About Me
I'm currently a Director of Growth, leading Brand & Audience Expansion at Shopify. Our teams inspire entrepreneurship and grow brand awareness & affinity through mediums like:
Entertainment: creating feature films, primetime TV shows, podcasts and more
Social Media: bringing our brand voice to life on Twitter to ClubHouse and beyond
YouTube: developing original content and authentic Creator partnerships
Marketing Partnerships: collabs with top Brands, Publishers, Media Companies, Streamers and more
Full-Stack Brand Campaigns: telling stories and creating digital experiences that help more entrepreneurs discover their own potential (and Shopify!)
Professional Experience
Over the past five years at Shopify, I've spearheaded the internationalization of our App & Partner Platform, led a wide range of Product and Marketing teams, and founded our free stock photo platform Burst (scaling from 0 to 30+ million downloads).
Before that, I worked for a group of tech & media investors — I evaluated new angel investments, consulted on M&A deals and worked with portfolio companies to take their digital marketing strategies and tactics to the next level. I specialized in investments in media publishing & production, ecommerce, and patented hardware.
Earlier in my career, I developed my technical marketing skills by volunteering for non-profits, shipping side projects, consulting for local startups and working for an Ottawa-based media publisher (Adjump/Shared). Over the years, I've managed seven figure budgets as a Media Buyer, optimized SEO across hundreds of pages, grown Social accounts to millions of followers, designed top-ranking web and mobile apps, and led international marketing campaigns for brands like Hasbro, Lego and Sony Pictures.
Education
Honors BA (2006 - 2010): Media, Information & Technoculture with a Certificate in Writing, University of Western Ontario
MBA (2013 - 2015): Innovation & New Technology, McMaster University & EDHEC University (France)
Certifications (2013 - 2017): Scrum Certified Product Owner, SPAO Digital Photography, Google Analytics, Hubspot Inbound Marketing
Speaking Engagements
Harvard Business School Tech Conference (2021, Remote)
Shopify Summit (2020, Ottawa)
Shopify Product Summit (2019, Toronto)
Impact (Product) Conference (2018, Budapest)
Writing
My work has been published in Chill Magazine, Chart Attack (Canada's longest running music magazine), the Western Gazette and more. Here are some recent samples:
Medium.com "5 Tips for Career Pivots in 2021"
ProductSchool.com "9 Rituals for New Product Development"
Entrepreneur.com "15 Tools to Take Your Side Hustle to the Next Level"
Volunteer Commitments
Mentor, Junior Achievement (2019 - 2020, Toronto)
Youth Advisory Board Member, School for Social Entrepreneurs (2016 - 2017, Toronto)
Prev: War Child Canada, YoungLife Canada, Christie Lake Kids