Elevate Your Brand

A 20 year veteran of the entertainment and digital industries, Karyn kicked off the early years as Ashton Kutcher’s VP of Production, Tyra Banks’ Director of Communications, and VP of brands for the first-ever influencer agency, theAudience. She  connected directly with digital creators as the Head of Creators at Vine, and upon Vine’s closure became VP of AT&T Hello Lab, a diversity-driven millennial and Gen Z-focused initiative. At Target, served as the Director of Talent Partnerships and Influence Marketing. In 2018, she joined the board of creator-founded and Alexis Ohanian-funded Clash as their advisor. Last week, Clash acquired Byte, the second social media platform launched by Vine founder Dom Hofmann. At Whalar, Spencer signals a new era of the digital CMO - an expert in both social media and the creator ecosystem.

Laurel Mintz, founder and CEO of award-winning marketing agency Elevate My Brand, explores some of the most exciting new and growing brands in Los Angeles and the US at large. Each week, the Elevate Your Brand podcast features an entrepreneurial special guest to discuss the past, present and future of their brand.

Contact us: https://www.elevatemybrand.com/contact

Stay connected & DM us feedback on the podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatemybrandla/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/elevatemybrandla/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@elevatemybrand

Sarah Zapp is an entrepreneur, award winning journalist and relationship curator. She is the CEO and Founder of Beyond Board. Beyond Board is nationwide community of today’s best board members and board eligible executives with live events, virtual offerings, board placement opportunities and a mission to place more women and diversity on boards. In 2019, Brown Brothers Harriman named her one of the 19 “Women to Watch”. 

As a relationship curator she currently advises, consults and sits on the board of advisors for various start-ups. She’s also a speaker and panelist on the topic of building relationships and board diversification, recently featured at national TED Women’s conference, Goldman Sachs Women’s Symposium and in Harvard Business Review. 

Laurel Mintz, founder and CEO of award-winning marketing agency Elevate My Brand, explores some of the most exciting new and growing brands in Los Angeles and the US at large. Each week, the Elevate Your Brand podcast features an entrepreneurial special guest to discuss the past, present and future of their brand.

Contact us: https://www.elevatemybrand.com/contact

Stay connected & DM us feedback on the podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatemybrandla/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/elevatemybrandla/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@elevatemybrand

Morgan Chemij serves as Senior Director of Global UX & North American e-commerce marketing at HP.com, where he oversees demand gen and CRM programs inclusive of email, print, search, display and affiliates. Prior to that, he oversaw e-commerce marketing at FTD brands – before which he spent many years agency side at iCrossing and Wunderman creating best-in-class search and digital innovations for the likes of American Express, American Airlines, Disney, FedEx, Citibank, Land Rover and countless others.

Laurel Mintz, founder and CEO of award-winning marketing agency Elevate My Brand, explores some of the most exciting new and growing brands in Los Angeles and the US at large. Each week, the Elevate Your Brand podcast features an entrepreneurial special guest to discuss the past, present and future of their brand.

Contact us: https://www.elevatemybrand.com/contact

Stay connected & DM us feedback on the podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatemybrandla/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/elevatemybrandla/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@elevatemybrand

Alexandra brings her passion, drive, and active pursuit for knowledge to her role as the North American B2B Marketing Manager at Gameloft for brands. Her passion for advertising for both its creativity and real-world impact on today’s culture has led her to the media industry, currently playing in the world of mobile gaming & gamification. She believes innovation and creativity will continue to drive marketing and advertising to new heights of engagement, fun, and value for both marketers and consumers.

Laurel Mintz, founder and CEO of award-winning marketing agency Elevate My Brand, explores some of the most exciting new and growing brands in Los Angeles and the US at large. Each week, the Elevate Your Brand podcast features an entrepreneurial special guest to discuss the past, present and future of their brand.

Contact us: https://www.elevatemybrand.com/contact

Stay connected & DM us feedback on the podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatemybrandla/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/elevatemybrandla/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@elevatemybrand

Simone conceived Mammamia as a way to blend his Italian heritage with his new California home. He was trained at Alma, Italy’s most prestigious cooking school, founded by maestro Gualtiero Marchesi. He hones his craft at Sud, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Naples. And he earned his chocolatier’s degree at Accademia Cioccolatieri Italiana. Simone founded  Zibiru, an authentic Italian bistro in Bali, which now has eight locations.

Laurel Mintz, founder and CEO of award-winning marketing agency Elevate My Brand, explores some of the most exciting new and growing brands in Los Angeles and the US at large. Each week, the Elevate Your Brand podcast features an entrepreneurial special guest to discuss the past, present and future of their brand.

Contact us: https://www.elevatemybrand.com/contact

Stay connected & DM us feedback on the podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatemybrandla/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/elevatemybrandla/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@elevatemybrand

Sashee Chandran is founder and CEO at Tea Drops. Tea Drops is an innovative tea company, manufacturing organic, bagless teas. Before founding Tea Drops, she worked in Silicon Valley leading digital marketing and market research campaigns for Fortune 100 brands but was frustrated by the cumbersome process of making tea at her work desk, and so she created Tea Drops. 

Tea Drops can be found in over 1,500 retail stores nationwide, as well as online and Home Shopping Network (HSN), and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Los Angeles Times. Sashee was recently awarded a $100K business investment grant from the Tory Burch Foundation and $50K from Pepsi-Co Frito-lay as the most innovative women-run CPG business, and recently closed a Tea Drops’ $3.4M Seed Series round in a majority female-funded capital raise.

