Speakers

Justine Ezarik

Justine Ezarik is a one-woman digital phenomenon: techie, gamer, vlogger, and digital creator. She is one of the top female personalities online. Justine was named one of the Hollywood Reporters 50 most powerful digital players as well as one of Maxim Magazine’s Hot 100. In 2014, she was on Time’s Most 100 list and in 2012, she was ranked the #6 most influential personality by The Daily Beast’s Digital Power Index, amongst the rankings of Lady Gaga and YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley. Justine published her first book, I, Justine: An Analog Memoir, in June 2015 under Simon & Schuster and is a New York Times Best Seller.

A popular brand ambassador, Justine has worked with partners such as Google, Lays, Mattel, Microsoft, H&R Block, Toyota, Canon, Intel, eBay, P&G, Starbucks, Banana Republic, Samsung, Nestle, Pizza Hut and DJI Drones. She has been featured in numerous magazine and publications from The Chicago Tribune to Fast Company and Maxim Magazine and also appeared on shows such as Chopped, The Celebrity Apprentice, Dr. Oz, The Talk, The Rachael Ray Show, The Vampire Diaries, Criminal Minds, Law & Order, E!, MTV.

Josh Sundquist

Keynote

Josh Sundquist is a motivational speaker, comedian and emcee who has inspired audiences across the world ranging from Fortune 500 companies to schools to the White House. His clients have included Facebook, Walmart, HP, Heineken USA, Rite Aid, The American Cancer Society and RE/MAX. He’s a in-demand keynote speaker for groups of sales people, educators, student leaders, and health professionals.

At age nine, Josh was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and given a fifty percent chance to live. He spent a year on chemotherapy treatments and his left leg was amputated. Doctors declared Josh cured of the disease at age thirteen and he took up ski racing three years later.

He trained for the next six years and in 2006 he was named to the US Paralympic Ski Team for the 2006 Paralympics in Turino, Italy. Today, Josh represents the United States in international competition as a member of the U.S. Amputee Soccer Team.

On the internet, Josh is best known for his viral photos, especially his Halloween costumes. His videos have been viewed over 150 million times and he has over one million followers. People Magazine named him to the 2017 “Social Media Power List.” As a social media influencer, he’s worked with brands like promotions for Chase, Chevy, Dairy Queen, AT&T, and Michelob Ultra.

Josh is a Celebrity Ambassador for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and makes regular appearances at events and in the media to raise money for children’s hospitals across the U.S. and Canada. He has been featured on the back of Doritos bags (specifically, Spicy Nacho flavor) for his work on behalf of amputees.

Josh has been featured on CNN, USA TODAY, and NPR. His first memoir, Just Don’t Fall, was a National Bestseller and his second memoir We Should Hang Out Sometime was optioned for movie rights by a division of Disney. His debut novel Love and First Sight was published in 2017. His books have been translated into German, Italian, and Turkish and have been published in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Turkey, Italy, and Austria.

Josh received a degree in business from the College of William and Mary and a Master’s in Communications from the University of Southern California. He lives with his wife, Ashley near the beach in California.

Jeff Greenberg

Jeff I. Greenberg has nearly two decades of experience as a Post-Production consultant and Master Instructor (trainer for other trainers) for Adobe, Apple, and Avid, specializing in the areas of editorial, workflow, compositing, sound, color grading and compression. Jeff is the owner of JGreenberg Consulting and for a decade was the Principal Instructor for Future Media Concepts. Consistently voted as one of the top seminar speakers/interviewers, audience’s feedback includes depth of subjects covered, approachability and student-centered teaching that helps keep them up to date on industry standards. Jeff teaches seminars at events such as NAB, IBC, CES and Inter BEE. He’s the chair for the Editors Retreat, an annually held exclusive getaway for editors. Jeff is a published author of several books on the subject of editing and post-production. He recently finished a book on Adobe Premiere Pro Studio Techniques (Adobe Press). Jeff writes for various blogs and creates training materials for Lynda.com and macProVideo.com. He’s happy to talk to you about consulting and helping you find solutions for your training needs.

