Unstuck

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!

The Scala sisters are putting down roots in a different kind of ‘homestead'. During the onset of the pandemic, Mary Kathryn and Jacqueline were both researching new ideas and paths. They serendipitously discovered an innovative community led initiative that they felt compelled to pursue – freight farming. Mary Kathryn and Jacqueline quickly learned the ropes of hydroponic farming and built a ‘Homestead' freight farm in a Chicago suburb. Their mission is to bring these farms to more communities in the US and unlock hyperlocal food production!

Wes Chaar has always remained at the forefront of innovation as it relates to data science. Wes' journey began creating genetic algorithms for interplanetary navigation on behalf of NASA. He continues that work today through helping find better business decisions and data through 'Explainable Learning and AI' as the Chief Data and Analytics officer at Fyllo. Listen to Wes' story and hear about the many insights and awards (including an Emmy!) he picked up along the way.

Chris Ritter is a former MLS player that made a difficult decision to give up on his dream to be a soccer superstar to pursue a career in the business world. In 2016, he co-founded an office catering company with friends from high school. Crafty began as a snack delivery service for companies but has since evolved into a large-scale food technology company employing more than 100 people. Let's hear about why Chris left the MLS for Crafty and what they plan to do with their recent $10mn funding injection!

Joel Wright is the Founder and CEO of Sinecure.ai – an AI powered talent acquisition software. He created the company with a simple mission of making it easier for recruiters to find talent. Joel has immense experience in the SaaS world having previously co-founded, led and successfully exited with his company #HASHOFF - a ‘content as a service' platform. Hear about how Joel made it big with #HASHOFF and why he's so excited for the future of talent management with Sinecure.ai!

Dan Abel is a skilled marketer in the arts that is now mastering his craft in the brewing industry. Using his expertise in creative and marketing, Dan is helping build new independent drinks brands with his incubator Pilot Project Brewing. The Chicago based academy has already brought 13 new brands to market successfully and is established in more than 700 retailers. So grab a beer and listen to how Dan built this exciting and disruptive movement!

Jeff Ragovin is an oyster farmer, foodie, and serial entrepreneur. In between fishing and running a non-profit food initiative, Jeff also finds time to be the Chief Commerical Officer at compliance software, Fyllo. Fanatical about enterprise, Jeff has many stories of creating companies and commerce across a broad range of interests. Some ventures didn't work out but his persistence paid off gloriously in 2012 when the company he co-founded, Buddy Media, was sold to Salesforce for $800mn. We think it's time that Jeff told his compelling story!

Chad Bronstein is a serial entrepreneur and award-winning salesperson that is living his dream as founder CEO of compliance software, Fyllo. Chad fell in love with business early in life and soaked up the work ethic and ability to 'hustle' from his parents. He's now a board member at several successful companies, three of which he co-founded. Still in the infancy of his entrepreneurial career, don't be surprised to see Chad Bronstein feature again on ‘AdAge's 40 under 40' for many years to come!

Daniel Carcillo is founder and CEO of Wesana Health, a biotechnology company focused on developing novel therapies and delivering new care paradigms. Prior to setting up Wesana Health, Daniel was an iconic NHL player winning two Stanley Cups with the Chicago Blackhawks. However, Daniel's career was not all sunshine and roses. He sustained severe physical trauma and suffered mental torment which inspired his incredible journey of healing that he is generously sharing today.

Tom Coburn is the Co-Founder and CEO of marketing quiz software, Jebbit. Laying claim to the ‘world's first zero party data platform', Jebbit use interactive quizzes, games, and fun surveys to collect high quality customer data and provide a uniquely enjoyable experience for prospective customers. In this episode, Tom explains how Jebbit came to being, how their popular software works, and why the future of data collection is making sure the user is happy to share information!

Dr Marcus Collins is the Head of Strategy at Wieden + Kennedy, Assistant Professor at Stephen M. Ross School of Business, and curator of Check the Rhyme. Marcus' career has always revolved around 'connecting things' which led him down the path of marketing and the pursuit of translating insights into actionable data. Among Marcus' passions is the study of cultural contagion wherein Marcus introduces his fascinating doctoral research of hip hop lyrics and their use in understanding marketing.

Casey Saran is the founder and CEO of creative automation software, Spaceback. According to Casey, users are more likely to engage with social content than your traditional ads - so it might be time to change up your programmatic advertising strategy. Tune in now to hear how Casey and Spaceback offer a different view on ads and how to empower 'social recreation'!

