In this episode of *Revenue Room™, Samantha Skey, CEO of SHE Media, shares her bold, human-centered take on leadership, AI disruption, and the future of digital publishing. From reframing imposter syndrome as a systemic issue to building a diversified media model grounded in authenticity, Samantha offers a masterclass in leading with courage, clarity, and purpose in a time of massive change.

Key Topics Discussed:

-How Samantha approaches leadership with a focus on ethics, empathy, and long-term impact—not just short-term performance.
-The tension between AI as an operational asset vs. existential threat to publishers.
-Her prediction of a new industry for authenticity verification in content.
-Samantha redefined imposter syndrome as a systemic issue, not a personal flaw.
-A call to redesign environments to be more inclusive of non-traditional leaders.
-SHE Media’s three-pronged business model: owned brands, creator monetization, and immersive brand partnerships.
-The importance of leveraging both quantitative and qualitative inputs to drive business decisions.

About Samantha Skey

About Samantha Skey
Samantha Skey is CEO of SHE Media, a top 10 media company reaching 80 million monthly unique visitors through brands like SheKnows, Flow Space, StyleCaster, Soaps, and TVLine. Acquired by Penske Media Corporation in 2018, SHE Media also operates one of the largest networks of independent lifestyle publishers and creators in the U.S. via the SHE Media Collective, which Skey launched in 2016 to support underrepresented voices.

In 2021, she introduced Meaningful Marketplaces (MMP), helping advertisers scale media buys while supporting premium independent media. That equity-driven mission continued with the 2023 launch of Flow Space, a women’s health platform that won Anthem and Viddy Gold Awards. She also led the debut of SHE Media’s Co-Lab Whole Life Health at SXSW, earning honors from Fierce Pharma and the Anthem Awards.

With over 25 years in digital media and tech, Skey has held leadership roles at CNET, Disney, RecycleBank, and SheKnows. She’s been honored by Ad Age, Folio, and DM News, and serves on the boards of The Ad Council, World Surf League, and Acast. She lives in Princeton with her husband and two children and coaches girls’ lacrosse on weekends.

About Heather Holst-Knudsen

Heather Holst-Knudsen is the founder and CEO of H2K Labs and Revenue Room™ Connect. She is a seasoned executive with extensive experience in digital transformation, data, and revenue growth. She is a recognized leader and operator in media, marketplaces, events, and adjacent technologies. Heather has a proven track record of leading organizations to achieve customer-centric innovation, revenue growth, and enterprise value creation. As a thought leader, Heather shares her insights on multisided business models under The Revenue Room™. Connect with Heather on LinkedIn.

ABOUT H2K LABS

H2K Labs is a tech-enabled value creation specialist that helps media, data/information, event, and marketplace businesses accelerate revenue, drive profitability, and fuel enterprise value using data, digital, and AI. We host The Revenue Room™ Podcast, curate Revenue Room™ Connect, a professional network for CEO and their revenue-critical C-Suite teams, and produce events including RevvedUP 2025. For more information, please visit https://www.h2klabs.com

To join Revenue Room™ Connect, please visit https://www.revenueroomconnect.com

What do hamster photos, AI-powered marketing, and global event domination have in common? In this episode, Heather Holst-Knudsen sits down with Laura Davidson, CEO and co-founder of Tag Digital, to uncover how she turned a scrappy startup into a global performance marketing powerhouse for events. From their first client win with UBM to building AI-powered digital twins and tackling the zero-click future, Laura shares bold insights on data, creative, authenticity, and the leadership grit it takes to grow in a rapidly changing market.

Key Topics Covered

• How Tag Digital went from local web agency to global event marketing leader
• The hamster photo dispute that sparked their pivot to events
• Why clean, segmented data is non-negotiable for ROI
• AI, automation, and the rise of the zero-click economy
• Why emotional creative and authenticity drive true event success
• How AI will change attribution—and why media mix modeling is your new best friend
• Building confidence, adaptability, and humor as leadership superpowers

About Laura Davidson

Laura Davidson is currently the CEO and Director at Tag Digital, a company specializing in paid media across various platforms exclusively within the events sector. With over 2500 event campaigns run annually in 40 countries, Laura has a wealth of experience in this field. Prior to her role at Tag Digital, Laura worked as a Lecturer at the Digital Marketing Institute, teaching courses in SEO, PPC, ecommerce, and analytics. She also worked as the Communications Director at Moviecom.tv and as a Contributing Writer at LiPulse Magazine. Laura holds a 2:1 degree in Law and English from the University of Strathclyde.