Jenna Ezarik

Jenna Ezarik lives every day ready for new adventures and always has her camera to capture the excitement! With her unique comedic tone, she has amassed a global audience producing lifestyle, tech, gaming, travel, exercise, nature, pets and pop-culture content.

She is also co-parent with her sister iJustine to their rescued pup and music phenomenon, DJ Mini Matt. Jenna is a very popular brand ambassador having collaborated with top brands such as Walmart, Campbells, Ford, Citibank, Lionsgate, INTEL, the NFL, Blue Apron and more.

Caleb Marshall

Caleb Marshall (aka the Fitness Marshall) got his start dancing in his hometown of Marion, Indiana. After honing his craft and exploring his personal style in performing arts school, he blended his passion for entertainment with fitness and created The Fitness Marshall YouTube channel. The channel, which showcases The Fitness Marshall dance workout routines set to popular music, reached more than 100,000 in under a year, and today the channel boasts over 2.2 million subscribers with over 220 million views. Due to overwhelming demand, the Fitness Marshall began teaching live cardio concerts around the world to sellout crowds. Dubbed the modern day Richard Simmons, Caleb uses his platform to spread joy, self-love and confidence to as many people as he can through his one-of-a-kind ”fitertainment” routines.

Liron Segev

Liron Segev is an internationally celebrated YouTube Digital Strategist and the Director of Customer Success at vidIQ. Liron has not only developed content strategies for some of the world’s best-known brands but works consistently with the largest YouTubers on the platform developing and hacking their growth strategies.

Liron is also an award-winning tech blogger, YouTuber and he gets to pick the brains of the brightest gurus in the YouTube space on his TubeTalk Podcast.

Kati Morton

Kati Morton is a YouTube content creator, with a Master’s in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University and is a licensed marriage and family therapist. In addition, she is a certified dialectical behavior therapist and grief counselor. Kati is well known for her YouTube channel which now has over 750 thousand subscribers with over 55 million views. Kati released her first book, Are u ok?: A Guide to Caring for Your Mental Health in December 2018.

Over the past seven years, Kati has leveraged social media to share mental health information worldwide through video. Her specialties include working with individuals experiencing eating disorders and self-harming behaviors, although she addresses all things related to mental health. Kati’s passion is to increase awareness about mental health. Her online community has expanded to all major internet platforms, allowing her to answer mental health questions from her followers around the world. She hopes by doing this, the global community can push for better services worldwide and remove the stigma associated with getting help.

For more information about Kati and her work, please visit www.katimorton.com.
FB: https://www.facebook.com/katimorton1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katimorton1/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KatiMorton
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/KatiMorton

Raya Encheva

Raya Encheva is a content creator and speaker sharing her journey into conscious living. Born and raised in Bulgaria, Raya has spent her life exploring and learning from different cultures. She started creating content on Youtube and other social media while traveling full time for 4 years in an effort to share the beauty of the planet and to help people open their hearts and minds to others. She has also shared lessons she’s learning – from dealing with a quarter-life crisis, nourishing a healthy relationship and learning to love your body and yourself. Raya is on a mission to inspire others to live a more conscious life and to help them be kind to themselves, be kind to each other and be kind to the planet.

Petar Mandich

Petar Mandich is the Chief Talent Office and Co-Founder of ADDITION Management working with many of the leading Digital Talent / Content Creators, representing over 65M+ social fans across his roster. He’s an Executive Producer on all 4 seasons of his client Joey Graceffa’s hit YouTube Originals Series “Escape the Night,” was recognized as “YouTube’s Gatekeeper” in a LA Weekly cover story and named one the industry’s most formidable dealmakers in the YouTube space by Entrepreneur Magazine. In addition to Joey Graceffa, he represents iJustine, Threadbanger, JENerationDIY, and Christi Lukasiak, amongst other clients.

