Sapphire Stories Podcast

Taiki Green, co-founder, and former collegiate pitcher, started working at the start-up baseball training company, Driveline Baseball. After working as the head of content there he then left to be a freelance Director/Producer. Taiki has worked with a number of organizations such as ESPN, Fox Sports, MLB, and Parkwood Entertainment. 

His goal now is to tell visually powerful stories in and around baseball. With his free time, Taiki enjoys traveling as much as he can (at least 2-3 countries a year), great food, solid-well-curated memes, and being around people that inspire him to do better every day.

To stay connected with your host, follow @thomas.ma7 on Instagram

Steve Astephen had an entrepreneurial spirit from day one, beginning his career owning 'The Otherside', an iconic snowboard shop in the early 90’s. The shop’s success, along with the loyalty and life long relationships Steve developed within the snowboard community, led him to his passion of managing sports talent. In 1994, Astephen became the Team Manager of Lamar Snowboards and dominated the industry by signing some of the most powerful teams in the sport.

Astephen then founded the first action sports agency, fittingly named, 'The Familie.' His success quickly grew a roster of over 30 of the world’s top action sports athletes, spanning across- BMX, motocross, snowboarding, skateboarding, surfing, and wake-boarding. By 1999, The Familie was established as the premier action sports marketing and athlete management agency with services that included marketing, public relations, creative, licensing, trend research, event activation and consulting.

In April 2003, Astephen partnered with Wasserman Media Group where he served as the Managing Partner for 16 years. Astephen was instrumental to the growth of Wasserman as they became the largest athlete representation agency, growing to over 1,600 athletes and representing countless Fortune 500 brands. During this time Astephen was selected by Sports Business Journal as one of its coveted "Forty Under 40" in sports.

Astephen, left Wasserman mid-2019 to revive his own agency, The Familie V2, a representation and brand building agency working across sports, music, art, and media. Astephen remains an active investor and advisor today for brands such as Hoonigan Media Machine, Stance socks, Kopari, Art of Sport and Nixon. He currently resides in Cardiff, CA.

To stay connected with your host, follow @thomas.ma7 on Instagram

Alice Woo is an entrepreneurial professional specializing in all things digital marketing, customer acquisition, and creative strategy. She currently leads paid media for Honey, a technology company recently acquired by PayPal.

To stay connected with your host, follow @thomas.ma7 on Instagram

Candy Harris has spent her career developing the visual marketing language of leading lifestyle brands.  Her professional journey began as she developed a youth marketing division at The Familie, a renowned action sports athlete management firm.  Having worked with clients such as Nike and ESPN, she honed her craft developing marketing strategies and brand partnerships around the world’s top surf, skate, moto, and BMX athletes.

Her love of crafting stories, and strategies, around athletes, led her to the role of Brand Director for iconic lifestyle company Billabong.  There she spent a decade developing iconic global events, campaigns, and collaborations, helping to expand Billabong from its passionate endemic audience to become a recognizable global lifestyle brand.

Following her time at Billabong, Candy pursued her passion for building brands from the ground up and joined Stance Socks, as one of the first dozen employees on board. Candy was a part of the executive team who grew the brand from start-up disrupter to category phenomenon.  Prior to founding Unlisted, Candy most recently played both Chief Marketing and Creative Officer roles at Stance, overseeing the Marketing, Creative and Experiential teams.  Having over 20 years of marketing and creative experience, Candy has developed her skills across various brand touch points from product category development, to events and campaign execution.  While at Stance she led a marketing team through several high-profile collaboration launches ranging from the likes of Rihanna and Jean-Michel Basquiat to crafting global Brand Campaigns and influencer strategies.

Unlisted Brand Lab has been a long time coming; a brand incubator and creative marketing agency that draws together her 20 years of experience and connections throughout the industry.

To stay connected with your host, follow @thomas.ma7 on Instagram

Wesley ter Haar is the Founding Monk of MediaMonks and board member of S4, Martin Sorrell's new era, new age services company. He co-founded MediaMonks in 2001 to wage war on mediocre digital production, working tirelessly to grow MediaMonks into a creative production powerhouse with global reach and recognition.

Working from MediaMonks’ LA office, Wesley acts as MediaMonks’ COO, making him a self-described ‘lifeline for deadlines’ and ‘Project Manager of Project Managers’. Wesley also sits on the boards of SoDA. He’s a sought-after speaker and jury member, most notably serving as the inaugural president of Cannes Lions' Digital Craft jury in 2016. He was inducted into the ADCN Hall of Fame in 2018 and was named an AdAge creative All Star and part of the Adweek50 executives leading the way in transforming the industry.

