Meg Bear is a disruptive technologist. Change Agent. TEDster. Board Member. Investor. Coach. Wife + Mom. 1st gen college. 5th gen Bay Area. Previously she was Chief Product Officer for SAP SuccessFactors and a Vice President for Oracle. 

But in today’s episode we talk less about product and more about people, the changing nature of work and skills, glass ceilings in tech, lived experience, what you can learn and leverage from being an outsider in your field, sabbaticals, career transitions, and it’s all done with this quiet confidence that Meg possesses that whether you’ve known her for ten years, ten minutes or are just meeting her now, you can tell it’s no fluke how she got here and wherever she will go next.  

Cyrene Quiamco, better known as CyreneQ, is a Filipino-American social media artist, influencer, author, and Augmented Reality Lens Creator. She gained recognition for her artistic creations on Snapchat, with her award-winning work being featured in notable publications such as Forbes, Fast Company, Business Insider, and more. 

And that’s just the beginning. CyreneQ is at the forefront of not only creating content but developing AR for platforms to make the platforms themselves better. The biggest brands in the world turn to her when they have their biggest ideas and she finds a way to make them reality.

Meredith Goldberg-Morse is the Director of Social Impact for Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios at Paramount Global, where she develops storyline integrations and content-led impact campaigns across major brands including MTV, SHOWTIME, Comedy Central, Smithsonian Channel, and Paramount+. Meredith and MTV just won a Shorty Impact Award for Don’t Leave Me Behind: Stories of Young Ukrainian Survival.

Monique Ruff-Bell has over 20 years’ experience within brand leadership, marketing, and events.

As Head of Conferences for TED, she leads a dynamic team in the managing, planning and execution of TED’s flagship global conferences, TED Member events and virtual events. This includes product strategy, innovation of attendee experience, creative marketing techniques that draw in a diverse and curious community, as well as work with creatives and visionaries to dream up and enact revolutionary ways of gathering that push the boundaries of experiential events. She is also a member of TED’s executive leadership team.

Her former roles have included leading one the largest Fintech shows in the USA as Vice President for Money20/20 USA.

Paola Velez is an award-winning chef and author. Food And Wine’s Best New Chef in 2021, James Beard nominated and rising as one of the best new chefs and personalities in food. Velez is the owner of Dōekï Dōekï (an Afro-Latin pop-up concept), founder of Small Orchids Inc (a media and marketing company) and co-founder of Bakers Against Racism – an organization that is “baking” the world a better place. We talk about her pandemic pop-up Doña Dona that kickstarted her philanthropy, some amazing mentors like Jacques Torres and Christina Tosi and how to stand out in a crowded and competitive industry.

Lauren Baker is the Senior Brand Manager for Engagement and Social Impact at Dove. She is also the lead for CROWN - a coalition to help advance anti-hair discrimination legislation. Fresh off a Shorty Award win for Dove’s collaboration with LinkedIn, Black Hair Is Professional, we discuss not only the importance of representation, being seen by a brand but the next logical and needed step in social impact, which is action.   

Go to The Crown Act to learn more and sign the petition.

Tiffany Springle has the rare double gift of immediately grabbing your attention and then turning that attention into positive action. Tiffany is an actor, improviser, comedian, singer, writer, and host. As the host of the Shorty Award winning Roe V Bros, Tiffany uses humor and knowledge-sharing to motivate voter turnout and a thoughtful discussion regarding bodily autonomy. Regardless of the medium, Tiffany is motivated by work that is refreshing, new, and sparks thoughtful discussion.

We chat about the many, many things men don’t know about the female body, why that matters so much always but right now in particular, how comedy changes and we have to be willing to change with it and we find some ways to laugh along the way.

Today we discuss the Shorty Award winning Prepare for Misuse campaign from Brady, the Ad Council and McKinney - and why it was so important to tell the story from the perspective of a gun owner when trying to inspire change.

Susan Lavington began working with Brady in 2017 and became Brady’s Chief Operating Officer in 2021. She oversees Brady’s strategic plan and leads Brady’s transformative efforts in the media and marketing space, which have ushered in significant budget, brand, and infrastructure growth. Prior to this, she led the marketing effort that built usatoday.com into one of the top national news websites and was promoted to the first SVP of marketing for USA TODAY, overseeing the entire portfolio of products — print, online, and mobile

Ro Patrick is a Senior Vice President, Group Campaign Director for the Ad Council, the national nonprofit that mobilizes the energy and talents of the communications industry to make a measurable impact on the most critical social issues of today. She leads the development, implementation and evaluation of national public service campaigns at the Ad Council, particularly on critical efforts to reduce gun violence and address the drug overdose epidemic.

Alex Shulhafer has extensive experience in the creative field, with their most recent position being at McKinney as an Executive Creative Director since September 2023. They served as a Group Creative Director at McKinney starting from May 2019. Previously they held the same role at 360i and with Cannes Lions, Clio and Webby wins and a now a Shorty Award it's no fluke why they were named one of Adweek's Rising Stars.

Yvette Nicole Brown is an Emmy-nominated actress, producer, writer and host and champion of kindness known to some as Shirley Bennett from Community and to many as one of the most active philanthropists in Hollywood. She proudly sits on the National Boards of Donors Choose (where she is Vice-Chair), EMILY's List, MPTF Next Gen and SAG-AFTRA.

She has two films coming soon “Code 3” starring Rainn Wilson, Lil Rel Howery and Aimee Carrero and “K-Pops” written, starring and directed by Anderson.Paak. She will also be hosting a telethon for MPTF on Saturday, December 9th on KTLA with Tom Bergeron. 

We discuss her career, her recent essay in Variety, the importance of never having a “Plan B” and why she’s motivated by things other than fame or fortune.

As President & CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Artis Stevens takes the helm of the organization at a critical moment for our nation’s youth. As the first Black CEO in BBBSA’s 100+ year history, Artis sees this historic announcement as fuel to break more barriers. The son and grandson of preachers, he often shares, his calling for the past 25 years has focused on empowering young people. 

He previously served as Senior Vice President/Chief Marketing Officer for National 4-H Council, and the National Vice President, Marketing, Strategy & Operations at Boys & Girls Club of America.

An award-winning non-profit marketing leader with a passion for building purpose-driven brands, boards, and teams, Artis’ experience has also led to transformational outcomes in fundraising and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives.