A long-time leader in the sports industry, Marie has received numerous honors and extensive media coverage in recognition for her achievements, including “2021 Innovators” (The Wrap), “Most Powerful Women in Sports” (Adweek), “Most Influential People in Sports” (Sports Business Journal), “Power 100 Women in Entertainment” (The Hollywood Reporter), “New York Impact List” (Variety), “The Most Powerful Women in Cable” (CableFax: The Magazine), “Women to Watch” (Advertising Age and Advertising Women of New York) and “Game Changers” (Sports Business Journal). 

Prior to joining Amazon, Donoghue spent more than 18 years at ESPN, where she most recently served as Executive Vice President, Global Business and Content Strategy. She led the ongoing development and implementation of ESPN’s enterprise-wide business and content strategy and also headed ESPN’s business affairs, business development, and partnership group, oversaw ESPN Films (30 for 30), and launched several award-winning digital properties, including Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight and The Undefeated. 

A native of the Bronx, Marie earned her bachelor’s degree from Columbia College and a law degree from Columbia University.

As Senior Vice President, Head of International Content Partnerships, Matt Brabants plays a central role in fueling the league’s international growth, overseeing global media and content distribution for the NBA, WNBA, NBA G League, Basketball Africa League and USA Basketball.

During his tenure at the NBA, Brabants and his team have expanded the NBA’s international television and digital footprint and oversaw the addition of many first-time league partnerships with well-established media companies. Under his direction, NBA games and programming reach fans in 214 countries and territories in 50 languages. His groundbreaking partnerships include the NBA’s digital media agreements with Amazon in Brazil, Tencent and MEGU in China, beIN Sports (France/MENA), ESPN and Star+ (Latin America), ESPN (APAC and Africa) Movistar in Spain and Viacom 18 (India).

Under Brabants’ leadership, the NBA now features 18 international NBA.com localized digital destinations and has broadened the reach of NBA League Pass, the league’s international direct-to-consumer digital offering that is available to fans in more than 200 countries and territories. Brabants oversaw the launch of NBA Saturdays and Sundays, an initiative in its 10th consecutive year to schedule weekend games that air in primetime in Europe, the Middle East and Africa to allow international fans to watch NBA games in more convenient times.

Brabants launched his career at the NBA as part of the then-newly adopted management training program and has held a variety of positions over his 25-year tenure at the league. Prior to assuming his current role in 2021, Brabants has worked for the NBA in regional offices throughout the world and was formerly Vice President of the league’s International Media Distribution team, where he was responsible for overseeing business development and operations.

Brabants graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications with a bachelor’s degree in television, radio, and film management. He is an avid marathoner and resides in Westchester with his two daughters.

Maureen has worked in the Media business for 25+ years as a leader in Strategic Investment guiding both clients and agency teams to driving maximum value in the marketplace. She has also focused on building relationships with the media partners to better facilitate the negotiations and client’s executions in market.

Maureen began her career as an Assistant Media Buyer in National Broadcast at the inception of IPG’s General Motors MediaWorks buying unit and was quickly promoted to a Buyer overseeing GM’s $300MM+ Sports investments. At GM Maureen lead negotiations for various marquee events
including their Olympics partnership, NCAA Basketball sponsorship and the NFL.

In 1997, Maureen then went to work on the sales side at Discovery Communications as a Sales Planner. At Discovery she learned the sales side of the business which proved invaluable in terms of learning how to negotiate with media partners. Maureen crafted sales plans and marketing ideas for such clients as Procter & Gamble, Warner Brothers, Universal Studios, Exxon Mobil and M&M Mars.

After Discovery, Maureen went to back to the agency side working at Universal McCann for fouryears on the Coca-Cola account. While working on Coca-Cola Maureen ran their high-profile Olympics sponsorship which was more than $100MM in addition to managing their juices and water
brands. At McCann Maureen was the recipient of their prestigious Truth Well Told Award recognizing employees that made a difference in the organization.

Maureen joined Optimedia, NY in April 2004 as a VP, Associate Director in charge of buying for T-Mobile, BMW, ServiceMaster among other brands.

