On this episode of Gen X Amplified, we are excited to have another special Gen X Amplified LIVE conversation that's all about generations!
That's because I am joined by Marcie Merriman, who is the Americas Cultural Insights & Consumer Strategy Leader at EY (Ernest & Young). And will be discussing not only her professional journey as a Gen X leader, speaker, and strategist for one of the largest professional services in world, but also the impact of Gen Z in both today's workplace and in the future of work.
Marcie Merriman is EY Americas Cultural Insights & Customer Strategy Leader. She is an internationally recognized leader in cultural anthropology and brand strategy, having her work frequently featured in news publications.
For over 25 years she has been working with teams to anticipate disruption and propel growth through human-centric strategies. She leads practices focused on helping organizations understand the nuances of human behaviors and the organizational implications that can be addressed through improved experiences, including the deployment of digital technologies.
Prior to joining EY, Marcie was an executive at a global fashion retail company and a successful business leader and entrepreneur.
Marcie earned an MBA from Case Western Weatherhead School of Management and a bachelor’s degree in Social Science, International Studies, Anthropology & Sociology from Michigan State University.
(Above bio courtesy of EY.com)
On this episode of Gen X Amplified, we are having another special conversation with speaker, author, champion for women, and the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of Ebony & Jet Magazine, Michele T. Ghee.
And we will be chatting about the power of nurturing strong relationships, and also how to be resilient during difficult and uncertain times. Such as the current coronavirus pandemic that all of us are going through right now.
Michele T. Ghee is a strategic force inside and outside the bounds of corporate america, having managed more than a billion dollars in revenue for some of the world’s largest media companies including: CNN, A&E, The History Channel, The Weather Channel, and BET Networks/BET Her.
Michele now currently serves as the new Chief Executive Officer of the legacy brands Ebony and Jet. Both are iconic and legacy brands founded by John H. Johnson, that celebrate the life of Black America.
Michele is also the author of Stratechic: Life and Career Winning Strategies for Women, Stratechic 2.0: Her Plan. Her Power. Her Purpose, and SUCCESS On Your Terms.
Michele has received a host of honors including the ADCOLOR Change Agent Award, American Advertising Federation Mosaic Role Model of the Year Award, She Runs It Working Mother of the Year Award Class of 2018, and most recently, a Multichannel News 2019 Wonder Woman.
Over her 20-year career, Michele’s passion for excellence has allowed her to master the following critical skills: leadership, diversity and inclusion, strategy, transformation (personal and professional), revenue generation, teamwork, work-life balance, and relationship building. And she has spent the last several years speaking across the country and sharing her knowledge with vast audiences.
She is also the proud wife to Tony and blessed mom of Taylor and Jordan.
On this very special episode of Gen X Amplified, we are featuring the video and audio from our premiere livestream event- Building Generational Bridges Through Crisis: A Candid Conversation about the Impact of COVID:19 on all generations, particularly Gen X.
And for this special conversation, Adrion is joined by two friends and phenomenal thought leaders and Gen X Amplified former guests: Lindsey Pollak, multigenerational work expert, NYT bestselling author, speaker, and Thinkers50 Radar Class of 2020, and Tara Jaye Frank, speaker, consultant, Founder at MORE THAN: A Movement, and former Hallmark Cards, Inc. executive.
Currently, we’re going through one of the most unprecedented and challenging experiences in our lifetime. The coronavirus, specifically COVID-19, has shaken all of us. from every age, and every generation – both personally and professionally.
Especially for many of us that are in that “middle” such as Gen X, are sandwiched, and building bridges between the older and younger generations… both whom we care deeply for.
And we have a great conversation about it!
Remember, as all generations, we can definitely get through these challenging times. As long as we learn together, grow together, and build together.
On this episode of Gen X Amplified, Adrion Porter is joined by Jon Fortt, who is the co-anchor of Squawk Alley on CNBC, and the host of the Fort Knoxx podcast. And they discuss not only Jon's professional journey as a business journalist and anchor, but also his thoughts on the current COVID-19 pandemic and its significant impact on people of all ages.
Adrion and Jon also spend time unpacking how Gen Xers are uniquely positioned to be very effective and powerful leaders that can build bridges across all generations - especially during challenging times such as these.
Jon Fortt is co-anchor of CNBC’s “Squawk Alley” (M-F, 11AM-12PM ET) broadcast live from the New York Stock Exchange. Previously, he was an on-air editor based at CNBC’s global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Fortt joined CNBC as technology correspondent in July 2010, working from CNBC’s Silicon Valley bureau where he covered the companies, start-ups and trends that are driving innovation in the industry. He also contributes to CNBC.com.
He came to CNBC from Fortune magazine, where as a senior writer he covered both large technology companies— such as Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, and Microsoft—and trends, including cloud computing and the smartphone revolution.
Before joining Fortune in 2007, Fortt was a senior editor at Business 2.0magazine where he produced the “What Works” section.
From 1999 to 2006, Fortt wrote and edited at the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley’s hometown newspaper. There he contributed to several efforts that won awards from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.
As a personal technology writer, his coverage duties included Apple, Palm and Adobe. He also served in roles outside the business department, covering education, editing local news and developing technology strategy. As the newspaper’s senior Web editor, he helped develop a blog and podcast network, managed the creation of multimedia projects and served on the board of the Associated Press Managing Editors.
Fortt graduated from DePauw University as a Media Fellow, with a B.A. in English.
