Marketing Awards ★ Judges ★

Joseph Bonnici
Chief Creative Officer, Board Member
Tadiem

Joseph Bonnici is the Chief Creative Officer/Board Member and one of the 5 owners of TADIEM, a collective of innovative agencies including Bensimon Byrne, OneMethod, Narrative, Hi-Fi and Folk. In the past 5 years, his agencies have won 50 One Show Pencils, Cannes Lions, Clios and D&AD pencils . He has led the agencies to be a top 15 independent agency at Cannes, AdAge’s International Small Agency of the Year, and Strategy Magazine’s PR Agency of the year.

He is a board member of Casey House, one of the foremost HIV specialty hospitals in the world and founded the ground breaking #smashstigma campaign. Since 2017, the campaign has built a global legacy of advocacy and social justice with the goal of eliminating stigma for those living with HIV.

Erin Kawalecki
Partner, Chief Creative Officer
Angry Butterfly

Erin was described by her first boss as ‘overly opinionated’. Since then, she has created work that’s been internationally awarded for both creativity and effectiveness – traits she firmly believes are not mutually exclusive (there goes another opinion).

She started an agency with her two partners in the summer of 2020, and feels incredibly lucky to work alongside such talented, curious, and kind people. The last few years at Angry Butterfly have been the most fulfilling, challenging, and exciting time in her nearly 20-year career.

She has been recognized at Cannes, The One Show, Marketing, Communication Arts, The Effies, and by Ad Age for creating one of the top ‘viral’ campaigns in the world.

As a mom to three young kids, she would trade all of that for one good night of sleep.

Leilah Ambrose
GCD
Cossette

She began her career working at the world-renowned Bruce Mau Design studio, helping to craft and execute the ambitious and studio-definingMassive Change project. From there, she embarked on a 20+ year career in advertising and PR, creating work for brands ranging from Dove, Sodastream, Skittles, TELUS, SodaSteam, The Lung Health Association, Advil and Subaru. In 2022, she joined Cossette to help creatively lead the McDonald’s account, and has recently taken the helm of brands including LCBO, General Mills and Keilhauer.

In addition to numerous industry awards, Leilah was honoured in 2022 as one of the Top 50 Women Leaders in Toronto. Her work has been featured in Contagious, Strategy Magazine, The Globe and Mail, Time Magazine, The New York Times, Vanity Fair and the Huffington Post.

Derek Blais
CCO
Lifelong Crush

Derek has been solving problems using creativity from a young age. Having attended a high school bearing Marshall McLuhan’s name, Derek became immersed in media theory, technology and all things Adobe. After starting his own company in high school and entering the ad world as a developer, Derek worked his way up, becoming the #1 Art Director in Canada along the way and regardless of having never attended university, gave a TEDx talk on creativity and collaboration at one.

His human-centric approach to the work and creative leadership are lauded by both his colleagues and his clients, with his work and the work of his teams having been recognized at every major national and international award show. His most recent project ‘Missing Matoaka’ was the most awarded Canadian campaign in Cannes this year and the most awarded Canadian campaign EVER at The One Show with 16 pencils and two Grand Prix – making Derek the #1 ECD at The One Show.

He shares the same Forbes 30 Under 30 list as fellow Torontoian Drake and as a proud member of Onedia Nation of the Thames, he’s been calling this land home since time immemorial. Outside of advertising, Derek’s photography has been featured at Art Basel, his music videos have been recognized in Cannes and his most recent creative project, a seasonal restaurant on Georgian Bay landed him on the cover of Cottage Life magazine.

He's currently Chief Creative Officer at Lifelong Crush – Broken Heart Love Affair’s sister agency.

Josh Budd
CCO
Citizen Relations

Josh joined Citizen Relations as its first Chief Creative Officer in 2021, the same year he was named one the World’s Most Awarded Creatives by The Drum.

Since becoming the first creative to sit on the Global Executive Team at the agency, Citizen has been nominated for Strategy Magazine PR Agency of the Year twice (winning gold in 2023) and for the first time in its history, Design Agency of the Year. In 2023, Citizen was also named PRovoke Consumer Agency of the Year, and Josh himself earned NA Innovation Sabres Creative Professional of the Year honours.

Josh represented the industry as a juror at shows including Cannes and the Effies, and has worked with the next generation of creative talent at the Miami Ad School. Josh loves comedy, chess, NBA basketball, and pretending he’s knowledgeable about wine.

Jeff Cheung
Creative Director
LG2

Jeff is an award-winning creative whose resume includes Ogilvy, Juniper Park, TBWA Vancouver, BBDO and most recently lg2 as Creative Director. His work has been recognized by the One Show, Cannes, Hypebeast, ESPN and Billboard. Amongst his favourites are putting former Raptor Delon Wright in a comically oversized suit for Snickers and helping the Regent Park School of Music get sampled on Taylor Swift’s #1 album Lover with Parkscapes.

Steph Mackie
Co-Founder & Co-CCO
Mackie Biernacki

At Mackie Biernacki, Steph is not only a co-founder and Co-CCO for both advertising and design, but more importantly, she can kill orchids at the office like nobody's business.

In advertising for over 25 years, she has worked at big multinationals and small independent boutiques here in Canada and the UK. She has been parachuted in to places like Beijing and Dubai to crack a difficult brief.

She has won Lions, Pencils, Clios, and TED Ideas Worth Sharing, helped launch 3 agencies from scratch, and even helped save a city from bankruptcy.

In closing, Steph knows that ‘Time-starved moms’ is a weak excuse for a target market. You can’t sell a campaign without the key decision maker in the room. And if you’re going to film with cats, they’d better be LA-trained cats.

Now, back to killing orchids.

Alan Madill
Founder, Creative
Good & Ready

Alan has won many big awards, such as Employee of the Month, #1 Dad, and Too Sexy for His Shirt.

But, what really excites Alan is growing business, for his clients and his own agency. In the past 5 years, he has created breakthrough work for Tommyrotter Distillery, Hask Shampoo and Pizzaiolo; as well, he has created brands from scratch for nez personal care, Roam auto and nowly Insurance.

Good&Ready is the second agency Alan has started. He was a founding partner of Juniper Park where he led the global PepsiCo business and separately helped eos become the number one lip balm in North America.

If you have a fantastic brand that needs some love, or you are simply Alan-curious, go to https://wearegoodandready.com

Lyranda Martin Evans
Chief Creative Officer
Fellow Human Creative

Lyranda is a writer, creative director, author, speaker, podcast host, and arugula enthusiast. With 20 years in the business, she has owned too many poly-blend pantsuits from Jacob. A co-founder of Fellow Human Creative, she’s now ensconced in workleisure. She is on the board of the Advertising and Design Club of Canada and is the host of their podcast “ADCC Created.” Her bestselling book “Reasons Mommy Drinks”, a humour book that pairs the first year of parenting with cocktail recipes, has been published in three languages. With two young boys at home, in her spare time she can be found in deep conversations about Legends of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Someday, maybe she will be allowed to play it.

Jeremiah McNama
Executive Creative Director
FCB

Jeremiah is an Executive Creative Director at FCB who recently helped BMO win two gold lions—the first for a bank in Canada. Prior to FCB, he spent a decade garnering experience at 72andSunny LA, Sid Lee and Zulu Alpha Kilo.

Patrice Pollack
SVP, ECD
Momentum

Patrice Pollack is the ingenious mind fuelling Momentum Worldwide's creative fire as the Senior Vice President and Executive Creative Director. With an impressive track record working with some of North America's leading brands, Patrice brings a wealth of experience to the table.

Her core belief centers on the idea that an agency's success hinges on prioritizing its people. While Patrice began her advertising career in the fast lane taking home Gold in the Cannes Young Lions competition, she firmly believes that the ultimate measure of success lies in the effectiveness of creative work and the collaborative spirit it fosters among individuals.

Throughout her career, Patrice has played a pivotal role in catalyzing agency transformation and growth, all while cultivating a culture that empowers individuals to produce impactful and thought-provoking work. Her commitment to the creative community remains steadfast as she continues to contribute through teaching at OCAD U and mentoring emerging talent in the industry.

Yasmin Sahni
Executive Creative Director
Blue Noise Studios

Innovative, dynamic leader, working in the advertising and marketing industry for over 20 years. Experience includes years of traditional, digital, and experiential advertising. Along with a deep understanding of editorial content. Currently working as the Executive Creative Director at Blue Noise Studios a Toronto based advertising, production and media shop.

Sann Sava
Creative Leader
Freelance

Sann has worked at the world's largest agencies in Canada and in Europe and contributed to the success of major clients including: Volkswagen, Adidas, Burger King, Pepsi and L'Oréal.

With a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics, training in the visual arts, and a master's in advertising, she is particularly adept at producing innovative campaigns balancing logic and creativity. Throughout her career she has amassed over 75 national and international awards.

Sann is a go-getter. At 12 years old, she landed her first job at a bakery. Since then she has not stopped pursuing goals with exceptional drive. Her passion for team sports makes her a natural when it comes to motivating staff. Meanwhile, her extensive background in the marketing industry gives her the insight to understand brand needs and contexts.

A mother of young children, Sann has put her foot to the pedal for charity over the past eleven years at the 48-Hour-Ride, an annual cycling event organized by the Make-A-Wish® Quebec Foundation.

Nancy Vonk
Co-Founder and Partner
Swim

Nancy Vonk is co-founder of the Swim leadership lab. In 2012 she and partner Janet
Kestin were inspired to leave their long-time CCO roles with ambition to close the huge
leadership skills gap for creative people. Today Swim supports the success of leaders
at top agencies and creative companies around the world.

Nancy was Co-Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy Toronto with Janet for 13 years. Their
teams delivered work like Dove “Evolution” and “Diamond Shreddies”, garnering One
Show and D&AD pencils, the Grand Clio, the Creativity Awards Grand Prize and two
Cannes Grand Prix. Nancy has judged The One Show, D&AD, Cannes, Clio’s and
many others. She was the first female chair of the ADC in their 87-year history, in ‘09.
While a One Club board member (2009- 2021), she helped develop initiatives that
support a more diverse, sustainable industry.

In 2012 Nancy and Janet were on Advertising Age Magazine's “100 Most Influential
Women in Advertising” list, and they were among Creativity magazine’s “Top 50 Most
Creative People” of ‘08. They are the authors of Pick Me, a staple in advertising schools
from Texas to Turkey based on their long-running advice column, “Ask Jancy”. Their
2014 HarperCollins book, Darling, You Can’t Do Both (And Other Noise To Ignore On
Your Way Up) was named a top book on leadership by Inc. magazine. They were
inducted into the Marketing Hall of Legends in ’11, The One Club for Creativity Hall of
Fame and the Hall of Marketing Gold in ’22. The ’21 Les Usherwood Award is also on
their mantels.

Nancy speaks at companies, schools and organizations that seek new ideas for
advancing women's success, like UCLA, Google, and Lean In. She helped design the
creative leadership stream at Factry, the renowned Montreal based school of creativity
sciences.

Brian Allen
Executive Creative Director
McCann

TJ Arch
Creative Director
Target

With a strategic mind and a passion for ideas that create change, TJ has a bookshelf weighed down by Clios, Pencils, Webbys and more. Plus, the odd actual book. He is the creative director at Target Marketing & Communications where he is responsible for the creative output for the agency, including the award-winning work for Newfoundland & Labrador tourism. In his ‘free’ time, TJ moonlights as a creative instructor at Miami Ad School, where he tries to pass along some of what he’s learned over more than a decade of work on all sorts of brands, including RBC, Taco Bell, Moosehead, and leading Nissan Canada. TJ enjoys terrible, mindless TV and hates parades. He is an empathetic leader, a deadly scrabble player, and the only vegetarian in the world who hates vegetables.

Natalie Armata
Co-CEO & CCO
G&G

Natalie has been creating things since she was 6, and was known for her "surprise endings." Surprise, surprise, she started an agency. Giants & Gentlemen was founded on a philosophy she's practiced her entire career: do great work that stands out, ego-free. With a whack of National and International industry awards, as a teacher at the Toronto Miami Ad School, creds as a Registered Graphic Designer and an MBA from Ivey in the works, she challenges the G&G team to do innovative work that's always beautifully crafted. (Some say OCD, we say high standards.)

Noreel Asuro
Creative Director, Art Director
Freelance

Craig Brandon
Vp, Creative Director
Saatchi & Saatchi

Craig Brandon is a VP Creative Director at Saatchi & Saatchi Toronto.

He’s a small town kid who moved to Toronto to attend Seneca College for Graphic Design and
Advertising – graduating both programs with honours.

Before Saatchi, Craig worked for Grip Limited, BBDO, and McCann.

Throughout his career Craig has worked on a wide range of clients including Toyota, Mondelēz,
Haleon, Parmalat, RBC, Visa, PepsiCo, Yum! Brands, Mars Wrigley, and others. His work has
been recognized at the Clios, One Show, Marketing Awards, Effies, Cassies, Communication
Arts, Applied Arts, ADC’s, ADCC’s, Lürzers, Carte Blanche, and the National Advertising
Challenge.

Sam Cerullo
Group Creative Director
Leo Burnett

Creative Director with a craft in Art Direction and Design. Awarded at Cannes, Clio, Andys, One Show, all national shows. Uses a lot of extra virgin olive oil. Does not use exclamation marks.

Gail Cheung
VP, Creative Director
Klick Health

Grant Cleland
Executive Creative Director
King Ursa

Skye Deluz
Creative Director
Broken Heart Love Affair

Skye Deluz is a Creative Director/Art Director with nearly 10 years of experience. Within her time in the industry, Skye has been awarded top honours at nearly every local and global award show, including a Gold Lion at Cannes on her recent campaign, Heinz “Ketchup Fraud”. Before joining Broken Heart Love Affair, Skye worked at Rethink with award-winning experience on brands such as IKEA, Kraft Heinz, Nestle, Scotiabank, YWCA, WestJet and Molson. Skye was also recently an instructor at Miami Ad School and a guest speaker on panels such as the ADCC Craft Club Panel and Applied Arts Speaker Series.

Dave Douglass
Partner & Executive Creative Director
Anomaly

Dave started out creating insight-driven work for Lexus, Toyota, Mackenzie Financial, and The Children's Aid Society. He then accepted a posting to London, where he continued to develop successful campaigns for British clients Hamlet Cigars, McEwans Lager, Hampton Court Palace, and the Tower of London.

