It's No Fluke

The best strategy falls apart if people can’t buy the product or pay for the service or if there’s friction in the experience. We are seeing a lot of innovation in making sure creative and payments align in a multitude of verticals.

Maria Prados is the Senior vice-president, go-to-market, global enterprise, Worldpay.

 Since 2013, she has led vertical growth, solution commercialization, enterprise partnerships and sales enablement for Worldpay—a global leader in payments technology that processes more than 50B transactions each year for more than 1M merchants across the world. As Worldpay’s senior vice-president for go-to-market, she is one of the top global experts on what the world’s biggest brands in every major industry need to best serve their customers at checkout.

Previously Ms. Prados worked at Dixons Retail as part of the digital transformation team in charge of building the company’s successful e-commerce and omnichannel turnaround strategy. Her career began in financial services at Deloitte in Madrid. She earned an MBA from the IESE and Columbia business schools, after which she held roles in fields ranging from social venture capital to strategy consulting, building her passion for fintech along the way.

Yuriy Yarovoy is the SVP, Revenue at Medal, the fastest-growing platform for gamers to capture and share gameplay. In his role, Yarovoy, oversees the platform’s growth, partnerships, and ad monetization strategies. Leveraging his background leading teams across marketing agencies and Fortune 500 companies, Yarovoy focuses on expanding Medal's reach and deepening engagement with its 8+ million global users.

Yarovoy boasts 15 years of experience in SEO, product strategy, and customer acquisition for companies across gaming and technology. Prior to joining Medal, he led a marketing team of 40 people in 26 countries at mobile gaming platform BlueStacks, helping to scale the company to over 450 million users. He was also integral to the launch of Game.tv, a community-driven esports platform, and served as Chief Growth Officer at “fan hub” startup Kanga.gg (acquired by Riot Games in 2021).

Additionally, Yarovoy serves as an advisor to several creator economy startups and has mentored early-stage founders on how to scale their businesses. 

Julia LaBoy is a talent manager with half a decade of experience working with creators across different verticals including fitness, lifestyle, medical, and entertainment. Passionate about helping content creators grow their platforms and connect with their audiences in meaningful ways for long term success. Specialized in securing strategic brand partnerships that align with creator values and interests, leveraging deep understanding of how different content verticals require unique approaches to brand collaborations and monetization strategies

If the title doesn't hook you wait until the conversation.

Jake Browne is an entrepreneur and start-up founder. He sold his creator financing company Peblo to fintech unicorn Wayflyer in 2023 and has started a new business Retrograde where he and co-founders are now building Emma the AI talent agent for content creators.

RJ Larese is Vice President of Talent and Influencer Marketing for Paramount Global. He works with digital creators and unscripted talent for all the iconic Paramount brands and franchises, finding them opportunities within scripted and unscripted content, brand partnerships, consumer marketing, events, and more. Prior to joining Paramount, he was a talent, casting, and development executive with over a decade of experience at networks, production companies, and publishers, including ABC, ATTN:, Endemol, ITV America, and PopSugar. RJ has also cast and developed shows for Bravo, E!, Lifetime, MTV, NBC, TLC, TruTV, and VH1.

He’s worked with brands ranging from Abercrombie and Fitch, Banana Republic, Delta, General Mills, H&M, Invisalign, Moose Akedo, Sephora, Target, and Ulta. In 2021, RJ was named an AdWeek Young Influential. In 2022, he was on the Variety Power of Pride list for his contributions empowering the LGBTQUIA+ community in the entertainment space. In 2023, he was named on LA TV Week's 40 Under 40 honoree list, backed by Broadcasting and Cable.

Aimee Gilbreath is the President of PetSmart Charities®, the leading funder of animal welfare in the U.S. and Canada with a $50M annual grantmaking portfolio and 4x Shorty Award winner last month including for Large Non-Profit of the Year.

Aimee drives the nonprofit’s strategy with focus on increasing access to affordable veterinary care, supporting pets and their families and animal welfare organizations during natural disasters, addressing pet hunger and connecting people and pets through adoption. 

