Austin, Texas, is perceived as one of the hippest markets in the United States: BBQ, the music scene and, of course, South by Southwest. When peeling back the layers of the city, one will find a rich tapestry of technology, retail, media and cultural commitment that continues to emerge, further solidifying Austin as a unique leader and desired destination for talent.
From global operations to evolving brands, Austin beats to its own drum, famously keeping it—whatever it is—weird. But there is no question that Adweek’s inaugural Austin Brand Stars are committed to a future that befits a community who works to rise together.
Tony Aguilar
Current role: “There is no such thing as a typical day for me, but there are things that I do most days. We’re currently fundraising, so many of my days are filled with investor calls/meetings, follow-ups, and tweaking our deck. We currently have an incredible group of advisors and investors who support Chipper’s mission to solve the student loan crisis, so I speak with them constantly to get their insight on challenges or opportunities we’re seeing.”
Career path: “I grew up in a small, humble west Texas town and was the first person in my family to graduate from high school and go to college. I attended one of the top business schools in the country, and although I got a little bit of scholarship money, I had to finance almost every penny to go to college. When I left school, my monthly payments were more than $1,200, and I freaked out and then got angry because I felt like I was lied to. I was told if I studied hard, got good grades, and had a good job, I could live this American Dream. Going through this inspired me to launch Student Loan Genius (now Vault) in 2013, where I developed the first student loan benefit, allowing companies to contribute to employees’ student debt. Think of it as a 401k for student loans. Student debt is skyrocketing and horribly impacting women and minorities. I believe it’s my calling to help solve this problem for the millions of people who are drowning in debt.”
Most rewarding part of the job: “Seeing the impact that our products have on our users. We had a user who was a teacher, single mom and worked a part-time job because her student loan payments were $800. After using our forgiveness tool, we were able to lower her payments by $500. She sent an email thanking us because she was able to quit her part-time job, and it was the first time she was able to spend an entire week with her daughters. There’s nothing better than that. That is why we do what we do.”
Favorite Austin celebrity or historical figure: “Alright, Alright, Alright! It has to be McConaughey. He represents Austin. With his leisurely drawl, big smile, and charisma, it’s hard not to love the guy. He famously said Austin is the place where ‘nobody’s too good, and everybody’s good enough.’ It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do, or how much money you have—we’ll accept you here, and we’re going to have a lot of fun.”
Karen Bantuveris
Current role: “I lead SignUp’s inspiring, seasoned team, and influence all aspects of the business, including setting strategy, cultivating brand partnerships, refining product, and customer listening. I contribute to the magic as a vision setter, a connector, an idea pot-stirrer, a cheerleader, and a gap-closer.”
Career path: “Years into my career as a business innovation expert and being a parent, I experienced personal communication frustrations as a leader in Girl Scouts and PTA. It was mayhem for everyone who wanted to pitch in and participate, and even crazier for the organizer. We needed a solution, and I wanted to make it happen. I launched VolunteerSpot in 2009 with the mission of enabling anyone to quickly mobilize and coordinate good works in their local schools and community. In 2016, VolunteerSpot was renamed SignUp.com. Today, 20 million people across the U.S. and around the world use SignUp for any and all kinds of events, meetings, and activities that depend on successful group participation and coordination.”
Most rewarding part of the job: “We hear fantastic stories every day of how SignUp helped people make a difference. I could be in simple ways, like making sure parents know when it’s their turn to bring snacks to soccer or to attend their parent-teacher conferences. It might be signing up volunteers for fundraisers, and people-powering homeless shelter volunteers, community kitchens and animal rescue groups.”
What makes Austin special: “Austin is the most collaborative and supportive city I’ve lived in professionally! It’s extremely easy to ask a peer for their advice and seek mentoring from the best – my only pause is which person to ask as Austin is packed with pros! Personally, I’ve found Austin to be an incredible place to raise a family with fantastic public schools, easy access to nature and plenty to do every weekend – I can see why we’re topping the ‘Best Places to Live’ charts.”
Will Chau
Current role: “I oversee all aspects of our creative branding and design, from both our internal creative department and our ad agency. There has been a sea change over the last two years since I’ve been at Whole Foods Market. We’ve built up the capabilities of our internal creative department, where we’ve updated our brand identity, relaunched our new website, app, and most recently, we completely redesigned our 365 Brand packaging. Our in-house team is also creating our organic and paid social, as well as national outdoor brand campaigns. And of course, each one of our stores showcases our work every day.”