(Above Jon Fortt bio courtesy of cnbc.com)
On this episode of Gen X Amplified, we have a conversation with advertising veteran, digital expert, thought leader, and awesome Gen-Xer... the one and only Ian Schafer, who joins Adrion to discuss and unpack his latest venture, Kindred, and its inaugural event Kindred 2020, which will be held on September 14-17 in San Diego.
Kindred, is an events-based startup that focuses on bringing together brands, nonprofits, and cultural leaders to accelerate sustainable, purpose-led business transformation.
Ian Schafer has been named a "Media Maven" by Advertising Age, one of Campaign Magazine's "40 over 40", and the "Best CEO on Social Media" by the Shorty Awards.
On this episode of Gen X Amplified, highly acclaimed journalist and author Ada Calhoun joins Adrion to discuss her latest book and New York Times bestseller Why We Can’t Sleep: Women’s New Midlife Crisis – which is an expansion of her viral story for Oprah.com and a “generation-defining exploration of the new midlife crisis facing Gen X women.
In Why We Can’t Sleep, Calhoun opens up the cultural and political contexts of Gen X’s predicament and offers solutions for how to pull oneself out of the abyss—and keep the next generation of women from falling in. The result is reassuring, empowering, and essential reading for all middle-aged women, and anyone who hopes to understand them.
On this episode of Gen X Amplified, I have the pleasure of speaking with Melissa (McGhie) Proctor, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of the Atlanta Hawks & State Farm Arena.
Melissa joins me on the podcast to discuss her fascinating Gen X professional story – which includes beginning her career as a ball-girl for the Miami Heat, to her current role of leading the brand for the Atlanta Hawks.
Also at the beginning of this special episode, Melissa and I briefly spend some time talking about the unfortunate and tragic passing of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna – and what Kobe meant not only to us personally, but also to our generation.
Melissa Proctor serves as the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of both the Atlanta Hawks and the State Farm Arena (the home facility of the Atlanta Hawks) .
In this role, Melissa oversees the day-to-day operations of the club’s marketing, Hawks Studios, live experience and production, brand merchandising, creative services, corporate social responsibility, brand communications and basketball development teams. She also works closely with executive leadership to provide strategy for the organization.
Beginning her career with the Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., Melissa served in brand development and strategy positions for Turner Entertainment Networks (including TNT, TBS, Turner Classic Movies (TCM), truTV and Peachtree TV), Cartoon Network and Turner Media Group. Additionally, she helped to create the first Corporate Social Responsibility division in Turner’s UK office.
Part of the NBA since high school, Melissa was the first “team attendant”/ ball girl for the Miami Heat organization, and in later years, returned to work for the Heat in the basketball operations division.
On this episode of Gen X Amplified, I chat with Walter T. Geer III, digital advertising executive, multi-patent holder, biometric lab creator, and currently the SVP, Group Creative director at TBWA/WorldHealth.
Walter joins us on Gen X Amplified to discuss his viral LinkedIn post (Yeah yeah…40 under 40 and 30 under 30. I’m not impressed…), diversity and inclusion, and why we should all focus on eliminating ageism in the workplace.
Walter T. Geer III serves as the SVP, Group Creative director at TBWA/WorldHealth – which is a leading healthcare agency collective.
A veteran of the digital advertising space, Walter holds a total of six U.S Patents for digital ad formats, and has developed ad products and implemented creative strategies for a variety of publishers and leading technology and media companies including Google, Viacom, NYTimes and MySpace.
Throughout his twenty-year career, Walter has architected market-first usability labs, applying biometric research to the development of creative executions and minimizing risk by understanding how consumer emotions and demographics impact brand engagement.
Walter’s passion also sits at the intersection of story-telling, design, technology, data, and research.
During this episode, Walter and I have a great conversation around age diversity and inclusion, and why there should be more opportunities to highlight the achievements and viability of individuals 40+. And we also get a chance to hear Walter discuss some very compelling stories of people over 40 who reached out directly to him following his post.
On this episode of Gen X Amplified, I am joined by Lindsey Pollak, New York Times bestselling author, keynote speaker, and one of the world's leading experts on Millennials and the multigenerational workplace.
Lindsey is here to actually discuss her latest book, The Remix: How to Lead and Succeed in the Multigenerational Workplace. We are have a very detailed and fun conversation around generations in general, Gen Xers in politics, old movies, and just how awesome it is to be Gen X!
Lindsey Pollak is a leading expert on the Millennial generation and today’s multigenerational workplace. Often called a “translator,” she advises both young professionals looking to succeed in today’s work environment and the organizations that want to recruit, retain and engage them.
Lindsey's latest book, The Remix: How to Lead and Succeed in the Multigenerational Workplace, is much needed guide for today's workforce. In it, Lindsey combines the most recent data with own original research, as well as detailed cased studies from Fortune 500 companies and other top organizations.
Lindsey is also the New York Times bestselling author of Becoming the Boss: New Rules for the Next Generation of Leaders and Getting from College to Career: Your Essential Guide to Succeeding in the Real World.
Her speaking audiences and consulting clients have included over 250 corporations, law firms, conferences and universities, including Citi, Estée Lauder, GE, J.P. Morgan, LinkedIn, PwC, Shearman & Sterling, Yale, Harvard, Wharton and Stanford.
Lindsey’s advice and opinions have appeared in such media outlets as The TODAY Show, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN and NPR.
She is a graduate of Yale University and is based in New York City.