#SMWNYC

Gary Vaynerchuk is a serial entrepreneur and the Chairman of VaynerX, a modern day communications parent company, as well as the CEO and Co-Founder of VaynerMedia, a full-service digital agency servicing Fortune 500 clients across the company’s 4 locations.

His fifth book “Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Business and Influence-and How You Can, Too” is available in stores now!

Gary rose to prominence in the late 90’s after establishing one of the first ecommerce wine sites, WineLibrary helping his father grow the family business from 4 to 60MM in sales.

Gary is also one of the most sought after public speakers alive today. He is a venture capitalist, 5-time New York Times bestselling author, and an early investor in companies such as Twitter, Tumblr, Venmo and Uber. Gary has been named to both Crain’s and Fortune’s 40 Under 40 lists.

Gary is currently the subject of DailyVee, an online documentary series highlighting what it’s like to be a CEO and public figure in today’s digital world. He is also the host of #AskGaryVee, a business and advice Q&A show online.

Gary is also the host of a global top 10 business podcast, The Gary Vaynerchuk Audio Experience.

Gary’s signature sneakers, The GaryVee 001 & 002 in collaboration with K-Swiss sold out on opening day.

He is the Co-Founder of VaynerSports, a full service athlete representation agency with more than 20 clients with his brother AJ.

Gary also appears with Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Alba and Will.i.am on Apple’s first original series “Planet of the Apps” out now.

Pam Wasserstein is the President of Vox Media, the leading independent modern media company, where she oversees strategic initiatives, including ecommerce and consumer businesses, as well as the New York Magazine brands. Prior to the 2019 merger with Vox Media, she had been the CEO of New York Media (since May 2016), leading premium media brands New York Magazine, Vulture, The Cut, Intelligencer, Grub Street, and The Strategist. During her time as CEO, New York received seven National Magazine Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, and was named Magazine of the Year by both Adweek and Ad Age; Wasserstein received a 2018 Spirit of ABNY Award recognizing distinguished service to New York City, and was named to Crain’s New York’s 40 Under 40 class of 2017. She has spoken at SXSW, Advertising Week and Code Media, and on Time’s Up panels at the Tribeca Film Festival and Digitas NewFront, among other venues. Before becoming CEO, Wasserstein served as co-chair and head of strategy.

Prior to joining New York Media, Wasserstein worked at Tribeca Enterprises, most recently as vice president, corporate development. Before that she worked at Apollo Global Management, the private equity firm, where she evaluated potential investments and managed existing portfolio companies, and as a corporate lawyer at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz LLP. She is a board member at Spaceworks, a nonprofit cultural community development organization, and at the Charles H. Revson Foundation. She’s a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

Joe Marchese is the CEO of Attention Capital, a holding company scaling the next generation of media and technology companies. A multiple time founder, and sometimes media executive, Joe is also the co-founder and Chairman of Human Ventures.

As the President of Advertising Revenue for Fox Networks Group, Joe oversaw advertising sales and innovation for FOX Broadcast, FX, National Geographic and FOX Sports, which included tentpole advertising events like the World Series and Super Bowl.

Prior to Fox, Joe served as CEO of true[X], the leader in engagement advertising technologies, which was acquired by Fox in 2015. He has co-founded a number of companies including Human Ventures, a venture capital fund and startup studio.

Joe is a widely recognized leader in the media and technology industries and was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Achievement in 2016. He has served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Paley Center for Media and is currently a member of the Board of Directors for Human Ventures, the Tribeca Film Institute, Team Rubicon, and Clear Channel Outdoor.

He graduated from Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Finance.

Alison Moore is the Chief Executive Officer at Comic Relief Inc., also known as Comic Relief US.

Moore comes to Comic Relief USA with extensive experience as a top executive in the media and technology industries, where she has successfully expanded business operations and growth initiatives for a number of content-driven organizations and world-renowned brands.

Most recently, Moore served as Chief Business Officer, Beauty Collection at Condé Nast, overseeing the brand strategy, monetization, and operations for women-focused brands, such as Glamour and Allure. Prior to Condé Nast, Moore was Chief Revenue Officer at SoundCloud, the global digital music and audio platform, and previously held senior positions at NBC Universal and HBO, focusing on digital consumer experiences, brand development and consumer engagement strategies.

