Husani Oakley has been elevated to chief technology officer at Deutsch New York. Reporting directly to Deutsch NY CEO Val DiFebo, Oakley will work closely beside strategy, media and creative, continuing to spearhead technology efforts across clients including AB InBev, Reebok, and Johnson & Johnson. As CTO, he will continue his leadership role in Great Machine, Deutsch’s A.I. innovation studio.
“Creative minds, like Husani, are naturally curious and rarely satisfied with the status quo, which is what makes him the perfect candidate to lead Deutsch’s technology offering,” noted DiFebo. “In addition to advancing our vision, Husani will continue to redefine Deutsch’s digital expertise and align our offerings with the world’s ever-changing business needs. Tasked with continuing the agency’s momentum around digital innovation, he’ll work with our enterprising team to create proprietary marketing technology that drives creative business solutions.”
Oakley joined Deutsch in 2018 as SVP, director of technology and advanced to EVP, director of technology and innovation in 2019. “I’ve spent two years now working with a team that has exploration built into its DNA. The proof’s in the pudding; the work speaks for itself,” said Oakley. “But the technology-enabled culture we live in changes too quickly for us to be satisfied and accept the status quo with what we accomplished yesterday. We walk into the office every day hell-bent on finding opportunities to stay ahead of the curve and use technology to help solve our clients’ critical business challenges.”
Oakley’s start-up experience includes founding online investing platform GoldBean, design and technology firm Oakley + Partners, and the cultural event newsletter​ Flavorpill​, to name a few. He’s also held key technology positions at agencies including Wieden + Kennedy, Euro RSCG, and Omnicom’s Evolution Bureau.
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More