Career path: “I’ve spent my career at mostly independent ad agencies along the west coast. Most were small, creative shops, where we all had to be scrappy and nimble to not just create the work, but in some cases, to keep the doors open. Egos took a back seat to survival at times. From 2005-2017, I was a Creative Director at GSD&M in Austin. This helped me learn about how a strong and defined culture could enable people to realize their own creative passion.”
Most rewarding part of the job: “Ad agencies sometimes put an emphasis on their creatives who win the most awards. While this has lead to healthy internal competition, it can also foster an environment of big egos, politics, and favoritism. I told myself, that when I took this job, I’d toss my ego out the window and make sure others did too. Without a doubt, the most rewarding part of my job is creating a culture where people help others realize their potential.”
Favorite Austin celebrity or historical figure: “Leslie Cochran. He ran for mayor three times and came in second place in 2000. He kept Austin weird.”
Jenifer Dasho
About the company: Everlywell is a digital health company that offers 30+ at-home lab tests that start as low $39.
Current role: “I lead Everlywell’s marketing team, including brand strategy, creative and content development, paid and organic growth, and retail sales. Unfortunately, the traditional lab testing process is cumbersome, costly, and confusing. So I focus my daily efforts on building a consumer experience that both delights and delivers valuable, actional health insights.”
Career path: “I started my career at the ad agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco and went on to spend more than six years at Clorox. After Clorox, I migrated to the tech industry and oversaw the brand team at Trulia. Most recently, I led consumer and creator marketing at Pinterest, where I worked for three years before making the jump to Everlywell as their first CMO.”
What makes Austin special: “Austin is an incredibly supportive community. Moving to Austin from the Bay Area meant I had to completely build a new network. I was immediately struck by the fact that people really want to help each other and are very gracious with their time.”
Favorite Austin celebrity or historical figure: “Thanks to Google, I learned that Nelly (yes, the Nelly of St. Louis fame) was born in Austin! Nelly had a starring role on many of my college mixed tapes and brought back some pretty amazing memories!”
Paulie Dery
Current role: “I co-lead the premier outdoor brand’s marketing department and ensure more of the world gets to understand and celebrate their own wild side. I’ve focused on building out the internal creative, brand, and strategy teams, and am on the hook for content development and output of all Yeti’s marketing channels.”
Career path: “I started in advertising. I was the kid that boarded up all creative, so it was ready for client presentations. Luckily, my glue technique was terrible, and the agency let me move into creative. After leaving my home shores of Australia, I was the ecd at R/GA in New York for eight years and then jumped to client-side (and coasts) as ecd of Uber in San Francisco. The last six months have been as vp of brand and creative at Yeti.”
What makes Austin unique: “Austin isn’t reinventing itself, it’s building upon itself, and it shows in the way people do business. People build for the future. Relationships and handshakes are still the main currency of business. While some would say, Austin has changed, I’m more optimistic about the growth, I love the boom, the energy and creativity that made Austin famous are still here, it just now gets a world stage, and gets to make the world jealous while we’re at it.”
Favorite way to have fun in Austin: “Fun is dictated by whatever our two-year-old deems it to be. Luckily Austin is full of beautiful parks, trails and splash-pads for families to get outside and enjoy. But when my wife and I can find a sitter, we will eat our way through many of the awesome Austin menus on offer.”
Hugh Forrest
Current role: “I oversee a 50-person staff that puts together content for the SXSW Conference as well as the various SXSW Festivals. We basically work for 10 months to prepare for what I like to call ‘March Magic’ in Austin.”
Career path: “Before joining SXSW in the dark ages of 1989, I wanted to be a writer. I still want to be a writer when I grow up.”
What makes Austin special: “Austin continues to celebrate and cultivate the power of massive creativity in a way that few other cities have ever done.”
Favorite Austin celebrity or historical figure: Dan Rather
Favorite way to have fun in Austin: Barton Springs!
Will Golden
Current role: “My day to day role consists of overseeing the brewing and fermentation sciences and quality control. I also oversee creative and recipe development as well as raw materials acquisition. I ensure that the beer is innovative, produced to the highest quality possible, and, most importantly, world-class.”
