In this episode of our flagship podcast One Take, we sit down with famed Miami artist, Mano (no need for last name) to talk about taking the plunge into being a full-time artist, creating a vibrant art community, then losing it, only to start rebuilding it with even more energy. No edits. No retakes. Just authentic insight into becoming a content creator.

Welcome to Your Gray Matters, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to ending age discrimination across advertising, marketing, and the creative industries.

At Your Gray Matters, we believe creativity and leadership don’t have an expiration date.

Our mission is to fight ageism, elevate seasoned professionals, and celebrate wisdom at work.

👉 Learn more: ⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/⁠

👉 Support our mission:⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/donorbox⁠

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👉 The Scoop – Mano –everyone just uses his first name—is one of the iconic Miami artists. Mano was, and is, a musician. He also was, and is, an engineer. And he is an artist. But, over and above, he was the decisive artist in Miami’s Bird Road Art District. To be sure, there were many good artists, but Mano and his wife Cuqui took the lead and transformed a group of artists into a movement.

👉 Decisive Moment – Mano (the engineer) was offered a transfer “up north”. By then he had been painting more and more and didn’t want to leave Miami behind, so he decided to be an artist and jumped into it both feet first.

👉 Unexpected change or event – You can say it was expected… but not expected at the same time. After 16 years of being in the same studio, the owner of the building announced he was tearing it down, so in a single swoop Mano lost his studio, his Bird Road Art District and his community.

👉 What did he do? – Paint from home, of course. But also, and with a lot of help from Cuqui, is wife and an expert in promotions, he has begun getting out more to exhibits, galleries and more.

👉 About older workers – As you grow older you have all that experience under your belt and face it, it’s not the technical part, you know how to deal with people, you always have to deal with people.

When I was young, there were three things I wanted to be: a war photographer, a Rock & Roll concert promoter and a Formula 1 driver.

I became an ad guy and was lucky enough to meet people like Ernesto.

In this episode of our flagship podcast One Take, we sit down with Ernesto Adduci, who began as an AE in Costa Ric, became one of the leading international AEs for FCB and transitioned to being the creator of the biggest rock festival in Costa Rica. No edits. No retakes. Just authentic insight into becoming a content creator.

Welcome to Your Gray Matters, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to ending age discrimination across advertising, marketing, and the creative industries.

At Your Gray Matters, we believe creativity and leadership don’t have an expiration date. Our mission is to fight ageism, elevate seasoned professionals, and celebrate wisdom at work.

👉 Learn more: ⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/⁠

👉 Support our mission:⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/donorbox⁠

🔔 Subscribe now so you don't miss any episodes

👉 The Scoop – Ernesto Adduci’s life has been amazing. From a small international ad agency in Costa Rica, Ernesto rose to senior international posts at FCB and Leo Burnett in Chicago to creating the largest Rock festival in Costa Rica. Ernesto defines himself as a “content creator”. We think that’s a total understatement.

👉 Decisive Moment #1 – Ernesto had cancer seven years ago, in 2018. After a year of chemo, surgeries, and debilitating treatments, of thinking he would die he emerged and asked himself “what makes me happy?” And decided to pursue that life.

👉 Unexpected change or event – The switch to money at the expense of quality. Ad agencies went from wanting to hire the best people to hiring the people who achieved adequate results for the least amount of money possible.

👉 What did he do? – The combination of cancer and the lower standards in the industry pushed Ernesto to leave “corporate”. Today, he works with his wife on her catering company, works as a fractional creative director with an agency in Costa Rica, as a freelancer with others, owns a record company and, naturally, organizes the yearly Rock Fest

👉 About older workers – For many older workers money is no longer the primary consideration. An older worker will bring this “nothing to lose” mentality and take the kinds of creative risks that, mixed with their experience understanding what works, benefits any company that hires them.

This week’s episode means a lot to me. In this episode of our flagship podcast One Take, we sit down with media icon Ed Papazian, whose career in media research is legendary.

When I was a mere beginner, he was one of the people I looked up to.

In this candid 30-minute conversation we talk about research, effectiveness and his latest work. No edits. No retakes. Just authentic insight.

Welcome to Your Gray Matters, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to ending age discrimination across advertising, marketing, and the creative industries.

At Your Gray Matters, we believe creativity and leadership don’t have an expiration date. Our mission is to fight ageism, elevate seasoned professionals, and celebrate wisdom atwork.