In March of 2010 Maureen was promoted to EVP of the National Video department overseeing the strategic investments across all clients as well as participating in successful new business pitches including Pizza Hut, Bridgestone Tires and Liberty Mutual representing billings more than
$400MM.

Maureen joined Initiative in February of 2016 and is currently the Chief Partnerships Officer overseeing all investments across the portfolio of clients including Amazon/Amazon Prime Video, T-Mobile, Liberty Mutual, Merck, Gilead, and Lego to name a few. Maureen works closely with MAGNA to develop strategic partnerships in the marketplace that yield both efficiencies and impact for clients.

Maureen’s buying experience spans across several key categories including auto, retail, wireless, film/entertainment, beverage, pharma, casual dining, insurance, and packaged goods.

Maureen graduated from Fordham University with a BA in Communications and has since been an alumni sponsor mentoring graduating students in the media field. In addition, Maureen has volunteered her time giving back to the media business through various teaching and mentorship programs.

As an active member of the media industry Maureen is on the 4 As National Broadcast Committee and the IAB Video Board.

In 2010, Maureen was named as one of Broadcasting and Cable’s Next Wave of Leaders. Maureen was also named one of the 2013 Working Mothers of the Year as selected by She Runs It and in 2013 AdWeek highlighted Maureen as a Media All Star. Maureen was recently honored by She Runs It for the Changing the Game awards which highlighted her advancements when it comes to more inclusive buying practices.

Maya Kosovalic is the Vice President of Digital Innovation & E-Commerce for Nyx Professional Makeup at L’Oréal USA. She is a seasoned executive with over 18 years of experience across international markets including Canada, China, Brazil, Argentina and the US in brand management, digital marketing, e-commerce, precision advertising, content partnerships and digital transformation leadership. Maya is now leading the innovation agenda for Nyx Professional Makeup and connecting the dots between the beauty consumer, commerce and technology as the brand continues to take a leadership role in beauty tech.

Melissa Burdick is the President of Pacvue and is an expert in designing for online and e-Commerce marketing strategies. A 10-year Amazon veteran, Ms. Burdick helped launch the Amazon CPG/Health & Beauty retail business, building a business from the ground up with an evolving strategy to sell profitably online. She was an early leader of the Amazon Media Group, launching the first vendor display video ad, and developed and grew the Amazon advertising business. Ms. Burdick is well known as an e-Commerce thought leader, Forbes Agency Council member, and participates as a speaker at e-Commerce conferences and industry podcasts.

Nate Notwell is the Head of Consumer Experience (CxO) for Kenvue. He has responsibility for leading media, digital and connected commerce capabilities across the Consumer Health portfolio while advancing J&J’s digital-first capability and talent agenda. He is passionate about combining data and technology with consumer insights and brand expertise to find new and innovative ways to connect with consumers and drive business growth.

Prior to his current role Nate spend the majority of his 15-year career at J&J in international roles including Global Marketing Leader for iconic brands such as NICORETTE® and ZYRTEC® and European Marketing Leader for J&J’s Digestive Health portfolio. Nate started his career with J&J in Canada working in marketing across the OTC business on brands such as TYLENOL® and REACTINE®.

Nate is an avid golfer, an aspiring chef, and a new dad. He really also misses sleep.

Nneka Onuorah is a trailblazing, Emmy Award-winning Nigerian-American filmmaker, producer, and activist committed to telling narratively- and formally-daring stories that re-examine and lift up underrepresented communities.

In September 2022, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for 'Outstanding Directing for a Reality Program' for Amazon’s Lizzo's Watch Out For The Big Grrrls. The series—which also won the Emmy for ‘Outstanding Competition Program’—follows superstar Lizzo on the hunt for confident, badass women to join her world tour. This marked Nneka's first nomination and win, and a historic moment for queer women of color directors at the Emmys.

She will next direct a docuseries, currently in production, with Megan Thee Stallion which will chronicle the Grammy-winning rapper's meteoric rise in the music industry and beyond, produced in collaboration with Time Studios & Jay-Z's Roc Nation. 