Career path: “I have always loved art and planned to major in art restoration in school. That took me to Europe on an art history trip where I found beer that I connected with as art for the first time in Brussels, Belgium. After returning to the U.S., I started working for a local craft brewery and fell in love with it! I stopped pursuing art restoration and started pursuing liquid art. After working for Frederick Brewing, Flying Dog, and Barley and Hops, I decided to start my own.”
Most rewarding part of the job: “Knowing that I make people smile! Also offering a place where families and people can meet and have a great time. Also cultivating and propagating community in the city that we love!”
Favorite Austin celebrity or historical figure: “I really like Robert Rodriguez. I have always loved his films, and the fact that he shows you how to make the recipes from the movies is super cool to me. Also, Willie Nelson because … Willie Nelson!”
Confucius Jones
Current role: “I am one of the hosts of Austin’s number one hip-hop and R&B radio show, The Breaks.”
Career path: “A love for music led me to become a professional DJ. And the need to elevate the Austin urban scene led me to radio to provide those opportunities.”
Most rewarding part of the job: “Helping artists achieve recognition from a part of the city that might not be familiar with them.”
What makes Austin unique: “Austin is constantly changing and full of people who weren’t here years ago. That creates a culture that changes as well and can allow people of color to sometimes feel voiceless or left out.”
Favorite Austin celebrity or historical figure: “Tee Double because he is an Austin hip-hop legend and pioneer.”
Lish Kennedy
Current role: “My role oversees brand strategy, partnerships, communications and creative direction. The Vrbo brand marketing team is responsible for increasing brand awareness, consideration and preference by communicating Vrbo’s unique brand proposition.”
Career path: “I began my career on the agency side at Grey London working on Nokia. (This was before the iPhone when Nokia was the coolest telecom brand in town.) I then moved to BBH, where I was lucky enough to live and work in London, Shanghai and New York, launching and building brands for leading CPG and telecom businesses, including Vaseline, Axe, Vodafone and Baileys. After a brief stint at Droga5, I left agency life to lead integrated marketing and brand strategy at Etsy before I joined Vrbo.”
What makes Austin unique: “Austin is unlike anywhere I’ve lived before; it’s an incredibly genuine, welcoming and warm city. Everyone here seems smart and also very relaxed, which is a great mix. Many established companies have a presence here, like Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, but there is also a huge startup culture, ad agency life, and a strong appreciation for the arts, local businesses and giving back to the community.”
Favorite Austin celebrity or historical figure: “Leslie Cochran. He was a well-known homeless man and activist in Austin who was kind and generous and epitomized what it means to ‘Keep Austin Weird.’ He’s someone who truly lived and didn’t worry about what people thought. Leslie passed away before I moved to Austin, but I admire his unique and outgoing personality, how he was kind to everyone and what he meant to the city.”
Aaron “Fresh” Knight
Current role: “I co-host and co-produce KUTX’s Saturday night Rap/Hip-Hop and R&B show. I also run social media for the show and help with promotions of the show and accompanying podcast.”
Career path: “I began blogging back in December 2008. I ran my own music blog, Fresh Prince of the ATX, from 2008-2014. While running the site, I started helping my co-host Confucius Jones with his independent label by A&Ring and doing PR work for him. Briefly, Confucius and I hosted an internet radio show, 87Fresh on Houston based station TheCore94. From there, I began podcasting. I co-hosted a podcast with Confucius, Those Damn Comic Book Guys, as well as hosting my own podcast FPATX Live.”
What makes Austin unique: “It’s small but has the potential to be big with its rapid growth. This is probably the best city when it comes to startups, especially in the tech industry. The business community, especially music, is growing. The culture is like no other. We have a very low Black/African American population that is part of Austin’s culture. It seems to get lost in the shuffle, but it’s here, alive and well, and I’m doing what I can to help push it out more.”
Favorite Austin celebrity or historical figure: “Velma Roberts. She’s a woman I’ve heard my family speak about for many years, especially all the things she did for civil rights in the city of Austin. My family has ties to her. From reading about her and what I’ve been told, she is someone that I would’ve stood alongside.”
Matthew McConaughey
To call Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey an Austin Brand Star may seem a little redundant at first glance. After all, no amount of Hollywood glamour can change the fact that McConaughey and Texas have always been inextricably bound to one another. But what makes the Dallas Buyers Club star so impressive isn’t just his filmography, but how he continues to tie the expansion of his reach to Austin in wholly unexpected ways.