Since returning to his homeland (Canada), Dave has developed a diverse array of work for an equally-diverse roster of clients including McDonalds, General Mills, Lexus, Stella Artois, Budweiser, Alexander Keith's, WestJet, Coca-Cola, and Molson.

His work has been awarded both nationally and internationally including Gold and Silver awards from The Cannes International Advertising Festival, The One Show, Clios, CA, D&AD and Media Innovation Awards. In 2005 his work for the Canadian Film Center was the number two most awarded campaign in the world.

Formally Dave was co-creative chief at Lowe Roche. He and his long time creative collaborator Pete Breton are co-ECDs at Anomaly Toronto.

Brian Flay
Co- Creative Director
Bob's Your Uncle

With more years at Bob’s Your Uncle than fingers and toes, Brian brings a unique combination
of creativity and strategic thinking to everything from building new brands to revitalizing tired
ones to developing big, bold campaigns for clients like Popeyes, Molson, Mike’s Hard
Lemonade, Adidas, Second Harvest and oh-so-many more. As a man with a passion for beer, his greatest thrill was taking ‘Been a Slice’ – a beer made with excess bread – from ideation to Beer Store shelves in support of Second Harvest’s food rescue mission.

Outside of advertising (and drinking beer), there’s a lot of dogs, a bunch of cats, some running,
a bit of gardening and the occasional shenanigan or two.

Bryn Gallagher
Creative Director
Freelance

Bryn is a Creative Director based in Montreal. She started in advertising during her last
semester of college. One career. Too many highlights to list here.

She specializes in digital campaigns and branding for global brands like: Dove, L’Oréal, CeraVe,
Samsung, Coca-Cola, Bombardier and Burger King. It’s been a lot of beauty, beverages and
banter. She most recently won a Cannes Bronze Lion in 2022. And even more recently kicked
off her most exciting project to date – a move to Paris. Not breaking up with Canada, just
breaking into a new market.

Melodie Karama
Creative Director
Republik

Melodie is at the helm of Republik’s creative team where she leads work for innovative clients driven by conviction and a desire to generate important conversations and change. With a background in bilingual adaptation and brand writing and a passion for design, this creative director infuses her work with a curiosity for language, culture, and travel. Whether it’s a campaign, brand platform, or content strategy, the projects that have left the biggest imprint on her have been the ones that inspired awareness and action.

Caitlin Keeley
Executive Creative Director, Advertising
The Local Collective

Gerald Kugler
Creative Director, Copywriter
Freelance

Gerald Kugler is a Freelance Creative Director & Copywriter. A native of Richmond, Virginia, Kugler started his career over 25 years ago in the ad department of a big box electronics retailer. Unable (or unwilling) to write one more headline like “Labor Day VCR Blowout!!!”, Kugler enrolled at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Ad Center (now Brandcenter). After graduating, Kugler moved to Boston to work at Ingalls Advertising. Two years later, Kugler ventured to the Great White North for “a year, maybe two.” Twenty-three years later, he’s happily still in Toronto, having worked at agencies like Roche Macaulay & Partners, Ogilvy, John St, BBDO, TBWA, Zulu Alpha Kilo and others. He’s worked on clients like Mercedes-Benz, Ikea, Dove, Holiday Inn, Visa, Gatorade, Bell and Tim Hortons. Kugler’s work has been awarded at shows such as Cannes Lions, One Show, Communication Arts, Clios, Webbys and, of course, The Marketing Awards. Feeling like his bio is becoming an endless series of lists, Kugler stops yammering on about himself mid-senten.

Thembi Lassiter
Creative Director
Ogilvy Health

Thembi Lassiter loves art & design. After her time at The Creative Circus portfolio school, she launched her career pursuing her passion over the past 15 years as a vital part of many inspiring creative teams.

Her first decade in advertising was spent in the consumer realm on brands like Air Canada, L’Oreal and YMCA. She made the switch to pharma, where she is a valued team member and leader driven to use her creativity to effect change in healthcare and help Canadians.

Thembi has worked on and led several vaccine brands during a time when vaccines have taken centre stage in Canada and around the world. She is a creative lead on brands focusing on women's health and within the dermatology and mental health categories.

She has fully embraced the challenges that come with finding creative solutions in the highly regulated Canadian pharma market, helping to nurture her team while also making a difference to her brands and their life-changing impact.

Loretta Lau
Group Creative Director
Rethink

Loretta is an award-winning Group Creative Director at Rethink. Throughout her 15 year career, she’s worked on national and global clients and won numerous awards along the way. She is passionate about producing impactful and disruptive creative work and enjoys making her 6 year old son watch audition tapes with her so she doesn't have to suffer alone.

Dean Lee
Executive Creative Director
Zulu Alpha Kilo

In April of 2022, Dean Lee joined Zulu Alpha Kilo as an Executive Creative Director to
help lead the Vancouver office. An art director by trade, he was most recently ECD at
DDB, where he had a stellar 25-year creative track record going back to the days when it was Palmer Jarvis. During his time at the agency, he worked with brands including McDonald’s, Pepsi Co, SunRype, Labatt, Destination Canada, Rocky Mountaineer, BC Lottery Corporation, BCAA, BC Hydro, TELUS, Pacific Blue Cross, BC Dairy, and helped launch Netflix in Canada. Historically, Dean has been ranked as one of Canada’s leading creatives according to Strategy Magazine, including top honours for art direction. His work has been recognized at national and international advertising shows including Cannes, The One Show, Communication Arts, The Clios, D&AD, London International Awards and the Marketing Awards. Dean also co-chairs The James Lee Foundation to help aspiring creative talent break into the advertising world.

George Lin
Creative, Art Director
Freelance

Evan Long
Creative Director
NFA Health

With degrees in both British history and adapted screenwriting from York University, it makes very little sense that Evan would end up with a 30-year-career in advertising… but here we are.

As a developer, illustrator, designer, art director, copywriter, and creative director he’s worn many hats and won many awards within the business, and leveraged a lengthy resumé (that includes big agencies, little agencies, international networks, boutique shops, shopper marketing agencies, client-side marketing departments, and pharmaceutical agencies) to score a professorship teaching post-graduate advertising at Centennial College in Toronto for the past decade.

He firmly believes that in a world full of mass communications and bombardment from all sides by constant corporate messaging, the only advertising that has any right to exist in today’s world is that which provides utility to its recipients, and has learned to live by the philosophy of esse gravis circa ineptias, delivering “surprise and delight” to clients, co-workers, and consumers alike.

Eternally grateful that he gets to be creative for a living instead of having to pick up heavy objects and put them down again, he is currently the co-record holder for money won on Discovery Channel’s popular television game show Cash Cab, and his favourite part of the day is lunch with his co-workers.

Alexandra Manahan
ACD, Copywriter
Freelance

Alexandra is an internationally-awarded writer who has crafted big ideas and compelling copy for agencies like DDB and John St. Currently, she is exploring the white-knuckle world of creative freelance. This is her second time judging the Marketing Awards, and has noted that she strictly accepts monetary bribes.

Just kidding.

Incidentally, her favourite PO box number just happens to be 011 897.

Marty Martinez
Chief Creative Officer
Tank

With over 20 years of experience in advertising, Marty combines outstanding creativity with superior knowledge of the industry and constantly pushes the boundaries of creativity by bringing together art and science to inform work that will drive human impact and behavior change.

His work has spanned the globe and won numerous awards along the way across Cannes, the LIA’s, The One Show, The Webby Awards, Lisbon Health Awards, New York Festivals, the Anthem Awards, the Epica Awards, Applied Arts, the Rx Awards, and Communication Arts.

Marty has sat on multiple juries including the LIA’s inaugural pharma jury, The One Show, The Webby Awards, Clio Health, New York Festival Health, the Lisbon Health Awards, the Anthem Awards, the Global Awards, the Marketing Awards, the MM+M Awards and the Rx Awards. His passion for all forms of artistic expression makes him a unique creator who stands out for his ability to solve a problem by turning an idea into a beautiful piece of work that can positively impact human lives.

Sasha Ortega
ACD
VML

Sasha started her career as a good ol’ account intern at Y&R where she worked on BMO Bank of Montreal. She took the leap to becoming an Art Director and since added to her portfolio work for brands like Audi, Coca-Cola, Canada Life, OLG, Circle K, Haleon, PC (Food + Financial), Square, Destination Canada, Google, Flight Centre, KOHO and full circle on BMO Bank of Montreal at FCB Canada. Her work has been recognized by ADCCs, LIA, D&ADs, OneClub and CMAs. She is a strong believer in that creative inspiration can come from anything, anywhere and anyone, especially from her French Bulldog: Poe.

Domenique Raso
Creative Director
Courage

Domenique is a Creative Director at Courage who believes the best work transcends advertising and taps into cultural insights that anyone can appreciate. Her work has been recognized at every major award show, including D&AD, Cannes, The One Show, and the London International Awards. In 2020 she was ranked the #2 copywriter in Canada by Strategy Magazine.

Her proudest accomplishment, “Stella”, took over 9 months of production and launched in November of 2021; since then, Domenique hasn’t had a solid night’s sleep or a moment to herself

Shauna Roe
VP, Creative Director
Edelman

Shauna is an internationally-awarded creative with over a decade experience in the advertising and PR industry. Prior to her role as VP, Creative Director at Edelman Canada, Shauna has worked on big ideas and budgets of all sizes at Leo Burnett and Saatchi & Saatchi. Her work has been recognized in every major show in Canada, on the international stage including The One Show, Cannes, and D&AD, and most notably, has made numerous appearances on her mother’s Facebook feed.

Mike Schonberger
VP, Creative Director
BBDO

Mike Schonberger is currently VP, Creative Director at BBDO Canada.

He’s equally comfortable doing everything from building brands from scratch to crafting and launching campaigns for global brands.

Mike’s work for a wide range of clients has been recognized globally at Cannes Lions, The One Show, D&AD, Clio Awards, London International Awards, Communication Arts, Marketing Awards and others.

His two lovely kids, Ella and Leo, are not impressed by any of this.

Neil Shapiro
Creative Director
Wasserman

Neil Shapiro is a writer and creative director with over 20 years of agency experience. Over the course of his career, he has been named one of the top copywriters in Canada by Strategy Magazine, and his work has been recognized both nationally and internationally by Cannes Lions, The One Show, The London International Awards, Communication Arts, New York Festivals, The Webby Awards, SXSW, The Marketing Awards, Leurzer’s Archive & Shots.

Previously with, john st and DDB, Neil was recently named Creative Director at Wasserman, an independent full-service agency based in Vancouver working for clients across Canada.

Carolyn Shaw
Co-Founder, President and Chief Creative Officer
Humanity

Carolyn is the Co-Founder, President, and Chief Creative Officer at Humanity, a human-
centric brand transformation agency. With over two decades of experience in the
advertising industry, she has cultivated her expertise through collaborations with
esteemed local and global brands at advertising and communication agencies in
Canada.

At the intersection of creativity and strategy, Carolyn has used design as a catalyst for
change throughout her career. From brand identities to compelling storytelling, her
passion is rooted in the belief that brands can and should play a role in supporting
human wellbeing.

Driven by an unwavering belief in the transformative potential of brands, Carolyn co-
founded Humanity with the aim of bringing more humanity into the industry. Recognizing
the need for empathy, authenticity, and representation, she champions this vision daily,
guiding Humanity to redefine how brands connect with their audiences.

Mike Shuman
Creative Director
Freelance

Mike is an award-winning Creative Director with a rich and diverse career spanning over 18 years.

Starting his career as a Strategic Planner, he learned the importance of finding truths that connect with people - a skill he took down the hall to the Creative department.

Mike has worked at Cossette, TAXI, and McCann on world-renowned brands, impactful charity projects, and everything in between. Notable clients include Mastercard, Kids Help Phone, Petro-Canada, General Motors, Canadian Tire, Boston Pizza, Viagra, McDonald’s, and Kraft Heinz.

Mike’s passion for great creative means he’s willing to fight for it, drive it to the airport, and bring it matzo ball soup if it catches a cold. It’s why his work has been recognized at all the major award shows including The One Show, Cannes Lions, Webby Awards, Clio Awards, Epica Awards, NY Festival, Gerety Awards, Effies, and many more.

Jason Soucé
Creative Director, Head of Art
Freelance

A multidisciplinary Creative Director with 20 years of experience working in Canada, Striving to make work that people talk about.

Most recently spent 4 years working at Mosaic where I added experiential and shopper marketing expertise to my 16 years of traditional agency experience.

Jenny Wilcox
Creative Director, Writer
DonerNorth

A copywriter by trade, Jenny began her career in the early days of digital, working client-side before entering the agency world in 2008. She’s worked at some of Toronto’s top digital shops, including Critical Mass and Momentum, working on brands like Citibank, Scotiabank, Barilla, Infiniti, & Chrysler/Jeep/Dodge/RAM. For the last decade, Jenny has specialized in shopper marketing & XM, creating conversion-driving work for some of Canada’s leading CPG brands like: Tim Hortons, Coca-Cola, Labatt, Canopy Growth and Hershey’s

Devon Williamson
Co-Founder, CCO
Berners Bowie Lee

Devon is one of the founding partners of Berners Bowie Lee, an ad agency that focuses on understanding and shifting culture to drive business results. She is an internationally recognized, award-winning creative who has worked at decorated agencies across Canada and the US including DDB and FCB. Devon co-founded BBL to work with companies that want to embrace change, find cultural relevance and use creativity to solve business problems. In 2019, she was selected as one of 15 women from across the globe to be a part of Cannes See It Be It where she continues to volunteer by mentoring and supporting up-and-coming female Creative Directors. The same year, she was ranked as the best Art Director in Canada by Strategy Magazine with their annual creative report card – one of only a few woman to achieve this since the list was first published.Her work has been awarded at Cannes, The One Show, D&AD, Marketing, CMAs, The Effies, Clios, and her work for Destination Pride was noted as the #8 Most Awarded Campaign in the World in 2018 by The Drum.

Natasha Wittke
Creative director
Arrivals + Departures

Natasha has over 18 years of agency experience working for a number of leading Canadian agencies including Taxi, Rain 43, Juniper Park, Lg2, Publicis, Ogilvy, MacLaren McCann and DDB. She is also the owner, CCO and creative soul of the iconic Canadian outdoor brand Norquay Co. (norquayco.com), which she launched in 2013 while living in Montreal.

