Alycia Mason is a long-time media exec that has experienced marketing and media management from agency and client perspectives. Her performance in management and customer experience landed her an exciting new role in 2022. In this episode, hear about how Alycia manages a territory encompassing more than one thousand McDonald’s restaurants and how her “three Ps” can help you make the most of an opportunity!

Salim Holder is the CEO and Co-Founder of 4th Avenue – “a social enterprise with a store”, as he labels it. When Salim took over 4th Avenue in 2018 his company became the largest black owned hair and beauty online store.

In this episode, Salim describes how 4th Avenue is different to other beauty and haircare companies. The socially conscious firm is addressing an imbalance in minority ownership, providing accessibility to products that are key to identity, and creating wealth and opportunity for disadvantaged communities.

Andrew Glazier is the President and CEO of Defy Ventures. As the name suggests, Andrew’s company fight to change long-standing narratives and perceptions. Defy Ventures help incarcerated men and women learn new skills in prison and provide career mentorship after they leave the judicial system. In this episode, Andrew explains how education and nurture gives people a second chance at life, at work, and as a participating citizen.

Christy Hiler occupies a rare position as a female owner of an advertising agency in the United States. According to statistics, the odds of her achieving this feat were about 100/1. However, she does not sit comfortably in this exclusive club.In addition to leading Cornett agency, Christy is trying to guide more women into agency ownership. In this episode, she describes some of the barriers to entry for women and explains how her OWNIT initiative helps shed light on a remarkable lack of ownership representation in the industry.

Katie Moran’s marketing career was on a continuous upward trajectory until life delivered a natural curveball. The dynamic integrated marketer made a successful transition into a senior client role. However, the journey into motherhood proved more challenging for Katy. In this episode, the Kimberly-Clark veteran tells listeners about her difficulties and explains how she’s finally found a wholesome formula for combining parenting and profession!

Natalie Shmulik is a culinary expert that is helping food entrepreneurs get their products on to our plates. Natalie and her team at The Hatchery provide a unit for budding food businesses to cook their creations at scale. In this episode, we hear about the original concept of The Hatchery, how it became a successful business academy, and why it’s an invaluable outlet for the communities of West Chicago.

Mike Linton is a five-time CMO and widely published author. In a decorated career to date, Mike has led marketing at heavyweight brands such as eBay, Best Buy, and Farmers Insurance. In this episode, Mike explains why companies often have it wrong when they conclude they need ‘better marketing’. He also explains his famous marketing martini analogy – it’s all about feelings and values! Tune in below to hear from an impressive marketing leader that has helped build great brands, businesses, and people.

Nigel Hughes is committed to finding new ways to look at the food industry. Through his SVP role at the Kellogg Co, Nigel is operating in the ‘sweet spot between R&D and innovation’. As a business leader he’s also acutely aware of the need to connect innovation with commercial outcomes. In this episode, Nigel explains how the Kellogg Co are contributing towards paradigm shifts in the industry, how paradigm shifts differ from trends, and what the food industry of the future may look like. Nigel also illustrates why great innovators find angles, not answers!

Mawi Asgedom is a champion of the Unstuck philosophy. He was born into destitution and war in Ethiopia. His first major triumph was successfully fleeing the conflict and making it to a refugee camp. He didn’t know it then, but the camp was Mawi’s first level of education. It would conclude with a graduation and renowned commencement speech at Harvard. In this episode, Mawi recalls his remarkable life story. He shares the principles and habits that helped him overcome adversity and become a successful business leader. Mawi also introduces social and emotional learning and explains how the greatest knowledge is not found within, but through others.

Samantha Kolkey is a leader that doesn’t fit your typical manager profile. Her path in life was a challenging one until she received a diagnosis for ADHD while in grad school. This liberated Samantha and put her on a path of understanding and fulfilment. As a neurodivergent leader she’s now removing the stigma around ADHD, autism, and other cognitive idiosyncrasies. Samantha has created a safe space at work for her colleagues, of whom all have neurodivergent characteristics. The licensed clinical social worker wants the corporate world to become more aware of neurodivergence and ensure that we all can see ‘the fantastic nature of the world’.

Dave Rabie is a natural entrepreneur that is fanatical about food. While at Booth Business School in Chicago he discovered a way to blend his two passions into an exciting culinary adventure. His multifaceted cooking business Tovala takes the hassle out of dinnertime by delivering high quality ingredients to your home. The magic of Tovala is that they cook the meal for you too! It was difficult to transform this innovative idea into a business model but Dave and Tovala pulled it off. In this episode he explains how they grew 10% - 20% per week once they found product market fit. Tovala is now employing more than 130 people and Dave has ‘become a leader as well as a doer’!

