EDUCATION
MA, Cultural Theory, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA (Graduated 1994)
BA, English and History, Trinity College, University of Toronto (Graduated 1992)
EXPERIENCE
2022-Present: Campaign Copy Lead, Wealthsimple
I currently lead the creative copy team for Wealthsimple’s campaigns team, where I’ve worked on both product and brand campaigns resulting in net deposits to the platform counted in the hundreds of millions of dollars. While Wealthsimple has always produced the vast majority of its work in-house, I’ve recently helped expand our efforts by engaging agencies as well, allowing us to scale our creative output without increasing headcount.
2020-2002: Creative Director & Editor-in-Chief, Juliet
What began as a 2-week contract turned into a full-time position. My main job here was as creative lead for the Mailchimp business, based in Atlanta. In close quarters with their internal team, we created original editorial work, newsletters, social posts, toolkits, videos, and yes, because it’s Mailchimp, lots and lots of emails. Our original engagement doubled in scope at least twice during my time on the account, but the work we did was ultimately taken over ny their in-house creative team following Mailchimp’s acquistition by Intuit.
2019-2020: Creative Director, King Ursa
At this rapidly growing agency and production studio, my clients included Moosehead, Twisted Tea, Cordura and others. As part of the agency’s Senior Leadership Team, I also led fun stuff like award submissions and case videos. And somehow, I ended up doing a lot of voiceover work for our internal projects.
2018-2019: Creative Director, Cossette
Served as CD on a pretty big burger chain you might know. It has an M for a logo. If you can’t work it out based on that, just call me.
2015-2018: Creative Director, Jam3
Creative Director at one of Canada's finest digital design and production studios. Clients included Facebook, Google, Success Academy, Lionsgate.
2014-2015: Creative Director, Edelman
Creative direction for both the traditional and digital/social departments. Clients included Intuit, Kraft, Johnson & Johnson, and Unilever.
2012-2014: Group Creative Director, Leo Burnett
Creative direction and copywriting for digital and traditional campaigns. Clients include Mr. Clean, LCBO, Enbridge, TD Bank.
2010-2012: Associate Creative Director, Juniper Park
Creative Direction and copywriting for digital and traditional campaigns. Clients included Quaker, Kraft, Lay's, Virgin Mobile, Toronto Pearson and Delta Hotels.
2008-2010: Freelance Writer
Writing, editing and concept development for various clients including Juniper Park, Grip Limited, Hypenotic, and RockPeaks.com. I also wrote Coffee Talk a 3x/weekly column for MSN/Sympatico, which was at that time Canada's largest portal. Along the way, I also owned and operated Pantry, a fine food store and cafe located in the Dufferin Grove area of Toronto.
2006-2009: Associate, Creative, Teehan + Lax
Interactive campaign development, copywriting and senior creative leadership for a variety of clients including TELUS, Air Miles, BMW Canada, John Hancock, and New Balance Canada.
2005-2006: Senior Writer, Organic
Interactive campaign development and copywriting for international clients including Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler, Sprint and Bank of America.
2004-2005: Senior Writer, Henderson Bas
Interactive campaign development and copywriting for clients including Nike, Molson, Levi’s, ING Direct and Yamaha.
2001-2003: Head Writer, UnpluggedTV.com
Interactive campaign development and copywriting for clients including BMW, Schick, Bell, MusicNet , McDonald’s, Much Loud and American Express; concept and screenplay development for all of Unplugged’s award-winning animated series.
AWARDS (SELECTED)
2018 Cannes Lions Award (Gold, Bronze)
Craft. (ChangeGout.com)
2017 FWA SOTD
Site of the Day awards for Change Gout (both standard and mobile editions), Participaction and John Wick 2.
2017 AWWWARDS SOTD
Site of the Day for Change Gout,
2016 FWA SOTD
Mobile Site of the Day for Starburst.
2015 Cassies Award (Gold)
Packaged Goods. (Mr. Clean)
2015 Cassies Award (Gold)
Canadian Success on the Global Stage. (Mr. Clean)
2014 Applied Arts Award
Retail Applications. (Intergalactic Travel Authority)
2010 Effie Award (Silver)
"Happiness is Simple" campaign. (Lay's)
2008 W3 Award (Gold)
Travel Category. (Air Miles)
2008 FWA Site of the Day
"Magic Machine" Website. (TELUS)
2007 W3 Award (Silver)
Telecommunications Category. (TELUS)
2005 One Show Interactive Award (Certificate)
Website (Levi's)
2003 South By Southwest Award (Gold)
Best Band/Music Site, People’s Choice Award (Rush.com)
2002 South By Southwest Award (Gold)
Best Humor/Comedy Site. (UnpluggedTV.com)
2002 Gold Promax Award (Gold)
Best Branding Campaign for a Digital Channel. (Much Loud)
2001 Digital Marketing Award (Gold)
Best Website – Experience. (UnpluggedTV.com)
SPEAKING EXPERIENCE
2018 Ryerson Entertainment Conference. Keynote Speaker
2014 Humber College Public Relations Program. Guest Lecturer
2011 Pecha Kucha, Toronto. “Staying Hungry”
2004 South By Southwest Festival, Austin, TX. Panelist, “Philosophy of Episodic Content”
2003 Flash in the Can Festival, Toronto. Panelist, “Made in Canada”
2003 Canadian Film Centre Habitat Program, Toronto. Guest Lecturer
2003 Centennial College New Media Program, Toronto. Guest Lecturer
OTHER EXPERIENCE
Published freelance journalist for several national and local publications, including the Globe and Mail, Sympatico.ca, CBC.ca, 2 Magazine, Motion, City Bites and others.
Founded Pantry, a fine food shop and catering company featured in BlogTO, Toronto Life, and numerous other publications.
IN THE RARE MOMENTS I'M NOT WORKING...
Family, friends, food, wine, travel, cycling, weight lifting, synthesizers, photography. Voracious consumer of music, books, magazines and podcasts.