Wittke has collaborated with brands such as Filson, Ralph Lauren, Chapters Indigo, CB2, eBay, Shopify, Roots Canada, Louis Vuitton.

Most recently, Natasha joined Arrivals + Departures (A+D) as Creative Director in their Halifax office. A+D is a national, independently owned creative agency with offices in Toronto and Halifax that helps brands navigate the changing world around them. They work with leading companies including RE/MAX Canada, Tourism PEI, Fallsview Casino Resort, Pet Valu, and Girl Guides of Canada.

Alexis Bronstorph
Chief Creative Officer
No Fixed Address

Alexis is co-Chief Creative Officer at No Fixed Address, but started her career in advertising at 9 years old, when she did voiceover work for a radio commercial. She was hooked immediately. Since then, Alexis has worked on numerous international award-winning campaigns, creating beautiful, disruptive, and effective work for world class brands across all disciplines. In 2021, Alexis was named to Adweek’s Creative 100 list, and is currently President of the Advertising and Design Club of Canada.

Steve Mottershead
Creative Director, Owner
Artjail

Steve Mottershead, is the Founder and Creative Director of the award winning VFX studio Artjail, with Offices in NY, Toronto, and Los Angeles.

After growing up in a small town outside of Toronto, Steve graduated from the Media Arts Film Program at Sheridan College, As well as a joint program in Fine Arts at McMaster University and Dundas Valley School of Arts.

Over the span of his career as a Lead VFX Artist and Creative Director Steve has worked with such clients as Apple, Google, Ikea, Nike, Ford, Molson, Geico, Squarespace, Coca-Cola, Lincoln, Jaguar, Cadillac, Canadian Olympic Committee, Video Artist Doug Aitken, NHL, Honda and, Lexus.

Steve has played a lead role on many award winning projects that include many Cannes Lions, an Academy Award nominated documentary “Cutie and the Boxer”, HPA Awards, MTV video awards, AICE, AICP, ADCC awards as well as an Emmy win for the Alex Gibney Documentary “Going Clear”.

Cam Boyd
ECD
Saint Bernard

Starting as a copywriter at the tender age of 20, Cam Boyd has been a fixture of the Toronto Advertising community for 25 + years. He is a passionate storyteller and unlicensed social scientist who never tires of trying to determine what motivates people to feel and act. Currently an ECD at john st, Cam’s work has been recognized at virtually every show from France to New York to London to Toronto.

In addition to being an ECD, Cam has been a Copywriting Educator at Miami Ad School and mentor to countless young creatives looking to navigate their way through the Toronto advertising community.

Cam has two kids (Harris and Sadie) both of whom are only vaguely aware of any of the above.

Mélanie Delisle
Creative Director
Cossette

Mélanie is a creative director with more than 20 years of experience in advertising.

Over the past decade, she’s worked across all communications disciplines at Cossette, guiding her creative teams to produce inspiring and award-winning work.

With a background in playwriting, acting and cinema, Mélanie has the unique ability to craft content that resonates with audiences and tells brand stories. Throughout her career, she’s worked with local and global clients such as Amnesty International, Apple, Gouvernement du Québec, Home Depot, La Presse, Vachon, and VIA Rail.

Vanya Drakul
Partner, Sound Director, Composer
Pirate Sound

A former classical guitar player who switched to Rock n' Roll for the ladies, Vanya has come a long way since the early days of strumming his Serbian Gibson knockoff—the Gibbon. Thirty-five years later, he's traded Stadium Tours for PGA Tours and riding motorcycles. A play-hard work-hard kind of guy, he's a massive soccer fan who also currently holds the self-proclaimed Guinness World Record for the highest amount of commercials
produced during the Super Bowl.

Since joining Pirate in the mid 2000s, he has composed, engineered and sound directed hundreds of commercials. Maybe thousands. Actually… closer to millions.

A proud father of a 15 year old soccer protégé, Vanya hopes that his son will be able to “support his old ass” with a lucrative professional contract one day.

Fabien Fulchiron
Director, CG Supervisor
Freelance

Fabien is an award-winning freelance director and CG supervisor.

He's passionate about 3d and loves pushing the boundaries of creativity. Over the past 15 years, he has been creating high end visuals, grabbing prestigious awards along the way like Clio, ADCC, AICP, Gémeaux, and Idéa to name a few.

Working on various brands like Nestlé, Cadbury, Nike, Campbell, IGA, and McDonalds, he loves solving creative problems and seeing the solution brought to life, looking to make their product look as irresistible as possible.

Alison Gordon
Co-Founder, Editor
Outsider Editorial

Alison Gordon is an editor and co-founder of Outsider Editorial. She cut her teeth in top commercial edit shops in Toronto, gaining national & international recognition before moving to Paris, France in 2011. After half a decade in the City of Light, working with such high profile brands as YSL, Bulgari, Peugeot and Samsung, it was time to return to Toronto to realize the dream of what became Outsider.

Since their launch in 2018, Outsider has quickly racked up international awards, including Cannes, Webby’s, Ciclope, LIA, D& AD, Clios and even an Oscar shortlist. They ended up on Shots “Editing House of the Year” shortlist in 2020 and in 2023 the Immortal Awards rated them #1 Editing House in Canada and in the top 10 globally.

Alison’s passion for promoting the art and craft of editing led to her serving on the board of the AICE (2016-2018) as well as on awards juries for AICP, Cannes Lions and The Shots Awards. A traveller by nature, when not in an edit suite you’ll find her on the road… be it by foot, bike, car or plane.

Cynthia Heyd
Co-Founder & EP, Production Strategy
The Deli

Cynthia is an innovative production leader with more than 25 years experience in the advertising industry working with TV, digital, radio, web content, and experiential projects. She has driven production evolution in management roles at BBDO, Y&R, CBC, and TAXI Canada.

She launched a number of companies after leaving the agency world in response to the ever changing marketing landscape. Today, she is at the helm of The Deli Production Agency working with agencies and brands to determine how best to create content for all mediums.

Cynthia is passionate about tackling seemingly impossible projects. Whether embarking into an unknown challenge or a simple ask, her production management and creative problem solving, paired with her talented team of producers and directors, enables her to customize and lead the best team for any project.

Her numerous awards include commendations from Cannes, The One Show, The Art Director Annual Awards, and more.

Specialties:

Content Production Strategies
Traditional Broadcast Production
Business Affairs - Rights Negotiation and Management
Deep Talent Union Knowledge – ACTRA/SAG/AFTRA/UDA
Management – Department Management/Business Management/Resource Management
Agency Operations
Mentoring & Training in Production Process

Ian MacKellar
Executive Creative Officer
Innocean

Ian MacKellar has consistently been ranked at the top of Strategy Magazine’s National Creative Report Card by routinely winning at Cannes, The One Show, D&AD, the Clios, the Effie Awards, Communication Arts, the Marketing Awards, Applied Arts and the Advertising & Design Club of Canada Awards.

Ian began his career at Cossette Communications before moving to join Roche Macaulay & Partners where he helped contribute to two Strategy Agency of the Year wins. Ian then spent twelve years at BBDO, rising through the ranks to become the agency’s creative lead. After a short stint as ECD at Bensimon Byrne, Ian joined Ogilvy & Mather, succeeding industry legends, Janet Kestin and Nancy Vonk as CCO. Ian then headed south to creatively lead global business at J. Walter Thompson New York. Most recently, Ian returned home to steer the creative fortunes of INNOCEAN Canada.

If you were to sum up Ian’s creative philosophy, it would be this: “…the world isn’t sitting around in eager anticipation of your work, so it is imperative that you make something interesting; something beautiful and something that matters. To do anything less is wasting everyone’s time.”

Carlos Moreno
Partner, Chief Creative Officer
Broken Heart Love Affair

Carlos is one of the most successful Creative Directors in Canada. Under his leadership, Cossette was named Canadian “Agency of the Year” by Strategy Magazine in 2016, 2017 and 2018. He brought the same honour to BBDO in 2011. In both cases, firsts for the agencies.

He has also been awarded the prestigious Grand Prix award at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. As an Art Director, he was twice included in the Top Ten list globally by The Gunn Report. In 2018 and 2019, he was the number one Creative Director in Canada on the Strategy Magazine Creative Report Card, making that 3 times for his career. Most recently, he was awarded at Cannes for his contribution to Kruger Products’ ‘Unapologetically Human’ campaign.

A native of Guatemala, Carlos was named one of the most Influential Hispanics in Canada by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and previously sat on the Board for the Advertising and Design Club of Canada. He has worked as an Art Director and Creative Director in Toronto and New York for McCann, Saatchi and Downtown Partners DDB. In 2015, Carlos brought his skills to Cossette where he ran a variety of blue-chip accounts, including McDonald’s, General Mills, SickKids, Canopy Growth, Canada Goose and Public Mobile.

These days, Carlos is fulfilling the personal dream of running his own shop w/ some of the best in the business. The partners founded Broken Heart Love Affair and Lifelong Crush in 2020 with a vision for creative purity and a passion for the work. The agency has since won Best Place to Work in 2024, Small Agency of the Year in 2022 and was awarded the 2021 Silver Newcomer Agency of the Year by AdAge. On top of this, BHLA and LLC continue to add to their long list of high-profile award wins year over year.

Yael Staav
Director
Merchant / Furlined

Yael Staav’s career kicked off in 2007 with a Cannes Lion Grand-Prix for Dove “Evolution”. In the ensuing years, she has honed her craft to prove to herself worthy of the early accolades.

Yael has directed multiple episodes of the much-loved comedy Workin’ Moms (CBC) and was recently nominated for a 2023 Canadian Screen Award for the show's last season. She was also nominated for the 2022 DGC Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Comedy for the same show. Yael was also honoured by the Directors Guild of Canada for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Comedy Series for her work on Baroness Von Sketch (CBC/IFC). She also garnered a Canadian Screen Award for Direction for that same show.

Currently, she is on set with the first season of the upcoming CBC comedy "One More Time".

Yael’s commercial work for Amazon, Coke, Campbell’s, Volkswagen, and Delta – with agencies including World Famous, DDB, Leo Burnett, Wieden + Kennedy, and Saatchi & Saatchi – taps into small, incidental moments that reveal who we are at our core. Much of her work is about self-discovery, examining incidental details that often go unnoticed in a world that’s all too much, too fast.

Always up for an adventure, a laugh, an early call-time, a shared cry, or a craft burrito – the process and the journey of telling stories keeps Yael at it with fiery dedication.

Patrick Coffey
Partner, Creative Director, VFX Supervisor
Tendril

Christophe Collette
Photographer, Cinematographer
Freelance

Christophe Collette is a Photographer and Cinematographer from Montreal, Canada. He studied at the National School of Photography in Arles, France. His work is recognized by dark atmospheric visuals and innovative storytelling techniques. Navigating between commercial music video, experimental and narrative films, his body of work spans over two decades and has garnered international recognition, winning multiple Cannes Lions, Clios, Berlin Commercial Film Awards, D&AD Awards, Kinsale Sharks and Grafika Awards amongst others.

His latest credits include films for Tissot, Mercedes, Google and Samsung and Second Unit Cinematography on Paramount’s Transformers Ride of the Beast. Christophe is represented worldwide by Cosmic Talents and Iconic Talent Agency.

Nancy Crimi-Lamanna
Chief Creative Officer
FCB

Named by Adweek as one of Toronto’s Brand Stars shaping the city into the creative hub it is today and a CampaignUS 40 over 40, Nancy has helped lead the creative resurgence of FCB – elevating its position to the 2021 Creative Network of the Year at the Cannes Lions, the most awarded agency at the One Show in 2020 and Adweek’s 2020 Global Agency of the Year. Her work has been presented to the UN twice and she also has the distinction of bringing home Canada’s first Integrated, Commerce, Strategy and Creative Data Cannes Lions.

In 2023, FCB Canada was named the #2 North American Agency of the Year by the Cannes Lions, and the Agency of the Year at both the Effies and WARC bringing home several Best of shows and the Cannes Grand Prix in Direct for adidas Runner 321. This year, her long-standing partnership with the Canadian Down syndrome Society was recognized with a coveted One Show Penta Pencil which awards agency/client partnerships that deliver creative excellence; another Canadian first.

Since joining FCB Canada 8 years ago, the agency's creative work has been among the most celebrated and innovative in the industry, including its work for Bank of Montreal/BMO Harris, adidas, Ontario Lottery and Gaming and the Canadian Down Syndrome Society. This thinking has helped make FCB Canada Media Innovation Agency of the year , 2 years in a row, Digital Agency of the Year for 7 years and the most-awarded Canadian agency at Cannes for 4 years.

Beyond creating iconic campaigns, Nancy is an industry thought leader: She's served on several international juries including Jury presidencies at the Cannes Lions, Clios and D&AD as well as volunteering her time for industry panels, being on the ADCC advisory board and serving on school advisory boards for advertising students in Canada.

Michelle Czukar
Editor
Rooster Post Production

Long recognized as one of Canada’s premier commercial editors, Michelle Czukar originally gained international notoriety with her impressive resumé of music videos for artists such as Fiona Apple, Sigur Ros, The Cure, and the legendary, David Bowie. Her keen sense of aesthetics coupled with her imagination, style and emotional sensibilities are notable in her strong body of work.

Today, she is regarded as one of the top creative editors in the Canadian market. Michelle has collaborated on many iconic brands from The Perlorian Brothers Cannes Awarded Vim “Prison Visitor,” Mark Malloy’s “First Skate” for Canadian Tire and most recently White Ribbon “Boys Don’t Cry” and “Day After Day” directed by Oscar nominated, Hubert Davis.

On par with her love of Prosecco and late night dancing, her passion for the craft of editing continues to push her to deliver top quality creative work.

Julia Deakin
Creative Director, Design + Animation
IAMSTATIC

Julia Deakin serves as a Creative Director at IAMSTATIC, a studio known for its creative-first, design-driven, and craft-focused approach.

With over two decades of expertise in animation, motion design, and VFX, Julia has excelled in various disciplines at top commercial animation houses in Toronto, including directing, 2D animation, motion graphics, VFX, live-action shoots, on-set VFX supervision, and collaborative leadership with skilled design and animation teams. Her work has garnered awards across diverse media.