He began his career in Artist/Music Management at The Collective (now Studio 71) before pivoting to Digital Management, grew up in Chicago, and graduated from The University of Southern California (USC) with a B.S. in Music Industry.

Nicki Sun

Nicki Sun is an independent producer, host, director, cinematographer, content strategist and editor. She has been working both in front and behind the camera since 2009 and has produced, shot, and hosted over 500 videos as a one-woman band.

She is the creator and host of “Now You Know,” an interview talk show which spotlights emerging Asian American talent, and “TechNicki Speaking,” a channel dedicated to all things tech within the filmmaking community. Before launching Nicki Sun Media, she curated content for Myx TV, Google, Chef Martin Yan, and The Soraya performing arts center. She is a partner of #GALSNGEAR, an initiative to ensure women in the technical fields of media production get high level networking, access to gear and the latest industry technology, and visibility at major industry events like NAB Show and Cine Gear Expo. She recently produced and cast her first pilot Separation and directed the 18th Unforgettable gala, aka “The Asian Oscars.”

Bayan Joonam

Bayan is an Emmy winning producer best known for partnering with actor Rainn Wilson to translate SoulPancake’s mission into digital video. As Head of Production for SoulPancake between 2012 – 2018, Bayan led the development and creation of award-winning original programming such as SoulPancake on OWN, Kid President, and My Last Days, which led to nearly a billion views, multi-season television franchises, and acquisition by Participant Media in 2016.

Prior to SoulPancake, Bayan was a producer for the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C where he helped restructure the organization’s online content workflow. Bayan earned a B.F.A. in Film, Photography, and Visual Arts with a minor in Art History at Ithaca College in New York, and prior to that attended Idyllwild Arts Academy, where he studied cinematography.

Bayan currently lives in Los Angeles and is developing a slate of TV and Film projects for Scheme Engine (part of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation), show-running a 10 episode interactive series for Eko that will be released in the fall of 2019, and is a volunteer panda keeper at the Dujiangyan Panda Sanctuary.

Dustin Parker

Dustin, a long-time agent with APA, garnered a hugely successful talent roster specializing in Beauty, Fashion, Food/Cooking, Family, Lifestyle and LatinX categories.

Dustin is a native of Las Vegas with an extensive background in entertainment and digital content. As an agent for the last 7 years, Dustin led branding and digital efforts across the portfolio of talent at APA Agency, one of the largest diversified talent agencies in the country. Some of his most notable branded integrations include Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Revlon, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft Heinz, Proctor & Gamble, Unilever and many others. Prior to APA, Dustin worked in public relations for Authentic PR where he managed the business development and account coordination teams. He is a graduate of Full Sail University with a B.S. degree in Marketing.

Seth Polansky

SETH C. POLANSKY, a contracts, intellectual property, and start-up specialist, founded the professional firm Seth Polansky LLC in 2005. Through both this firm and his corporate experience, he has enjoyed a diverse and rewarding practice. In addition to working with private corporations, government and state agencies, he has counseled small businesses and artists in securing copyright, trademark and other intellectual property protection, and aided them in navigating contracts. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Contract and Procurement Law at the University of Maryland University College. In his spare time, Seth is programmer and bass player for his band blindtillnow, and works as a producer, composer, sound designer or location mixer/sound recordist on independent films. For more information on Seth, visit sethpolanskylaw.com

PhotoJoseph

Joseph “PhotoJoseph” Linaschke is a content creator, educator and YouTuber —he’s been shooting since the age of seven, teaching and presenting on stage to audiences around the globe for over 20 years, and runs an online resource for photo and video education at photojoseph.com Following an eight-year tenure at Apple as the lead presenter, producer and photographer for the Professional Applications Division, he stepped out on his own in 2009 to pursue all things photo and video. Today you can find PhotoJoseph shooting still and video productions for clients ranging from global corporations and international rock stars to local restaurants and hotels in his hometown of Ashland, Oregon… speaking to schools and educators around the world on integrating photography and digital storytelling into the classroom, turning the camera into a powerful learning tool… teaching workshops on photography in person and online onLinkedInLearning.com…and every week, LIVE atYouTube.com/PhotoJoseph for PhotoJoseph’s Photo Moment!You can find PhotoJoseph online as @PhotoJoseph just about everywhere…Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. You can also view a summary of all of Joseph’s projects at Joseph.info.