Nneka’s recent directorial work has twice been nominated for ‘Outstanding Documentary’ at the GLAAD Media Awards: in 2017, for  The Same Difference,  about internalized homophobia within the black lesbian community; and in 2022, for The Legend of the Underground, which premiered at Tribeca before debuting on HBO in June 2021, produced by John Legend and focused on Nigerian youth challenging their country’s discriminatory anti-LGBTQ laws. Her other credits include Netflix’s prison-themed  First and Last; Viceland’s black queer-focused  My House; Burn Down The House, which premiered at NewFest; and  The G Word, produced by Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions.

Rachel is the Global Head of Inclusive Innovation at Mindshare, leading strategy and innovation for how brands use marketing, media and technology to reshape society for good. As an autistic woman, Rachel is a content creator on TikTok, LinkedIn and Instagram to educate and advocate for neuroinclusion in professional environments. Rachel has over 85,000 people in her community across platforms because of her unique perspectives as a creative leader who is autistic.

Rachel works with global Fortune 500 brands such as Nike, Chanel, Campari, Unilever, Abbott, Kimberly-Clark and Booking.com to be more intentional in marketing. With Rachel's leadership, she created a first-of-its kind digital Inclusion Private Marketplace to support journalism for marginalized communities in media. Rachel is passionate about the possibilities of creativity in media for social impact while considering the ethics of how we use – or shouldn’t use- technology. She is also the co-founder of the agency’s global DE&I employee resource group Mindshare Collective.

A respected industry thought leader, Rachel’s insights have been featured in Ad Age, Adweek, The New York Times, Campaign Magazine, and more. She has been personally honored as one of Business Insider’s 35 Under 35, and Advertising Week’s Future is Female award for her creativity in media. Rachel is an esteemed speaker, having been invited to speak at prestigious stages such as the United Nations, Cannes Lions, CES, SXSW, Yale University, and more around the world.

Rich Ferraro is the Chief Communications Officer of GLAAD, the world’s most visible LGBTQ advocacy organization. In 2022, he was recognized on the OUT100 and PRWeek 40 Under 40 lists. He has most recently spoken on LGBTQ representation in advertising and communications at ADCOLOR, the Public Relations Society of America’s ICON Conference, AdAge’s LGBTQ Town Hall, PRNews’ Social Shake-Up, and during the Arthur Page Society conference.

 Ferraro joined GLAAD in 2008 and oversees GLAAD’s Communications department including GLAAD's Press, Talent Relations, News and Rapid Response, and Creative departments. He also leads GLAAD's social media team, which was recognized as a 2022 Webby Award winner in the category for “Social: Public Service & Activism.” In his role, Ferraro leads much of GLAAD's behind-the-scenes work with brands, journalists, content creators, and social media platforms. Ferraro has worked on hundreds of LGBTQ-inclusive media projects and in 2015 he received a Daytime Emmy Award as part of the team behind the MTV and Logo documentary “Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word.” He has advised companies including Delta, P&G, Kellogg's, Absolut, among many others, on LGBTQ-inclusive advertising and campaigns. Ferraro has programmed LGBTQ private events featuring global CEOs during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. He is also an Executive Producer of the GLAAD Media Awards stage show and leads the selection process for the GLAAD Media Award nominees, honorees, and award recipients. Previously, he served as Senior Director of Communications and Public Affairs at ViacomCBS, where he worked on press for series and campaigns including MTV True Life, RuPaul’s Drag Race, and MTV’s 2016 election campaign, which drew attention to issues including immigration, LGBTQ equality, and racial justice. He currently volunteers on the Board of Directors for the Public Relations Society of America’s New York chapter and also regularly speaks on LGBTQ news in mainstream media including The New York Times, Associated Press, Variety, Adweek, CNN Business, and The Advocate.

Based in Denver, CO and joined Slalom nine years ago. Two decades of experience in digital spanning strategy consulting, marketing technology, data, and media. Expert in Customer Experience (CX), digital transformation, digital marketing, and marketing & advertising technology. Slalom’s global lead for Advertising & Marketing Transformation and AWS + Ads relationship. Creator of Slalom’s Digital Strategy capability including MarTech/AdTech advisory. Blogger and author who speaks frequently at industry conferences and events, and member of the Fast Company Executive Board

Ruslana Zbagerska is Director of Performance Advertising Product and Technology at Amazon. She and her team are responsible for building innovative advertising experiences and self-service solutions to help Brands of all sizes grown their Brands’ and product discovery on and off Amazon. Prior to this role, Ruslana spend five years driving growth and scale of the Self-Service Advertising products (Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands; helping brands, authors publishers, and their partners to grow their business globally. 