Jon Langford is a renowned musician, artist, graphic designer, and all-round creative mastermind. He’s best known for his role in punk rock art collective, The Mekons. They are are one of the longest running punk bands from the '70s and Jon explains how their originality, fearless approach, and willingness to evolve has seen them pass the test of time. The second half of Jon’s career touched other forms of art such as painting, graphic design, and fashion. In this episode, Jon shares insight and stories from an extraordinary creative life. Hear how uniqueness, innovation, and risk taking should be part of every growth plan!

Chris Perry and Oskar Kaszubski are Co-Founders of the appropriately named firstmovr. Their e-commerce accelerator is a 'satellite' consultancy that can be plugged into any corporation or business team. The dynamic duo help companies adapt and transform ecommerce operations while keeping abreast of fast moving digital trends. In this episode, Chris and Oskar share the eight levers that companies can use to break down siloes and embrace ecommerce. We hear about executive change management, essential metrics, focused strategies, and organisational enablement. The digital commerce landscape is evolving so rapidly that's it difficult to keep up, but our latest guests provide hope for a solution!

Gina Jacobson is a celebrated marketing leader whose greatest achievement is not her CV. Four years ago, the Starcom Worldwide Chief Growth Officer was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. She struggled to find chinks of light in the dark diagnoses of her medical advisors. Nevertheless, Gina returned to work and continued to lead a marketing organisation and deliver results for her company. She recalls personal and painful experiences with co-workers that were necessary to help shape her new way of working. In addition to revealing deeply private anecdotes, Gina also provides invaluable advice for supporting a colleague who is battling illness. She beat the odds to be here and we’re very grateful to Gina for sharing her inspiring journey with us!

Denise Karkos is a dynamic CMO that is now leading marketing for the iconic SiriusXM and Pandora brands. Denise has always been incredibly goal-oriented in her early 20s she made it her ambition to be a Chief Marketing Officer. In addition to meeting this objective and carving out a great career in business she also made her mark on the soccer pitch captaining the University of Notre Dame. In this episode, Denise shares valuable advice on goal setting, defining success, growth mindsets, and understanding both your audience and employer’s culture. She’s forever in search of her ‘next win’ and is always looking to develop. Thankfully she’s willing to share some of her own learnings with us below!

Craig Robinson climbed to the top of the real estate ladder against the odds. He grew up in a disadvantaged Atlanta neighbourhood where education and job prospects were bleak. Craig is now a Chief Growth Officer and Executive Board Member that holds a degree from MIT and an MBA from Harvard. He never forgot where he came from and is always looking to help people break down barriers and fulfil their promise. Through his current role at Industrious he’s changing how people work. Craig explains how productivity is a result of belonging, purpose, and growth.

In episode 9 of Unstuck, we heard from Trish Thomas and Nichole Wilson. They introduced us to their innovative healthy snack range called Every Body Eat®. Since then, they've made huge progress in getting their goods on the shelves of Whole Foods and Sprout! In addition to shedding light on their recent successful strategies, we hear about their company's real mission. Trish and Nichole are changing the way people eat, but also changing people's lives. Tune in below to hear their inspiring approach to leadership and community.

Tuan Huynh has built an impressive career as an art director and creative operator. Considering where he came from, it is an astonishing feat. Tuan runs VietFive - a coffee shop inspired by childhood experiences in Vietnam. It is a space for fledgling creatives in disadvantaged areas of Chicago to meet prospective agencies for hire. His route from Vietnam to VietFive Coffee needs to be heard to be understood. This is a very personal story of choices, consequence, and redemption.

Jon Suarez-Davis has viewed the marketing world from three distinct positions. He began his career in an advertising agency in what he described as the ‘best training ground’ for a young marketer. He got to see what life is like from a creator’s perspective and how great ads are created within the ‘art of advertising’. After spending more than 15 years in the agency space he joined Kellogg’s. Jon was now at the other side of the fence where he had to lead digital strategy within paid and social media planning and activation. He completed the career triangle when he joined Salesforce in 2017 in an SVP role at the corporation. It’s been quite a ride for Jon-Suarez Davis, and we’re glad he shared some of it with us on Unstuck!

Admitting to feeling lost after finishing school, Mayur completed a degree in Computer Science to satisfy the wishes of his mother. This opened a door to join SapientNitro (now Publicis Sapient) where Mayur distinguished himself and earned the opportunity to lead an AdTech product team. Without any previous experience, he was suddenly a marketer!
Mayur has come a long way from googling marketing tips and researching the job on Wikipedia. In a decorated career, he has held the position of CMO at Spotify and Gannett USA and he’s now fulfilling the same role at crypto exchange Kraken. Listen below to hear about Mayur's career to date and hear his tips for marketing strategy and growth!