This past fall, the actor became a “professor of practice” at the University of Texas—more specifically, in the Department of Radio-Television-Film at UT’s Moody College of Communication—after serving as a visiting professor since 2015.
“Matthew cares deeply for our school and our students, and we are thrilled that he shares his time and talent to help prepare the next generation of media leaders and innovators,” Moody College Dean Jay Bernhardt told Hola!
In addition, he and wife Camila Alves helped bring the sport of professional soccer to Texas by investing as part owners of the Austin FC, which will be eligible to compete in Major League Soccer in 2021.
“Austin FC is more than a quality investment FOR Austin, it’s a quality investment IN Austin,” McConaughey told MLS media last August. “The most diverse and borderless game in the world is now coming to one of the most multicultural, creative and diverse cities in the world. Austin FC is a healthy investment in our city’s culture and future.”
Of all the ways to expand one’s personal brand and impact, directly investing in the betterment of your community is not only incredibly admirable but ideal, and another example of why McConaughey’s heart is always is rooted deep in this part of Texas.—Shannon Miller
Dave Mead
Current role: “I oversee Rambler’s day-to-day marketing efforts, including traditional advertising, social media and event sponsorships. I have direct contact with our creative agency, Guerilla Suit. But we’re a young brand and a craft water. So you might see me merchandising a store shelf or wheeling a dolly full of Rambler into a bar.”
Career path: “My father owned an advertising agency, so it just seemed like a natural course. I earned an advertising degree from the University of Texas and then did time at two ad agencies: McCann-Erickson and GSD&M. I primarily took out the trash at McCann before landing an account manager position at GSD&M. I spent two years in account services before moving into broadcast production. There, I spent another eight years producing TV and radio commercials. But photography was my real passion. Restless, I began hustling commercial photography work. I left GSD&M and spent 13 years as a commercial portrait photographer and director before launching a sparkling water business with two friends. It’s here, in an extremely crowded sparkling water category, where I’m applying all I’ve learned to help build the Rambler brand.”
Most rewarding part of the job: “Giving back. Rambler is proudly partnered with Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation – helping to conserve the wildlands and wetlands of Texas for future generations.”
Favorite Austin celebrity or historical figure: “There’s really only one answer here. Willie. Because … Willie.”
Seth Perisho
Current role: “I oversee all brand and product creative for Alienware. I also oversee a portion of our Dell Technologies brand level creative.”
Career path: “Before Dell Blue, I spent my entire career as an agency-side copywriter (and eventually creative director). My agency path was TracyLocke, Barkley, GSD&M, Ampersand, Launch and then Dell Blue.”
What makes Austin unique: “If you throw a rock in Austin, you’re likely to hit a creative professional full of great ideas. This city welcomes and promotes creative thinking. That means there’s a great deal of competition for every creative role, and that there’s no better place to build your idea factory.”
Favorite Austin celebrity or historical figure: “I’m a pop culture super nerd, so I have to go with Joe Johnston. He worked in production on Star Wars, helped design Boba Fett, and went on to become a great storyteller and director on some great films of his own.”
Favorite way to have fun in Austin: “I collect vinyl, and Austin has some of the best record stores in the country. Flipping through used records at End of an Ear and Breakaway, with stops at a coffee shop and/or brewery along the way, is a perfect day for me.”
Mark Phillip
About the company: Are You Watching This?! is the leading provider of real-time excitement data for college and professional sporting events around the globe. Partners include Bleacher Report, CBS Sports, Comcast Golf Digest and more.
Current role: “I’m a one-man shop, so I rarely have the same day twice in a row. There’s usually customer-facing work, making sure the products are meeting their needs. There’s usually backend work, making sure that our data centers scattered across North America are all healthy and performing well.”
Career path: “My mother was a superhero and was brilliant to buy me my first computer when I was 9, and I’ve been coding ever since. After MIT, I started my career in Austin, building enterprise software for a Fortune 500. I learned a ton but found frustration as customers often viewed my project proposals as too risky. ‘Let’s leave those ideas to our advertising agency,’ they would say. So, I left and joined an agency only to hear, ‘that’s too complicated. Let’s leave that to our dev shop.’ With RUWT?!, I was lucky enough to carve out space where I can tackle difficult tech and consumer experiences every day.”
