Digital Innovators: The Millennial Revolution
6:15 – 8:00 PM
In partnership with Accenture, the Paley Media Council presented a panel discussion featuring millennial entrepreneurs whose creativity, innovation, and cultural understanding have enabled them to tap into Generation Y consumers with unprecedented success. Using different mediums and different methods, this panel of young entrepreneurs shares the out-of-the-box strategies they’ve successfully implemented to activate and engage their millennial peers, providing valuable insight into the evolving consumer behaviors and habits of Generation Y consumers and beyond.
Panelists:
David Arabov
Managing Editor and CEO, Elite Daily
David Arabov has always been driven by an insatiable entrepreneurial spirit. While studying at Pace University, David started his first business: an online publication that “Millennials can’t get enough of,” as Business Insider once described. Elite Daily has quickly become one of the most popular sites on the web, due to David’s understanding of the void in the marketplace for content specific to this generation, written by this generation. His vision for a platform that would provide alternative perspective to the traditional media, give a voice to the diverse people of Gen-Y and rally against any other stagnant content on the web has achieved immediate and immense success. At only 24 years old, he has managed to create a platform that is disrupting media as we know it. The site reaches over 75 million people a month and employs over 65 Millennials. David is currently both the Managing Editor and CEO of Elite Daily.
Katia Beauchamp
CEO and Cofounder, Birchbox
Katia Beauchamp is the CEO and Cofounder of Birchbox; a leading beauty and grooming ecommerce company for men and women. Through its multi-channel platform, the Birchbox experience features personalized sampling, informative editorial content and a curated online shop. Katia met Birchbox co-founder Hayley Barna while they were MBA students at Harvard Business School. Their friendship inspired the idea for Birchbox, which debuted in September 2010. Prior to founding Birchbox, Katia worked in structured finance and commercial real estate for three years. Katia’s love for all things beauty and style combined with her skills from a deal-focused and finance background are instrumental in forming partnerships with brands, as well as in growing and scaling the Birchbox business. A native Texan, Beauchamp has a master's degree in Business Administration from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in International Studies & Economics from Vassar College. Headquartered in New York City, Birchbox now has more than 800,000 subscribers, and extended into men’s grooming in April 2012 with Birchbox Man. In September 2012, Birchbox acquired an international competitor gaining presence in France, the UK, and Spain to take the company global and become the international market leader in discovery commerce. In July 2014, Birchbox opened their first brick and mortar store in New York City, featuring full-sized product for sale, hair, makeup, and nail services and a Build-Your-Own-Birchbox (BYOB) section. Awards and honors that Katia has received include: Forbes Excellence Award for Leadership (2013); Fortune 40 Under 40 (2013); Crain’s New York Business 40 Under 40 (2013); Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies (2013); Goldman Sachs’ 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs (2013); Ad Age’s Women to Watch (2012); Ad Age’s Creativity 50 (2012); Inc. Magazine’s 30 Under 30 (2011); WWD Digital Innovator of the Year (2011).
Daniel Burke
Chief of Staff to the CEO, The Huffington Post
Daniel Burke is the Chief of Staff to the CEO of The Huffington Post, a Pulitzer Prize winning source of breaking news, features and entertainment that attracts over 214M monthly unique visitors to its 13 international editions, as well as almost 100,000 bloggers contributing on issues about which they are most passionate. While at The Huffington Post, Daniel has been intimately involved in the structuring and negotiation of the recently announced partnership between HuffPost and Broadband TV to create Outspeak, a multichannel network on YouTube for citizen journalism, aimed at millennial audiences as well as millennial content creators. Prior to The Huffington Post, Daniel has worked in politics as an advisor to an Australian Cabinet Minister, in law as one of the foundation employees of global law firm Allen & Overy's Australian practice, and as a consultant at Bain & Company.
Moderator: Todd Beilis
Managing Director – Media & Entertainment, Accenture
Todd Beilis is Managing Director – Media & Entertainment at Accenture. He leads the company’s Media & Entertainment industry practice in the eastern U.S., helping clients in the areas of strategy, operations, and technology related to back office, distribution, and ad sales. His primary focus is working with programmers and publishers to enable the rapid transformation occurring in their business as a result of new distribution models and competitors for traditional advertising spend. Todd lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children, Sam and Mackenzie. When not with his family or at work, he enjoys running and doing CrossFit.
This event is exclusive to Media Council members and other invited guests. To find out more about Media Council membership, contact mediacouncil@paleycenter.org.
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