Melanie Deziel

I believe that quality native advertising helps brands provide value to their audience, creates vital new revenue streams for publishers, and opens opportunities for talented creators to make truly great work.

I’ve been recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on native advertising, and my mission is to educate as many people as possible about the power of brand storytelling through my keynotes, workshops, consulting, startup advising and through my native ad industry newsletter, The Overlap League.

As the first editor of branded content at The New York Times, I helped build T Brand Studio and wrote the pieces that won the OMMA Award of Best Native Advertising in 2014 and 2015. I helped lay the groundwork for The Foundry, the team that creates sponsored content for all 35+ Time Inc properties, and was a founding member of HuffPost Partner Studio. I serve on the board of the Native Ad Institute, judge multiple industry awards, work as a columnist for Inc, and have taught for Syracuse University's MA program in Communications.

[Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.]