On episode 83, I speak with Nat Resende, who grew up on a coffee farm in Brazil and has worked her way up to EVP and ECD, leading Creative for Digitas North America.

She’s a champion of inclusive representation in the world of advertising and mentors creatives navigating the industry from a minority experience.

Today, we’re focusing on the importance of weaving inclusivity into our creative work—especially at a time when DEI is under attack. It’s a timely and hugely important issue.

I’m thrilled to welcome back pitch and presentation expert Ben Levy for his encore appearance on Confessions of a Creative Director. Ben has a new book out called Stop Reading Slides: How to nail creative presentations and sell your best ideas.

This book covers everything you need to know about the topic but today we’re going to focus on perhaps the most important part which is overcoming client objections. We've all been there. We present the best work of our lives....and the client just doesn't "get it" or thinks "it won't work."

On this episode, we nerd out with Creative Director Calvin Innes from JVM Nerd London, a full service creative and media agency for Gaming, Nerd-Culture, and Fandom Communities. He’s going to deliver the Pop Culture Trends Creative Directors need to know about including the rise of the Kidults and the influence of gamification on retail and culture.

On this episode I speak to Andrew Carty Head of Strategy and Glen D’Souza Head of Creative respectively for Forsman & Bodenfors Canada about their unique approach to integrating creative and strategy into what they call “The Product”. They’ll also touch on the importance of creative teams being involved early in the process, the tools they use to foster creativity, such as 'what if' statements and their innovative concept of 'flooring' work for peer review, and embracing the messy nature of the process to achieve impactful results for clients.

On this episode I speak to Creative Strategist and Director David Levine, whose wide ranging career has taken him from working in the scrappy world of the music business to the burgeoning of experiential marketing to now working alongside scientists and engineers.

Listen as we break down David’s concept of using hyphens as a superpower, which emphasizes the importance of embracing multiple skills and perspectives in the creative process.

We’ll also discuss his insights on collaboration, the challenges of ambiguity, and the importance of collecting and connecting weird dots. This is the perfect episode to end the year and get us thinking about how to make the most of 2025.

On this episode, Nick Sonderup, Co-Chief Creative Director of Strawberry Frog in New York City, shares his incredible journey in the advertising industry, including stints at MTV, Wieden+Kennedy, and BBDO.

Then, we’ll dive into an exclusive preview of his forthcoming book, How Not to Hate Advertising, which is, in reality, a love letter to the business. The book emphasizes the importance of mentorship, navigating new technologies, maintaining empathy in client relationships, and finding fulfillment in your work.

On this episode, I speak to Emily Jeffrey-Barrett, founder of Among Equals in the UK, a brand and campaign agency for people who want to make more than *just* money.

Emily shares her journey from working in large advertising agencies to one day realizing that her fear of not starting her own agency became bigger than her fear of actually doing it. That was the day she handed in her notice and jumped head-first into starting Among Equals during a global pandemic, no less.

She discusses the challenges she faced and how she struck gold with her agency’s strategy of “start with no one cares.”

If you’ve ever wanted to start your own agency this episode might change your life.

I am thrilled to welcome my friend and former colleague, Creative and Brand Strategist Matt Jones. Matt and I met during his time at Jack Morton where he was Global SVP of Strategy and Creative… and to this day, he is hands down the best, most brilliant, most effective creative strategist I've ever worked with.

His career has taken him from the halls of Parliament to the C-Suites of some of the biggest brands in the world, to co-creating a highly successful brand of his own, about which he’s written a new book called “Lessons From Gin.”