Networking lessons from Sydney Sweeney

Media People Newsletter
Written and curated by Victor Genova · April 3rd, 2024 · Issue #7

Welcome to the seventh issue of the Media People Newsletter. Subscribe here if you haven’t already. In this issue:

• Shannae Singleton Smith from Kensington Grey stops by the podcast

• Networking lessons from Sydney Sweeney

• Brandon Fluharty on how to jumpstart your LinkedIn journey

• From the Media People Podcast archives: Pressboard Co-Founder, Jerrid Grimm [2020]

Episode 95 with Shannae Ingleton Smith—Kensington Grey President & CEO is LIVE! We chat:

• How advising influencers in a private Facebook group inspired Kensington Grey

• Majoring in finance but focusing on marketing

• Growing up in Calgary

• Leading educational advertising sales at Rogers Media

Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and online at mediapeople.ca.

Haven’t seen Madame Web? You’re not alone. While lead actress Dakota Johnson distanced herself from the failed Spider-Man spinoff, her co-star, Sydney Sweeney, used this initial experience with Sony Pictures to sell them on two other films she was producing & starring in. And while they passed on Immaculate (it was picked up by Neon), they must be overjoyed with the commercial success Anyone But You brought to their bottom line. On the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Sweeney outlines her plan to have more authorship over her career—both in front of, and behind, the camera. Full episode at the previous link, but the snippet on relationship building with Sony is available here.

Jumpstarting Your LinkedIn Journey

Spending all your time on TikTok? Instagram? Well professionally speaking, you might be missing opportunities by not being equally active on LinkedIn. Brandon Fluharty is a former SaaS sales rep who generated over $50M in sales and retired a millionaire at the ripe-old-age of 42. Fluharty has built quite the audience on LinkedIn where he regularly shares experience, opinions, and his expertise with sales professionals looking for an edge. One post entitled: 10 Unspoken Rules You Should Be Aware of When Starting Your LinkedIn Journey is a must-read for anyone using LinkedIn for professional branding efforts.

From the Media People Podcast Archives: Pressboard Co-Founder - Jerrid Grimm

Entrepreneurship is something that was engrained in Jerrid Grim’s psyche from an early age. In fact if you ask Jerrid, he’ll tell that his younger self believed that starting a business was the only way to make money.

A native of suburban, Edmonton, Jerrid’s first job was a local flyer route. But unlike most kids who are stuck spending hours bundling flyers before lugging them out for delivery, young Jerrid outsourced part of the labour to his sisters—essentially turning his first job into his first ever managerial role.

After high school Jerrid enrolled at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, where he studying marketing.

After graduation he landed a job selling advertising space on bike racks throughout Edmonton. With little structure, it was the type of role that required an entrepreneurial mindset for success.

From there he moved over to Pattison Outdoor, one of the latest outdoor advertising companies in Canada.

Jerrid had planned to take a year off to backpack Europe. The only problem? A senior role at Newad presented itself just as he was getting ready to leave. He convinced Newad to hang onto the job, and returned a year later into a VP position.

It was during his time at Newad where he was handed a massive branded content opportunity. Both the client and the dollars were big, but the process of getting the campaign live proved to be both costly and cumbersome. Jerrid saw these hurdles as a business opportunity. Clients wanted to spend more on branded content, but the ability to scale and report efficiently across multiple partners was difficult. And just like that—the idea for Pressboard was born. This episode first aired in June, 2020.

Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and online at mediapeople.ca