What makes Austin unique: “To paint with a broad brush, tech out of Austin tends to be much more b-to-b and much more focused on revenue from the start, than other tech hubs. Add in the high percentage of transplants and the disparate types of tech, and you end up with a unique friendliness. Since you rarely see intra-Austin competitors, people are more willing to help each other.”
John Resig
Current role: “I’m head of editorial at theCHIVE and oversee premium ad sales for both Chive Media Group and Atmosphere.”
Career path: “I don’t take orders well. I just wanted to quit my day job.”
Most rewarding part of the job: “The sum total of the output for both theCHIVE, CHIVE TV, and Atmosphere is to make people happy. We’re viewed mostly through a tech lens. Internally, we see ourselves as entertainers. That’s how we’ve achieved such longevity: by making people laugh.”
What makes Austin special: “All the captains of industry in this town get along and support each other. We also foster the growth of young entrepreneurs in new and creative ways. This whole town is about helping others succeed. Our whole capital raise, for example, was done with Texas money. You don’t find that kind of support system anywhere else.”
Favorite Austin celebrity or historical figure: “Richard Linklater. I was just a kid growing up in Ft. Wayne Indiana, watching Dazed and Confused, the story of teenagers growing up in the suburbs of Austin. Richard can capture a moment in time and make it into a nostalgic love letter to the era.”
Leo Resig
Current role: “I oversee the vision, content programming, product and operations of Atmosphere.”
Career path: “I got into digital advertising as an office manager for a creative agency in L.A. in 2005 when digital media advertising was just becoming a thing. I started theCHIVE with my brother John Resig in 2008. It began as a small viral website and quickly evolved into a lifestyle brand and later into a cultural movement. We started CHIVE TV in 2018 as an OTT streaming channel for businesses as an alternative to sports, and we’ve since peeled off CHIVE TV into a new business called Atmosphere. Atmosphere is in nearly 8,000 venues, streaming over 120,000 hours per day, reaching over 13 million people per month. It’s the largest streaming TV service for businesses.”
What makes Austin unique: “Austin is transitioning from a big town to a small city, and its business community is very supportive, welcoming and friendly. Everyone is rooting for each other here, and rarely do you come across opportunistic sharks. Because bad people can’t hide in this city, everyone is very aware of their reputation, which breeds positive energy in business and social circles.”
Favorite way to have fun in Austin: “Anything outside. I love to hang with my family at all the amazing parks throughout the city. Cycling the hike and bike trail is a ton of fun, and the weather is generally pretty nice (except for the summers, which are pure hell)!”
Adriana Rodriguez
Current role: “As the founder and CEO of two preschools, I wear many hats. From planning annual curriculum, training our staff and teachers, recruiting new families and supporting existing families. Of course, also doing administrative work in partnership with our financial adviser and other leadership teams. I split my days with our two schools.”
Career path: “I’ve always loved children and had an interest in education ever since I can remember. I did an undergrad in early childhood education and a Master’s Degree in inclusive education. I continue taking professional development around the world and from Harvard Graduate School in Science of Early Education and Development. That led me to create my own schools that started with 12 kids and slowly grew it to a two-site school with over 200 families.”
Most rewarding part of the job: “I love that our students fully develop their bilingual skills, a compassionate view of the world and that we see their interests spark as they grow.”
What makes Austin special: “Austin is a growing market in many industries. As the population of the town grows with young families, there is an increasing demand for early childhood education options. As the capital of a border state and with such a large Latino population, the interest of families in making sure their children learn Spanish is increasing. Austin has been a great home for our schools to bloom.”
Caitlin M. Ryan
Current role: “On any given day, I can be working on anything from editing and approving push notifications for new users in Australia to ideating the content marketing around a new global feature to storyboarding a large-scale video brand campaign. My goal is to preserve and strengthen the voice of Bumble, making sure we never lose sight of our values and mission—particularly that of fighting misogyny. In doing so, I manage a talented team of copywriters who make my job easy and downright enjoyable.”
Career path: “I’ve left some of the largest, most secure companies in the world like Google to get closer to creative pursuits and build businesses from the ground up at places like CultureMap, which I launched in Austin as editor in chief, and to rebrand historic companies like Lucchese Bootmaker, where I was the director of content marketing. My career evolved alongside the editorial landscape over the past decade and a half, moving from the traditional print media in New York City at Conde Nast to now strategizing and concepting content for a mission-based brand like Bumble in Austin.”
