Announcement   //   February 11, 2020

Digiday announces finalists for its 2020 Future Leaders Awards

By Modern Retail Awards

Candace Payne and Nelly Mensah of Sephora, Gabby Nastri of 360i and Mike Jeong of PepsiCo are just some of the 46 industry professionals who have been short listed for Digiday Media’s Future Leader Awards in seven different categories. The awards recognize the next generation of leaders across the media and marketing, fashion, beauty, wellness and retail industries. 

Over the last three weeks, a jury of executives from TBWA, MediaCom, The Dodo, PGA Tour, Work & Co and other companies pored over the submissions and scored each one for evidence of leadership, forward-thinking and results-driven success.

See the full list of this year’s finalists below. The final winners will be announced on Tuesday, March 10. 

Brand
Mike Jeong, PepsiCo marketing manager
Griffin Thall, CEO and co-founder of Pura Vida Bracelets
Miles Fisher, director of sales and partnerships at T-Mobile
Joseph Markowski, DAZN’s evp for North America
Candace Payne, director of campaigns and content for Sephora’s Sephora brand
Candice Beck, Chipotle Mexican Grill’s senior manager of social media and digital marketing

Agency
Arafel Buzan, co-lead of Mindshare’s Neurolab
Michael Liu, Carat’s vp and director of mobile, innovation and strategy
Gabby Nastri, 360i’s vp of performance strategy
Sedge Beswick, Seen Connects’ managing director
Jessica Dawson, Advantix Digital’s vp of performance marketing
Carlyn Mumm, January Digital’s director of client strategy and service

Publisher
Ben Haines, creative director at Minute Media
Bryan Graham, creative executive at Bleacher Report
Gwendolyn Rahn, senior director, client services at POPSUGAR
Jillian Schulz, vp, account strategy at Dotdash
Kat Collings, editor-in-chief at Who What Wear
Charlotte Owen, editorial director, Bustle at Bustle Digital Group

Technology Provider
Sam Isaac, SocialCode’s director of strategy
Ashwini Asokan, Vue.ai’s CEO and co-founder
Annie Wazer, Stylitics’ vp of client operations 
Rachel Bentley, PowerReviews’ director of product management
Garance Flore Vallat, a Marfeel full stack engineer
Rebecca Preuss, WeTransfer’s global content partnerships manager

Beauty
Stella Kim, Laneige’s director of marketing
Dakota Kate Isaacs, Deciem’s North America director
Nelly Mensah, Sephora’s director of experience and innovation
Alexa Jakobi, director of digital strategy for L’Oréal USA’s luxury division
Emily Wasserman, Coty’s manager of global digital innovation
Paul Michaux, Prose’s co-founder and vp of product

Wellness
Daphne Jaeschke, Simris’s commercial director 
Kylie Burfeind, a VP at Almeda
Afton Vechery, Modern Fertility’s CEO and co-founder
Zev Ziegler, Lycored’s vp of brand marketing

Fashion 
Carly Bigi,Laws of Motion’s CEO and founder
Jessie Zeng, Choosy’s CEO and co-founder
Lauren Haber Jonas, Part & Parcel’s CEO and founder
David Hauser, The Arrivals’s general manager
Stirling Barrett, Krewe’s founder and creative director
Nicole Weiss, Dagne Dover’s director of integrated marketing

DTC
Dominique Oliver, Amaro’s CEO and founder
Nick Devlin, Naked Wines’ CEO
Hana Kajimura, Allbirds’ sustainability lead
Aila Morin, Mejuri’s director of brand marketing
Mark Wynohradnyk, Gravity Products’ brand director
Leslie Voorhees Means, Anomalie’s CEO and co-founder