E144 Sean Atkins: Reach helps, passion helps more

Sean Atkins has a proven ability to build high-value businesses across diverse industries. Over the past 20 years, he has been a pioneer at the intersection of consumer, media, and tech, driving transformative initiatives at several of the world’s leading brands, including MTV, Discovery, HBO, Bertelsmann, Jellysmack, Yahoo!, and Disney. He now serves as CEO of Dhar Mann Studios, the mission-driven digital media company that reaches over 124M+ followers around the world with inspirational narrative content. One of the fastest-growing independent digital media companies, Atkins oversees 150 employees at Dhar Mann Studios as well as the company’s 100,000 SF production space in Los Angeles. He also launched and leads DMS’ creator-services business, 5th Quarter Agency, which helps its creator clients to generate more than six figures per month of incremental revenue. 

Photo: Justine Knight Photography

E143 Alessio Pieroni: Is the market saturated? Yes. Should that stop you? No.

Alessio Pieroni is the Founder of Scale For Impact, a leading marketing agency dedicated to scaling online education businesses from 7 to 8 figures. With over a decade of experience in the e-learning space, Alessio has developed a deep passion for transforming lives through education.

His journey began at Mindvalley, where he served as Chief Marketing Officer, leading a team of 50 and playing a pivotal role in scaling the company’s revenue from $25 million to $75 million. During his tenure, he helped optimize high-converting funnels, expand international reach into seven languages, and build one of the most successful subscription models in the personal growth industry—all while maximizing advertising efficiency and profitability.

In 2020, Alessio leveraged his expertise to launch Scale For Impact, bringing world-class marketing strategies to the industry’s top thought leaders. In just two years, his agency has collaborated with some of the most renowned authors and experts of our time, including Tony Robbins, Jordan Peterson, Marisa Peer, Terry Real, Ben Greenfield, Shefali Tsabary, Danette May, Roger Hamilton, Verne Harnish, and many more.

Through Scale For Impact, Alessio and his team have successfully built high-performing funnels, created compelling content, scaled advertising spend profitably, and launched multiple New York Times Bestsellers—establishing a proven track record in driving massive growth for online education brands.

E142 Teresa Caro: Creating an agile career

Teresa Caro is the founder and CEO of Liminist, a coaching firm dedicated to empowering leaders and teams to achieve transformative growth. As an ICF PCC credentialed executive and teams coach, Teresa specializes in helping C-suite executives, senior leaders, and high-performing teams embrace change, build resilience, and drive strategic impact.

Teresa brings over two decades of leadership experience in high-stakes industries, including CPG, Retail, Fintech, and B2B SaaS. She is an Authorized Partner for The Five Behaviors® by Wiley, PXT Select certified, and a Positive Intelligence Coach. Through bespoke solutions, she helps clients cultivate agility, foster trust, and align their actions with purpose.

Beyond her professional achievements, Teresa is an avid golfer, yoga enthusiast, and devoted family member. She believes in the power of unapologetic prioritization and encourages her clients to focus on what matters most in every stage of life and career.

Learn more about Teresa and Liminist.

E141 Lexi St. John: Driving box office success in the TikTok era

Lexi St. John is the EVP of QYOU Media and GM of QYOU Studios, where she blends Hollywood expertise with the creator economy to elevate digital storytelling. Under Lexi’s leadership, QYOU has captivated millions of fans through innovative content for industry giants including Paramount, DreamWorks, Sony, Hasbro, Hyundai, Activision, Hulu, and Warner Bros. Over the company’s history, her expertise has powered influencer marketing campaigns for 25 #1 box office films and launched 5 major video game franchises.

Before QYOU, Lexi was a television writer for Nickelodeon and worked in Saturday Night Live’s script department. Lexi earned her Master’s in Business Administration from Pepperdine’s Graziadio Business School and her Bachelor’s Degree from New York University. With a unique blend of creative vision and business acumen, she continues to push the boundaries of entertainment marketing.

For more about QYOU visit theqyou.com and follow them on LinkedIn, TikTok and Instagram

E140 Brianne Fleming: Pop culture is still underrated as a marketing tool

Brianne Fleming is a marketing educator, speaker, and the creator of #PopChat, a weekly livestream that has become a national trending topic. Through #PopChat and her podcast, Making the Brand, Brianne explores marketing lessons inspired by pop culture.

