Talent + Titan

Kristian visits the 5crowd office to sit down with RACHEL ZIMMER. RACHEL is a co-founder of 5crowd, an advertising agency she founded with her university friend Bram. In lieu of having any creatives on staff, 5crowd utilizes a network of ~300 freelancers located in over 150 cities around the world. During their conversation, RACHEL and Kristian discuss how she founded 5crowd, her time at Queen’s and Second City, traveling throughout India, and how to know when patience is and isn’t a virtue. You can find RACHEL and 5Crowd on Twitter @rachelzimmer and @5crowdTO respectively. Make sure to follow @talentandtitan while you’re there if you aren’t already. You may subscribe to Talent & Titan at http://talentandtitan.simplecast.fm. Talent and Titan is produced by Creative Niche and recorded in downtown Toronto.

In town from London, England for the 2017 Design Thinkers conference, MAXIM CRAMER stops by the Creative Niche offices (on a Sunday, no less!) to meet and chat with Kristian. MAXIM is a software engineer for Artsy, an online platform aiming to make the world’s art accessible to anybody with an internet connection and is hoping to, one day, make art as accessible and popular as television, films and music. MAXIM tells Kristian how she got into public speaking, upcoming and exciting projects she’s working on, how she became fascinated by computers and computer science, the intersections between science and art and much more. Follow MAXIM on twitter @mennenia and check out her website mennenia.com. If you haven’t already, follow Talent & Titan on all social medias @talentandtitan. If you’d like to subscribe to Talent & Titan, you may do so at http://talentandtitan.simplecast.fm and on iTunes. Talent & Titan is produced by Creative Niche and recorded in downtown Toronto.

Gassia speak with CHRIS DAVIES, Executive Creative Director at Traffik, an advertising agency based in Toronto. CHRIS started his career as a copywriter, and broke into the business in a peculiar way — by entering (and winning) a contest he’d seen on the side of a bus. CHRIS and Gassia discuss this story and more, including workplace culture and how it’s always changing, how keeps his team creative, the importance of an after-work pint, what he looks for in new hires and much more. You can follow Traffik on Instagram @traffikgram, or on Twitter @traffikca. If you haven’t already, follow Talent & Titan on all social medias @talentandtitan. If you’d like to subscribe to Talent & Titan, you may do so at http://talentandtitan.simplecast.fm and on iTunes. Talent & Titan is produced by Creative Niche and recorded in downtown Toronto.

JAMES GRIFFIN didn’t study design, advertising or marketing, nor did he expect to end up in his current position as the Head of Design for Thomson Reuters, New York. What initially started off as a simple side gig to help pay of his student loans (which he accumulated from Berklee College of Music), eventually transformed into a full on career jump into UX design. In this episode, JAMES chats with Gassia about this career jump and much more. You can find JAMES on Twitter @jagriffin7 and on Instagram @santiagogriffin. If you haven’t already, follow Talent & Titan on all social medias @talentandtitan. If you’d like to subscribe to Talent & Titan, you may do so at http://talentandtitan.simplecast.fm and on iTunes. Talent & Titan is produced by Creative Niche and recorded in downtown Toronto.

Self-proclaimed outlier and trouble-maker, MATT DI PAOLA, sits down to converse with Gassia about everything from his start at Western to his current role as Partner and Head of Innovation at Sid Lee. Sid Lee is an international creative agency with offices in Toronto, New York, Paris and beyond. Gassia and MATT chat about how he ended up there, how improv improved his life, what he looks for in new hires, and how writing and directing a play ended up benefiting his career. MATT and Sid Lee can be found on Twitter @mattdipaola and @sidlee. We can be found on all social medias @talentandtitan. If you’d like to subscribe to our show, please do so at http://talentandtitan.simplecast.fm and on iTunes. Talent & Titan is produced by Creative Niche and recorded in downtown Toronto.

JESÚS GORRITI and SHAWN MANDEL visit the Creative Niche offices to chat with Kristian. JESÚS is the Head of Digital Customer Experience and Design at RBC, while SHAWN is the Chief Digital Officer at Telus. JESÚS manages one of the largest (if not the largest) design teams in the country, and SHAWN spearheaded the TELUS Digital Labs project — effectively creating a start-up within a preexisting corporation. During their conversation, SHAWN, JESÚS and Kristian talk about how they met, what they were doing before working at RBC and Telus, what the future holds for UI and much, much more. SHAWN is on Twitter @smbunk9, as is JESÚS, who you can find @gorriti (or at his website, gorriti.com). If you haven’t already, follow Talent & Titan on all social medias @talentandtitan. If you’d like to subscribe to Talent & Titan, you may do so at http://talentandtitan.simplecast.fm and on iTunes. Talent & Titan is produced by Creative Niche and recorded in downtown Toronto.

Theresa sits down with LANNY GEFFEN, Director of Strategy and User Experience at OneMethod, a creative agency (they use the term “creative crew”) located in Toronto, ON. They discuss what initially attracted Lanny to the advertising and marketing industries, how he arrived at OneMethod, how brands will utilize VR / AR and the challenges they’ll face in doing so, how to be a well-rounded designer, and much more. You can find LANNY on Twitter @lgeffen and OneMethod at http://onemethod.com. Follow @talentandtitan on Twitter and subscribe to http://talentandtitan.simplecast.fm for more! Talent & Titan is produced by Creative Niche and recorded in Toronto, ON.

Theresa is joined by TYLER CHISHOLM, Founding Partner & CEO of ClearMotive Marketing Group. A Canadian advertising agency based out of Calgary and Toronto. TYLER tells Theresa about his interest in flying, what got him into branding, his entrepreneurial origins in Southern Quebec, the importance of being engaged with your local community and how that led to the birth of Red Express. TYLER CHISHOLM and ClearMotive is on Twitter @tylerchisholm and @clearmotiveinc (p.s. they’re hiring!) While you’re there, make sure to follow @talentandtitan and subscribe to http://talentandtitan.simplecast.fm to stay in the loop! Talent & Titan is produced by Creative Niche and recorded in Toronto, ON.

ROB DUNCAN speaks with Gassia Maljian about everything from his roots in the UK, his connection to the Hilary Clinton 2016 Presidential Campaign, the reaction he got to putting Obama on the US banknote and much more. ROB is an Owner and Creative Director at Mucho in San Francisco and New York City and has worked with clients such as Apple, Dolby, Dell, Gap, Google and more. Mucho is a design studio that seeks to create “design with meaning” — it should come as no surprise then, that ROB is fundamentally concerned with the “why?” behind everything. Find ROB and some of his work at http://why.design and http://wearemucho.com. Follow @talentandtitan on Twitter, subscribe at http://talentandtitan.simplecast.fm, and remember that Talent & Titan is produced by Creative Niche and recorded in Toronto, ON.

COLIN MANSELL visits the Creative Niche offices in downtown Toronto, ON. There, he speaks with Kristian Gilbert about the lessons he learned sailing from Vancouver to Alaska, the importance of sunsets, his origins as a classically trained musician and sound engineer, his approach to education and the value of a new idea. COLIN is the CEO and Founder of Red Academy, a design and tech school with locations in Vancouver, Toronto and London, UK and was inspired by a trip COLIN took to South Africa. Look for COLIN on twitter @colinatred and find out more about Red Academy at http://redacademy.com Subscribe to Talent & Titan at http://talentandtitan.simplecast.fm and follow us on all social medias @talentandtitan. Talent & Titan is produced by Creative Niche and recorded at their offices in downtown Toronto, ON.