👉 Learn more: ⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/⁠

👉 Support our mission:⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/donorbox⁠

🔔 Subscribe now so you don't miss any episodes

👉 The Scoop – Simply put: Ed Papazian is an icon in media research. He has been at the forefront of media research for 7 decades and his company, Media Dynamics, continues to push the envelope when it comes to understanding how media works and how media and its audience interact.

👉 Decisive Moment #1 – Left BBDO in 1975 frustrated at not being able to create several initiatives he proposed and hung his shingle.

👉 Unexpected change or event – We're now in the age of me, and we've been there for the last 50, 45 years, since Vietnam, roughly. Me, I'm more important than the country. My group is more important. Our interest counts first, nothing else counts as much.

Media got bigger and more mature. No longer “is it good”. No longer “is it helping”. No longer “is my programming doing a good job”, or “conveying good ideas”, or entertaining. It’s how much I make?

👉 What did he do? – Ed has continued to evolve media research and measuring methodologies to reflect the evolving media environment. From integrating measurements across platforms to innovative ways of measuring factors that affect the effectiveness of media, such as attentiveness.

👉 About older workers – Ed is the best example of the value that older workers bring to a company. He brings a wealth of knowledge that you just have to experience, not read about.

In this episode of our flagship podcast One Take, we sit down with branding expert Phillip Oakley, whose path to branding took him through retail and even bartendering, for a candid 20-minute conversation about the nature of real branding and its importance to companies. No edits. No retakes. Just authentic insight.

Welcome to Your Gray Matters, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to ending age discrimination across advertising, marketing, and the creative industries.

At Your Gray Matters, we believe creativity and leadership don’t have an expiration date. Our mission is to fight ageism, elevate seasoned professionals, and celebrate wisdom at work.

👉 Learn more: ⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/⁠

👉 Support our mission:⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/donorbox⁠

🔔 Subscribe now so you don't miss any episodes

In this episode of our flagship podcast One Take, we sit down with iconic creative director Adilson Xavier, who went from singer to lawyer to one of Brazil’s iconic creative directors, for a candid 20-minute conversation about the changes in the ad industry and why he’s not afraid of AI. No edits. No retakes. Just authentic insight.

Welcome to Your Gray Matters, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to ending age discrimination across advertising, marketing, and the creative industries.

At Your Gray Matters, we believe creativity and leadership don’t have an expiration date. Our mission is to fight ageism, elevate seasoned professionals, and celebrate wisdom at work.

👉 Learn more: ⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/⁠

👉 Support our mission:⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/donorbox⁠

🔔 Subscribe now so you don't miss any episodes

👉 The Scoop – Adilson –a “Carioca” through and through—was the creative director of Giovanni, FCB. Under his leadership the agency not only won a significant number of creative awards and rose to #8 in Brazil, more importantly, as the creative leader, he fostered creativity in every department. Today, he is a scriptwriter and an author.

👉 Decisive Moment – Following his father’s advice to study something that would give him money, Adilson, a musician and singer, became a lawyer. A chance encounter with Paulo Giovanni convinced him that he had the right tools to succeed in advertising, so he quit law and joined the ad industry.

👉 Unexpected change or event – In Brazil advertising was part of the culture itself. People spoke about advertising. Clients looked to agencies as partners and advisors. Somehow, somewhere that was broken, agencies splintered and became mere vendors.

👉 What did he do? – After 30 years in the industry, he fell “out of love” with it. It embarrassed him. So, he left.

👉 About older workers – Age is an old concept. Our generation invented “youth” … we are redefining “old”. Vision is a lot easier for an “old” guy than for a young guy. For one, we’ve seen more.

In this episode of our flagship podcast One Take, we sit down with media veteran John Cuddihy, who has led the way in interactive TV as well as the US Hispanic market, for a candid 20-minute conversation about the rapid demise of Cable TV and why content is king. No edits. No retakes. Just authentic insight.

Welcome to Your Gray Matters, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to ending age discrimination across advertising, marketing, and the creative industries.

At Your Gray Matters, we believe creativity and leadership don’t have an expiration date. Our mission is to fight ageism, elevate seasoned professionals, and celebrate wisdom at work.