To stay connected with your host, follow @thomas.ma7 on Instagram

Lavinia Errico, the visionary founder behind Equinox Fitness Clubs and the Inside Out Movement, is a nationally acclaimed workplace and wellness entrepreneur and a speaker of essential truths on the subjects of Values-Driven Entrepreneurship, Developing Next Generation Leadership, The Women Led Workplace, Spiritual Entrepreneurship, Keeping the Soul in Success, The Habits of Success, Building Your Brand, Culture Shifts, and Joy in the Hustle. 

A sought after board member, consultant and angel investor in diverse startup companies across a multitude of industries, Errico inspires and transforms individuals and organizations with her unique and often disruptive take on how to create a richer, more authentic, inspiring and joyful career and life journey.

To stay connected with your host, follow @boxwithtom on Instagram

David Meltzer is the Co-founder of Sports 1 Marketing and formerly served as CEO of the renowned Leigh Steinberg Sports & Entertainment agency, which was the inspiration for the movie Jerry Maguire. 

His life’s mission is to empower OVER 1 BILLION people to be happy! This simple yet powerful mission has led him on an incredible journey to provide one thing…VALUE. 

In all his content and communication that’s exactly what you’ll receive. He is a three-time international best-selling author, a Top 100 Business Coach, the executive producer of Entrepreneur‘s #1 digital business show, Elevator Pitch, and host of the top entrepreneur podcast, The Playbook. 

His newest book, Game-Time Decision Making, was a #1 new release, David has been recognized by Variety Magazine as their Sports Humanitarian of the Year, awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and most recently at the Super Bowl David was honored as the Most Valuable Philanthropist.

To stay connected with your host, follow @thomas.ma7 on Instagram

Stéphane de la Faverie is the Global Brand President, Estée Lauder, a position he assumed in July 2016. With a proven track record of building and leading global brands, deep expertise across categories and channels, and a keen understanding of local relevance, Stéphane is the ideal leader to strengthen the Company’s namesake brand for its next stage of growth. 

Stéphane led Origins and Darphin from 2014, most recently in the role of Global Brand President. During this time, he led Origins’ rapid double-digit growth in China, while simultaneously invigorating the brand’s footprint in heritage markets such as North America through innovative retail capabilities. Additionally, he has spearheaded Darphin’s trend leadership, ultimately securing the brand’s position as a skin care opinion leader in the fast- growing oil category. Prior to this, Stéphane played a leadership role on the Company’s fragrance portfolio as Senior Vice President, Global General Manager, Aramis and Designer Fragrances.

Prior to joining the Estée Lauder Companies, Stéphane served as General Manager, Giorgio Armani USA, a division of L’Oreal Paris, where he successfully launched several men’s and women’s fragrances. During his tenure, he was also responsible for the development of the beauty portfolio throughout North America.

Stéphane began his career within the Lancôme Global brand in Paris. He then joined the Travel Retail division as Area Manager for the Luxury Products Group, North America, overseeing the Lancôme, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren and Biotherm beauty brands. Soon after, he was appointed General Manager, Lancôme, Australia and in 2006 joined Lancôme USA as Vice President of Marketing, overseeing both the skin care and fragrance categories.

Stéphane was educated at ESC Bordeaux Business School, where he studied Marketing and Finance. In addition to speaking French, he is also fluent in English and Spanish.

Stéphane lives in New York City and has three children.

To stay connected with your host, follow @thomas.ma7 on Instagram

Ryan Cummins is the Founder of Omaze, a charitable fundraising platform that partners talent and brands to create once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Since launching in 2012, Omaze has launched over 350 campaigns with the world’s biggest influencers, from Bono to Robert Downey Jr., Jennifer Lawrence, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Meryl Streep, President Clinton, Serena Williams, Star Wars and many more. Omaze has raised over $75 million from donors representing 175 countries. In addition to international expansion, Omaze is now convening global foundations and family offices with its celebrity and brand partners to radically amplify the funds and awareness raised through its civic engagement campaigns.

Prior to Omaze, Ryan was an executive producer of “Decade of Difference”, the Clinton Foundation’s 10-year anniversary and globally-televised concert event.
Prior to that he created Untitled Thinkers, a media property based on a series of intimate conversations filmed with over 120 Nobel Prize and Fields Medal winners, MacArthur Geniuses, Pulitzers, Political Dignitaries and Internet Pioneers. Ryan received a BA in economics from Stanford University, and was awarded a fellowship to receive his MBA from UCLA Anderson.

To stay connected with your host, follow @thomas.ma7 on Instagram

Entrepreneurial brand founder and marketing executive recognized for his ability to visualize untapped opportunities in a multitude of unique platforms with proven firsthand knowledge of how to specifically engage both the youth and creative classes. Merging sports, music and art cultures into an effective programming and content mix that brings to life creative, marketing and partnership ideas, Ryan’s contributions have forever changed the game for prestigious brands, consumers and retailers alike, fueling phenomenal sales growth while reinventing entire brand categories in the process.

To stay connected with your host, follow @thomas.ma7 on Instagram