Mark Spencer

Mark Spencer is a creative partner of Ripple Training, where he has trained thousands of people on production and post-production techniques through classes, workshops, YouTube videos, and online training products. He is also a bay-area based producer, editor, teacher and writer. Mark is an Apple-certified instructor for Final Cut Pro X and Motion 5, a Blackmagic-certified instructor for Davinci Resolve and the author or coauthor of 5 books on Motion and Final Cut Pro X.

Steve Martin

Steve Martin is the creative force behind Ripple Training and has been using and teaching Final Cut Pro since 1999. Since Final Cut Pro’s introduction, he has introduced thousands of people to Final Cut Pro through his classes, workshops, YouTube videos and training products. He has consulted and/or trained for Apple, Adobe, Disney, Canon, Walmart and other companies. He is also a writer, producer and avid photographer.

Alexis Hay

Alexis Hay is a digital strategist and marketing consultant who has produced brand strategies and digital campaigns for various brands from Chelsea Handler to the The Oscars, Dick Clark Productions, Coco On the Go and more. Working in the trenches of all aspects of producing, editing and publishing content, Alexis serves as the original voice of her clients to implement large-scale digital approaches.

A native of Laguna Beach, Alexis began working within the television marketing association PromaxBDA, forming the company’s social footprint and marketing strategy. She later moved on to work on the agency side of television, managing and producing large online voting campaigns and real-time social integrations for high-rated shows including The Voice, the Oscars, and American Music Awards and more. She has also put her bilingual skills to work on Spanish television shows and projects over the years.

In 2015, Alexis started consulting as her moniker, Hay It’s Alexis (HIA Digital), where she has helped brands, products and entertainment personalities with their digital marketing efforts on every level, from curating content to single-handedly generating overarching talent strategies. Alexis is now a local to Santa Monica with her Boston Terrier Tommy (named after USC’s Tommy Trojan himself).

Richard Harrington

As a digital video expert and trained business professional, Rich Harrington understands both the creative and management sides of the visual communications industry. He is the founder of the visual communications company RHED Pixel in Washington, DC. He is a certified instructor for Adobe and Apple and a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals Instructor Dream Team. Rich is a popular speaker on the digital video circuit and has served as program manager for conferences hosted by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). He has also written several books for the video industry, including An Editor’s Guide to Adobe Premiere Pro, From Still to Motion, and Photoshop for Video.

Kyle Monahan

Creator Content Strategist, YouTube

Growing up as both a machinima editor and “purveyor of dank memes”, Kyle’s passion for digital media began at a young age. After graduating from UCSB in 2013, Kyle began his professional career with Digital MCN Collab, where he ultimately rose to the position of Director, Production Operations and Channel Content. Committed to helping creators live their best life, Kyle joined YouTube in 2018 as a Content Strategist covering both Creators and Public Figures; his day-to-day now involves the creation of strategic best practices resources, performance tools, and 1:1 consultations with the platform’s top creators.

Michael Shabun

Michael Shabun is VP, Marketing & BD for Insta360 and leads North American marketing strategy, partnerships and content production. Michael specializes in helping overseas brands with limited local resources build their presence in North America. Prior to joining Insta360, Michael helped manage the marketing team for DJI in North America and was tasked with launching and producing numerous DJI video series, all on shoestring budgets. In his free time, Michael is passionate about using new camera technology to simplify visual storytelling and enjoys passing that knowledge onto new users.

