Experience: After transitioning from journalism to experiential marketing, she built an expertise in leading digital adoption at lifestyle and tech companies alike. She founded Perks five years ago to help business take advantage of the full brand marketing mix that today’s world of social and digital affords us.
With a genuine love for helping and teaching people, Lauren was attracted to New York’s early tech startup scene in 2008. She is an active mentor and teacher in the emerging New York City tech and entrepreneurial education community.
Guilty pleasure: Tiramisu for breakfast
My Game Changing Moment: Swimming the 100 meter butterfly as an age group swimmer, I had less training experience than the other swimmers in my age group. I learned to swim half of my laps underwater to save energy and leverage speed underwater. This method required greater pre-race training and preparation but it got me to trials of the junior olympics was my first lesson in the art of the third way. I learned there’s always a smarter, alternative way to win if you’re willing to try new things. This served me well in the pool and now in the world of business.

Experience: Christina has worked on positioning big brands for a big future and creating brands from scratch. With a unique background combining consumer insights and brand futures, she specializes in providing creative, high level strategic solutions that inspire new thinking and create actionable ideas. She spends her spare time running 40:20 Vision including mentoring salons between older and younger entrepreneurs.
Guilty pleasure: Dairy Queen and Alexander McQueen.
My Game Changing Moment: The day I realized I never was going to master Pilates – but rather it was a series of achievements and aha moments that always lead to a new challenge. This became a metaphor for life and drive to find the next aha moment.

Experience: Chris spent the first decade of his career managed consulting teams installing major software implementations for large corporations at Accenture. With this pedigree, he developed an expertise in large-scale project management, which he brought to Perks and paired with agile technology thinking to develop custom project estimating, planning, and management tools specific to Perks business processes.
After earning is Masters in Sustainable Management from Columbia University, Chris spends his free time engaging in social causes that lead to a more sustainable world.
Guilty pleasure: Electricity and warm showers
My Game Changing Moment: The day I finished reading “Confessions of an Economic Hitman”

Experience: A reformed international attorney and MBA with a sharp sense of professional curiosity. A seasoned executive, David has worked in business development, human resources, general management and organizational development at companies like BMG, Microsoft and AOL. A professional facilitator and a qualified executive coach, he also has extensive consulting experience in corporate strategy, enterprise business development and change management.
Guilty pleasure: 9pm show at Eastville Comedy Club, and a heavy peppery red wine
My Game Changing Moment: It’s a tie. Moving to Hong Kong in 1990 and New York City in 2006. In both cases, I was reminded that I belong in dynamic, energetic cities with smart people around me.

Experience: Laura’s 12-year career in new business development, and marketing taps into her natural strength in developing and nurturing relationships. A passionate connector & community builder, Laura brings countless mutually beneficial collaborations with Fortune 1000 companies to her role at Perks Consulting.
Laura also created a group to support female entrepreneurs claim their worth by taking steps to actualize their projects and businesses.
Guilty pleasure: World travel, Senegalese Sabar dance classes and grande iced soy lattes on hot summer days
My Game Changing Moment: While rebuilding my life as a single mom, I realized that getting ‘there’ is an illusion, life is what you make it right here, right now. And everything I need to create the life of my dreams is within me. This ‘Aha’ moment empowered my work as a business development specialist and gave me the inspiration and courage to start my first business.

Experience: Felicia’s background spans roles in the entertainment industry as well as various marketing roles. Her multi-faceted skill set ranges from consumer insights and influencer marketing to digital licensing, operations and event management. As Managing Director of Girls in Tech’s NYC chapter Felicia was positioned among New York’s burgeoning tech and venture community, while her internship at Cornerstone Promotion exposed her early on to top consumer brands in transition to lifestyle properties.
Guilty pleasure: Buying varieties of artisanal cheese and beauty products
My Game Changing Moment: At a time when I faced economic hardship, I leveraged my underlying fascination with technology to take my career to a new and exciting direction. Without any contacts or foundation, I found avenues to pivot away from my entertainment industry career the growing tech startup industry. Along the way I learned I loved research, analysis, and context-building… I found the strength to know I can always adapt my experience and background to any challenge or hardship that I face.

Experience: Stephanie has over 10 years of digital marketing and management experience with entertainment, e-commerce/retail, consumer packaged goods and luxury brands at diverse organizations such as Live Nation, Thirteen/WNET (New York’s public television station) and Sony Music and for clients including Bacardi and Grey Goose Vodka. She is skilled in the breadth of digital brand marketing disciplines: strategy, product and platform planning, digital production and project management. She has ample experience managing multiple stakeholders and leading multi-agency and cross-functional teams to deliver innovative and creative digital initiatives with documented results. Such engagements have allowed brands to beat sales goals by 150%, consistently increase user traffic and engagement while gaining thousands of social media followers that have become brand advocates and customers.
Guilty pleasure: An intensely hoppy IPA style beer and karaoke
My Game Changing Moment: While taking care of a sick family member, I realized that life is too short to not follow your dreams and live life to the fullest. 

Experience: Laetitia brings the French touch and her creative skills to Perks Consulting. While earning her masters degree in Applied Arts from the Professional University of Montauban, France, she learned the fundamentals of visual communication applied to graphic design & branding. Her past experience includes cultural/event publishing, packaging, branding and graphic design. Through her early training in experimental design, combining graphic design, art and photography, she developed a career-long passion for conceptual structure and expressing the personality of lifestyle brands.
Guilty pleasure: Talenti Gelato salted caramel ice cream. Art books & magazines
My Game Changing Moment: Coming to the North American continent. Packing my life into one bag helped me focus on my priorities, and live in the moment.

Experience: JoniSue brings resourcefulness, creativity and a competitive drive for business performance to her operations role at Perks Consulting. With a career that began in the burgeoning spa industry she quickly developed an aptitude for improving profitability through staff and customer management, product development, and infrastructure implementation. She then refined her business and finance management experience as a Credit Manager at Panavision. Throughout the course of her career she has built an expertise in business management while cultivating a specialty in lifestyle marketing and  beauty and wellness.
Jonisue also runs Gone Green Fundraisers, a organization to provide schools and nonprofits with the opportunity to raise much needed funds while improving socioeconomic and environmental conditions.
Guilty pleasure: A glass of red wine with bone marrow (humanely raised of course)
My Game Changing Moment: The day I discovered hoop dancing. My first impression was- “ those tricks are really difficult, I’ll never be able to do that.” But I learned that through consistent practice, I was able master trick by trick and string them into an intricate dance that now serves as my exercise, meditation and creative expression. Hoop dancing taught me that I’m able to get past any preconceived notions of my capabilities and this translates into every aspect of life- have patience, keep trying and never give up!