In addition to her previous corporate roles, Moore is active in the entrepreneurship space, working with socially conscious start-ups and incubators. She is also a Board member of TRACE, the leading global media, entertainment and brand platform for connected Afro-Urban millennials.

Rishad Tobaccowala has been the chief strategist and the chief growth officer at Publicis Groupe, an advertising and communications firm whose 80,000 employees worldwide are dedicated to delivering marketing and business transformation. For his pioneering innovation, Businessweek named Tobaccowala as a top business leader. He regularly presents keynotes at industry conferences and speaks at well-known global organizations, including Bank of America, Walmart, Google, and Facebook.

Danielle Cadet is the Vice President of content strategy and managing editor for Unbothered and On Her Turf, Refinery29’s highly successful sub-brands. Danielle has played a pivotal role in expanding, growing, and innovating these two channels beyond social media to expand to editorial content, experiential activations and podcasts. UnBothered is Refinery29’s channel created for, by and about black women, which one year after after its creation, the Instagram channel boasts more than 100k followers (50% of which are new to Refinery29 content) and is the brand’ s most engaged and fastest growing channel. After organically building the UnBothered world over the past year, the channel has expanded into editorial, the Go Off Sis podcast and experiential activations.

Previously, Danielle, was the deputy editor for ESPN’s Undefeated, where she managed the site’s daily editorial coverage. Prior to ESPN, Cadet worked at “The Huffington Post Black Voices” where she led breaking news coverage of several national stories, including the Trayvon Martin murder case in Florida and the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a police officer and the civil protests in Ferguson, Missouri, that followed. She has keen insight into the consumption habits of digital consumers and multi-cultural readers.

Cadet holds bachelor’s and masters degrees from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and has been included on Ebony’s list of “8 Dynamic Black Women Editors in New Media” and The Big Lead’s 40 Under 40 Behind the Scenes in Sports Media.

John’s Crazy Socks is a father-son social enterprise inspired by John Lee Cronin, a young man with Down syndrome, and his love of colorful and fun socks, or what he calls his “crazy socks.” Its mission is to spread happiness, and judging by the 200,000+ followers it has on social media and the videos that have been viewed more than 100 million times, it’s mission is taking hold. Every day, the crew shows what’s possible when you give a person with a differing ability a chance. Over half of JCS’s employees have a differing ability.

Kirstin Benson is the Global Vice President of Entertainment for Getty Images where she leads and manages Getty Images’ coverage of over 70,000 entertainment events including the Academy Awards, Grammys, Cannes Film and Sundance among others, each year. Kirstin and her team also oversee Getty Images STUDIO — the company’s end-to-end visual storytelling service that leverages Getty Images’ visual expertise and data to advise brands on how best to connect with audiences. Under Kirstin’s leadership, she has evolved Getty Images entertainment into a social-first, data-driven visual powerhouse, elevating in-house expertise and empowering creative outputs.

Kirstin and her team are consistently blending creative insights with Getty Images data around customer visual consumption habits and interests to help clients tell better stories. Her teams know that data can be an empowering tool to drive visual communications – all the better to inform, illustrate and connect.

Kirstin has 10+ years of experience working in entertainment, media most recently as the founding Editor of Instant, an all-video, first-of-its-kind outlet dedicated to the world of social media stars.

Kirstin is based in Los Angeles and holds a Masters in Communication Management in Entertainment from the University of Southern California.

Joe Federer is a strategist and author who employs psychological frameworks to navigate brand engagement. Having led social creative and strategy teams at major agencies like Energy BBDO and Ketchum, Federer went on to establish Reddit’s Brand Strategy team in 2016. His first book, The Hidden Psychology of Social Networks, will be published in 2020 by McGraw-Hill.

Dan Gardner is the Founder and CEO of Code and Theory. With more than a decade of experience designing cross-platform products and brand experiences for clients in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, he has led Code and Theory to become one of the largest Digital first creative agencies in the United States. Since founding the company in 2001, it has grown to 500 employees, with offices in New York, San Francisco, London, Manila, Los Angeles and Atlanta.

From pioneering the modern digital landscape with 70+ major media launches for publishers such as Bloomberg, Vogue, and the LA Times, to defining a new standard for how brands like Maybelline NY and Burger King communicate their stories, to reimagining the digital space between government and citizenry through sites like NY.gov, Dan has radically redrawn the map of challenges a creative agency can confront in today’s digital world.

