Grace Andrews is a creator entrepreneur, brand builder, and international keynote speaker working at the intersection of media, business, and the creator economy. A trained broadcast journalist, she joined The Diary of a CEO at 8,000 subscribers and helped scale it to 10 million from the brand side – then built her own audience of 300K+ across Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube independently, by explaining how the creator economy actually works rather than just participating in it.

A Forbes 30 Under 30 honouree, she holds long-term partnerships with YouTube, Meta, Claude and Manychat and co-owns the Substack Community Service with Jordan Schwarzenberger, where the two name the industry’s structural shifts before they become obvious. Grace was one of four creators selected for the UK-US Greater Together trade mission and served as an official YouTube creator correspondent at Cannes Lions. Her debut book on brand building is forthcoming in 2027.

Omar Oakes is a senior journalist, editor, columnist and event moderator with over a decade of expertise in the advertising and media industry. He was founding editor of The Media Leader, led its launch and US expansion, and built it into a leading industry publication. His TML column was nominated for the prestigious BSME B2B Columnist of the Year 2024 award. Before that he was an editor for Campaign for over six years including a period where he led media and tech coverage for the industry-leading publication. He is now a freelance writer and commentator and founder of oomph., a marketing consultancy for advertising and media businesses.

Richard Shove is an SEO and digital growth specialist with 21 years’ experience helping brands turn organic search into measurable business results.

He began his career in SEO in 2005, spending a decade agency-side across independent and network media agencies before moving in-house. Since then, he has led SEO across ecommerce brands including Buyagift, Notonthehighstreet, Farfetch and Samsung Electronics, where he has spent nearly seven years as part of the DTC team.

With a background mostly rooted in technical SEO and data, Richard takes an all-rounder’s view of search: combining technical precision, content strategy and commercial insight to help brands improve visibility, capture high-intent demand and drive sustainable growth.

Lydia is VP of Strategy at Journey Further, where she has built the agency’s Marketing Science and Strategic Planning functions from the ground up into two of its core, profitable capabilities. With nearly two decades of marketing industry experience, she has consistently connected brand thinking with commercial performance at a time when the industry treated the two as separate disciplines. Beginning her career in independent agencies before moving into global network agency leadership, Lydia brings rigorous, evidence-led thinking to every brief. An award-winning active industry contributor and speaker, she is also a committed advocate for social mobility and diverse hiring across the marketing industry.

Dan brings almost two decades of experience, turning complicated growth challenges into actionable strategies. As Client Solutions VP at Journey Further, he leads innovation through data-driven transformation to deliver scalable value and long-term impact. He’s committed to helping brands make smarter, faster decisions that drive meaningful growth.

Across a decade agency-side, Becs has led organic strategies for global brands such as Aston Martin, Fortnum & Mason and Maybourne Hotel Group, connecting legacy brands to new audiences.

As Director of Organic Strategy at Journey Further, Becs’s role is aligning our organic channels to achieve a holistic journey across SEO, Content & Digital PR.

Ben is an experienced paid media strategist with a strong demonstrated history in the marketing and advertising industry. He has worked across key channels to deliver insight-led campaigns, with his expertise spanning strategy, advertising, account management, and client services. Ben has partnered with clients across travel and leisure, healthcare, charity, retail, sport, and gambling sectors.

Amy oversees our creative and social studio across the UK and US, blending distinctive thinking, content, campaigns, and tech-enabled execution under one roof. She’s worked for a mix of independent and network agencies, and after a recent spin round one of the oldest names in adland, is here to help us combine classic creative agency thinking with a new tech flex. Recently, she has focused on integrating Gen AI into creative workflows, evolving production models, and exploring how technology can both supercharge and challenge the way impactful ideas come to life.