Julia's signature style is evident in whimsical, character-driven animated films that distill emotional concepts into visual essence. She is most passionate about endeavours that inspire compassionate action. Her animated film for the Canadian charity Together Project, which connects refugee newcomers with Canadians to strengthen communities, stands as her most beloved self-initiated project.

Beyond honing her craft, she can be found mural painting and guerilla gardening with kids and neighbours in their Toronto laneway, cultivating space for togetherness and fostering strong community in her own backyard.

John T Evans
Editor
The Editorial Factory

John Evans is the founder and Editor of the Editorial Factory. A curated group of editors dedicated to the art of storytelling.

John is known as a hard-working, creative, & dedicated editor.

Some of John’s clients include, Molson’s, Canadian Tire, Home Depot, Realtor/ca and Rogers, just to mention a few.

John’s experience is vast working as an,

Senior Editor -Panic & Bob, Jun 2002 – 2016, Toronto

Senior Editor/Owner - The Editorial Factory , Nov 2016 – Present

Graduated from the Toronto Film School. John has garnered many awards:

AACE AwardsCraft Direction Single - "Pep-Talk 1" ADCC MerritTV Single - "Comfeze" ,

CANNES – International Advertising Festival,Short List - Tylenol Back “Bent”, Short List

Outdoor Lions - Scream TV "Sound Canon Project”,Short List Promo Lions- Scream TV "Sound Canon Project”, Silver Media Lion- Scream TV "Scream" ,Gold Media Lion - Scream TV "Scream" ,Clio Awards- IIDAS, Bronze NABS- "Vintage Intern Auction” Bronze NABS- "Vintage Intern Auction" , THE BESSIES -Canada's Advertising Film Awards Best of Series Single- Auto CPR “Banana" Craft Award - Auto CPR “Banana",Finalist TV Campaigns - Auto, PR “Banana”, Finalist TV Singles - Auto CPR “Banana”, Finalist TV Singles-Canon Canada " In Search Of Love"

The Marketing Canada Awards Gold Non-Traditional Advertising Single- "Sound Canon Project"
The One Show - The Premiere International Advertising Award Show ,Silver Pencil - "Comfeze"

John is well versed in Avid Media Composer, Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Illustrator, & After FX

Reel/ https://theeditorialfactory.ca

Linkdin: www.linkedin.com/in/john-evans-74107619

Tom Evelyn
Co-Owner, Executive Producer
Untitled Films

Tom Evelyn is a Co-Owner / Executive Producer at Untitled Films in Toronto, Canada.

Tom began producing award winning campaigns at the age of 19, starting his career surrounded by industry leaders at agencies such as Palmer Jarvis DDB, and BBDO Canada. After a few short years Tom became a Line Producer with Untitled Films and Reginald Pike, taking the opportunity to work with some of Canada's most prolific directors on another side of the business.

Tom and his partner Lexy Kavluk took over the Untitled Films banner as Owner/EP’s 10 years ago. Among their many accomplishments, they’ve won the ADCC’s Scarlett Letter as Canada’s top production company twice in their tenure and Tom was recently named one of the top EP’s in the world by D&AD in 2022.

Now with over 22 years in the business and countless awards at shows including Cannes, D&AD, The One Show, Clios, LIA, ADCC’s and of course Marketing, Tom has shifted his focus to mentoring the next generation of industry talent. Recently Tom partnered with Academy Award nominated director and longtime collaborator Hubert Davis to launch Folktale Films - a brand dedicated to fostering a diverse roster of Canadian directors involved in ideas that inspire change.

Clair Galea
Executive Producer
Courage

Clair Galea is the Executive Producer at Courage.

She earned a degree in journalism in Windsor, Ontario before moving to the big city and landing a job at Publicis Toronto in advertising.

There, she started her career as a casting producer travelling far and wide across the country finding real people stories for one of their major clients - Walmart.

She soon transitioned to producing and held long term positions in this role at JWT, BBDO + Rethink before deciding to go freelance for over a decade.

Her work has won and obtained mention on a long list of advertising awards inclusive of the CLIOS, ADCC, AICP and Cannes Lions.

Clair is also the President of Bambina Pictures - a long format development production company which is set to release their first slate of projects in 2025.

And finally, Clair is a veteran commercial voice actress. She has been the National voice of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for the past 14 years and has voiced the Sochi Olympics, the Pan Am Games and countless commercials and documentaries. She was also an anchor at 680 News in a previous life.

Clair spends her free time playing and watching tennis, organizing poker games, and taking care of her beloved Yorkshire Terrier - Nicco.

Shawn James
Creative Director/Art Director
Shawn James

Shawn has been honing his skills as a strategic and creative thinker for over 20 years. His
career has been characterized by his ability to bring fresh and innovative perspectives to the
table. Guided by a belief that curiosity, great ideas and craftsmanship will always keep brands
relevant, he has applied this to breakthrough work on some of the biggest brands in Canada at
top agencies like, No Fixed Address, Rethink, TAXI, Cossette, BBDO, and Zulu Alpha Kilo. His
work spans across a broad range of services and products, showcasing his versatility and
adaptability in the ever-evolving landscape of advertising.

Tyson Kuteyi
Partner, Senior Music Director
Grayson Music Group

Tyson Kuteyi is a quattro-threat Producer, Engineer, Voice Director and Composer at Grayson Music, one of Toronto's leading music and sound studios. Splitting his time between both Nashville and Toronto, Tyson has directed and composed on award-winning projects such as Rowan's Law, CAMH, Ford Canada, DoorDash and more of note.

With the help of his infectious personality, talent and 20+ years experience and expertise under his belt, Tyson has built an impressive body of work with recording artists across Canada and the US and with a multitude of brands.

Since joining Grayson in 2018, his passion for music, creative problem solving and love for people has made Tyson a key addition to Grayson. Tyson continues to push boundaries in music and sound both locally and south of the border.

Shelley Lewis
Director
Magnetic Field

Driven to tell stories about characters that defy norms and showcase diverse voices, Shelley Lewis takes a striking visual approach to directing, often incorporating humor. Her intuitive approach to understanding brand ethos and audience sentiment has earned her partnerships with top-tier brands across multiple industries. Shelley is also a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion in the industry, as a member of both Free the Work and Cinefemme initiatives.

Jenny Luong
Creative Director
Zulu Alpha Kilo

Jenny is an award-winning creative director that has worked at top agencies across North America, including DDB Chicago, John St. and Zulu Alpha Kilo. Her love for smart, insightful ideas has led her to produce effective campaigns for Coca-Cola, Loblaws, Home Hardware, Bell, MillerCoors, MARS Wrigley, Tangerine, and many more. Her work has been recognized by international award shows, and featured in BuzzFeed, Fast Company, Huffington Post and more. Jenny applies her background in design in everything she does. When she’s not making ads, she’s working on her lettering projects.

Beth MacKinnon
Executive Creative Producer
Independent Producer

Beth is an industry veteran. She was the eighth hire at the original TAXI Toronto office in the
Much Music building, brought in as a ringer to start making the physical output soar. These
were the golden growth years - every other hire from that era has gone on to open their own
shop or star as front-woman, and all are international award winners.
Beth stuck with the high energy, highly awarded agency, heaping on the secret sauce and
contributing to the renowned culture, eventually becoming a Partner and VP, Production.
Beth has always been about craft and realising great ideas; getting into the mix and finding the
magic. After TAXI, there were a bunch of years working with the incredibly talented teams at
Lowe Roche. Now, as a contract player, she gets to impact not only the work, but also how
people come together to do the work. It can be about tracking down the elusive talent to match
a challenge, and it can also be helping agencies look inwards at how they make the most of
their talent and teams. Beth demonstrates when they need to get out of their own way and
when they’ve got a winning formula. It’s all part of delivering great craft and finding excellence.

Didier Tovel
Founder, Creative Director
SNDWRx

Didier is the founder, creative director, head and ears of SNDWRx which is an international award-winning audio production agency headquartered in Toronto, Canada. As a music producer and songwriter, voice actor, director, and designer from Montreal, Quebec with long record of creating meaningful music for TV commercials and artists. SNDWRx specializes in all things sound design, voice casting and direction as well as custom music production and licensing, and it’s 10 years in Canada, has worked with the world’s top brand, advertising agencies and artists from around the world such as Drake, Dj Khaled, H.E.R. SickKids Foundation, Adidas, Dove, Best Buy, Knix, Loblaws, Lexus, DoorDash and many more. Their work have garnered coveted awards such as Gold and Grand Prix's Cannes Lions, One Show, D&AD and Marketing Awards for Craft to name a few, even organically ending up on Jimmy Fallon

Jennifer Taback
President
Design De Plume

Jennifer Taback is a First Nation partner at Design de Plume. She sees herself as a visual translator, helping to bridge connections and use emerging technology to facilitate dialogue, increase understanding, and make some cool stuff along the way. With 15 years of experience in the field, DDP's current roster of clients includes the Johns Hopkins University, Native Americans in Philanthropy, and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Jennifer currently serves the role of listener, advisor, and strategist on projects that venture into new and unknown territories, while acknowledging the experiences and stories of the past.

Hans Thiessen
Partner, ECD of Design
Rethink

Hans leads the design team at Rethink – AdAge’s Creative Agency of the Year, one of Fast Company’s Top 10 Most Innovative Creative Agencies, and strategy's Creative AOY & Design AOY four years in a row and counting.

He has had the pleasure of working with a wide range of global brands (including Kraft Heinz, IKEA, Tazo, RXBAR, Molson Coors, Mattel), non-profits, and household names in the making.

Hans' work has been recognized with a variety of awards (including a D&AD Black Pencil), press (from Rolling Stone to Ripley’s Believe It or Not), and the occasional cease and desist letter.

Isabelle Allard-Gendron
Creative Director
Sid Lee

Isabelle is a Creative Director and previous Art Director, a big picture thinker, voracious culture
vulture, mentor and leader who has worked in Montreal and New York for the past decade.
She likes to take on new challenges and has a particular passion for brand building and brand
identities. Infusing soul, character and timelessness to brands in complex markets is one of her
greatest assets. A multi-award-winning designer her talents have been put to the test for
clients like: The North Face, Sonos, MasterClass, Noom and many more.

Yilma Campbell
Design Director
Freelance

I consider myself lucky for being able to create art for a living. Being in advertising for over ten years, my work spans across a wide range of media: TV, film, digital, print, and OOH. Since graduating with a BA in Advertising Design from OCAD University, I have worked as an Art Director in agencies of all sizes - Saatchi & Saatchi, Due North Communication, Taxi Toronto, One Advertising, trevor//peter communications, and the Hive - where I have turned client problems into visual solutions. I am also an avid Fly Fisher.

Amanda DeVries
Owner, Creative Director
Eye Candy Design

Amanda DeVries, RGD is the principal and creative director of Eye Candy Design, a boutique branding and packaging design firm that creates fresh, iconic work for food & beverage companies. She has nearly 20 years experience as a brand consultant, art director, and graphic designer. Amanda spent 10 years in Ottawa, where governmental agencies kept her busy but not terribly inspired. Moving to Southwestern Ontario presented her with the opportunity to work directly with entrepreneurs and business owners. She enjoys sharing her knowledge through various teaching gigs and mentoring younger designers.

Dani Gaede
GCD, 1:1 & Design
Cossette

“As a creative director I’m obsessed with getting to the human truths that drives success.”

Dani is an award-winning creative director with nearly 25 years of experience in the industry working in some of the biggest and boldest agencies in Toronto.

She began her career in digital design during the dot.com boom, and soon found a passion for website and user experience design. Although passionate about digital design, Dani has also led fully functional design teams across every medium, most recently leading design for McDonald’s Canada at Cossette.

Dani has brought her expertise to clients of all sizes, including McDonald’s, Sick Kids, TD Bank, Rogers, RBC, Mercedes, Esso and Lays

Alison Garnett
Founder, Creative Director
Field Trip & Co

Through the course of my award-winning career, my work has spanned various industries including automotive, retail, consumer-packaged goods, professional services, telecommunications and not-for-profit.

I've worked with top tier brands including Chrysler, Porter Airlines, Loblaws and Cadillac Fairview.

At Field Trip & Co I work collaboratively with clients to build out compelling brand stories and crafted design, with a focus on non-for-profit and philanthropic organizations. I am a firm believer in the transformational power of design to help organizations grow to their fullest potential.

My personal mantra is "don't worry, everything will be amazing.”

Marie-Pier Gilbert
Associate Creative Director
LG2

Marie-Pier is passionate about design. In the past 15 years, she has evolved from designer to creative director, with a specialty in packaging.

Nicknamed “Queen of Major Overhauls,” she has seen millions of SKUs. She’s an expert in developing product lines that stand out on shelves and has also worked on long-term projects for brands that include hundreds of products. She’s simply unstoppable!
At LG2, she has worked on national branding and packaging redesigns for Keurig Dr Pepper Canada (Van Houtte, Timothy’s, Keurig), Agropur (Natrel, Farmers, Gustav), Catelli, Lesters, Boréale, Oasis and Vins Balthazard.

Allen Kwong
Executive Creative Director
VML

Allen is a Group Creative Director at VML Canada. Having grown up in an immigrant household, he brings a diverse point of view to his advertising, digital and design work.

Over the past 20 years, he’s had the privilege of working at some of Canada’s top agencies for a wide variety of clients – from iconic global brands like Volkswagen, Frito-Lay, Microsoft, and Ikea – to beloved Canadian brands like John Fluevog Shoes, The Weather Network and Maple Leaf Foods. His work has been recognized at the One Show, D&AD, Clios, Communication Arts, the Webby Awards, Marketing Awards, and many others.

Ugo Lachapelle
Partner, Creative Director
Caserne

Ugo is the founder and creative director of Montreal-based Caserne, which he established in 2012. Prior to this, he graduated from UQAM design school.

A passionate designer with an unwavering commitment to crafting at scale, Ugo is the winner of numerous prestigious awards both internationally and locally—including Type Directors Club Awards, ADC Awards, ADCC Award, IDÉA and Dieline Awards. Ugo is also the co-founder of FORUM, a design event. Held annually in Montreal, it brings together designers and artists on a mission to network, educate, and create.