Ruslana joined Amazon in 2013 from Expedia Group, where she last served as Sr. Director of eCommerce Product and Technology. While at Expedia, Ruslana defined and implemented several key initiatives helping to develop Expedia’s partner network, launching and driving adoption of Expedia Affiliate Network APIs, unlocking an ecosystem of API driven app creation and launching new products globally.

Ruslana earned her bachelor’s degree in Mathematics & Computer Science at the University of Waterloo and her master’s in business administration from IMD Business School. Ruslana currently resides in Seattle with her family.   

Shula is CSO EMEA & WW at mSix&Partners where her brief is to accelerate its strategic offering to match the pace of the agency's growth. Previously she was Global Head of Strategy at Spark Foundry. A hybrid strategist, she is a firm believer in breaking down silos across creative, media and tech disciplines in service of an intuitive consumer experience.Sinclair is a familiar face in the industry, acting regularly as a judge for Effies and Campaign. In 2020, she was media jury president for D&AD, and took on the role of co-chair of the 2021 World Media Awards. She has won awards for both her brand and media strategic work and is a trustee of The Big Draw.

Stéphane Grenier is the Head of Amazon Ads France, and has been at Amazon Ads since 2018. In this position, he and his team support advertisers and their agencies in the development of their brands and the digital transformation of their organizations.

Stéphane spent 16 years at L’Oréal in different functions in Marketing and general management in France, the Philippines, South-Africa and Italy. He then became CEO of Miller Harris and of Murdock London in the UK before joining in 2016 the Amazon France team as Category Director.

Coming soon...

Theresa Gaarde is the Head of Sales & Channel Partnerships for Brand Collaborations at Popular Pays, a Lightricks company. In this role, Theresa is responsible for scaling both the sales and partnerships teams while defining and implementing the go-to-market strategy.  Prior she was VP of Sales at Popular Pays, which was acquired by Lightricks in March 2022.

Before joining Popular Pays, Theresa was crafting strategic partnerships at a variety of content and publishing firms including Viacom, Pandora, SAY Media, Funny or Die, and Onion Labs.

Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez was named a pregame, halftime, and postgame analyst for Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football coverage in April 2022. Gonzalez will contribute to the streamer’s comprehensive wraparound coverage each Thursday, working alongside host Charissa Thompson and fellow analysts Richard Sherman and Ryan Fitzpatrick live at each game site throughout the season.

After concluding an outstanding playing career, Gonzalez most recently served as a FOX Sports studio analyst on FOX NFL Kickoff for three seasons. Gonzalez was also a part of FOX Sports’ Thursday Night Football pregame show, where he earned a 2020 Sports Emmy Award nomination for "Outstanding Studio Show–Weekly.” He also was an analyst for The NFL Today on CBS from 2014-2016.

His career extends beyond the NFL, as he recently starred in the Spectrum Originals’ drama series Long Slow Exhale, and wrapped production on Nickelodeon and Awesomeness Films’ upcoming feature Fantasy Football. His additional film and television credits include xXx: The Return of Xander Cage and NCIS. He was also featured in the Showtime documentary Play It Forward. In 2019, CBS News named him one of their “Fathers of the Year.” In 2021, Gonzalez joined Caldera + Lab as Chief Wellness Ambassador in an effort to inspire men to prioritize their wellness and become the best version of themselves.

Gonzalez’ NFL career as a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons was nothing short of remarkable. He is one of the NFL’s greatest to ever play the position, and among tight ends, he is league’s all-time leader in receiving yards, consecutive starts, and Pro Bowl appearances. Gonzalez was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2019.

Bio coming soon...

Walter Frye is Global Director of Brand Marketing at Amazon. He previously spent 15 years at American Express in various brand leadership roles. Walter is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Yale University, and his honors include an Emmy, AdAge 40 Under 40 and Billboard Top 100 Power Players.