About Heather Holst-Knudsen

Heather Holst-Knudsen is the founder and CEO of H2K Labs and Revenue Room™ Connect. She is a seasoned executive with extensive experience in digital transformation, data, and revenue growth. She is a recognized leader and operator in media, marketplaces, events, and adjacent technologies. Heather has a proven track record of leading organizations to achieve customer-centric innovation, revenue growth, and enterprise value creation. As a thought leader, Heather shares her insights on multisided business models under The Revenue Room™. Connect with Heather on LinkedIn.

ABOUT H2K LABS

H2K Labs is a tech-enabled value creation specialist that helps media, data/information, event, and marketplace businesses accelerate revenue, drive profitability, and fuel enterprise value using data, digital, and AI. We host The Revenue Room™ Podcast, curate Revenue Room™ Connect, a professional network for CEO and their revenue-critical C-Suite teams, and produce events including RevvedUP 2025. For more information, please visit https://www.h2klabs.com

To join Revenue Room™ Connect, please visit https://www.revenueroomconnect.com

In this episode of The Revenue Room, host Heather Holst-Knudsen speaks with Michelle Troop, Chief Revenue Officer of Ai4, the world’s largest artificial intelligence event. Michelle shares how she helped scale Ai4 from boutique gatherings into an 8,000+ attendee juggernaut—and how her entrepreneurial mindset has led to multiple successful event acquisitions.

She breaks down the playbook behind Ai4’s revenue transformation, including:

• How to enable your sales team to go beyond square footage
• Why modern sponsors expect customization and real-time ROI
• How to use AI tools like ChatGPT to boost outbound performance
• Rethinking hosted buyer models and 1:1 meetings
• What signals you're ready to scale or sell

Whether you lead events, sales, or strategy, Michelle’s insights will inspire you to rethink how you monetize audience, data, and content in today’s fast-moving B2B environment.

About Michelle Troop

Michelle Troop is currently the Chief Revenue Officer of Ai4, the largest and most significant international artificial intelligence event, which was recently acquired by CloserStill Media—a global events organization with over 200 award-winning brands spanning Business Technology, Learning, HR & Education, Healthcare, and Future Transport & Infrastructure.

With over 35 years of trade show experience across consumer events, trade shows, and conferences, Michelle has consistently transformed and scaled events into industry-leading platforms. Her career highlights include rebuilding key trade shows into Trade Show Top 35 events, traveling the globe for the launch of the original PlayStation, and—over the past 13 years—co-founding and building several premier events such as InsureTech Connect (ITC), Mobile Apps Unlocked (MAU), and LeadsCon. All of these grew from launch to critical mass and were ultimately acquired by Clarion and Access Intelligence.

Most recently, she helped reshape the strategy and scale of Ai4, growing it from a series of 300-person events in New York into the leading global AI event, drawing over 8,000 attendees to Las Vegas.

Michelle is passionate not only about building great events, but also building exceptional teams. Together, they’ve delivered exponential growth in attendance, revenue, and audience experience.

When she's not driving innovation in the events world, Michelle enjoys rescuing animals and sharing a great glass of wine with her husband in Dallas,

About Heather Holst-Knudsen

Heather Holst-Knudsen is the founder and CEO of H2K Labs and Revenue Room™ Connect. She is a seasoned executive with extensive experience in digital transformation, data, and revenue growth. She is a recognized leader and operator in media, marketplaces, events, and adjacent technologies. Heather has a proven track record of leading organizations to achieve customer-centric innovation, revenue growth, and enterprise value creation. As a thought leader, Heather shares her insights on multisided business models under The Revenue Room™. Connect with Heather on LinkedIn.

ABOUT H2K LABS

H2K Labs is a tech-enabled value creation specialist that helps media, data/information, event, and marketplace businesses accelerate revenue, drive profitability, and fuel enterprise value using data, digital, and AI. We host The Revenue Room™ Podcast, curate Revenue Room™ Connect, a professional network for CEO and their revenue-critical C-Suite teams, and produce events including RevvedUP 2025. For more information, please visit https://www.h2klabs.com

To join Revenue Room™ Connect, please visit https://www.revenueroomconnect.com