Shawn Lambino
Design Director
Anomaly

Shawn Lambino is an award-winning designer with a strong focus on visual identity & concept development.

As the Director of Design at Anomaly, he leads a department of multi-disciplinary designers with a focus on elevating the agency’s visual output, growing design capabilities and specializing in branding projects. He works across a number of the agency’s core clients and new business including Budweiser, Corona, Crown Royal, and The Chadwick Boseman Foundation for the Arts.

Ronald Tau
Founder, Creative Director
Meat Studio

Ronald Tau is founder of Meat Studio (Beijing, Toronto) and an art director / graphic designer specializing in visual identity. Born in Hong Kong, raised in Toronto, and based in both Toronto and Beijing, Ronald explores his multicultural identity by finding common ground between cultures through his visual work.

Ronald’s work has been awarded by design institutions including TDC (New York), Tokyo TDC, ADC，GDC (Shenzhen), Communicaiton Arts, Asia-Pacific Design, etc; and featured in Vice, 032C, It's Nice That, and Brand New.

He is a design professor teaching typography and visual language at York University and Sheridan College in Toronto, Canada.

Dave Watson
Head of Design
Broken Heart Love Affair

If it seems like Dave has a feel for the rhythms of visual communication, it comes to him
naturally. A born lover of music, his dreams of playing drums for the Rolling Stones were
crushed at an early age. However, he quickly rebounded and turned his attention to
design.

Over the last 25 years Dave has honed his craft at some of Canada’s top agencies
including TAXI, Mosaic and now Broken Heart Love Affair. His work for brands such as
Anheuser Busch, MINI, Nike and McCain have been recognized over 200 times in
design awards shows both nationally and on the global stage.
Dave is an idea man. He believes that although visual and tech trends come and go,
good ideas are timeless. Today at BHLA, Dave uses this thinking to help his clients
transform their businesses. That is of course until he gets a call from The Stones.

Kammy Ahuja
Creative Director
Top Hat

As the Creative Director at Top Hat, Kammy Ahuja leads projects in advertising, interactive and brand design. A creative problem solver, she uses storytelling and thoughtful design to connect with diverse audiences.

Kammy is an avid maker, designer, illustrator and life long crafter. She is the founder of Fierce Mama Cards, progressive greeting cards designed by working mothers in advertising. Fierce Mama Cards celebrate the ambition, success and strength of working moms.

Kammy draws upon 19 years of award-winning work recognized by the One Show, CLIOS, ADCC, Applied Arts, Communication Arts, Marketing Awards, and Type Directors Club.

Dejan Djuric
Design Director
Zulu Alpha Kilo

Dejan is the Design Director at Zulu Alpha Kilo with 15 years of expierance in advertising and design.

As a designer, was previously awarded the title of Strategy’s #1 Art Director and his work has been recognized at prestigious industry events like the Cannes Lions, the D&ADs, the One Show, the LIAs, the ADCC, Strategy, and the Webby's.

Dejan was part of the core leadership team that rebranded TD and helped merge the brand across the Canadian and US markets.

He also worked on various beloved and influential brands such as: Bell, Ikea, Mercedes, AAA, Bulk Barn, and Yellow Pages.

Louis Duarte
Design Director
Leo Burnett Company Ltd

Lisa Nakamura
Creative Director, Designer
Lisa Nakamura Design

Lisa Nakamura, an accomplished designer and brand identity specialist, brings a wealth of experience in delivering impactful and results-driven solutions to a diverse clientele spanning various industries. Prior to establishing her independent freelance practice, she served as the Creative Director of Design at Rethink and Cossette. Lisa's career is marked by the attainment of national and international awards, having collaborated with clients such as A&W, Sephora, and Coast Capital Savings. Her commitment to excellence is paralleled by her ability to seamlessly collaborate with various clients and agencies, a proficiency she cultivates from the comfort of her home, often accompanied by her steadfast companion, Skippy, the wiener dog.

Emmanuel Obayemi
CD, Art Director, Designer
Freelance

Emmanuel is an award-winning Creative Director, Art Director, and Designer with over 14 years in the advertising, marketing, and design industries. His work spans traditional, experiential, digital, and design projects for clients across Canada, America, and Africa.

As a leader, Emmanuel has guided teams in campaign development, design, and branding. He currently works as a freelance creative director, winning new business pitches and bringing fresh thinking to agencies and clients alike.

Emmanuel is passionate about well-crafted ideasand their ability to restore pride, change minds, or just make you smile. Whether DJing or solving complex briefs, his goal is the same: create an unignorable experience.

Kimberley Pereira
Creative Director, Design
Arrivals + Departures

Kimberley is a Creative Director of Design, she brings a visionary approach to crafting compelling narratives through design.

With over a decade of experience she has worked with diverse audiences in cultural, financial, retail, fashion, food, telecom, hospitality and government sectors.

She has honed her craft at some of Canada’s most awarded creative agencies including ZuluAlphaKilo, Taxi, NFA and Leo Burnett, and has helped transform some of Canada’s iconic brands.

Mark Rutledge
Principal Designer
Mark Rutledge Design

With over 30 years of experience in the industry, he is one of Canada’s design leaders with deep roots and experience designing for North America's Indigenous communities and organizations. He has a portfolio of impressive print and web designs for numerous Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations helping First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities. Mark is currently a part-time instructor at Yukon University and principal at Mark Rutledge Design.

Mark was the first Indigenous designer elected as National President of the Design Professionals of Canada who lead the organization from the Arctic, both firsts in the organizations 67-year history. He is also a Certified Design Professional (CDPTM), and Registered Graphic Designer (RGD), International speaker/lecturer, futurist and a proud Ojibway from the Little Grand Rapids First Nation who lives and works in Whitehorse, Yukon on the traditional territories of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and the Ta'an Kwäch'än Council.

Kelly Small
Founder, Chief Creative Officer
Intents & Purposes

Kelly Small (they/them) is an award-winning creative director, designer, educator, and author of bestselling The Conscious Creative: Practical Ethics for Purposeful Work. Kelly’s career is driven by the pursuit of practical action toward ethical, inclusive, and sustainable futures.

Founder of creative agency Intents & Purposes, professor of design ethics, and affiliated design researcher with Emily Carr University, Kelly holds an interdisciplinary master’s in design and received the Governor General’s Gold Medal for their research into design for social impact, social innovation, sustainability, and the ethics of commercial creative practice.

Kelly is currently authoring a book about practical ethics for a youth audience and serving on the board of directors for The ArQuives, among the largest 2SLGBTQ+ archives globally.

David Taylor
Principal
Awake Studio

Marilou Aubin
Partner, Vice President Creative
LG2

Marilou is an internationally recognized creative leader with more than 20 years of experience in the industry. As Partner, Vice-President and Executive Creative Director at LG2, she leads the Montreal office’s advertising creative department. Since joining LG2 in 2011, she has been a driving force behind several major agency accounts, helping to make the agency one of Canada’s best.

Her curiosity and proactivity constantly push the boundaries of both our creative product and work methods. The projects she has led for clients such as Hydro-Québec, the SAAQ, Tourism Montréal and Tourism Québec have been recognized at both national and international awards shows.

After participating in several Canadian juries, she was invited to sit on the Clios jury in 2018, and, in the following year, became the first woman to chair Idéa, the Quebec industry’s most prestigious creative competition. She also served on juries for the Cannes Lions and ADC Awards in 2021. As a role model for the ad industry’s up-and-coming talent, she was awarded a Madeleine Saint-Jacques scholarship to participate in the Saïd Business School’s Women Transforming Leadership program, whose mission is to promote female leadership worldwide.

Sabaa Quao
Chief Creative and Innovation Officer
Cossette

With over 30 years of experience, Sabaa Quao is a creative leader, career entrepreneur, and business strategist. As a digital and social media veteran, he has built and grown several platforms and companies across the content, tech, and culture space.

Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Sabaa holds degrees in Marketing from Concordia University and Communication and Design from Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD), and has an Executive MBA from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

With a wealth of diversified experiences, Sabaa brings a unique and forward-thinking creative perspective to Cossette as Chief Creative Officer, where he leads the agency’s creative output.

Maxinne Abuyuan
Chief Experience Officer
VML

With 15 years of experience rooted in digital creativity, today Maxinne Abuyuan stands as Chief Experience Officer of Creative and a CX practice lead at Wunderman Thompson. Her career has centred around championing inclusive and innovative digital end-to-end experiences, leaving an indelible mark on brands like TD, Mazda, Unilever, Walmart, TJX, Dairy Farmers of Canada, Kraft, and Pfizer.

She approaches building enterprise-level platforms and products with a creative-first lens because every screen is a digital canvas for brand storytelling. Maxinne's work isn't just recognized; it's award-winning, a testament to her commitment to building digital experiences that drive impact. Not just a doer but a discerning judge, she's been a valuable member on juries for D&AD, Strategy Marketing Awards, ADC, and One Club.

Carlos Garavito
Founder, ECD
CommandAlpha

Carlos was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia and moved to Canada in 1987. He graduated from OCAD University in Toronto with a major in Graphic Design and a minor in Advertising.

Today, he is a passionate and collaborative executive with over 20 years of experience in creative strategy, business development and senior leadership roles at boutique agencies, startups, multinational networks and technology shops. Carlos has been consulting as Fractional ECD with several creative and technology agencies, including an Arts and Cultural NFTs Marketplace. Before that, he was the Canadian ECD for one of the world's largest agency networks, and before that, he was a senior creative consultant with Deloitte Canada.

Carlos is a prominent Artificial Intelligence enthusiast, consultant, author, and trailblazing artist at the cutting edge of digital creativity. His innovative work with Generative AI tools has captivated audiences, earned him a distinguished place among LinkedIn's Top 100 AI Artists and Influencers, and collaborated with brands, agencies and creative talent.

A nerd at heart, Carlos gets excited and motivated by the opportunities new media and technology bring to creative solutions and consumer experiences. From his first job as a pioneer in interactive television, his focus has been digital, from hardware and product development to UI/UX to today's storytelling opportunities in social, film, AR, VR, XR, experiential and artificial intelligence.

Jenny Glover
CCO
Zulu Alpha Kilo

In 1996 Jenny completed her law degree and to the delight of her parents, got
a job as a lowly paid copywriter.

After spending 20 years working in South Africa she moved to Toronto and is
currently Chief Creative Officer at independent creative shop, Zulu Alpha Kilo.
Jenny cofounded Open Chair, the South African industry gender equity
initiative and has presented a Cannes master classe on her award-winning
Mercedes-Benz campaigns.

She has worked on and led financial accounts, retail, consumer goods, travel,
telecoms and automotive for brands like Apple, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Visa,
Virgin, Bell and Pepsico.

She has won golds across all the major international award shows, including
15 yellow Pencils, a Cannes Grand Prix and Canada’s first Glass Lion. She
has also been fortunate enough to act as jury a president at D&AD in 2018
and will be the Audio Jury President and Black Pencil judge this year. She has
also judged multiple times at Cannes, One Show, Clio’s as well as at local
award shows.

She is passionate about and a greedy consumer of creativity beyond
advertising, loves ideas that don’t fit in boxes and believes we’re never done
learning about innovation and new technology. Growing up in an ever-
changing and profoundly bonkers country, she enjoys and embraces change
easily.

She is a collector of contemporary art and photography and assorted rescue
dogs. Her finest achievements are daughters, Grace (10) and Ivy (9), who
help her maintain her incredibly chic under-eye rings.

Raj Gupta
Creative Lead
OneMethod

Raj Gupta currently serves as the Associate Creative Director (ACD) at One Method. His advertising career, spanning over two decades, began as an art director. His expertise has developed across various regions, including Australia, the Middle East, and now North America. He has earned recognition for his impactful work on brands like the Royal Canadian Legion, HSBC, Kids Help Phone, Greenpeace, Nissan, Mazda, and Ferrari. His creative contributions have been celebrated at prestigious industry events, including the Cannes Lions, D&AD, Clio Awards, Loeries, New York Festival, and Dubai Lynx.

Raj is not just a creative professional but also an enthusiastic maker with a strong interest in the entrepreneurial side of the creative industry. He is always on the lookout for innovative intersections between design and commerce, inspiring both himself and others in the process. Among all his accomplishments, Raj finds his role as a father and creative mentor to his 6-year-old son to be the most fulfilling and significant journey to date.

Marta Hooper
Group Creative Director
AntiSocial

Marta Hooper joined AntiSocial with an enviable portfolio of brands under her belt and has spent the last 20 years mastering her multi-disciplinary approach at some of Toronto’s most celebrated network and independent agencies such as TBWA\Toronto, Sid Lee, Leo Burnett, Taxi, and trevor//peter to name a few.

As a creative leader, she has dedicated her craft to creating culturally on point, creatively distinct, and results-driven work for a host of global and lifestyle brands such as Nike, Spotify, Foot Locker, Nissan, Honda, Ford, Dell/Alienware, Telus, Red Bull, Diageo, Labatt and HBO.

In her past life Marta *may* have been a race car driver, and when she’s not creative directing or stunt driving, she spends her time influencing the minds of industry hopefuls as a Sessional Professor at the George Brown College School of Design.

Stuart MacMillan
ECD
No Fixed Address

Stuart is ECD at NFA Montreal. He started his career in London with stops in Amsterdam and Berlin before moving closer to home, becoming CD on the Volkswagen account at Havas Montreal.

He then moved to lg2 Montreal, spending 10 years trying to learn french and leading projects that were awarded by Cannes, One Show, Clio, Marketing and others before joining the No Fixed Address team last year. He's still learning french.

Julie Markle
ECD
Bleublancrouge

Julie is co-Executive Creative Director at Bleublancrouge in Toronto.

For decades, she has been giving brands that perfect trifecta of meaning, purpose and talk-value that turns consumers into followers, and often ardent fans.

From Dove and Hellmann’s to Huggies and Desjardins, Julie’s biggest fans are her clients, because her signature style is almost always accompanied by impressive business results. Not to mention, an impressive list of awards.

Her work has been recognized many times over by all the most-esteemed award shows, including Cannes, One Show, D&AD, Clios, Marketing, ADCC and Effies.

Julie is a proud mom to two sons who are constantly reminding her that it’s “just advertising”. They’re convinced their mom is a little hard of hearing.

