The Ad Podcast

Daniel Schotland, Chief Operating Officer at Linqia—the enterprise influencer marketing platform powering creator-led strategies for some of the world's biggest brands. Daniel began his career at Deloitte Consulting before taking his operational rigor to Linqia, where he leads product, data science, engineering, and client operations. From building Linqia's proprietary AI engines like Marco AI to pioneering the Creator Council—a framework that embeds creators upstream in brand strategy—Daniel is redefining how enterprise CMOs scale influencer marketing without losing authenticity. Today, we’re diving into moving beyond surface-level vanity metrics, using AI to streamline creator workflows, and why creators are becoming strategic advisors to Fortune 500 boardrooms.

Laurel Mintz , J.D., M.B.A., is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and the founder and CEO of Elevate My Brand (EMB), a Los Angeles-based digital and experiential marketing agency.Originally on track for a corporate legal career after earning a joint J.D./M.B.A. from Rutgers University University, Mintz shifted paths at age 26 when her father’s sudden illness called her to take over and lead the family retail business. That experience sparked a passion for scaling operations, branding, and business growth. In 2009, she launched Elevate My Brand to provide strategic, results-driven marketing for high-growth startups and global brands alike, including Meta, Verizon Wireless - Digital Telecom Media Services, PAW Patrol, and Zendesk.Beyond EMB, Mintz founded Fabric VC, an early-stage venture fund investing in underrepresented and diverse founders.

Jeff Hastedt is an entrepreneur, sales leader, and the Co-Founder and Managing Director (or affectionately, "Chief Pizza Officer") of Brkthru, a digital media and advertising firm founded in 2017. With a background in media and sales dating back to 2000, his early career spanned broadcast radio and mass media roles with organizations such as CBS, Clear Channel Outdoor, and Powerhitz, as well as selling everything from violins to high-impact campaigns for major brands like Ford Motor Company and Indian Motorcycle Company.Alongside co-founder Andrew Sklerov, Hastedt built Brkthru to bring enterprise-grade programmatic and digital advertising power to small- and mid-sized agencies without minimum-spend barriers. Under his leadership, the company has operated fully bootstrapped, earned multi-year placements on the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest-growing private companies, and championed a high-touch, human-centric approach to digital media and client service.

David Bridges is the Global CEO of the wellcom group Worldwide, a global creative production agency and subsidiary of INNOCEAN. An industry veteran who grew up in the advertising world—starting out in his father’s Manhattan photo retouching business as a kid—Bridges went on to found the creative digital production agency thelab in New York in 2002.Following Wellcom’s acquisition of thelab in 2014, Bridges stepped up to lead the company as Global CEO in 2021. Known for championing the "reconvergence" of creative ideation and technical production, he oversees Wellcom's network across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Australasia. Under his leadership, the agency focuses on agile, tech-enabled global content production, integrating proprietary AI capabilities, and removing layers of friction between brand strategy and multi-channel asset delivery.

Michael Paradiso is a veteran marketing executive, Fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), and owner of a WSI World Digital Marketing agency based in the Greater New York Area. With over 30 years of strategic marketing leadership across Fortune 500 enterprises and high-growth technology brands, he specializes in translating high-level business goals into scalable growth engines.Through WSI World—one of the largest global networks of digital marketing agencies—Mike provides mid-market and growing companies with enterprise-grade strategies. His expertise spans account-based marketing (ABM), digital strategy, search engine optimization, AI-driven marketing integration, and branded demand generation. He operates under the core philosophy that marketing must be treated as a disciplined, revenue-driving business function rather than just an ad-hoc tactic.