Most rewarding part of the job: “From the creative side of things, there’s nothing more satisfying than seeing an idea that began in a collaborative brainstorm turn into something tangible that resonates with people.”
Favorite way to have fun in Austin: “Despite being a native Texan, it took me until my 30s to learn how to two-step! There are dozens of amazing local bands playing regular gigs at various bars and venues across the city every day and night. It’s such a pleasant, active way to spend time. I love that Austin still has a thriving dance community.”
Carl Settles
About the company: “E4 Youth is a nonprofit organization in Austin that partners with creative and technology sector companies to provide career exposure, job shadowing, internship and employment opportunities to youth ages 16 to 22.”
Career path: “I was a reading, science and history teacher out of college. Those years in education had a profound effect on me as I launched an arts and technology-based enrichment program, and soon after changed careers moving into interactive software development. This was when I leveraged my audio and technical backgrounds to become a music and voiceover producer of educational software projects. Midway through my career, I discovered that I could use those production skills for advertising. With few relationships in the business and no commercial portfolio, I struggled. That is what led me to establish E4 Youth to Engage, Educate, Employ and Empower youth of color so that they can more readily pursue creative careers.”
Most rewarding part of the job: “Hearing from program alumni both with and without degrees that are thriving as professional creatives.”
Favorite Austin celebrity or historical figure: “My favorite historical figure that hails from Austin is the jazz trumpet player Kenny Dorham. A contemporary of Miles Davis, he is known around the world as one of the best jazz players ever, and yet he remains all but invisible in Austin. He is a metaphor for what happens too often in this city. I hope to make this lack of awareness related to people of color less likely in the future.”
China Smith
Current role: “As a founder, I focus on major decisions about the development, values and activities towards building a legacy in Austin. As artistic director, I’m responsible for conceiving and implementing the artistic vision and focus for Ballet Afrique and crafting the aesthetic and cultural integrity.”
Career path: “As a native East Austinite, I’ve always felt there was a void in Austin’s arts community and wanted to use performing arts to working against stereotypes and implicit bias against black communities. The concept of Ballet Afrique was born by combining my passion for performing arts and working with black youth to build an understanding of, admiration and appreciation for the experiences and cultures of the African Diaspora.”
Most rewarding part of the job: “The most rewarding part of my job is being a contributor towards a more diverse arts community in Austin and building pathways for black youth into esteemed fine arts programs, universities and arts careers.
What makes Austin special: “Austin is a great city, and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. I think that while appearing to be an artsy, inclusive and progressive town, there is still much work to been done here. However, small businesses, startups, entrepreneurs and artists can undoubtedly count on thriving support from their individual communities.”
Favorite way to have fun in Austin: “I love attending locally organized events. At the top of my list is the MLK March/Festival and Fusebox’s 60X60 Austin Artist showcase.”
Tony Smith
Current role: “I am responsible for much of the creative direction for the company. This includes designing, testing, and enjoying new products. Also, I help drive the brand image for the social web and print content to create the overall brand that is Jarvis Boards.”
Career path: “My path is very winding. It all began as a kid who loved building things. Legos, model rockets, classic cars … you name it, and my brothers and I probably built it as kids. Somewhere along the way, I went away to college and majored in finance. Post-college, I landed several dream jobs in the financial sector, but something was missing. As a hobby, I started building a wooden canoe after work as a sanity project. The wood canoe led to wood paddleboards, surfboards, and before I knew it, a company was born.”
Most rewarding part of the job: “The most rewarding part of my job is seeing images of the beautifully handcrafted boards that customers can build in their own garages around the world using our DIY kits and plans. It feels like we are in the shop with them as they progress through the journey.”
Favorite Austin celebrity or historical figure: “Music is such an important part of the identity of this city and plays a huge role in the board building process. Without fail, when we are in the studio shaping boards, we’ve got our headphones on and are jamming out. That said, I’m going to go with Stevie Ray Vaughn and Gary Clark Jr. That’s the music most often coming out of the speakers at the shop and, in my opinion, embodies the spirit of the live music capital that is Austin.”
Joah Spearman
Current role: “I am the founder and CEO of Localeur, a travel startup that shares authentic local recommendations from locals in more than 130 cities around the world. I am one of the few African-American technology founders to have raised more than $5 million for a tech startup, and I’ve done so by securing the backing of 100+ strategic angel investors in more than 25 cities.”.