Matthew May
Creative Director
Believeco

Originally hailing from the sunny shores of the UK, Matthew loves to bring a sense of empathy, big thinking, fresh ideas, and a positive outlook to every creative opportunity – all with a smile on his face.

Currently, he leads the creative team at Believeco to develop creative strategies and multichannel campaigns that have enriched the world of healthcare, CPG, finance and beyond, while generating real results.

With over 20 years of experience at digital, advertising, and marketing agencies, on two continents, Matthew has worked with global brands such as Abbott, General Motors, Nestlé, Energizer, RBC, Schwarzkopf, and Virgin Group of Companies, with his work being celebrated by the Canadian Marketing Association, PROMO! Awards, ACE Awards and, SABRE Awards to name only a few. Matthew has also served as a judge for both the Effies Canada and the Marketing Awards.

Outside of living the ad life, he is obsessed with football (you know, the one that you play with your feet, AKA soccer) and loves coaching kids, helping them develop a lifelong love of the beautiful game.

Nadia Merola
Creative Director
Critical Mass

Nadia is digital through and through. With over 20 years of experience in the advertising/marketing industry and a passion for design and art direction, she has created award winning websites, mobile apps, integrated promotions, video, display, and social media campaigns from concept to launch, for a broad range of high-profile clients like MasterCard, Citibank, Pfizer, J&J, LPL Financial, SAP, Nissan, NYL and Meta,. As a Creative Director at Critical Mass in Toronto, she loves solving problems and finding new ways of doing things, and in the digital realm, the sky is your limit. When she’s not directing teams of talented creatives, Nadia loves food in all its forms and travelling to different places to enjoy them, along with a fantastic bottle of wine (and her husband and two children of course).

Steve Miller
ECD, SVP, Partner
FUSE Create

Over the past 23+ years, Steve has had the privilege of working with some of North America’s most influential brands, including Nestlé, Pepsi Frito-Lay, Microsoft, McDonald’s, FedEx, Daimler-Chrysler, Ricola, Nike, Google, Hilton, and Johnson & Johnson. His work has been recognized at Cannes, the One Show, ADC, Clios and the Effies.

Presently, Steve is SVP, Executive Creative Director & Partner at FUSE Create. After relaunching the agency in 2020, FUSE Create earned a Small Agency Bronze at the AOY Awards in 2021, and most recently made Campaign UK’s Top 10 list in 2023. Prior to joining FUSE, Steve spent 14 years as SVP, Creative Director at independent agency/incubator OneMethod, with prior stints at BBDO Toronto and Cossette in Vancouver.

Steve has previously judged the Cannes Young Lions, the New York Festivals, Webbys, Atomics, and the CMAs, to name a few. He teaches part-time at the Miami Ad School and is a regular guest at colleges, podcasts, conferences, publications, and his mom's for dinner.

Radhika Mohandas
Copy Lead
DEPT®

Radhika is an award-winning copywriter figuratively raised by design directors and marketing managers.

She cut her teeth at indies before diving into the Dentsus, DDBs, and, currently, DEPTs of the world. Her refusal to be a big fish in any pond means she’s always looking for new challenges and starting new journeys.

Radhika has crafted and executed successful campaigns for Starbucks, Toyota, eBay, Scotiabank, Vh1, among other brands. While she’s an eternal student and fan of creating for traditional media, digital advertising is her native land.

Radhika is a shapeshifting creative director—giving brands the idea that’s just right and giving teams the morale and roadmap to creating good campaigns. The teams she has built are her pride, and the success of every writer she has been able to mentor is her joy.

Johan Vakidis
CCO
C2

Johan Vakidis, an award-winning global creative professional with 25 years of experience across communications, technology, entertainment, and gaming, has held creative leadership roles at Ogilvy, AKQA, R/GA, The Walt Disney Company, and Publicis Groupe. Notably, he contributed to projects for major clients such as Adidas, Nike, Coca-Cola, Apple, and Nestlé, and expanded his storytelling expertise at The Walt Disney Company, collaborating with Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Lucas brands.

Having resided in China since 2000, Johan gained insights into the "culture of convenience," leveraging this unique perspective in his work back in Canada with kyu collective at Sid Lee and C2.

His passion for continuous learning and mastery is evident, as he actively participates in the design and creative community, speaks at events, and serves on award juries.

With an unwavering belief in the importance of daily learning, Johan thrives on applying his knowledge and experience to create impactful stories and experiences.

As a proven global creative leader, he is driven to win new business, craft compelling narratives, and foster the growth of teams through mentoring and coaching.

Caroline Friesen
Partner, Group Creative Director
Rethink

Caroline Friesen is a Group Creative Director and Partner at the independent agency Rethink. In 2022, Caroline was named as one of the Next Creative Leaders by The One Club. Her work has been nationally and globally recognized by Applied Arts, D&AD, Marketing Awards, Communication Arts, Cannes Lions, and the One Show.

Career highlights include having Margaret Atwood blast a flamethrower to her own book, bringing a 7ft tall animatronic troll to life, and Jimmy Fallon complaining on ‘The Tonight Show’ that the No Frills album sucked.

Michael Katzikowski
Executive Creative Director
Salt XC

With over two decades of experience, Michael Katzikowski, A.K.A. “Katz”, stands out as a globally and nationally recognized creative leader with extensive training in design, art direction and creative direction. His expertise spans a range of disciplines, including graphic design, typography, branding, brand building, illustration, experiential experiences, events, UI design, UX design, omni channel and photography. He is currently the ECD at Salt XC leading the creative for Toyota Lexus Canada, Labatt and Kraft.

Katz most recently led the integrated creative department at Commonwealth McCann Canada, which oversees all work for Chevrolet in Canada. His work for Chevrolet was recognized both nationally and internationally at award shows. He led the creative and production department at 6Degrees Integrated Communications as the Executive Creative Director and served as Group Head Creative Director of the digital department at Leo Burnett Canada.

Throughout his career, Katz has been dedicated to assembling teams with diverse creative and cultural backgrounds. His approach delivers beautifully crafted, strategically sound, and relevant creative solutions across all mediums, ensuring true impact and effectiveness.

Among the impressive list of brands Katz has collaborated with are Chevrolet Canada, Infiniti Motors, Can AM Global, Spyder Global, Nissan Canada, Nike, Gain Laundry Detergent Global, Citi Bank, Tim Hortons, Loblaws, Gillette Global, Labatt, Canopy Growth Canada & US (Tweed, DNA, LBS, Tokyo Smoke, Quatreau) and TD Canada Trust.

Beyond his professional pursuits, Katz indulges his need for speed by mountain biking on some of the world's best trails.

Jamie Lirette
Creative Director
Publicis

Jamie is a 360º Creative Director and Art Director with a proven track record of developing and executing innovative, results-driven campaigns with some of Canada’s top agencies and brands. Partnered with Graham Mutch forever, the two have been key players on such cornerstone clients as Align Technologies, Rogers, Home Depot, Bayer, Bell, McDonald’s, Telus, BMO, Cogeco, Durex, Volvo, Kraft, AMEX, GM, MTY brands, Drager and more.

Brian Mantle
Owner, Creative Director
Mantle Integrated

Brian is an award-winning Creative Lead and Art Director with over 20 years of advertising and design experience. Since founding his own agency, Mantle Inc., in 2012, he’s elevated clients such as SIRcorp, 3 Brewers, Mother Parkers, Marley Coffee, Purolator, Givex and many more. But before founding his own agency, Brian’s experience included award winning work with the likes of BMW, Suzuki, TD Bank, Subway Restaurants and the ROM to name drop a few. He looks forward to being inspired by this year's entries and to share his expertise in this honourable role.

Catherine Martel
Business Lead
Alice & Smith Studio

At the crossroad of business strategy and creativity, Catherine brings more than 10 years' experience in digital marketing for brands in the travel, fashion, CPG, gaming, and entertainment space. As a happily retired influencer from the heydays of blogging, she now acts as a decoder of influence and community behaviours, helping game studios and brands grow their fandom. She leads business development at Alice & Smith Studio, a creative technology agency specialized in gamified experiences, transmedia marketing and Alternate Reality Games pushing the boundaries of community engagement.

Neil McOstrich
Co-Founder, Chief Storyteller
Cleansheet Communications

Grace Mitchell
Group Creative Director
VaynerMedia

Grace Mitchell is a Toronto based creative leader with over a decade of experience in content strategy, social media and integrated campaigns. She is currently Group Creative Director and Creative Lead for VaynerMedia in Toronto, building out the first creative team for the agency in Canada.

Formerly the Creative Director for VICE Media and Refinery29 in Canada, her speciality is working with brands who want to take an untraditional, editorial approach to content and social media storytelling. Her portfolio includes campaigns for Toyota, Dove, Levi's, Harry Rosen, Lincoln, The Dairy Farmers of Ontario, Mejuri, Vans, and more.

Cindy Navarro
Creative Director
Courage

Cindy Marie Navarro is a Creative Director at Courage in Toronto. Her work has garnered a resume of industry awards including multiple Cannes Lions, D&AD Pencils, London International Awards, The One Show Awards and more. A few years ago, Business Insider named Cindy one of ‘30 Most Creative People in Advertising Under 30’, and has been ranked one of the top 5 Art Directors in Strategy Magazine’s Creative Report Card.

When she’s not in advertising mode, you’ll find Cindy baking unhealthy desserts and then working them off by chasing her super energetic toddler everywhere.

Jessica Savage
CEO
MSL/North

Rob Sturch
ECD
FCB/Six

Rob is a dynamic and accomplished creative leader with rich experience across mass, digital, retail, and CRM channels within Canada’s esteemed creative landscape.

With a career spanning over two decades, Rob has honed his skills at some of the nation’s most respected creative agencies, shaping unforgettable creative solutions that deliver exceptional results.

Today, as the Executive Creative Director at FCB/SIX, he employs creativity to power personalized, connected experiences that fuel loyalty and growth. Rob’s personal philosophy is grounded in the belief that collaboration, creativity, and kindness and the cornerstones of success.

With a commitment to excellence, innovation, and the transformative power of creativity, Rob continues to inspire and lead in the ever-evolving landscape of advertising.

Keka DasGupta
Founder
The Art of Life-ing

Keka has 25 years of award-winning marketing, PR, crisis/issues management and diversity, equity and inclusion experience across a wide range of sectors. During her 17-year tenure at DDB Canada, Keka served as Vice-President of its PR division (DDB PR), with clients such as: Johnson & Johnson, Nike, Disney, Bosch and Thermador, IKEA, Nordstrom, and Schwarzkopf among others. In this time, Keka was also the recipient of 50 national and international awards. Prior to agency life, Keka worked in-house at IKEA for seven years, managing the brand’s national media relations initiatives, and serving as the company’s media spokesperson on corporate and consumer issues.

Today, Keka continues to consult with agencies such as: DDB Canada, Edery & Lord Communications and Balmoral Multicultural Marketing, providing high-level business development support, strategic counsel and diversity training.

Keka also runs her passion project – a personal development brand called “The Art of Life-ing” through which, as a professional speaker, Keka delivers keynotes and training to corporate and education sectors focusing on gratitude, bullying prevention and personal empowerment. Keka harnesses the power of global branding principles and applies them to mental health strategies. You can catch her TEDx talk inspired by her programming on TED.com. It was highlighted by TED as one of their top 5 talks on gratitude.

George Kan
Partner, Creative Director
Captus Advertising

George has more than 30 years of advertising and marketing experience under his belt.

Studied Graphic Design at London's Central St. Martins of Art and Design, George started his advertising career in Hong Kong, where he held several senior creative positions at J. Walter Thompson (JWT). His impressive track record and experiences gained from working with some of the biggest local and international brands such as Nike, Shell Oil, Nestle, Citibank, Ford Motors, and Rolex.

In 2009, George co-founded Captus Advertising. Within a few short years, the agency has become one of the most awarded creative multicultural advertising agencies in Canada. Today, his work spans consumer goods, including crown corporations, government, finance, politics, retail, and real estate.

Arlene Amitirigala
Principal & Chief Communications Strategist
TrulyArlene Communications

Arlene Amitirigala (she/her) is Principal & Chief Communications Strategist at TrulyArlene Communications. A communications strategist with expertise in internal communications, behaviour change, employee engagement and building a culture of inclusive leadership, Arlene’s career journey spans several senior roles in marketing and communication in the private and public sector across various industries including tourism, investment banking and manufacturing.

Her experience includes co-hosting an award-winning national radio program, leading corporate communications for Diageo’s West Latin America business and working with clients such as UNESCO and the Caribbean Development Bank. She is currently Co-Director of Communications on the IABC/Toronto Professional Independent Communicators Executive Team.

Born in Jamaica, Arlene studied journalism at the undergraduate level. She holds a postgraduate certificate in Global Marketing Communication and Advertising from Emerson College, a Master’s in Communication from the University of The West Indies and an MBA with distinction from the Solvay Management School in Belgium.

Having lived for several years in South America and Europe, Arlene speaks both Spanish and French. She currently maintains a blog at www.TrulyArlene.com and hosts The Change Diaries Podcast.

Jessica Borges
Group Vice President, Business Lead
Visionnaire

Jessica brings a wealth of experience in global insights, creative, strategy, brand development, and management. She has worked in India, Dubai, Oman, with over a decade in the inclusion space in Canada, reaching out to the fastest-growing consumer groups. As CD at McCann and Y&R, VP Creative at Dyversity, CCO & CSO at Maple Diversity, and currently VP Business Lead at Visionnaire, she excels at connecting diverse audiences to clients, including Google, Walmart, TD, RBC, OLG, Bell, Koodo, J&J, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Canada Post, L’Oréal, and GM.

She has been actively involved in inclusion projects, such as WelcomePack Canada connecting brands to newcomers; LiveLoveCanada, a program to engage, educate and support immigrants on their settlement journey; and Diversity Beyond Ethnicity to build inclusivity among 2SLGBTQ+, people with disabilities and Indigenous Peoples. Her leadership has helped clients in competitive planning, and results-driven brand messaging, with an ideas-led focus on marketing campaigns that make an impact.

