YMS content
curated with
leading experts
Bringing together industry-leading experts and top next-gen voices, Pion’s advisory board helps curate our 2025 agenda. The experts’ first-hand experience supports us in creating relevant, diverse and inspiring content that’ll help shape the future of our industry.

Olivia has curated the programme for Pion's Youth Marketing Strategy festival for over 10 years, keeping the industry informed on the latest trends, habits and attitudes of Gen Z and beyond. Creating impactful agendas that deep dive into trends, culture and the brands winning over youth audiences, Olivia is passionate about amplifying the voices of industry change-makers and young people alike to equip brand and agency leaders with the knowledge they need to navigate our ever-evolving marketing landscape.

Richard leads B2B content at Pion, the company behind leading student marketplace Student Beans and renowned industry event Youth Marketing Strategy (YMS). Rick's unconventional career path, from a professional actor to an entrepreneur and now a key leader in the B2B marketing space, gives him a unique perspective on brand storytelling and the power of live events. With over a decade at the company, he has been instrumental in scaling major events like YMS and pivoting the business model.
Richard has a Master's degree in Acting from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and a Bachelor's degree in English Literature from Nottingham University. Outside of work you are most likely to find Richard in an Apple Store, Starbucks or Greggs.

Geli (she/her) is the Associate Design Director at Shape History, the impact-first agency. Whether it's spatial experiences, creative ideation, or visual storytelling, she believes in the power of design in shaping everyday life. Her first foray into branding won her a D&AD Pencil, which led to her specialising in brand identities and creative comms. Since working in the social impact space, she has led brand evolutions of NGOs, including Refugee Council and Women Deliver, and developed campaigns for Girl Effect, Amnesty International and SheDecides.

Imali is currently living out a childhood dream, building the LEGO brand on projects that have spanned entertainment, innovation, and reaching gen alpha girls.
Before stepping brand-side, she honed her craft at leading creative agencies including BBH, adam&eveDDB and Pablo, working on some of the world’s most iconic and culturally resonant brands.
She’s most energised by work that blends creativity with impact and aims to leave the world better than they found it - standout projects include the V&A, innocent, the UN’s Project Everyone, Art Fund, and the BBC.

Rob Scotland is one of the leading influences in the sports brand industry today.
As Head of Brand Communications at Veo Technologies, he is democratising AI pattern recognition technology in team sports and bringing opportunities to players of every level.
Having previously worked with Ferrari F1, Nike and Xbox as well as McCann and Leo Burnett, Rob is perfectly placed to supercharge the brand impact of sports-tech, most recently leading the brand initiative, Veo People’s Puskas, with over 300,000 global votes.
Beyond work, Rob lectures at Hyper Island and Berghs School of Communication in Stockholm and has just completed his second TEDx talk, now available on YouTube.

Zayanne is the founder of The Creative Roundup , a community that seeks to bridge the gap between creatives and opportunities across the industry. Her passion for accessibility within the creative industry has led her to working alongside brands such as Adobe, Spotify and Cannes Lions and her passion for young people has led to her to becoming the UK representative of The Pentland Collective, a youth advisory board that seeks to provide proactive strategies that can ensure a more diverse and sustainable future for Pentland Brands.

Farzana radiates passion for mentorship and youth empowerment. She collaborates with charity organisations and policy-makers to tackle inequalities in education, providing insight into the issues affecting young people.Farzana is an ambassador for One Million Mentors and champions the impact of mentorship. She also serves on the Youth Advisory Board for Youth Leads UK, as Vice Chair where she and helps steer the strategic direction of the organisation. Farzana is an ambitious young person, who aims to make a positive difference in the world through education and advocacy, inspiring young people to achieve their potential.

I'm Millie, a final year Philosophy student at the University of Birmingham! I am graduating in July and hoping to land a job in advertising or marketing. At the moment I'm mainly focused on getting experience in those industries, as well as continuing to deepen my understanding of culture, design and my favourite thing: social media.

I'm a Global Marketing Assistant for Max Factor at Coty, recently graduated Coventry University in Business and Marketing with a First Class. As an ambitious and high achieving woman that’s eager to get out of my comfort zone and take advantage of every opportunity, I’ve had the pleasure of studying abroad at EDHEC Business School completing an International Business BBA short programme, completing a year in industry at Unilever under Magnum’s local marketing team, a summer exchange programme in Malaysia and topping it all off with achieving a Course Tutor award and Head of School award. Hence I love to encourage young people to likewise take advantage of all the available opportunities to them regardless of their background.

Sinead Lambe is a Senior Brand Communications Consultant with almost a decade of experience working with a plethora of globally recognised brands, across both agency and in-house environments. She currently serves as Head of Communications at Rising Ballers Group, where she leads strategic brand-building initiatives and media relations for the UK’s fastest-growing football media brand and agency group, inclusive of Rising Ballers and She’s A Baller.
Sinead currently specialises in helping founder-led businesses and organisations drive greater brand awareness through targeted PR and marketing strategies. She has worked across a wide range of sectors – including charity, FMCG, health, sport, and lifestyle – partnering with market-leading brands to deliver compelling, impactful narratives.
With a strong passion for purpose-led and CSR campaigns, Sinead thrives on projects that not only build brand reputation but also create meaningful positive change. Her current consultancy portfolio includes clients in sports media, the creative industries, and learning and development.

Kian is founder of The People, a Gen-Z consultancy powered by a global community of young changemakers. He was formerly Youth Insight Lead at Dentsu. For his contributions to marketing, he has been named one of the Top 50 Future Leaders by the Financial Times. Kian is also Advisor at United Nations Climate Change and One Young World Ambassador. Kian regularly writes about marketing through a Millennial and Gen-Z lens for Forbes CMO Network. He is deeply passionate about using the power of creativity for good.

Paul McEntee is the CEO and Founder of Here Be Dragons, a PR agency built to navigate change in the world. From advocating on behalf of Justice 4 Grenfell to creating purposeful campaigns for major consumer brands, Here Be Dragons uses change as an opportunity to create brave work.


Together we'll shape
the future

