Curriculum Vitae
course of (one's) life
PROFILE
PROFILE
Creative professional with a decade of experience in entrepreneurship, early-stage startups, marketing, and strategic communications seeks new opportunities with clients that are passionate about innovating products and services to shape a more sustainable and equitable future.
EXPERIENCE
EXPERIENCE
Marketing & Client Relations
Pre | Toronto, Canada
May 2024-Present
Pre’s mission is to help brands model, simulate, analyze, and optimize their eCommerce sites in minutes using millions of AI-generated virtual shoppers so they can pilot new website ideas 1,000 times faster than traditional A-B testing. As the head of marketing and client relations, I’m responsible for identifying sector-specific user experience trends and testing these on our platform to help our clients gain competitive intelligence and make more strategic and profitable design decisions.
Founder
Electric Runway | Toronto, Canada & San Francisco, California
July 2015-Present
Electric Runway is an ongoing multimedia project documenting how technology is transforming the $3 trillion fashion industry around the world. I’ve produced a variety of cultural content that ladders up to this editorial vision, from podcasts to videos to in-person runway shows and thought leadership events. Through Electric Runway, I’ve reported from the front lines of every stage of the fashion supply chain, from garment factories in Bangladesh to runway shows in Moscow. I’ve presented as a keynote speaker to several international delegations on fashion innovation all over the world, including the United States, Estonia, Berlin, Barcelona, Finland, Hong Kong, and Manila.
Speaker Coordinator for Innovation Realized Global Summit
Ernst & Young Global | San Francisco, California
September 2023-April 2024
Innovation Realized is Ernst & Young’s exclusive two-day, in-person event designed to catalyze boundary-breaking collaborations between C-suite executives in an inspiring and immersive environment. The summit is the EY global flagship event for strategy, transformation and technology. It’s attended by EY’s top clients from around the globe and EY’s senior leadership, including the firm’s global Chairman and CEO. The audience mix includes CxOs and senior executives who own digital, transformation, technology, strategy, innovation, and corporate development in their respective organizations.
As the speaker coordinator, I worked with the firm’s global digital and business disruption leader on scouting talent and sourcing programming for the event’s main stage. This included identifying and researching relevant speakers/thought leaders, setting up introductory and follow-up calls, negotiating contract terms and deliverables, programming panels and keynote sessions, and keeping a running agenda for two days of thought leadership programming. I facilitated prep calls and coordinated all details regarding each speaker’s travel, accommodations, and on-site activities. On location, I worked closely with the production team to ensure all speakers were in the green room for their appropriate call times to ensure a series of successful and seamless talks delivering value to EY clients and stakeholders.
Founder
Halt AI | Toronto, Canada
January 2021 - December 2022
HALT AI is a startup I founded with Professor Parham Aarabi of the University of Toronto. HALT AI started out on a mission to detect bias in algorithms. We received recognition from Twitter, Wired, CBC, CNBC, Engadget, and more for this work.
Later, we pivoted to using facial recognition and machine learning to audit the diversity of visual content so brand managers and marketing teams could get an aerial, 360-degree view of exactly who is in their advertising to uplevel their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. At the end of 2022, we sold the data from HALT AI to a Fortune 500 global beauty brand and an American multinational technology company.
Marketing Director
Modiface (L'Oréal) | Toronto, Canada
Feb 2020 - May 2020
ModiFace is the leading provider of Augmented Reality technology for the beauty industry. As the marketing director, I was in charge of elevating the ModiFace brand. This included developing and implementing a marketing strategy, revising the company website, creating and editing marketing materials such as pitch decks and client reports, managing social media channels, and otherwise communicating new developments and updates to non-technical audiences.