Francesca Giaimo

Makeup Artist

Francesca Giaimo is a Los Angeles based makeup artist and proud member of the Local 706 Makeup & Hair Stylists Guild. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Studio Arts from Loyola Marymount University and then went on to the Joe Blasco School of Makeup in Hollywood. After five years as a lead artist and trainer for Laura Mercier Cosmetics, Francesca began working on music videos for artists such as 5 Seconds of Summer, The Killers and HRVY as well as commercials for clients including Nike, Sony and P&G. She also keeps busy with top new media talent like Ingrid Nilsen, iJustine and Joey Graceffa. Currently, Francesca is working for the E! Network on television shows Daily Pop, Nightly Pop, The Rundown and E! News. No matter who is in her chair, Francesca finds joy in making her clients feel their best with her natural approach to makeup and her contagious sense of humor. A smile, after all, is the quickest way to look your best!

Jon “Wally” Weilbaecher

A digital industry veteran who has worked alongside many of the largest scale content creators in both the digital native and traditional entertainment spaces. He has helped guide top digital stars to improve their performance and audience growth, strategized digital campaigns and platform presences for TV shows like The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Lip Sync Battle, and most recently was the VP of Audience Development, West Coast for Group Nine Media. At G9 he worked with brands like Now This, The Dodo, Thrillist and Seeker to diversify their audience and maximize performance across multiple platforms.

Greg Lawrance

Co-Founder & CEO, Ready Go Ventures

Swashbuckling industrialist and start-up junkie Greg Lawrance began his career in research at Burbank-based Warner Bros’ then fledgling TV network, the WB! (now the CW). In 1998, he relocated to NYC to found and run Roxbox Media—an entertainment marketing firm that served then-music giants BMG, Sony, Universal, Capitol/EMI and Warner Music. Following Roxbox, Greg served in a senior-leadership position with ad agency leader Omnicom, where he was brand strategist for Mercedes-Benz USA.

In 2003, he co-founded one of the first “athleisure” brands—NUMBER Lab—where he served as CEO and was responsible for the brand being carried by Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom’s and other top tier retailers. NUMBER Lab was chosen as a finalist for the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation Award and the International Woolmark Prize. It was also selected to join the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) fashion program in 2012 alongside Ecco Domani Fashion Fund and Swarovski Award award-winner Prabal Gurung, CFDA winner Johnathan Simikhai and Project Runway’s Daniel Vosovic.

In 2016, Lawrance co-founded Ready Go Ventures – with a mission to build the talent-driven businesses of the future. Currently, RGV’s portfolio includes ventures in fashion, food and beverage, beauty and cosmetics, podcasts, software/technology and virtual reality. With offices in New York City and Los Angeles, RGV’s social reach exceeds an audience of 170 million and 26 billion YouTube views.

James Gunter

Co-Founder & COO, Ready Go Ventures

Serial entrepreneur, musician and composer James Gunter began his career in the music business – as a legal assistant to the general counsel at Island Def Jam Music Group.

In 2004, Gunter joined the team at NUMBER Lab in operations, ultimately becoming the company’s COO. At NUMBER Lab, he helped lead the brand’s growth through retail partners Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom’s and other top-tier stockists. He also oversaw the brands private label business – responsible for selling
and coordinating accounts with Urban Outfitters, Macy’s, Amazon, Gilt.com and Saks Fifth Avenue (a role that included oversight of all customer service, back-end, logistics and EDI-related activities).
Following NUMBER Lab, Gunter co-founded Ready Go Ventures – with a mission to build the talent-driven businesses of the future. Currently, RGV’s portfolio includes ventures in fashion, food and beverage, beauty and cosmetics, podcasts, software/technology and virtual reality. With offices in New York City and Los Angeles, RGV’s social reach exceeds an audience of 170 million and 26 billion YouTube views. He continues to serve as RGV’s COO.

James graduated from the University of Kansas with a B.A. in Advertising. He has lived in New York City since 1998.