Her work has been recognized at local and international advertising award shows, including at the Montblanc/Emirates Woman Novella Writing Awards in Dubai.
Jessica has been invited to speak at the Toronto Public Library during Asian Heritage Month, published in Canadian anthologies ‘Canadian Voices’ and ‘Indian Voices’, has conducted ‘creative thinking’, ‘media literacy’, and ‘interactive storytelling’ workshops in Toronto schools, has been Co-chair, panelist and jury member at multicultural conferences like the Marketing Awards, Shopper + Innovation Awards (SIA), and was on the Executive Jury representing Canada at the Gerety Awards, a diverse way of celebrating global work with a 100% female jury.

She was named on The Message Canada’s Mighty Women List for 2023, and Women We Admire’s ‘Top 50 Women Leaders in Toronto 2023’ ranking, for pushing the industry forward in meaningful ways.

Her global experience has made Jessica a mentor to many women of cultural minorities, helping them build networks, providing guidance and sharing her love for Canada.

To learn more about Jessica, listen to her on APG Canada’s GrowOp podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grow-op/id1612361974.

Wendy Castillo McFarlane
Managing Director
Ethnicity Matters

Born in Toronto, raised partly in Guatemala and partly in Toronto, and married to a half Scottish half Czech man, Wendy has embraced multiculturalism in every sense of the word.

In her professional journey, she has been a mentor, leader, cultural enthusiast and most importantly a go-getter, leaving her mark in organizations such as FCB Canada, OSL, Air Miles- LoyaltyOne and telMax. Some of the clients she’s has led include TD, Real Canadian Super Store, Rona/Lowes, Kruger, Visa, Sobeys, BMO, Jean Coutu, Shell, Rexall, The Children’s place, Heinz, Dare Foods, SC Johnson, Eli Lilly, Hoffmann and La Roche, among others.

Today she’s fluent in Spanish and English, and leads the Creative, Operations, and a portion of Client Services at Ethnicity Matters, a Toronto-based multicultural agency that focuses on solutions that are strategically focused, creatively inspired, and results driven.

Hassan Iqbal
Sr. Art Director
AV Communications

M. Hassan Iqbal is an award-winning Art Director at AV Communications. His journey began a decade ago, commencing at Ogilvy & Mather and evolving to the helm of the Design Department at Mullen Lowe Group. Throughout this tenure, Hassan has strategically applied his creative acumen to numerous brands in both the South Asian and North American markets. 

In the realm of brand communication, Hassan has played a pivotal role in breathing vitality into global corporations such as Western Union, H&M, BMO, T&T, and Canon under the umbrella of AV Communications. His core belief resides in the notion that exceptional ideas come from profound insights derived from the intricacies of everyday life. 

Beyond the boardroom, Hassan finds solace in navigating city streets and immersing himself in diverse cultures. His creative influences draw from iconic figures such as Andy Warhol, Zaha Hadid, and Karim Rashid, with a special acknowledgment reserved for Payush Panday, his foremost creative influence. In summary, Hassan Iqbal stands as a stalwart force in the creative realm, molding brands and leaving an indelible mark on the global landscape.

Ambereen Jahangir
CEO
DV8 Communication

With a distinguished career spanning over 25 years in marketing, advertising, and the financial sector, Ambereen Jahangir has earned acclaim for her adept leadership and strategic prowess. As the CEO of DV8 Communications, Ambereen shapes the business vision, infusing creativity and innovation into the marketing-advertising landscape.

Ambereen's expertise extends to multicultural marketing, where she has demonstrated her sharp strategic insights, contributing to the success of renowned brands such as Mitsubishi Canada, Nestlé Canada, Nissan Canada, Infiniti Canada, Kraft, Maple Leaf Foods, Food Basics, Sobeys, FreshCo, Dempster’s, La Vie En Rose, Maybelline, Goodlife Fitness, and more. Her leadership has driven DV8 through innovative, integrated campaigns, earning recognition for herself and her team.

Prior to founding DV8, Ambereen held key positions in international financial institutions, including Merrill Lynch and Union Bank of Switzerland, where she served as the Head of International Markets.Her global journey has taken her to various continents, fostering a deep understanding of diverse cultures. Having lived and worked in the USA, UK, Middle East, Europe, Hong Kong, and Singapore, Ambereen brings a truly international perspective to her endeavors.

Beyond her professional pursuits, Ambereen is a passionate advocate for the moral, spiritual, and ethical development of diverse communities. Actively involved in supporting social and charitable causes, she dedicates herself to making a positive impact beyond the business realm.

In addition to leading DV8's endeavors in ethnic marketing and advertising, Ambereen finds joy in culinary creativity. She takes pride in creating fresh, health-conscious fusion recipes, showcasing her commitment to a well-rounded lifestyle. She shares her love for traveling by exploring the world with her family, adding unique experiences to both her work and personal life.

Ambereen Jahangir stands as a dynamic leader, bringing together a wealth of experience, strategic insight, and a commitment to positive societal impact. Her journey continues to inspire excellence and innovation in the realms of marketing, advertising, and beyond.

Shoeb Kadri
Creative Director, Copywriter
Freelance

A creative sherpa - that’s Shoeb. Whose thrill of the journey lies in charting new courses - having creatively led many a brand on its ascent, scaling many a challenging peak, going off beaten tracks, gaining higher heights with every climb. Whose footprint spans Mumbai, Dubai and Toronto.

As a seasoned storyteller, crafting an engaging narrative is Shoeb’s thing. So is keeping that conversation going and interesting – winging it with insight and cultural relevance, ensuring his audience stays tuned in. Some of it he’s a natural at, some of it he’s imbibed as a local in bustling Mumbai, an expat in glitzy Dubai, and a proud Canadian in multicultural Toronto.

Being at a cultural crossroads perpetually, picking up tid-bits and nuggets from different ways of speaking and thinking, gathering experiences varied and plenty.

He’s come a long way since his days as a jazz dancer with Shiamak Davar Dance Company, as a voice actor doing children’s plays at All India Radio, as an actor/production assistant doing experimental theatre, as a suit at Contract (JWT) and Rediffusion in Mumbai, as a following-his-calling Creative at Wunderman in Dubai.

Shoeb hasn’t just donned different hats and indulged in pursuits offbeat, he finds challenge and adventure in places he’s not even looking. Think random stuff of the last-minute kind - like participating in a quiz contest live on stage in Dubai with zero prep (at the behest of a friend) and walking out with a third-place trophy in tow. Or taking to darts, teaming up with his nephew at an Air Cadet’s Competition, with absolutely no clue how to throw, and straight out winning the damn thing.

In Canada, he’s worked with leading multicultural agencies like Dyversity, Barrett & Welsh, Koo Multicultural (now Visionnaire) and Balmoral. He has helped keep the multicultural initiatives of TD, Bell, Lucky Mobile, RBC, Hyundai, Rogers, Tridel, Walmart Canada, Mina Halal, Koodo, Public Mobile, and Brooke Bond on track, while introducing Welcome Pack Canada to newcomers. And before coming to Canada, he’s worked on wide-ranging brands from diverse sectors: Colgate-Palmolive, Taj Group of Hotels, Singapore Airlines, Land Rover, Ford, Mashreq Bank, Gulf News, Adobe, Microsoft, Masafi (mineral water), Ski Dubai, and many more.

Along the way, he’s won his share of awards too - from two finalists at Cannes Lions to a Gold at the Effies, plus a few wins at Dubai Lynx, Cristal Awards, Campaign Awards, and the Summit Awards closer to home. Besides being a Creative Director & Copywriter for hire, he also moonlights as a voice actor for radio and TV commercials and photographer (mostly covering events for North York Arts).

Well-grounded and well-rounded, comfortable in his skin, and proud of his roots, Shoeb comes culturally enriched, with insightful perspectives and a balanced mind that is mature, yet curious as ever.

Arjun Kumar
Creative Director
Freelance

Arjun has over 15 years experience in crafting campaigns in Tamil, English, and Hindi. His efforts have yielded multiple wins in shows like the Effies, Spikes Asia, and Abby's to name a few. In his new home of Canada, Arjun has been freelancing for brands like Dove, Lindt, TD and Bell to name a few and has struck gold at the 2023 Marketing Awards too.

When Arjun is done writing this bio, he will work on his second book, following his debut work of fiction, "A Boy Called Dustbin."

Elsa Lai
Creative Director
BlueSky Creative

Elsa has over 25 years of experience in multicultural advertising. Her strong cultural insights and creativity have brought remarkable results for her clients such as TD Bank, Porsche Canada, Koodo Mobile, Public Mobile, Egg Farmers of Canada, Concord Pacific Group, i-Squared Developments, Nordstrom, Walmart, Petro-Canada, General Motors, McDonald’s, Rogers, Bell and Coca-Cola.

She was also the recipient of numerous advertising awards, including Multicultural Marketing Awards, Summit Creative Awards, BILD Awards, plus over 50 CCAMMA and VCAMMA Awards including best of show, best TV campaign, best radio campaign, best print campaign, and more.

Besides being a creative director, Elsa has recently launched a podcast channel on YouTube, interviewing people of diverse backgrounds and occupations. She believes that better understanding of people with different experiences could foster respect and empathy towards others.

Elsa loves bringing joy and positivity to others. In her spare time, she shares “EyesToon” on social platforms – a series of lighthearted cartoons she creates with funny eyes on real life objects.

Sachi Mukerji
President & Creative Director
Monsoon Communications

Culture eats strategy for breakfast” according to Peter Drucker. Sachi says it also works in reverse. "Without strategy, culture is meaningless". Combining the two and making it work has been his mission since he started Monsoon Communications on a wing and a prayer. Today, it is rated as one of Toronto’s most respected multicultural agencies with a client portfolio that’s envied by competitors. Sachi is a well-travelled, well-read, highly engaging and incisive advertising man with deep roots in strategy and the creative process. His career has taken him from India (his country of origin) to Australia, England and finally Canada as a copywriter, creative director, President and CEO of agencies. A true global citizen in every way with a wide angle lens on Canada’s changing demographics.

Arif Rasheed
VP, Client Services
Dyversity Communications

Arif Rasheed is a seasoned marketing strategist, and a multicultural marketing expert. He is Vice President at Dyversity Communications, a Stagwell company dedicated to helping businesses drive new growth and sales by engaging Canada’s significant and fast-growing
multicultural communities.

Arif’s distinct global experiences that span over various categories in South Asia and North America has formed a fluid thinking and operating style. He had 8 years stint at Publicis prior to joining Dyversity, and has worked with various global and National brands across categories; like Nestlé, Unilever, Smucker, Sanofi, RBC Royal Bank, Bell Canada, Hewlett Packard, Canada Post, Lactalis and Hyundai to name a few.

An analytical mind with a clear direction is what sums up Arif, and this chess, snooker, and golf enthusiast brings strategic master moves to both the gaming floor and the boardroom alike.

Ishan Ghosh
Chairman & Chief Purpose Officer
Barrett and Welsh

Chairman (Emeritus) & Chief Purpose Officer at Barrett and Welsh and a veteran marketing entrepreneur for two decades. With 30+ years in major network agencies around the world, Ishan guides the agency in being conscious and sensitive to the critical role of diversity and inclusion in their development of brand engagement initiatives and within their business. It is in fact, the Agency's purpose, to create ideas that move people, leaving no one behind. As a Charter and Founding Member of the Multicultural Marketing Alliance Canada, Ishan is a champion of cultural segment marketing, including social minority groups.

Ishan is a Sessions Instructor in Branding and Marketing at the Rotman Business School of Management and the University of Toronto. He is a frequent speaker at industry forums and an Op-ed writer in industry journals. Ishan is a founding advisory board member of the Canadian Marketing League, a competition that bridges academia and industry and serves on several other advisory boards of diversity and inclusion organizations and groups. Ishan has been frequently on the juries of the Canadian Marketing Awards, Canadian Marketing League, Summit International Awards, Campaign Ad Tech Awards, Georgie Awards, Shopper Marketing Awards and aTomic Awards.

Sharifa Khan
President & CEO
Balmoral Multicultural Marketing

Sharifa has four decades of experience in multicultural marketing in Canada and is considered a pioneer of this industry. At Balmoral, she leads a team of seasoned ethnic marketing professionals to guide corporate and government clients, in building culturally relevant communications for multicultural consumers across Canada.

Her motto is “Building Bridges of Understanding.” She is a maestro in putting a cultural lens to strategy and brands, to drive consideration and solidify relationships between mainstream organizations and ever-growing diverse market segments.

Sharifa has received some of Canada's top business, marketing and community development awards. In 2021, she was inducted into the prestigious Canadian Marketing Hall of Legends, the first-ever multicultural marketer to be honoured as a laureate. She is a rare three-time Jubilee Award recipient from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, with Gold, Diamond and Platinum wins. She has been awarded federal recognition from past Prime Minister Jean Chrétien for her entrepreneurial success. She was also a Top 10 Woman of Influence (Trailblazer) award winner in 2018, and the recipient of the 2013 RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award.

Sharifa has led her agencies in winning numerous awards at the Cassies, Strategy's Marketing Awards and the Summit International Awards for clients such as: OLG, BMW, Canada Life, Ottawa Tourism and Clorox.

In giving back to the community, Sharifa has been on the advisory board of the Ontario Media Development Corporation, is an Honorary Advisor of the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, is on the Board of Governors of Mount Sinai Hospital, and served as a past Vice-Chair of OCAD University.

Kristian Manchester
Chief Creative Officer
Sid Lee

Kristian is a major creative strength behind numerous global campaigns crafted by Sid Lee with
many successful Cirque du Soleil , The North Face and adidas worldwide initiatives under his belt.

A multidisciplinary soul at heart, Kris always puts his creativity to good use, seamlessly mixing
design, branding and culture. A seasoned visual artist, he has his personal projects too, his latest being an art exhibit at Art Basel and the co-direction of the movie Takedown: The DNA of GSP.

Christina Yu
Partner, Chief Creative Officer
Lifelong Crush

Sean Barlow
Chief Creative Officer
Cundari

Sean believes creativity is the ultimate cure for commoditization and parody in the marketplace. It can serve up a product in a totally different light or can disrupt an entire category. Creativity can bring life to a stagnant or unknown brand.

In this day and age, it’s dangerous not to push for great work. Sean’s been committed to doing great work in the search for what he calls “brand affection.” If people remember the work, connect to the work, and love it, you’ll have a customer for life. He was born with advertising in his blood and online videos burnt on his retinas, and has been blessed to work at such agencies as TBWA, McCann, Leo Burnett, Cossette, and is currently CCO at Cundari.

