Media People Podcast Victor Genova

It’s episode 100 and we welcome back our episode nine guest, Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada President, Sonia Carreno.

Sonia was only a handful of months into her presidency when we first chatted back in 2015. Nine years later, Sonia returns to talk about how the IAB Canada has evolved under her leadership, while providing insight into how the organization tackles issues and shapes policy impacting the digital media industry.

A big thank you to all of our loyal listeners and past guests. We couldn’t have hit the 100-episode milestone without your support.

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Kevin Bartus is a terrible employee—those are his words, not mine. But that’s OK because he’s a very successful entrepreneur.

Kevin is the President and CEO of Ideon Media—Canada’s largest digital rep firm, responsible for monetizing Canadian ad traffic for brands such as VICE Media and IGN, to name a few. Ideon also owns and operates several sites including SavvyMom, 29Secrets, and AmongMen.

A Chicago native, Kevin was quite the academic in his youth. He found subjects like math easy, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that he graduated from both MIT and Harvard.

He moved into consulting after university and then founded Blue Spark—a company building websites for TorStar and Rogers.

Despite an exit and the chance to lead Rogers Media’s foray into digital advertising, Kevin had the itch get back out on his own. He saw the success Olive Media enjoyed in the rep space, and decided to emulate their business model with Ideon Media.

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Cracking the media industry can be tough for an employee, but for an entrepreneur? Building something from scratch can be a tall order.

But it was a challenge that Sotero Bernardo was up for. Sotero is the Co-Founder, Head of Business Development at Coastal Digital Group—an experience agency combining creativity with technology.

The original goal was to make it in media sales. But sales opportunities are scarce when you’re fresh out of school, so Sotero took a job as a jr. media planner at Cossette Media—working on both the Nike and Sony PlayStation media accounts.

He moved into venue advertising before networking his way to a sales role with Ideon Media. His success led to a promotion along with expanded responsibilities that included managing people and acquiring new publisher representation deals.

But Sotero saw an opportunity within the creative space. He had a plan to capitalize on it, and co-founded Coastal Digital Group with his business partner.

Sotero Bernardo stop by to chat about growing up in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood, attending high school in suburbia, working at McDonald’s, monetizing charisma lessons, his media sales career, and entrepreneurship in the ultra-competitive media space.

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Sales is a performative art, and presentations are like a play. Notes serve as the script, while the PowerPoint deck acts as the set. The boardroom the stage, and clients the audience. At the heart of the production—the sales rep.

When comparing the two professions, you can see why today’s guest, Kristie Painting, has enjoyed a successful sales career.

Kristie is Pinterest’s Country Manager for Canada, and while many people in her position have a marketing or business degree, Kristie majored in drama.

Her first job out of university was handling pharmaceutical orders. Kristie wasn’t enthused by the work, and quickly moved into media sales with NOW Magazine.

She progressed into roles with Yahoo! and DoubleClick, and ascended into leadership positions at Olive Media and Bell Media, to name a few.

Kristie Painting stops by to chat about growing up in suburban Toronto, her passion for the dramatic arts, her media sales career, why she took an agency job, and leading Pinterest’s Canadian office.

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When Valerie Tyson interviewed for a marketing role with the Charlotte Hornets, it was team owner and NBA legend, Michael Jordan, who handled her final interview.

And this is only one of the many stories comprising Valerie’s sports marketing career.

Valerie is the Co-Founder, Head of Strategy + Sports at Unrivaled Group—a female led, sports driven tech consultancy.

Valerie’s career didn’t start in sports, but local radio—running promotions for stations in Arizona and San Diego. She moved KLSX in Los Angeles, where it provided her first taste in sports marketing. It included LA Kings radio broadcasts along with west coast events for the Howard Stern Show.

She jumped at the chance to lead marketing for the LA Avengers inaugural season in the Arena Football League, and it was from here her sports marketing career took off.

Valerie Tyson stops by to chat about growing up in Chicago, why she studied journalism in university, creative ways to launch an arena football team, relaunching Charlotte’s NBA team after the original Hornets moved to New Orleans, and what she’s out to accomplish with Unrivaled Group.

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Kensington Grey is an influencer management agency rooted in diversity, representing an extensive roster of black and brown creators. At the heart of the agency is President & CEO, Shannae Ingleton Smith.

Born in Toronto, raised in Calgary, Shannae studied finance and economics in university. But marketing was her real passion. There wasn’t an option to major in it, so Shannae filled her electives with every marketing class available.

She moved into finance after graduation, but quickly pivoted into media sales with Mediaplanet Publishing.

Shannae moved to Rogers Media, holding sales roles at MacLean’s Magazine, Elevate Multi-Platform Sales, and leading a multi-million-dollar territory of education-based clients.

It was during this time that the seeds for Kensington Grey were planted. Shannae ran a private Facebook group providing business advice to black influencers. She noticed that opportunities were slim, and their services were undervalued. She saw an opportunity to rectify this, and Kensington Grey was born.

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