Jon Brence

Director, Strategic Partnerships, Twitch

Jon Brence is the Account Director for Strategic Partnerships at Twitch where he currently works with / develops live broadcasting strategies for some of the largest creators online – including Critical Role, Brendon Urie, and Jack Douglass. Prior to Twitch, he managed top YouTube creators and worked on teams in the sketch comedy/comic space – including Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal, 5SecondFilms and Cyanide & Happiness. He has run the gamut of creation outside of the internet as well – from developing product lines sold in Hot Topic to designing video games for Toyota & Oakley.

Samantha Brown

Account Manager, Partnerships, Twitch

Sam Brown is a Partnerships Account Manager with roots in community management. When she started at Twitch 4 years ago, she ran programs aimed at helping game communities––from Minecraft to H1Z1––thrive on Twitch. Now, she works one-on-one with streamers from all verticals and contributes to Twitch’s continued effort to teach streaming best practices. She loves to help streamers grow and make their living creating content. Fun fact: she has a degree in game design.

Stanislaw Luberda

Stanislaw R Luberda is an instructor and speaker for MotionVFX — creators of Plugins, and templates for Final Cut Pro and Apple Motion.

Stan is an Adobe and Apple trainer to several Fortune 500 companies across the US, and previously a Broadcast Television Motion Graphic artist and Editor at PBS Wisconsin. Working in Live and scripted television is where he received a regional Emmy nomination for directing a short animation using Unreal Engine.

Dedicated to training, Stan created AV-Ultra on YouTube to continue offering free training in Final Cut Pro, Apple Motion, Premiere and After Effects via tutorials. When not creating tutorials, Stan works on short films and animation and recently won the the best film in Milwaukee’s 48 hour film competition.

Alex Lindsay

Alex Lindsay has been involved in almost part of media production from coding to audio, video, film, web, AR/VR and live-streaming. After working on Star Wars at Lucasfilm and Industrial Light and Magic, he built a global training organization and now uses that experience to help others engage their communities online.

Amber Whittington

Amber Whittington is an activist, YouTuber, host, and actress who believes in changing the world by changing within. Her goal is to show up, show off, and inspire people to be the best version of themselves. Amber has a social reach of nearly one million; views totalling over 125million. Amber is one of the leading voices fighting for equality for the LGBTQ+ community. A powerful force working to de-stigmatize lesbianism and educate global audiences. Amber was recognized as “Humanitarian of the Year” in 2018 by the Community Nest Foundation and is a proud partner in The Weekend Soiree – an annual 4-day weekend retreat celebrating and empowering dope, Queer Womxn!

Tshaka Armstrong

Armstrong brings an eye, ear and understanding for creating content that grabs viewers, “followers,” and fans alike. With 26 years of award winning broadcast, film, and digital ad agency experience, Tshaka has unique insight into building a digital presence and messaging that is impactful, and empowering. That insight is further bolstered by working directly with families offline through his non-profit, Digital Shepherds, whose mission is to help families cross the digital divide through digital literacy education and computer science programs for underserved youth. His clients have included Microsoft, NBC/Universal, Campbell’s, Marvel, and Netflix.

James Rath

James Rath is a legally blind filmmaker who pursued his passion for visual storytelling in part thanks to accessible technology such as the Mac, and iPhone. Through his films and documentaries, he aims for the audience to see different. On his YouTube channel, he’s personally interviewed Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, discussing the company’s values and history of creating accessible products. His commercial films that promote authentic casting for the disability community has been awarded three Cannes Lions International Festival of Advertising awards.

Louis Cole

“Live the Adventure” is Louis’ life motto. As a 21st century explorer he documents and shares his curiosity, excitement and exploration with over 2 million subscribers as he wanders the globe, immersing himself and his viewers in the cultures and communities of the world. He has a strong sense of social responsibility and aims to use his influence to have a positive impact on the world around him. He is an ambassador for dreaming big, living beyond the mundane and, of course, adventure.