What’s your dream project?
I’m lucky enough to be able to say that I’ve already experienced my dream project, one we did with Salesforce in 2021-2023, a documentary-style video series called The Ecoprenuers. The project took me to the High Andes of Peru to plant polylepis trees, to 80 meters under the Pacific Ocean in California to examine thriving kelp forests. The best part about the experience was that when I returned to from these exotic shoots, I got to work with the incredibly talented Fortune Brand Studio team to tell the stories of these inventive, passionate Earth warriors to Fortune’s influential audience in a highly visual and engaging way. The campaign keeps winning awards, and it fills me with pride every time I visit the site. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime, career-defining project.

What fuels your creativity?
Reading (poetry, novels), listening to music, and taking time to appreciate visual art and sculpture. I’m also always inspired by talking to other passionate people—creatives, or business leaders that I’m interviewing for a project—about what they do, how they spend their time. Hearing someone articulate their passions ignites ideas and storylines every time.

When you look at your phone in the morning, what do you open first?
Number one is the New York Times app to get a glimpse at global headlines, followed by a quick Instagram scroll, and then I check my podcast app to see if any of my favorites have launched overnight (I like long-form improv comedy pods, in-depth analysis of Bravo shows—I’m a former TV recapper—, and, yes, a bit of true crime). I’m a big fan of/believer in journalism and original reporting, and am proud to lead a revenue-generating team that funds journalism at Fortune (plus I married a former journalist ☺ ). Over the past few years, I have turned away from doom scrolling on certain social platforms, but I do feel like I’m missing out on some conversations/communities (Oh, how I miss the early days of Twitter and Tumblr!). I am waiting for the next platform for civil discourse and shared experience to emerge. Social media and media consumption is so fragmented now.

How do you stay up-to-date in your industry?
For table-stakes, I read my fair share of industry newsletters and attend and speak at industry events and webinars. But the best source of what’s really happening is talking one-on-one with colleagues and new professional contacts from all sides of advertising, publishing, marketing, content, streaming, news, filmmaking, writing, and production.

What led you to your current work?
Being a media junkie. I grew up pre-Internet, so my world was books, the radio, TV, magazines, newspapers. I devoured any magazine within reach, both the articles and the ads. From a young age I knew I wanted to be part of the team that defined culture and conversation, the ones putting together the stories that everyone saw on TV or in a magazine. I studied writing and video/film in college, played music and performed, worked at MTV/Viacom in production/events after a brief stint in the book publishing industry, honed my writing skills in grad school, dove headfirst into digital media, and never looked back. Branded content is a perfect fit for me because it’s a delicate combination of storytelling and advertising.

What is your evaluation process for projects this year?
As always, what I’m looking for is innovative storytelling in whatever format is in front of me. How economical and intriguing is the first 15% of the story? There is a glut of content everywhere, so for truly outstanding content to entice viewers/readers to engage, it needs to effectively capture my attention. And then I look for value—the “why” of the piece. Why would someone spend time with this story? The best pieces of content tick these boxes easily. If the story then makes me feel something: joy, amusement, intrigue, and I come away enriched…that’s a win.

When you enter your projects into the w3 Awards, we share them with content and marketing experts like Megan. We extended the entry deadline to this Friday, August 2nd. Enter your work before time runs out.