Under her leadership, the organization has grown thriving partnerships with national social service nonprofits including American Red Cross, Feeding America and Meals on Wheels America to recognize and integrate the needs of pets as important family members. Prior to her current role, Aimee served as executive director of the Found Animals Foundation, Inc., a non-profit dedicated to saving pets and enriching lives, and as a Principal at the Boston Consulting Group, developing and implementing strategic and operational improvements for Fortune 500 clients. Aimee is a seasoned leader in both non-profit and private-sector organizations with extensive experience in a range of industries spanning biotech, consumer goods and philanthropy.  In addition to her role at PetSmart Charities, Aimee serves as Vice Chair of the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI)Board of Trustees and Secretary/Treasurer of the Veterinary Innovation Council Board of Directors. An Arizona native and lifelong animal lover, Aimee holds an MBA from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Arizona.

The co-founders of Greenlight Group join for a very inside look at the creator economy. We talk about the many opportunities and some challenges facing the creator economy, how to be the best advocate for talent, where to find talent and Italian Brainrot. IYKYK. It’s a Masterclass without the subscription.

Michael Berkowitz is A Berklee College of Music graduate, Michael majored in Professional Music with a concentration in Music Business, Creative Entrepreneurship, and Songwriting. This unique blend of creative and business acumen has positioned how well. 

Since the inception of Greenlight Group in 2020, Michael has leveraged his keen eye for talent and industry foresight to build a powerhouse roster, securing game-changing partnerships and opportunities.

Doug Landers holds a degree in Mandarin Chinese from Duke University. His philosophy centers on the idea that true success stems from nurturing talent, fostering entrepreneurial ventures, and building lasting online and offline careers. Under his leadership, Greenlight Group has flourished, representing TikTok and YouTube's most well-known and pioneering figures. 

Thea Neal knows brands. As the founder of TMN Branding, with more than 15 years of marketing experience, Thea has led marketing teams at Coinbase, Royal Caribbean Group and Hallmark.

She is a Forbes 30 Under 30 in marketing and advertising, and is still pushing herself to live up to the title (despite being now over 30). When she isn't creating strategies for Fortune 500 companies, you can find her snuggling her rescue dogs or taking a coloring book way too seriously.

Francesco Federico is Chief Marketing Officer at S&P Global, where he leads global marketing strategy across five divisions of the 165-year-old heritage brand. With a career that defies conventional paths, Francesco combines the analytical precision of his legal training with entrepreneurial vision and corporate leadership experience to drive marketing innovation in complex financial markets.

Francesco's journey began with founding a digital marketing agency in Milan before holding transformative leadership roles at global organizations including Vodafone, Acer, and JLL. At each stop, he pioneered initiatives at the convergence of marketing, technology, and business growth—from launching Vodafone's first self-care mobile application to implementing real-time dynamic pricing algorithms that doubled conversion rates.

As a recognized thought leader in Artificial Intelligence, Francesco's interest in AI dates back to his academic work, where he authored a thesis on AI applications in legal practice. Today, he explores how generative AI is reshaping marketing and business transformation through his widely-read newsletter "Chronicles of Change" and speaking engagements worldwide.

At S&P Global, Francesco is pioneering a vision where human talent and agentic AI systems operate as unified marketing teams. This emerging approach aims to amplify strategic capabilities and creative intelligence while delivering enhanced efficiency and market relevance across financial and energy sectors

Damon Harman is the Founder & CEO of StreamerDap, a cutting-edge platform revolutionizing sponsorships between brands and live streamers. By enabling seamless, real-time brand integrations, StreamerDap transforms traditional advertising into an authentic and measurable experience for both brands and creators.

A pioneer in interactive content, Damon has produced and directed live and branded entertainment for Twitch, collaborating with major brands like Progressive, American Family Insurance, and McDonald's to name a few. His extensive career spans over 500 episodes of television for networks such as MTV, Universal, and Fox, alongside hundreds of commercials for global brands such as Coca-Cola , Emporio Armani and Calvin Klein.

With a passion for gaming, technology, and audience engagement, Damon has consistently been at the forefront of digital innovation—from launching early mobile content platforms to integrating brands into live-streaming culture. His work has generated over $200 million in production and sponsorship revenue.

Outside of StreamerDap, Damon is a proud husband to Maria and father to Oliver, a rising Twitch Affiliate.