His efforts in growing Code and Theory have been widely recognized. Code and Theory has been celebrated by Webby’s, D&AD, Cannes Lions, One Show and was named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies.

YuJung Kim is President of The Dodo, the largest digital destination for animal content and most engaged with media brand in the world on mobile. The Dodo produces and distributes emotionally compelling and entertaining videos across the full spectrum of animals, from pets to wildlife. Previously, she managed the National Basketball Association’s digital media business, with a focus on distribution strategy and expanding the league’s footprint to international markets. Prior to that, she worked in finance across private equity and financial research in the technology sector. YuJung holds a BA from Princeton University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Quinn is currently the Head of Partnerships and Consumer Experience for the portfolio of brands at Heineken USA where he gets to blend his two passions together; brand building and a great pint of brew. He joined Heineken in 2013 as the Brand Director on Newcastle Brown Ale. He then led communications for the Heineken brand as a Senior Brand Director before leading the Dos Equis brand here in the US. During his time at Heineken USA, Quinn has been named an Adweek Brand Genius, named to the Ad Age Creativity 50, and named a member of the PR Week Power List while leading campaigns that won almost 30 Cannes Lions including the coveted Titanium Lion.

Prior to Heineken, Quinn worked at PepsiCo and General Mills in Brand Management and Shopper Marketing leadership functions. Quinn started his career in the advertising industry prior to making the move to client side. Quinn received his BA from Gettysburg College in Political Science and Spanish and his MBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business in Marketing and Strategy. When not selling or drinking beer, Quinn can be found coaching his two daughters’ basketball and softball teams while occasionally running a marathon when his sanity slips.

Michaela Giovengo is the Director of Performance Marketing at Hulu where she is responsible for leading the team focused on driving Hulu’s direct-to-consumer brand advertising revenue. Since joining Hulu in 2012, Michaela has been instrumental in the development and growth of the Hulu performance marketing unit, which has tripled in size and has resulted in expansive revenue growth year-over-year.

Prior to joining Hulu, Michaela spent over six years at NBCUniversal as an Account Executive across a number of the networks properties including USA, Oxygen, Bravo and SyFy. Michaela was born and raised in Chicago, IL and holds a Bachelor degree in Marketing from Fordham University. She currently resides in New Jersey with her husband and their two children, Siena and Luke.

Raashi drives creative strategy for some of Google’s largest and most strategic products including Search, Maps, Lens, Photos, and Messaging on the Global Brand Marketing team for Consumer Apps. Prior to Google, she helped build the Creative Strategy team at Pinterest, where she worked across CPG, retail, automotive, technology, and entertainment brands to develop award-winning creative campaigns. Raashi got her start in strategy at Grey and Razorfish, where she developed insights and recommendations around storytelling and commerce experiences. She received her Masters degree in Integrated Marketing with a digital concentration from New York University and a BA in Neuroscience from Bowdoin College.

Mario Moreno is a passionate and strategic marketer who drives value and results in this modern day marketing era. With a background in social media marketing, Mario has managed to lead teams and drive strategic thinking with organic and paid social media and influencer marketing tactics. Mario currently is the Head of Marketing for H&M USA.

As Global Creative Strategist, AR at Facebook, Elizabeth works with the brightest minds in the industry to make the future of marketing more open and connected. Collaborating with global brands and agencies to hack creativity for mobile, Elizabeth makes AR a reality people can believe in, and ensures Facebook and Instagram are safe and vibrant places for people and brands alike.

Mathew Sweezey is Principal of Marketing Insights for Salesforce and is regarded as one of the leading minds on the future of marketing. His visionary insights into consumer behavior, technology, and new business strategies have changed the way startups, Fortune 500 brands, and nonprofit organizations alike find customers, break through, and build modern brands. Prior to his current role, Mathew was an early pioneer of the marketing automation space and played a key role in the success of the marketing automation technology company Pardot (now a part of the Salesforce Marketing Cloud).

In addition to his work with brands, Mathew is the host of the award-winning podcast The Electronic Propaganda Society and an accomplished writer. Mathew has written for many leading publications, including The Economist, Forbes, HBR The Observer, and Adage. His second book The Context Marketing Revolution, published by HBR, will hit the shelves in 2020.

Mathew is a graduate of the University of Georgia and resident of Charleston, South Carolina. When he’s not in the office you can find him at the local surf break in search of the perfect wave.

