Category: Writers
Sarah Unger, Senior Vice President of CIVIC will contribute about cultural insights
Sarah Unger is the Senior Vice President of Cultural Insights & Strategy at CIVIC, a Seacrest Global Group Company. An award-winning cultural and consumer strategist, Unger uncovers insights and navigates paradigm shifts for companies looking to transform their cultural relevance.
Since joining CIVIC in 2018, she has worked across brands such as YouTube, Apple, Disney/ABC, NBCU, and WarnerMedia.
She was named to Media Play News’ 40 Under 40 list in October 2019, spoke at SXSW, and has been a frequent cultural commentator in outlets such as The Atlantic, Fortune, Forbes, and The Daily Beast.
Prior to joining Civic, Unger led brand strategy as Vice President of Marketing Strategy, Trends & Insights at Viacom for its brands Paramount Pictures, MTV, Paramount Network, Comedy Central, BET, Nickelodeon, and more.
She was named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 during her tenure at Ketchum as Vice President, Insights & Strategic Planning where she launched the Millennial and Gen Z division.
Unger is a graduate of the University of Virginia and completed the prestigious Harvard Business School 2018 Program for the Business of Entertainment, Media, & Sports.
A frequent public speaker, in the past year she has led sessions at SXSW, NYC TV Week, NATPE Miami, DEW, Promax, and the Media Insights & Engagement Conference among others, and was also featured in NYT bestselling author Dan Schwabel’s latest book, Back to Human: How Great Leaders Create Connection in the Age of Isolation.
Melody Serafino will show her perspective through a service communications agency side
Melody Serafino is a writer and media relations professional who understands the importance of telling a good story — from both sides of the page. After nine years on the agency side, and as a freelance reporter for Time Out New York, she co-founded No. 29, a full-service communications agency that elevates and gives voice to brands that create impact.
With more more than 15 years in the PR industry, Melody has overseen major campaigns for non-profits, startups, artists, filmmakers, and brands — working with reporters across a range of countries, outlets and beats – from sustainability and fashion to technology and food.
She has been invited to speak about the power of PR and storytelling at the TEDx Summit in Doha, Qatar, and the International Conference on Family Planning Youth Pre-Conference in Nusa Dua, Indonesia.
She serves on the Fairfield University Alumni Board; the Rising Leaders Council for New York Cares; and the boards for A Second U Foundation and The New Fashion Initiative.
She has also taught at New York University. In pre-COVID times, Melody could be found riding the Trans-Siberian railway through the steppes of Mongolia, camping with lions in the Serengeti Plains, and teaching junior high students in Ghana.
Emily Chang, CEO of McCann Worldgroup in China, will share her thoughts about globalization and this new normal
Emily Chang is the CEO of McCann Worldgroup, China.
Prior to accepting this new role, she took a year off to write a book called The Spare Room, the topic of her first TEDx Talk.
Before that, she served as cmo for Starbucks China, where she was responsible for marketing, sales, loyalty, customer engagement, and the digital ecosystem (ecommerce, loyalty, payments, partnerships). She led the teams that tripled digital tender across stores, helped open the first Starbucks Roastery outside of Seattle, and launched the brand’s delivery program.
A strategic business leader with over 20 years of experience, Emily is known for globalization, cross-cultural team leadership, and innovative brand building.
Recognized for her ability to drive change and renew organizations, Emily approaches opportunities with an entrepreneurial mind set to establish a culture, set a vision, and build capability. She is known first and foremost as a people leader and team builder.
Prior to Starbucks, Emily was the Chief Commercial Officer for IHG, Greater China, where she was responsible for all commercial functions across Greater China. Looking after 320+ hotels and an extended team of 5,200 Sales & Marketing members, Emily spearheaded the market share turnaround of six hotel brands and the contribution mix of three loyalty programs. She also invested in building new BI and Digital capabilities and differentiated the group with a focus on Branded Guest Experiences.
