From pharmaceutical order-taker to leading Pinterest Canada

Media People Newsletter
Written and curated by Victor Genova · May 6, 2024 · Issue #9

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

• Kristie Painting from Pinterest stops by the podcast

• Brooke Baldwin opens up about her workplace treatment

• From the Media People Podcast archives: Derooted Immersive Creative Director & Partner - Simón Rojas Gajardo [2022]

How did Kristie Painting go from pharmaceutical order-taker to overseeing Pinterest’s Canadian office? (There were a couple of key roles in-between)

Find out on EP97 of the Media People Podcast with Kristie Painting, Pinterest’s Country Manager for Canada.

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

Ever watched The Morning Show starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Anniston on Apple TV+? You should, because it’s a great show. And you probably shouldn’t, because it’s an incredibly stressful watch. The anxiety is contagious and the workplace politics might be familiar. They cover everything from backstabbing to gaslighting to getting passed over for a promotion to having your job security threatened, etc, etc. And this is why Brooke Baldwin’s self-authored piece in Vanity Fair struck a chord. You’d think her success made her untouchable at CNN, but that wasn’t the case. Brooke outlines the unnecessary trials and tribulations that come with big egos in the boardroom at one of America’s largest news giants.

So why the inclusion in today’s newsletter?

Because I’ve had conversations with my peers caught up in similar situations. The common denominator? Apart from the toxic behaviour, it’s the belief that their situation was unique, probably their fault, and that others do not endure the same.

That, I assure you, is far from the truth.

Brooke Baldwin was on top at CNN, but it was only after her termination that she was able to find closure and rediscover her own self-worth. This article is candid & raw, and I hope helps others find strength in similar situations.

From the Media People Podcast Archives: Derooted Immersive Creative Director & Partner - Simón Rojas Gajardo

In the push to persuade audiences to choose your product or service over the competition, it’s easy to forget that advertising is in itself both a form of art and expression. This is part of what motivated today’s guest, Simón Rojas Gajardo, to pursue a career in advertising’s creative side. Simón is both the Creative Director and a Partner at Derooted Immersive—a creative technologies company that specializes in producing uniquely memorable and interactive experiences for brands and live events. Simón was born in Santiago, Chile, while the country was under dictatorial rule. His parents were part of the opposition, and it’s here he learned the role artists can have at resisting tyranny. At a young age his family moved to Canada, settling in Toronto. Computers and graphic design software peeked Simón’s interest. And he pursued those further, enrolling at the International Academy of Art & Design where he studied advertising and art direction. Simón Rojas Gajardo sits down to talk about living under the former Chilean dictatorship, the authors and artists who influenced his life and work, his experiences working for both large and boutique creative agencies, his time working in Spain’s creative industry, and what it’s like to simultaneously be both a Partner and a Creative Director. This episode originally aired in January 2022.

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