Neil is the co-founder and CEO of Whalar, the world’s largest dedicated influencer marketing company that was the first to win a prestigious Gold Lions at Cannes and is an official marketing partner of Facebook, Instagram and Snap.

Neil dropped out of Uni in 2006 with friend and future co-founder, James Street to start their first business. After a string of successful projects, the pair soon launched Shore Projects, a watch brand inspired by the British seaside which in its first year alone sold in over 30 countries.
Noticing a key shift in the way consumers connected with brands, they were able to grow Shore using social media creative and influence.

Rapid growth led to awards and recognition – one such being the top selling fashion and apparel brand on Shopify in 2015 and getting to spend a week on Necker Island with Sir Richard Branson. On Necker, the idea for Whalar was born and they began work on it within weeks.

Whalar now serves over 200 brand clients such Unilever, Hyatt, Estee Lauder, Gucci, Shopify, Porsche, American Express, Vodafone, Wallgreens Boots Alliance and is supported by an impressive board made up of Sir John Hegarty, Bob Greenberg, Roxanne Taylor and Andrea Wong.

Neil has built a reputation as one of the most renowned thought leaders in the social space, championing creators with influence, creative freedom and social influence as acquisition. He has spoken/is speaking at leading industry events including Websummit, Cannes Lions, Advertising Week, Dmexco, MWC and the Youth Marketing Summit.

Rachel Tipograph considered herself amongst the digerati since the moment she became an eBay power user at 13. Forbes listed Rachel as one of its “30 under 30 Who Are Changing The World”, Marie Claire named her one of “The 50 Most Influential Women in America,” Fast Company named her one of “The Most Creative People in Business”, AdAge named her one of “The Most Creative People of The Year,” AdWeek named her one of “The Young Influentials Shaping Business and Culture,” Entrepreneur named her one of the “50 Most Daring Entrepreneurs,” Business Insider named her one of “New York Tech’s Coolest People”, Refinery29 named her one of its “Rising Female Tech Stars,” The Wrap named her one of “The 11 Change Agents Disrupting Hollywood,” and LinkedIn named her one of its “Next Wave: Top Professionals 35 & Under.” After being the Global Director of Digital and Social Media at Gap where she oversaw strategy, implementation and measurement, Rachel traveled the world for 100 days and then founded MikMak, the eCommerce platform for social video and beyond.

Botswana born and raised in the UK, Steven Bartlett is the 26-year-old CEO of The Social Chain – a global, social-first marketing agency and production house. From a bedroom in Manchester, this university dropout built the group’s two flagship companies – Social Chain and Media Chain – when he was just 22 years old.

Steven is currently based in NY, leading a company of 200+ like-minded individuals who are quickly disrupting the ever-changing social sphere. Social Chain’s impressive client list includes the likes of Apple, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Superdry, New Balance and Nokia, with their presence now felt in Manchester, London, Berlin and New York. Since its onset, the digital publishing house ‘Media Chain’ now owns some of the largest media assets online – reaching over 10 billion people a month through a series of online brands.

An award-winning entrepreneur with accolades such as Great British Entrepreneur of the Year 2017 and Most Influential Agency Figure 2018, Steven also acts as a speaker, investor and content creator, hosting top charting podcast, ‘The Diary of a CEO’. Steven is the voice of a generation, inspiring people daily with his disruptive methods, unconventional business model and unique company culture.

Chris Marino is the Director of Digital Media Acquisition at American Express in the Global Commercial Services division. Global Commercial Services provides a suite of payment and lending products, solutions for travel and everyday business spending, cross border payments, global currency solutions, and business financing. In his current role, he is responsible for optimizing a multi-million dollar advertising budget to convert small to mid-sized business owners on card and non-card solutions across paid social and display channels. Chris is a data driven marketer with a passion for quantifying the impact that brands are having through digital experiences.

In his previous role as Director of Global Social Media Strategy, he led the transformation of American Express OPEN’s social media strategy through audience first creative. Over his six years at American Express, Chris has worked in a variety of cross-functional capacities including Finance, Marketing and Strategy.

Chris graduated from Syracuse University with a B.S in Management and Marketing. He is currently pursuing an Executive MBA at the Cornell Johnson School of Management.

Chris is an avid foodie, traveler and Syracuse Orange basketball fan residing in New York City.