Visit ModiFace.com
Founder & Creative Director
Girl About Toronto Multimedia | Toronto, Canada
January 2012 - February 2020
Girl About Toronto Multimedia was a boutique creative and content studio I founded in 2012. Born out of the social media boom, Girl About Toronto Multimedia offered content, coverage, video, social media management and digital strategy for clients like Ace Bakery, Streetcar Developments, The Broadview Hotel, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and more. As the founder, I was responsible for developing new business relationships, securing new clients, managing the company’s finances, ensuring effective and efficient business operations, and more. As the creative director, I helped clients excel at showing up online by developing and implementing new media strategies that aligned with client’s business goals. This included creating and implementing an overall editorial vision for brands online, hiring and managing a team of freelancers (copywriters, social media managers, illustrators, and photographers), and reporting progress to senior directors and stakeholders.
Digital Culture Researcher & Social Media Coordinator
Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre | Toronto, Canada
January 2014 - January 2015
Housed in the Faculty of Arts at Ryerson University, the Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre (MLC) is dedicated to researching literary and cultural production in the modernist period (1880 to 1940). The centre’s director, Dr. Irene Gammel, is the Canada Research Chair in Modern Literature and Culture. Dr. Gammel has a penchant for uncovering history’s unsung heroines, such as Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, performance artist and mother of Dada Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, and most recently, Canadian war painter Mary Riter Hamilton.
My role at the centre focused on digital strategy and research mobilization, including coordinating communications and managing social media touch-points with the aim of building the centre’s online profile to attracting scholars and students from across Canada.
Resident Writer, Content Manager & Head of Social Media
Crescent Group | Toronto, Canada
May 2011 - May 2014
Crescent Group is a multidisciplinary creative agency focused on not-for-profit communications and marketing for social good. Clients include the Ontario Government, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Children's Wish Foundation, CSA Group, OMERS, SOCAN, and more. As the resident writer, I was responsible for everything word-related, including copywriting, editing, and brand blogging. As the content manager, I ensured quality across all communications points, including RFPs, client proposals, reports, pitch decks and more. As the head of social media I established and grew the agency's presence on social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Grader / Exam Invigilator
Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University)
September 2010 - January 2011
In the fall/winter of 2010, I was a grader and exam invigilator at Ryerson University for "ENG 520: The Language of Persuasion," an undergraduate course directed by Associate Professor Stuart Murray. During this time, I worked closely with Dr. Murray in developing a reading list and syllabus for this course. I marked students’ abstracts, close-reading exercises and essays for grammar, style, and rhetoric, and was responsible for communicating written feedback. I also administered and supervised the course's final exam. This position was held while obtaining my master's degree in Ryerson's Literatures of Modernity Program.
Research Assistant
Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University)
January 2009 - January 2010
While obtaining my master's degree at Ryerson University, I served as a research assistant to Dr. Andrew O'Malley, the acting Director of Graduate Studies for the Literatures of Modernity Program. Dr. O'Malley was writing a book on Robinson Crusoe in the context of his scholarship on children's literature and popular culture. I was responsible for sorting through the entire catalogue of the British Library—the largest library in the world—for materials relevant to his research project, including sourcing any parodies, abridgements, adaptations, and interpretations of Robinson Crusoe. This was no small task, as the Robinson Crusoe myth is one of the most widely reworked stories in the English language. I then organized, prioritized, and cross-referenced all materials by call number to help prepare Dr. O'Malley for his on-site research trip to England. Upon his return, I further assisted his research by surveying theoretical positions on concepts of nostalgia as it connects to popular culture and children's literature. All materials were presented in a fifty-page synopsis package for Dr. O'Malley to review.
EDUCATION
EDUCATION
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M.A. English Literature
Toronto Metropolitan University | Toronto, Ontario
September 2010 - April 2011
During this twelve-month master's program, I gravitated towards classes concerning rhetoric, visual culture, and body politics. My research focused on feminist theory in literature, with specific concern for food writing, women's writing, and the female body across 19th- and 20th-century literature. In fulfilment of the program's requirements, I authored a thesis paper investigating the metaphor of hunger in contemporary Canadian women's writing, with a specific focus on Margaret Atwood's "The Edible Woman." While many scholars have written about Atwood's highly experimental, post-modern novel, I found scholarly readings provided thus far were insufficient in accounting for the text's ending. By employing theories of embodiment, I offer that Atwood writes the female body as an inscribed surface of events—a space on which the cultural codes of capitalism are written—as well as a site for revolt—a space capable of rejecting socially delineated gender roles and rebelling against abject femininity.