👉 Learn more: ⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/⁠

👉 Support our mission:⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/donorbox⁠

🔔 Subscribe now so you don't miss any episodes

👉 The Scoop – John Cuddihy (his name rhymes with Kennedy) has been at the forefront of the media industry since he joined Warner’s interactive TV service. At Disney, he helped create the Latin American cable industry. At Katz Television he helped diversify the U.S. Hispanic market.

👉 Decisive Moment #1 – While at Esty (an ad agency) he had two offers: Cosmo –a very prestigious magazine at the time—and a totally unproven interactive TV channel from Warner. He chose the future.

👉 Unexpected change or event – The rapid demise of cable television.

👉 What did he do? – John teaches at UM (The University of Miami) and emphasizes three major points: Content is king but it’s not everything, streaming is the future and profitable customer acquisition is basic.

👉 About older workers – When you hire an older person, you’re only going to hire a good one. With a 22-year-old you don’t know. With an older person, you know what you’re hiring.

In this episode of our flagship podcast One Take, we sit down with Ramiro Sosa, who has worked for some of the leading brands on both sides of the aisle, for a candid 20-minute conversation about today’s transactional environment and the need to combine data and branding. No edits. No retakes. Just authentic insight.

Welcome to Your Gray Matters, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to ending age discrimination across advertising, marketing, and the creative industries.

At Your Gray Matters, we believe creativity and leadership don’t have an expiration date. Our mission is to fight ageism, elevate seasoned professionals, and celebrate wisdom at work.

👉 Learn more: ⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/⁠

👉 Support our mission:⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/donorbox⁠

🔔 Subscribe now so you don't miss any episodes

👉 The Scoop – After decades of working in ad agencies, selling media and working with advertisers, Ramiro harnesses all these learnings, focuses on the power of branding to differentiate and drive sales, and helps startups grow.

👉 Decisive Moment #1 – Ramiro listened to a friend. While working at an ad agency, Ramiro got an offer to run marketing in Latin America for Sony. He was “thinking about it” when a friend convinced him it was a fantastic opportunity. Ramiro took it.

👉 Unexpected change or event – Advertising, and to some extent, marketing went from creative-led to data-led. And when everyone is exposed to the same research, the results are commoditized.

👉 What did he do? – Doubled down on research to truly understand what drives the users of a brand and dove deeply into segmentation.

👉 About older workers – Wisdom. After living through many experiences and cycles, you emerge with wisdom, knowing how things work. This brings value to my decision-making. Older workers also are better at coaching younger ones and add value to the organization.

In this episode of our flagship podcast One Take, we sit down with Luis Javier Pisonero, who introduced some of the most innovative consumer insights tools in Venezuela for a candid 20-minute conversation about how small shifts in focus have a disproportionate effect on success. No edits. No retakes. Just authentic insight.

Welcome to Your Gray Matters, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to ending age discrimination across advertising, marketing, and the creative industries.

At Your Gray Matters, we believe creativity and leadership don’t have an expiration date. Our mission is to fight ageism, elevate seasoned professionals, and celebrate wisdom at work.

👉 Learn more: ⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/⁠

👉 Support our mission:⁠https://www.your-gray-matters.org/don...

🔔 Subscribe now so you don't miss any episodes

👉 The Scoop – Luis Javier transformed his life with a seemingly-simple shift. He went from the common “To Do” list to the “Decision-Making” list. “Avoid regrets” Luis Javier says “if you make a list of worries, you’ll find that each worry ties to a decision you didn’t make. So, make a decision, eliminate the worry”.

👉 Decisive Moment #1 – Moved from Vapro/Bozell, a small, mainly-local Caracas agency to Lintas, taking on the challenge of managing large multinational clients in a large multinational sandbox.

👉 Decisive Moment #2 – Moved from managing Franklin Whaite y Asociados/Lintas, an 80-person agency, to then way smaller FCB in Caracas. “Risky, but worth the challenge” because of the learning opportunities in tools and methodologies.

👉 Unexpected change or event – Tools and computing power. The agencies reinvented advertising with new technology, new processes and new tools, and you get much more effectiveness and efficiency for the client budgets.

👉 What did he do? – Luis Javier not only went all-in on new technology, processes and tools, he leadered a lot of the transformation across Latin America.

👉 About older workers – When you interview an older person you need to look beyond what you are seeing because it's not the tangible thing, it's not the visible thing, it's the invisible thing. I would recommend that you take a look of this podcast to understand how these kind of people could make your data more valuable than you think. That's what I think is the key thing.