As specialized strategists have become more commonplace in the design field, confusion has grown about the roles, specific value and talent they bring to the creative industry at large. This confusion affects leaders looking for new talent, clients negotiating contracts, and the strategists themselves, who often disagree on the fundamentals.

Join Tamika Abaka-Wood, Kim Mackenzie, Andrew Miller, and Masha Murakhovsky  for a conversation that explores the question: from abstract thinking to concrete execution – can one strategist do it all?

This event will be moderated by Daniel Edmundson, Partner, SYLVAIN.

Tamika Abaka-Wood

Tamika is a cultural anthropologist and strategist with 15 years of experience partnering with global leaders within businesses such as Nike, LEGO, Shea Moisture, the LA Philharmonic and Clinique. She is the founder of Corner Booth where she conducts strategic-work-in-context with those who see subversive potential along the research-strategy-creative continuum. She has designed and led 120+ projects in 40+ cities globally, so far. Tamika guest-lectures at The University of Arts London and Parsons School of Design in New York. She runs Dial-an-Ancestor.

Kim Mackenzie

Over the past 15 years Kim Mackenzie has created brands, led rebrands, and built new positioning and verbal identities for extraordinary companies including Apple, Cisco, Amazon, Diageo, Oatly, Visa, the Washington Post, and many more. Previously, Kim led strategy and copy departments at Ogilvy and Character. Since then she has taken on a variety of direct clients and collaborated with top branding firms (Pentagram) and creative agencies.

Kim also loves building strategy communities and empowering female-identifying and non-binary strategists. She founded the Ladies Who Strategize network, which has over 2300 members and offers various online and offline events and programs.

Frequently brought into creative companies, Kim teaches creative collaboration, creative writing, facilitation, and brand purpose for internal company gatherings, conferences, podcasts, and retreats. She has co-authored WARC reports (Marketing to High Net Worth Individuals) and contributed to leading industry publications (The Goods) Additionally, and has taught at Miami Ad School.

Kim holds an MA in Film, Television, and Media Studies from the University of Auckland (NZ) and a BA from Washington College (US) with a major in Humanities and a minor in Creative Writing.

Andrew Miller

As Chief Growth Officer of Interbrand, Andrew partners with clients to grow their businesses and brands through iconic moves that break category conventions. Andrew approaches branding through the philosophical lens that design and strategy must be intertwined to bring the most value to clients and create the most impact. He has worked across a range of industries to help organizations build a set of powerful, strategic tools to drive competitive advantage. Engagements with brands like Adobe, Google and Morgan Stanley span all aspects of brand strategy, from positioning to architecture to customer experiences.

Andrew holds a B.F.A. in Communication Design from Washington University in St. Louis and a Masters in Branding from the School of Visual Arts (SVA), where he now teaches a course every spring called Pitch Perfect: How to Win New Business. Andrew created the photography series Brand Spirit, and his work has been featured in Communication Arts, Fast Company, swissmiss, PSFK, Gizmodo, Huffington Post, and Adweek.

Masha Murakhovsky

Masha brings 14 years of experience in social marketing & content strategy. As a social strategist Masha has had the privilege to work with award winning agencies, beginning her career at WPP’s Burson Cohn & Wolfe; she has collaborated, led and activated social first work at 360i, Razorfish, Day One, consulted with Google + YouTube’s global social team and is now part of the senior social strategy team at Verizon on the brand engagement team.

Daniel Edmundson

As a Partner at SYLVAIN Daniel leads the development of the design practice in collaboration with Chief Design Officer, Michael Ian Kaye. With experience at both creative agencies and design consultancies, Daniel’s focus lies on bridging the gap between business and expression, applying his thinking globally with the likes of Apple, Nike, the New York Times, IBM, PayPal, Marriott, and Noma. He frequently comments on the structures and systems of design, business and strategy across publications, conferences, and podcasts. Additionally, Daniel is a graduate advisor in the School of Visual Arts’ MFA in Design program where he mentors rising designers and strategists across disciplines