Laurel Mintz, founder and CEO of award-winning marketing agency Elevate My Brand, explores some of the most exciting new and growing brands in Los Angeles and the US at large. Each week, the Elevate Your Brand podcast features an entrepreneurial special guest to discuss the past, present and future of their brand.

Contact us: https://www.elevatemybrand.com/contact

Stay connected & DM us feedback on the podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatemybrandla/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/elevatemybrandla/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@elevatemybrand

Dina Samson has had interesting careers as an investment banker, chief of staff to CEOs, a restaurant publicist, and a video game producer. With the knowledge gained from these experiences, she has seamlessly switched focus and built three successful restaurants with her husband, Chef Steve Samson - Sotto, Rossoblu, and Superfine Pizza. Along with her two partners, Dina now manages the finance and marketing aspects while finding time to raise 8-year old twins.

Laurel Mintz, founder and CEO of award-winning marketing agency Elevate My Brand, explores some of the most exciting new and growing brands in Los Angeles and the US at large. Each week, the Elevate Your Brand podcast features an entrepreneurial special guest to discuss the past, present and future of their brand.

Contact us: https://www.elevatemybrand.com/contact

Stay connected & DM us feedback on the podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatemybrandla/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/elevatemybrandla/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@elevatemybrand

Kimberly Small has over twenty-five years of experience in education. She started her career as an elementary teacher for Compton Unified School District. Kimberly taught for Compton USD for two years before moving on to teach for Los Angeles Unified School District for eight more years. After which she moved to the private sector working as a School Director for a nonpublic school for students with special needs owned and operated by Catapult Learning, Inc. (formerly Specialized Education Services, Inc.). During her tenure at Catapult Learning, Kimberly moved up the ranks serving first as Outreach Director, Business Development Specialist and ending her time with Catapult as Director, Strategic Initiative. 

Kimberly currently serves as Executive Director for NFTE Los Angeles Metro. NFTE (Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship) activates the entrepreneurial mindset and builds startup skills in youth from under-resourced communities to ensure their success and to create a more vibrant society. Over the past ten years, NFTE has worked with over 60,000 students in the Los Angeles Metro area, 600,000 nationwide. 

Kimberly is a Teach For America alum. She holds a Masters of Science in Educational Administration, Masters of Art in Education from Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA, and a B.A, from the University of Southern California located in Los Angeles, CA.

Laurel Mintz, founder and CEO of award-winning marketing agency Elevate My Brand, explores some of the most exciting new and growing brands in Los Angeles and the US at large. Each week, the Elevate Your Brand podcast features an entrepreneurial special guest to discuss the past, present and future of their brand.

Contact us: https://www.elevatemybrand.com/contact

Stay connected & DM us feedback on the podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatemybrandla/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/elevatemybrandla/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@elevatemybrand

Nes is a passionate leader with a proven record of strategically building brands to achieve world-class status in key global markets. Nes prides himself in building and managing strong, long lasting relationships with top/luxury accounts, as well as thought and opinion leaders that he has collaborated with throughout many industries. He possesses well-founded experience in trade, trend, experiential and influencer marketing, innovation, managing agencies, and sales teams. Nes has extensive experience in successfully launching brands around the world, managing distributors at all levels, and working with foreign and international teams.

Having accomplished major brand recognition with CÎROC Vodka & Deleon alongside Sean "Diddy'' Combs, Nes was recruited by Disaronno as its National Trade Marketing Director (on-premise) where he led a team focused on Disaronno’s US marketing agenda. Later, Nes joined SŌTŌ Sake as Marketing Director where he was responsible for the marketing vision and premium positioning to successfully launch the brand in the US. Most recently, he has led the launch of HEAVENSAKE in the U.S., serving as Managing Director, from proof of concept to a national distribution partnership with SGWS.

Nes is a CSP (Certified Sake Professional) and holds a BS in Management and Marketing from Florida Atlantic University. 

Laurel Mintz, founder and CEO of award-winning marketing agency Elevate My Brand, explores some of the most exciting new and growing brands in Los Angeles and the US at large. Each week, the Elevate Your Brand podcast features an entrepreneurial special guest to discuss the past, present and future of their brand.

Contact us: https://www.elevatemybrand.com/contact

Stay connected & DM us feedback on the podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatemybrandla/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/elevatemybrandla/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@elevatemybrand

Justin Trout co-founded Health-Ade Kombucha in 2012 with his wife Daina, and their friend Vanessa Dew. The trio formed an entrepreneurship club to explore ways they could combine their diverse backgrounds into a successful business venture; the result, Health-Ade Kombucha. Originally a musician with a music production and engineering degree from Boston’s Berklee College of Music, Trout began his professional career as a songwriter, studio engineer and session guitarist before transitioning into the business world.

Laurel Mintz, founder and CEO of award-winning marketing agency Elevate My Brand, explores some of the most exciting new and growing brands in Los Angeles and the US at large. Each week, the Elevate Your Brand podcast features an entrepreneurial special guest to discuss the past, present and future of their brand.

Contact us: https://www.elevatemybrand.com/contact

Stay connected & DM us feedback on the podcast:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevatemybrandla/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/elevatemybrandla/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@elevatemybrand