Career path: “I previously served as the director of operations and strategic initiatives at Bazaarvoice in the leadup to their 2012 IPO. I co-founded an experiential marketing agency which counted South by Southwest Festival, ESPN X Games and the U.S. Grand Prix (Formula 1) as partners. I also served as a social media and communications adviser to companies such as FedEx, the Pac-12 Conference, the Governor of Texas, the Beijing Olympics, Volkswagen and the National Campaign to Prevent Unplanned Pregnancy.”
Most rewarding part of the job: “Building a truly diverse and inclusive community of local creatives and entrepreneurs all over the world. I get to pursue my passions for creativity, entrepreneurship and travel as part of my day job.”
Favorite Austin celebrity or historical figure: “Dan Rather simply because of the work he’s done post-broadcasting to raise awareness and consciousness about what’s happening within our political system. But my brother, Kahron, a music and culture writer for the Austin Chronicle, is my favorite Austinite.”
John M Taylor
Current role: “My team of 180 AMDers builds the AMD brand, telling the story of how high-performance computing is solving some of the world’s toughest and most interesting challenges. I lead brand, go-to-market and regional marketing, executive communications, product communications and reviews, digital engagement, and social programs.”
Career path: “Before joining AMD, I served as senior vice president and board of directors member for one of the world’s largest tech communications agencies, WE Communications, with global accounts including Microsoft, Texas Instruments, and AMD. My passion for technology spans from the early 90s running IT for a nonprofit where I explained ‘this is email,’ to building gaming PCs for myself and extended family, to today working on exascale supercomputer announcements with AMD partners.”
What makes Austin unique: “I’ve lived in Austin for 20 years, and even with all the growth and the changes in the top employers in our city, I still feel something special, alive, connected, and ‘this fits me’ about the culture and business community in Austin. I love the Austin fusion of big tech, startups, green tech, social media, state government, university, music, film, research, and Texas sports.”
Favorite Austin celebrity or historical figure: “As the son of two journalists, I really like that Walter Cronkite attended UT Austin and spent some of his formative years here.”
Mikaila Ulmer
Current role: “I founded Me & the Bees Lemonade in 2009, and I set the vision for the company. Today, when I am not in school, I work in the company doing all press and media interviews, training of brokers and sales members, social media, some accounting, and all things bees.”
Career path: “At 4 years old, I got stung by two bees in one week, I became afraid of the bees. My parents asked me to do research on the bees, and I learned so much about them. I learned that they were dying, and I wanted to save them. I opened up a lemonade stand and shared my profits with the organizations working hard to save the bees.”
Most rewarding part of the job: “Saving the bees and ultimately saving our food supply. Also, inspiring young kids like me to be entrepreneurs.”
Favorite Austin celebrity or historical figure: “She is not necessarily from Austin but spent a lot of time here: Barbara Jordan. Raised in Houston, Barbara Jordan shattered a lot of glass ceilings. In 1966, Jordan was the first black woman to be elected to the Texas State Senate (and the first African-American to be elected after the Civil War Reconstruction Era). In 1972, she was the first black woman to represent Texas in the United States House of Representatives, Upon her death in 1996, she was the first black woman to be buried in the Texas State Cemetery.”
Jennifer Warren
Current role: “My role is to build the Indeed brand globally. I have two primary responsibilities. The first is to lead an advertising and communications team to grow our global market share by attracting more job candidates and employers to use Indeed. Secondly, I lead a quickly growing internal creative and events agency that supports all of marketing.”
Most rewarding part of the job: “We recently launched a campaign called Jobs Change Us, which captures stories of job seekers who overcame obstacles in their life, and found fulfilling jobs on Indeed. Seeing the impact these jobs have made on their lives and bringing their stories to life in a way that inspires and encourages others who are struggling to find work has been gratifying to us all.”
What makes Austin unique: “While it may not be as ‘weird’ as it used to be, Austin has been able to retain much of its creative and casual culture despite our growth.”
Favorite way to have fun in Austin: “I love doing anything outdoors on a beautiful day in Austin. It could be paddleboarding on Lady Bird Lake or walking the hike and bike trail at Zilker. And when I’m feeling brave, it may involve taking a very cold dip in Barton Springs. It’s a beautiful place to spend time outdoors.”