Alexandre Béland
Creative Director
Freelance

Alex is the perfect example of a self-taught creative, carving his path in the advertising industry for over 15 years. A stellar designer, he not only acquainted himself with the nuances of advertising but swiftly ascended to become a distinguished art director and then creative director. Fueling his creative instincts through extensive travels, Alex honed his artistic eye with months spent capturing the essence of the world through photography.

Throughout his career, Alex spearheaded compelling campaigns for renowned brands such as Volkswagen, Coca-Cola, IGA, Loto-Québec, Amnesty International, Réno-Dépôt, and Couche-Tard. Alex served as creative director at Taxi for the past 2 and a half years, leaving an indelible mark. This period not only highlights his adaptability but also underscores his leadership. Alex boasts a proven track record of delivering impactful and socially relevant campaigns, solidifying his reputation in the advertising industry.

Raul Garcia
Executive Creative Director
Courage

Raul is an internationally awarded Executive Creative Director / Art Director / Instructor with over 24 years of experience working for agencies in Toronto, Vancouver, New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles. His work has been featured on the front page of the Toronto Star, landed on the front page of Reddit (twice), was spoofed by the Canadian television satire comedy show The Mercer Report,and has been blogged/tweeted by numerous celebrities including 50 cent, Pharrell Williams, Rosario Dawson and Zoe Kravitz. For one of his most recent projects, Raul and team created an experiential idea that inspired Lizzo to create artwork with her backside.

Raul has earned recognition in almost every national and international award show. Some of his highlights include a Grand Effie, a D&AD Black Pencil, a Titanium Cannes Lion, and Cassies Grand Prix. Most recently Raul has worked on the globally awarded Bill It To Bezos campaign.

Outside of advertising, Raul is a big video game junkie. In 2013, he was ranked 51st overall in Call of Duty Black ops 2 (for about 15 minutes).

Andrew Lavery
VP, Executive Creative Director
Critical Mass

Andrew, affectionately known as “Lav”, is VP, Executive Creative Director at Critical Mass.

Design educated and digitally cultivated, he has created industry celebrated work for global brands like DIRECTV, AT&T, QuickBooks, Apple, Nike, Nissan, and many more. Last year, he stepped in to co-lead a multi-agency team for Snickers, M&Ms, Starburst, Twix, Skittles and, well you get it, all the candy brands under Mars Wrigley.

Lav is an optimistic malcontent who is deeply interested in the intersection of brands + culture, tech + ideas, A.I + humanity. And to this end, he has built campaigns, identities, platforms, experiences, brand worlds, tech-enabled stories, automated creative engines, animatronic sheep, and one little human (is there an award category for that?)

Alana Lees
Co-Founder, Managing Partner & Chief Brand Strategist
BOOM InterTribal

Prior to co-founding BOOM InterTribal, an Indigenous owned, full-service agency, Alana spent over 20 years honing her craft at some of Toronto’s top-performing agencies, including Cossette, Grip and JWT, delivering results for world-class brand portfolios such as LCBO, Honda, Coca-Cola, Toyota and Tim Hortons. She went on to work Client-side on global brands and not-for-profit.

Alana is of mixed descent, raised in Judaism, and a proud member of Fisher River Cree Nation. As an intergenerational survivor of the residential school system, Alana has spent the last two decades re-connecting to culture, exploring and living her passion for advocacy and the global movement towards Truth and Reconciliation.

Alana’s lived-experience in the Indigenous and non-Indigenous worlds gives her an intimate understanding of the values, traditions, experiences, challenges, thought processes and ways of life – of both worlds.

Straddling these two worlds, Alana innately understands the human insights that transcend and unify them. Through the journey of discovery and strategic planning, she finds the common ground that opens lines of communication. She is a conduit between worlds helping to create meaningful campaigns that form genuine connections and an awareness of shared values.

By connecting Indigenous worldviews and marketing insights, Alana and her team at BOOM are elevating purpose driven work with clients such as TD, Telus, Deloitte and Sysco on their journey of Reconciliation. As well as supporting such Indigenous organizations as the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, and the First Nations Bank of Canada. Whether creating social impact or delivering business results, Alana firmly believes that awareness inspires action.

Bernice Lo
ECD
Angry Butterfly

Better known as “Bee” by her peers, Bernice is a Creative Director at Angry Butterfly who has
made it her career goal to be a strong female and BIPOC role model, leader, mentor, and
advocate for diversity and inclusion within agencies and the ad industry.

Throughout the span of her 15+ year career in advertising, she’s created campaigns for brands
in almost every category, with work being recognized in both national and international award
shows, all while helping build and lead creative departments over the last several years.

Outside of her day job, Bernice co-founded a social advertising network called Open Chair, a
Toronto-based network for women+ working in the creative advertising industry looking to
support, promote, uplift, celebrate, and collaborate with one another. As an invite-only
network, Open Chair Toronto is committed to creating a safe space for women to connect,
share and be heard, while making sure the industry is a more inclusive, diverse, and inspiring
place to be.

Brian Murray
Chief Creative Officer
Zulu Alpha Kilo

Brian Murray is Chief Creative Officer at Zulu Alpha Kilo in Toronto. Brian was ranked the #1 Creative in Canada in the 2021 and 2022 One Show rankings and the #2 Chief Creative Officer in Canada on the 2022 Strategy Magazine Creative Report Card. Brian has worked in both Toronto, CAN, and London, UK, alongside many talented people, and is one of the only Creative Directors in the country to have won multiple Cannes Lions Grand Prix trophies. He was a key contributor to a Grand Clio in Creative Effectiveness, a One Show Best in Discipline in Creative Effectiveness and a Penta Pencil. Also, Brian has an MBA from the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. (Advertising is a business after all.

Deborah Prenger
Creative Director, Art Director
Freelance

As a multi-faceted, multi-award-winning Art Director, Designer, and Creative Director, Deborah’s big picture thinking and finesse to the smallest detail inspires people to act, think, and behave differently. Her client roster includes an impressive array of blue-chip partnerships, a sampling of which include Ikea, Lexus, American Express, Molson, Greenpeace, Unilever, Staples, CIBC, Harry Rosen, Harvey’s and Ontario Ministry of Health.

Jessie Sorell
Executive Creative Director
Narrative PR + Bensimon Byrne

Jessie is an Executive Creative Director at Narrative, a division of Tadiem. Since 2018 (minus two mat leaves) she has bolstered the comprehensive creative competency of the agency, bridging creative, experiential and strategic PR expertise to bring some of Narrative's most notable and award-winning campaigns to life. Her contributions have helped to earn Gold at the 2019 Strategy PR Agency of the Year Awards and a 2023 shortlist nomination. Jessie joined the Tadiem family in 2007 and has been biking to work ever since (rain, snow or shine). Between back-to-back meetings, proverbial fire-fighting and relentless mediocrity when it comes to child-rearing, she meets monthly with her amateur wine club to hone her ability to detect 'forest floor' and 'barnyardy' notes.

Martine St-Victor
General Manager
Edelman

Martine St-Victor is a communications strategist and the General Manager of Edelman in Montréal; one of the 60 offices across the globe, making it the most important communication firm in the world.

In addition, Martine is a monthly columnist at the Montreal Gazette and La Presse and she’s a weekly collaborator on Radio-Canada television and radio. She’s also an analyst on CTV News.

A Francophone and a Francophile, Martine is a Trustee on various Boards: the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, the KANPE Foundation, the Pensionnat du Saint-Nom-de-Marie Foundation, IRPP (Institute for Research on Public Policy), the Fondation de l’Institut de Cardiologie de Montréal and Plus1.

Martine St-Victor is a founding member of the Black Opportunity Fund and Vice-Chair of the Québec section of IWF (International Women’s Forum).

Priya Chopra
CEO & Founder
1Milk2Sugars & double shot

Born and raised in Montreal with an East Indian heritage, Priya is the founder and CEO of 1Milk2Sugars, an award-winning and bilingual PR and digital marketing firm, and the partner entity of her globally inclusive talent agency, double shot.

Since launching in 2012, 1Milk2Sugars has flourished under Priya's leadership, earning recognition as one of Canada's Top Growing Companies in 2023 by the Globe and Mail and one of Canada's Fastest-Growing Companies by the 2020 Growth List. Additionally, 1Milk2Sugars was recognized as one of Canada's top Female-Led Agencies by PR in Canada and received the Small Business of the Year award by Canadian SME Magazine. Priya's commitment to excellence has garnered industry-wide acclaim, solidifying the agency as a certified Great Place to WorkTM since 2021.

Passionate about equality, Priya integrates diversity and empowerment into her agency's ethos. In 2021, she launched double shot, the groundbreaking talent management agency and partner entity of 1Milk2Sugars focused on amplifying BIPOC and underrepresented voices in lifestyle marketing. In its first year of exis- tence, double shot was recognized by the Canadian Public Relations Society for excellence in advancing diversity, equity and inclusion. Today, double shot has achieved triple-digit business growth year- over-year and is credited as Canada's first talent agency to make global inclusivity its raison d'etre.

Recognized by prestigious entities like Forbes Agency Council and Bloomberg Canada, Priya's profes- sional achievements include multiple nominations for the RBC Women of Influence Award, PR In Canada Women in Communications Award, and the title of Inspirational Leader of the Year by Canadian SME Magazine in 2020.

Beyond her business success, Priya, a trilingual mom of three, embraces personal and professional fulfill- ment with excitement for the future.

Carle Coppens
Head of Creative
Havas Montreal

Ari Elkouby
CCO
VML Canada Inc.

Ari Elkouby is a Chief Creative Officer at VML Canada where he creatively oversees a diverse portfolio of clients across North America including Mazda Canada.

His twodecades of industry experience has seen him work across a broad spectrum of clients on bothsides of the border including stops at Zulu Alpha Kilo, Proximity, FCB and Fallon Worldwide.

His work has appeared in industry publications including AdAge, Campaign Magazine, the Most
Contagious List as well as Fast Company and The New York Times. His work has garnered him
accolades including multiple Cannes Lions, Webby Awards, Communication Arts, One Show pencils and Clio Awards.

He helps his client’s messages breakthrough with omni-channel thinking and integration of
innovative technology. Ari is fiercely collaborative and regularly contributes thought leadership pieces to various publications on industry trends as well as sits on numerous international jury panels including Cannes Lions Direct in 2022 and sits on the board of directors of White Ribbon Canada.

Danielle Haythorne
Creative Director
Will

Danielle is a Creative Director at Will in Vancouver.

She started her career as a writer in Toronto, creating award-winning work for a handful of agencies before moving to Vancouver to do the same at Rethink and then 123w.
She is inspired by insight-driven work and great storytelling, and loves finding unexpected ways to solve creative problems.

She has two small kids who hate when ads come on the free version of spotify, and thus don't like advertising.

Morgan Kurchak
Group Creative Director
Leo Burnett

Morgan Kurchak is a Group Creative Director at Leo Burnett. He works on Gain Laundry Detergent for North America. He also oversees copy for Leo Burnett Design across their clients. His work has been recognized by every major award show both nationally and internationally, including Cannes, AD&D and The One Show.

Marilyn Maitland
Creative Director
GUT

Over 3 years ago, Marilyn-Rose Maitland joined GUT as Creative Director, teaming up with ECD Brynna Aylward, creative chiefs and many talented people around the network to help build the network’s award winning global success. Marilyn’s decade plus experience slaying with smart clients like Tim Hortons’, ABI, GoodLife, White Ribbon, Catalyst, Kraft, Ford Motor Company, Tangerine Bank, NBC, BMO, Levis’ and dozens more have been recognized by both prestigious International and Canadian award shows and also appearing multiple times on creative report card rankings.

You might have seen Marilyn’s work featured, organically, on media outlets from NBC’s TODAY Show to Breakfast Television and ranked #1 trending topics on Reddit, X, Buzzfeed and Facebook. Marilyn’s portfolio spans the far reaches of the communications ecosystem and stems from the belief that people-first design and ideas that are rooted in human truths have the power to improve the every day and help us live happier, more engaging existences. On a totally not-professional-but-kinda-fun note, Marilyn can be caught trying hole-in-the-wall cuisine in search for the next yum dish, talking way too much to her plant babies as well as her fur baby, Nanook, painting and reaching for her toes as she tries to survive far-too-hot hot yoga studios in Toronto.

Kim Tarlo
Executive Creative Director, Partner
Mint

Kim is Executive Creative Director and partner at Mint. Over the last 17 years, she has spent her time at highly ranked creative agencies in Toronto, the UK and US endeavouring to build brands that thrive in, or sometimes even form, culture. She has worked on a mix of global and local work, massive brand transformations, and nimble projects. Her work has been recognized by Cannes, Effies, Clios, Strategy, Communication Arts, and many others. She received Gold in the Global Creative Academy competition with Google for her work on Chevrolet, and her rebrand of A&E received the Fast Company’s Innovation by Design award. She was named in Marketing Magazine’s Top 30 Under 30 and one of YouTube’s Creative Women to Watch. She has served as an instructor at Miami Ad School and has a deep passion for mentoring and developing young talent.

She's also the co-founder and creative director of HomeCourt, and co-founder and operator of Darling Mimosa. And though her agency's majority identifies as women, the same can't be said of her household. She lives with her incredible husband, hilarious and amazing sons, and dog Rupert.

Frédéric Tremblay
Creative Director
LG2

Frédéric began his career as an illustrator and gradually transitioned into advertising. Over the past 20 years, he has worked on the repositioning of several major Quebec brands such as Maxi, Boréale Microbrewery, Desjardins, and Montreal Olympic Park, as well as numerous awareness campaigns including those for the Lifesaving Society of Quebec and Préma-Québec. His work has been recognized by Clio Health, Applied Arts, The One Show, the Art Directors Club, the Marketing Awards, CRÉA, Grafika, and Communication Arts.

Abeer Verma
Creative Director
Citizen Relations

Abeer is a writer and creative director at Citizen Relations in Toronto. Since joining in 2019, Abeer has helped the agency land both PR Campaign of the Year and Gold PR AoY wins on separate occasions. His work has also been recognized at the international level from the likes of The One Show, Clios, LIAs, Cannes and The Webby’s. He has spent his many years in advertising at agencies across the country, trying his absolute best to find a version of Canadian winters he can get excited about.

2024 Jury