Emma Montgomery began her career in marketing and advertising by chance when she saw a sign for a researcher job at Leo Burnett hanging in a career guidance office. This serendipitous moment was the first step in a great career that has led Emma to her current role as CEO of Leo Burnett Australia. In this episode, we chat with Emma about the agency - client relationship and whether it's a 'race to to the bottom'. Emma also tells us why getting stuck isn't always a bad thing as it give us an opportunity to draw breadth and create new plans!

Michael Fassnacht is a proud Chicago resident that gives back to his city through his role as CMO of the City of Chicago and CEO of World Business Chicago. In this episode, hear about how Michael drives business and development in Chicago through marketing the city as a hub for talent, diversity, and environmentally friendly business!

Kelly Leonard is the Executive Director of the famed Chicago comedy theater, Second City. He is also the author of the amazing 'Yes, And' book - a fascinating instersection between improv comedy and business psychology. In this episode, Kelly speaks about how humans are prone to say 'no' and avoid opportunity. He also shares improvisational techniques that can help you overcome fear and unlock your talent!

Cristina Kenz is an international executive with vast experience in the brand and agency world. Cristina has held senior positions at the world's biggest agency networks and has also thrived in the enterprise space with leadership roles at PepsiCo, Danone, and now Kraft Heinz. In this episode, Cristina speaks about empowering creativity at some of the world's biggest brands, transitioning from agency to client side, and why the most important element of a successful team is always fun and enjoyment!

Chris Ronzio is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Trainual - a SAAS platform that transforms how you onboard, train and educate your employees. In this episode, Chris talks about how he successfully navigates the start up world while finding time to publish two books, host a podcast and write a column for Inc. Magazine!

Trish Thomas and Nichole Wilson are the Co-Founders of Every Body Eat® – a snack food company that has created a range of foods for almost every specialist diet. Over 60% of Americans follow a special diet in some form, and Trish and Nichole believe this shouldn't be a reason to avoid eating out or sharing food with friends. In their own words, “Every body has a seat at their table”.Listen to this episode of Unstuck to find out how Trish and Nichole forged a formidable friendship and business partnership, how their differing careers prepared them for entrepreneurship, and how they avoid getting stuck!

Sarah Hofstetter is an accomplished leader who has led companies in PR, Digital and E-commerce and serves on a a Fortune 500 Board. She talks about the shape of digitally enabled commerce, how she has managed her career, how to unlock talent, and what drives change in major companies and what prevents it!

Bohb Blair is the Chief Marketing Officer at beloved beverage company, Jones Soda. In this episode, Bohb speaks about how Jones Soda once lost their way by trying to be like their largest competitors rather than staying true to what made them successful. Since then, they've experienced a major revival by getting back to what they do best - being themselves and being different! Listen now to hear how marketing flourishes at one of America's funkiest brands.

Simon Francis is a veteran of the agency & marketing world having successfully helmed some of the biggest and brightest agency networks. Following his successful agency career he has consulted with a vast portfolio of Fortune 500 companies guiding them through successful transformations. In this episode, Simon talks about transformation; where & why it works, where it can go wrong, and practical tips on getting UNSTUCK.

In this episode, Beth Ann talks about her career journey and how the commerce landscape has evolved and accelerated through COVID. She also speaks about her talent unlocks and how she is working to create an environment where talent can flourish, and deep relationships with clients can be developed and nurtured; through LOVE!

Jon Peppiatt is the former Chairman of BBH. In this episode 'Pep' looks back on his 26 year career in advertising; reflecting on how the industry has evolved, and more importantly, what has endured. He also talks about how process can unlock creativity and what is "just enough process".

Amanda Lannert is the extensively awarded CEO of JellyVision. In this episode, Amanda talks about how JellyVision pivoted over the years to become the company it is today; acclaimed for its results and it's culture. She delivers a good dosage of plain common sense that you can apply to your business and yourself. She also gets into the Chicago tech scene and speaks about patterns she has observed as an investor in the top performers in the sector.

Rishad Tobaccowalla is a sought after Author, Speaker and Advisor to Fortune 500 Executives. In this episode, Rishad talks about how the future does not fit into the containers of the past and how he has personally consistently stayed ahead of the curve. He also gets into key insights covered in his recent book "Restoring the Soul of Business: Staying Human in the age of Data".

Pete Dulcamara is the Chief Scientist at Kimberly-Clark. In this episode, Pete talks about a powerful key to unlocking human potential that's hiding in plain sight. He also expands on provocative concepts he covered in his recent TEDxOshkosh talk on redefining the meaning of billionaire!