During the course of my career, I have had the opportunity to work with several of the world’s leading experiential and lifestyle brands, including Ace Hotel, VICE, Phaidon and Selina Hotel -- helping to start up, build and lead their cultural programming, operating procedures, strategic partnerships, business development and experiential marketing.
In 2007, I joined VICE, just as it was growing to be the global brand we know today. My role was Head of Events Marketing, where the responsibilities included ideating, curating and executing national events for brand partners.
During that time, along with my brother, I sold, produced and programmed the television show Dinner with the Band which aired in 2009. The first cooking and music show of its kind ran for two award-winning seasons on IFC (Portlandia), which is now part of the AMC (Mad Men, Breaking Bad) network.
After IFC, I joined Ace Hotel Group where, over the next 9 years, I became the Global Head of Programming and Venues, the Global Head of Sponsorship and Partnerships, eventually finishing my time there as the Global Head of Business Development, switching from cultural roles to revenue focused. At Ace, I built out each of those departments and helped launch 6 hotels, including London, Panama and Los Angeles for which I developed new streams of revenue, go-to-market cultural strategies and strategic partnership frameworks. I led the launch of the historic Theatre at Ace Hotel, a 1600 seat landmark theatre, overseeing the execution of the redevelopment strategy. Throughout my tenure, I helped build a network of over 1,000+ global cultural partners and led over 8,000 events. As Global Head of Sponsorships and Business Development, I introduced 10 different revenue models and discovered 250 C-Level partners resulting in $20M in culturally focused revenue.
Following Ace, I took the role of Global Vice President of Concept and Programming at Selina, where I oversaw the creation and execution of company-wide strategies, systems and procedures across 19 countries and more than 65 properties, allowing Selina to operate from a unified global standard with the goal of financial stabilization 3x faster then industry standards. This led to my role as Vice President of Experience, implementing the strategies and processes that I had previously built.
In congruence with my professional career, I am also the co-host of Snacky Tunes, one of the longest running food podcasts in the industry, having interviewed 400+ Chefs (over 150 James Beard-nominated, Michelin-starred, Best New Chef awarded guests), along with the best up-and-coming bands in Brooklyn and Los Angeles. Our upcoming book Snacky Tunes: Music as the Main Ingredient will be published by Phaidon Fall 2020.
Today I work with clients in the worlds of hospitality, tech, entertainment, culinary, podcasts, music and art who are in need of expertise on strategic partnerships, experiential marketing, cultural programming and innovative business development.