Her newsletter, By Popular Demand, was featured in Forbes as one of the top marketing newsletters. With over a decade of experience in branding and social media, Brianne teaches at the University of Florida and empowers creators and businesses to build connections with their audience by tapping into culture, crafting relatable stories, and sparking nostalgia.

E139 Bridget Lohrius: Not panicked but prepared

Bridget Lohrius is the Founder and CEO of SANDWINA, a full-service leadership consultancy and coaching company on a mission to unlock growth for progressive organizations and their people. 

For more than 20 years, Bridget has coached c-level executives from some of the world’s largest and most recognizable brands, including Ulta, Walmart, McDonalds, CVS, Mars Wrigley, Lockheed Martin, Follett, and Lenscrafters (including five of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women).

She founded SANDWINA so that she (and her team) can provide a more progressive and results-driven brand of executive positioning, one-on-one leadership coaching, group coaching, team development, change management, ERG programming, and DEI consulting to a wider and more diverse pool of clients in need. 

E138 Jacklyn Dallas: "What would this look like if it went well?" Reasons for tech optimism

Jacklyn Dallas started making tech explainer videos for her grandma as a 13-year-old on YouTube and has built a wildly popular channel, NothingButTech, that educates and excites people about technology through deeply researched, high-energy explainers and field shoots with industry leaders and CEOs like Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai. She also guest lectures on tech and YouTube at Cornell, MIT, and recently, the U.S. Congress.

E137 Danielle Wiley: Why oddly specific requests are on the rise

Danielle Wiley is the founder and CEO of Sway Group, an agency that supports a large community of influencers and connects them to the right brands for high-impact marketing campaigns.

Prior to founding Sway, Danielle ran social strategy for Edelman’s Chicago-based digital group. Between working on the social campaigns for household-name brands and channeling her passion for cooking into a food blog, she realized there was a need to professionalize and streamline the process for connecting influencers with brands. She launched Sway in 2011.

With nearly 30 years of industry experience, Danielle is widely recognized as an industry leader in content marketing, influencer marketing, and social media strategy. She has the practical knowledge to understand what is doable and the creative energy to consistently push the envelope with her initiatives.

Danielle is a graduate of Vassar College and currently lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her family.

E136 Lisa Welborn: How to be great at marketing for good

Lisa Welborn, Director of Media at Civilian, has over 15 years of expertise in crafting data-driven media plans that effectively reach and influence target audiences in the unique places and spaces they frequent. Lisa led the media planning and placement for the Live Beyondcampaign, winning Media Planner of The Year. Her strategic approach, particularly in understanding the unique Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) that define impacted and traditionally underserved communities, has been instrumental in delivering impactful campaigns aimed at reaching youth and driving public health awareness.

Lisa’s media expertise spans across traditional and digital platforms, ensuring that each campaign not only meets its objectives but also fosters long-lasting engagement and positive change. 

Under Lisa’s leadership, the campaign which partnered with Twitch and The Drew League also delivered 58 million bonus impressions, valued at $2.477 million, through partnerships with Native American newspapers, Univision, and iHeart Media’s “Conversations in Cars” program.

E135 Kamp Grizzly's Secret to Disruption is Always Looking Forward

Dan Portrait is Kamp Grizzly’s Chief Creative Officer and founder. Portrait’s artistic upbringing in Portland’s hotbed of subcultures, music and film during the early 90’s helped to shape the young creative’s approach to founding and running Kamp Grizzly, one of the most accredited and forward-thinking creative agencies, known for blurring the lines between advertising and entertainment. Portrait’s natural curiosity and creative outlook has been instrumental in impacting Kamp Grizzly’s DNA and approach to immersive storytelling - no matter the medium. 

The agency boasts a growing portfolio of award-winning branded content and disruptive activations with client partners including adidas North America, Netflix, Amazon, Uber Eats, Moet, Fanatics, and Oakley. Kamp Grizzly received its first Lion at the 2023 Cannes Festival for the Halloween Uber Eats short horror film “Don’t’ Run Out” directed by Dan Trachtenberg starring Keke Palmer. The Kamp Grizzly team is also behind Oakley’s newest multimedia odyssey, Future Genesis, which continues to unfold with an animated fiction film and preview comic drop.

Portrait is based out of Portland, Oregon near the global Kamp Grizzly headquarters.