Moving to Shanghai in 2011, Emily built a high-performance marketing organization that established the face of Apple Retail in Asia Pacific. She first developed her General Management, Marketing and Brand expertise at Procter & Gamble, with 11 years’ experience across all three Global Business Units: Health & Well Being, Beauty & Grooming, and Household Care. She has rich end-to-end business experience, from globalizing upstream design, to exceeding P&L objectives across going businesses in US and China, to leading the Walmart Health & Beauty Retailer team in Arkansas.
Emily sits on the board of SOS Children’s Villages and has spoken at select conferences and events, including the Fortune Most Powerful Women’s Summit in Hong Kong, C2 in Montreal, and has delivered three TEDx Talks. In her free time, Emily loves to teach, read, and write.
She challenges herself to learn a new “big thing” every year (2019 was all about the book, and she’s spent much of 2020 straddling a cajon drum).
Most of all, Emily enjoys spending time with family: her husband of 20 years, her 11yr daughter Laini, Holly Berry their rescued mutt, and Jellybean, their pygmy hedgehog.
Alice Salvo Sosnowski, top Brazil influencer and entrepreneur, will contribute to the book
Alice Salvo Sosnowski is a journalist, teacher and specialist in entrepreneurship.
Elected in 2019 as one of the Top Voices on Linkedin Brazil, she is the author of the book Entrepreneurship for Dummies, and influencer of Rede Mulher Empreendedora.
She also works as a consultant with over 12 years of experience and mentor entrepreneurs, startups and companies from different sectors. She is currently a partner at edutech Edumap. In it, we help young people to build their life and career projects for the future.
Creator of the “O Pulo do Gato Empreendedor” methodology, that studies soft skills and abilities for the 21st century, training and mentoring entrepreneurs throughout Brazil.
Ray Cazorla, chairman of the New York Summit, will share his thoughts in the book
Ray Cazorla is a well-known social activist who works at an international level in a number of fields, aiming to train leaders of change and create platforms for exchanging knowledge. Likewise, he works hard to achieve gender equality, creating an international platform which allows world leaders to join forces.
As part of his various initiatives, he has worked and had the opportunity to collaborate with former US president Barack Obama, RSC world guru Dr. Bernardo Kliksberg, Kathleen Kennedy daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and former Governor of the state of Maryland, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, famous astronaut Michael López Alegría and multiple world leaders in the fields of politics, business and social activity.
Ray is the Founder and President of the Hispanic-American Association, a US company dedicated to international relations, executive education, international events and an advisor to companies and governments who are working on real and effective progress in democracy and freedom. It has offices in the United States, Spain and Argentina.
Founder and President of the Inspiring Committed Leaders Foundation (ICLF), with offices in the United States, Latin America and Europe, an NGO which aims to train leaders committed to creating a better global society, empowering women (they organized the first forum of women leaders in the 21st century, which took place in Madrid) and supporting entrepreneurs from third world countries.
Founder and Executive Chairman of the New York Summit, a conference and networking platform based in New York, which aims to promote the talent and quality work of Hispanic people worldwide. This offers a place to exchange knowledge in one of the most important cities in the world.
Very committed to developing the talent of Hispanic people across the world, managing to make this one of the most important events in the United States of America with the idea of uniting companies, associations, entrepreneurs and successful people dedicated to a number of different professional fields among Latin American countries and the United States.
CEO of CEO CLUBS NETWORK, Chief Executive Officer Clubs (CEO Clubs) is a business network for developing leadership with thousands of CEO members across the globe.
Founder and CEO of HAC New York, HAC Leadership & Management is an international public affairs, international relations and executive training company. Our clients come from the business, political and institutional fields in the United States of America, Europe and Latin America. Founded in 2015 in the United States, our company has regional offices in New York, Miami, Madrid, Santiago de Chile, Brazil and Buenos Aires where we offer strategic consultancy services, corporate events, executive training and political relationships with administration.
