Hi, I’m Tom.
I'm a marketer and media executive who has worked at places like Vox Media, Thrillist, POPSUGAR, and Well+Good building consumer activations that place brands in culture.
When Fortune 500 companies approach my teams with a business challenge, I mine for the human insights that uncover the tangible reasons why a person would care about the brand—and build a meaningful campaign that connects the brand to modern culture. Almost always, those reasons are rooted in fundamental human emotion.
I've worked across industries like Retail, Auto, Travel, CPG, Beauty, Liquor & Spirits and more, with tactics spanning experiential, social, influencers, content, and more—but the connective thread across my career has always been the power of storytelling.
Whether creating a powerful pitch deck, launching a thought leadership study, or conceiving an event—my background as I writer fuels my conviction every brand has a story to tell. And I use those stories to build lasting connections to people.
Lessons I live by:
Across my career, I've been blessed to work with some incredible mentors and business leaders who have shaped my approach. Here is some of the wisdom I've picked up along the way, as well as some of my own lessons that fuel my individual lens as a marketer.
You should be a little scared.
The moniker of a good idea is that it should make you nervous. Big ideas should require you to punch above your weight, and without that fear, you risk operating in the sea of sameness.
There's a difference between competing and winning.
I instill in my teams a commitment to greatness rooted in an appreciation for the details. Especially when it comes to new business, a proposal that wins the business is one that obsesses about the small stuff—because that what shows the client you understand their challenges and the landscape at large.
Tell them something new.
Insights are the hook shot of a good idea. Too often, marketers rely on reiterating the table stakes of consumer and culture. Mining for that whitespace insight, and leading with it when setting up a big idea creates the eureka moments that make business leaders lean in.
When they say jump, you say how high.
My years working in restaurants and retail taught me the most valuable lessons for operating in a corporate environment. The people we work with—whether clients or colleagues—want us to make their lives easier, which means being proactive to anticipate needs, and putting in the extra effort to overdeliver.
Your relationships will take you there.
In the ever-evolving media landscape, great work comes and goes. People may forget the idea and the activation, but they'll always remember the impression you left on them. Operating from kindness and empathy is what builds trusted relationships you can rely on across your career.