Activities and societies: Named graduate representative for Literatures of Modernity Program; served as rep from September 2010- April 2011.
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B.A. English Literature & Professional Writing
York University | Toronto, Ontario
September 2006 - May 2009
Graduated Suma Cum Laude (with highest honours) from York University's honours program in English & professional writing. During this time, I excelled in English courses concerning feminist theory, women's writing and Canadian literature. I specialised in the periodical stream of York's professional writing program to gain experience in areas of copyediting, fact-checking, query writing, feature writing, creative writing, and interviewing.
Activities and societies: Published in campus newspaper & MacMedia Magazine
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Continuing Studies
Ontario College of Art and Design
April 2013-May 2014
Developed skills in photography, audio engineering, video production, graphic and web design.
PUBLICATIONS
PUBLICATIONS
I’ve contributed to national newspapers, trade publications, magazines, and more. My work focuses on digital culture and how emerging technologies are transforming art, business, and society,
Selected Publications:
Cover Girl Launches AI-Driven Customization App. Women’s Wear Daily. February 2017.
Why Millennials have Embraced the Magical Unicorn Trend. The Toronto Star. June 2017.
Automat Aims to Take Fashion Tech From Prototype to Production. Women’s Wear Daily. July 2017.
Swipe Right to Meet Your Perfect Lipstick Match. The Toronto Star. February 2016.
The Social Age of WearableTech: From Quantified Self to Emotional Second Skin. Warable. March 2016.
The Brave New Future of High-Tech Fashion. The Toronto Star. October 2015.
Celebrating the ‘Circus Stage’ of Wearable Technology. The Toronto Star. May 2015.
Fashion and Technology Collide on the Runway at Fashion Art Toronto. The Toronto Star. April 2015.
Why Toronto is a Hotbed for Pioneering Wearable Technology. The Globe and Mail. January 2015.
Interview with a Cyborg: How Machines Mesh with Mankind. The Globe and Mail. May 2014.
CONFERENCES
CONFERENCES
I have participated in several international delegations on the future of fashion and beauty globally. I’ve delivered keynote talks and masterclasses to local and international audiences.
GTCO Fashion Weekend: Lagos, Nigeria. November 2022 🇳🇬
Reshape Forum, Fira de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. November 2019 🇪🇸
HKPC, How 3D Printing is Transforming the Fashion Industry, Hong Kong. July 2019 ðŸ‡ðŸ‡°
Fashionology Summit: Dhaka, Bangladesh. February, 2018 🇧🇩
Mindtrek: Tampere, Finland. October 2018 🇫🇮
Decoded Fashion: New York, USA. October 2017 🇺🇸
Tallinn Design Festival: Tallinn, Estonia. October 2017 🇪🇪
Make Fashion: Calgary, Alberta. April 2017 🇨🇦
MBFW Russia: Moscow, Russia. October 2016 🇷🇺
Fashion Tech Berlin: Berlin, Germany. July 2016 🇩🇪
PrintoCent Industry Seminar, Oulu, Finland. July 2016 🇫🇮
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
Named an emerging leader by The Peak, 2023 in the category of media, sports and entertainment
Top 100 Women in Wearable and Consumer Technology (Women of Wearables)
Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), 2010
Continued excellence scholarship four years in a row (York University), 2006-2009
University-level English Award, St. Ignatius of Loyola Secondary School
SKILLS
SKILLS
Writing & Strategic Communications
Research & Reporting
Copywriting & messaging
Communications strategy
Digital Marketing
Brand strategy & Positioning
Project Management
Early-stage startups
Client & Stakeholder Relations
Media & Content Production
Graphic & Web Design
Sales & Business Development
CONTACT
CONTACT
amanda [at] amandacosco [dot] com
+1.416.886.9001