CEAPI advisor, The Alliance for Ibero-America Business Council (CEAPI) is an organization of businessmen and women who are committed to the Ibero-American Business Space whose main objective is to foster economic and social development through exchanging experiences, encouraging investment and integration.
Silver Member of the American Sustainable Business Council, Established in 2009, the American Business Council is a company and business associations network which has committed to the triple-bottom-line values of People, Planet and Profit. The Council covers a growing network of business associations in the United States, representing more than 250,000 companies and 325,000 business executives, owners, investors and more.
Yann-Maël Larher will contribute giving his point of view as a lawyer to the new normal
Yann-Maël Larhers Ph.D is a lawyer, founder of legalbrain–avocats.fr and okaydoc.fr, and Winner of the French Research Talents Prize. In 2019, he entered the LinkedIn ranking of influencers where he actively shares his vision of the society and links with the environment, digital technology, citizenship and law.
His Linkedin bio says:
“As a lawyer I am convinced that web practices, IT tools and legal rules can serve an accepted and effective modernization of the company, in organizations I promote forms of work that capitalize on these three essential dimensions. In a complex and profoundly changing world, it is essential to decompartmentalize subjects and reconcile short and long term vision.
It is with this approach that I co-founded my law firm, Legal Brain Avocats, and a consulting firm, Okay Doc, to promote the expertise of researchers in companies and understand all dimensions of innovation.
Winner of the Research Talents Prize awarded by RUE 89 and FABERNOVEL, I completed my thesis in 2017 entitled ” Digital work practice and labour law” at the University Paris II Panthéon-Assas, and I now intervene to promote adoption of new working methods and facilitate the organization of the digital society.
My experiences and my training allow me to have a broad understanding of digital, legal, communication and work developments.”
Dr. Divya Jaitly will contribute about Media
Lex Sokolin will contribute about Fintech
Lex Sokolin is a futurist and entrepreneur working on the next generation of financial services. He is the CMO and Global Fintech Co-Head at ConsenSys, a blockchain technology company building the infrastructure, applications, and practices that enable a decentralized world.
Lex focuses on emerging digital assets, public and private enterprise blockchain solutions, and decentralized finance and autonomous organizations.
Previously, Lex was the Global Director of Fintech Strategy at Autonomous Research (acquired by AllianceBernstein), an equity research firm serving institutional investors, where he covered artificial intelligence, blockchain, neobanks, digital lenders, roboadvisors, payments, insurtech, and mixed reality.
Before Autonomous, Lex was COO at AdvisorEngine, a digital wealth management technology platform, and CEO of NestEgg Wealth, a roboadvisor that partnered with financial advisors.
Prior to NestEgg, Lex held roles in investment management and banking at Barclays, Lehman Brothers and Deutsche Bank.
He earned a JD/MBA from Columbia University and a B.A. in Economics and Law from Amherst College.
Lex is a contributor of thought leadership to the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, Bloomberg, FT, Reuters, American Banker, ThinkAdvisor, and Investment News, among others.
He is a regular speaker at industry conferences such as Money2020, LendIt, Schwab Impact, In|Vest, T3 Enterprise Edition, and Consensus.
Sandeep Reddy, founder of Medi-AI and World Health Organisation recognised Digital Health Expert, will contribute to the book
Sandeep Reddy is the founder and Chairman of Medi-AI, which is involved in devising AI strategies and solutions for clinicians and healthcare providers. He has a medical and healthcare management background in addition to being a certified health informatician and a World Health Organisation recognised Digital Health Expert.
He has completed machine learning and health informatics training from various institutions. He is currently engaged in research about the safety and quality of the application of AI in healthcare delivery in addition to developing AI models to treat and manage chronic diseases.
Also, he has authored several articles and books about the use of AI in Medicine. Further, he has set up local and international forums to promote the use of AI in Healthcare.