Atlas Obscura advances its plans for travel community growth with an advisory board of accomplished leaders and experts

The members bring experience from companies including JPMorgan Chase’s Techstars, Sony, NBC, Lindblad Expeditions, Foursquare, Strawberry Frog, Uber, Summit, Tata Consultancy, Open AI, and American Airlines.

Today, Chief Executive Louise Story shared the 12 esteemed, cross-industry executives she has chosen to offer strategic guidance on growth, transformation, and innovation.

“All of these successful leaders are longtime fans of Atlas Obscura’s brand and mission, and I’m excited to work with them to maximize Atlas Obscura’s potential,” she said. “Each one brings inspiring experiences as well as tactical know-how to evolve our offerings. And all of them have made travel a priority and passion in their own lives.”

The new board includes entrepreneurs, founders and corporate leaders who have remade the landscapes of their fields, from broadcast television to travel to social media to consumer products. 

Ty Ahmad-Taylor is a technology executive with nearly three decades of experience in consumer software, product development, and interactive television. He currently serves as Lead Independent Director on the Board of Directors of GoPro. Previously, he held Vice President roles at Snap andMeta, focusing on product growth and monetization. Ahmad-Taylor also served as CEO of THX Ltd., a media and entertainment company. His career includes leadership positions at Viacom, Comcast, The New York Times, and Samsung Electronics. He is a Board Trustee for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Ahmad-Taylor has a portfolio of a dozen technology and hardware patents and is recognized for his expertise in product development, information design, and media industries. He is based in Los Angeles.

Bridget Blaise-Shamai brings over 25 years of executive experience in aviation, customer loyalty, high-speed rail, global shipping, and fintech. Her background spans all areas of the commercial function with innovations in customer experience, data analytics, digital, and partnerships. She served as President of the American Airlines AAdvantage Program, achieving record results. Blaise-Shamai received her BA from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from Washington University, St. Louis. She is an advisory board member for post-series B startup Skeps (a blockchain-enabled fintech payments company) and pre-seed startup PointsYeah (a real-time travel rewards currency search engine). Travel is her top hobby, with visits to five continents and 50 countries. She resides in Southlake, Texas.

Brett Camper is a Senior Manager at Snap Inc., where he helped build Snap Map—now used by over 400 million people monthly—leading rendering and mapping technology for one of the world’s most popular social platforms. With a background spanning geospatial technology, product development, and open source innovation, Brett co-founded Mapzen, an open source mapping company whose technologies were later adopted by the Linux Foundation, and previously led product and engineering teams at Kickstarter from 2010-2014. His career also includes leadership roles at Esri, Elastic, the ACLU (where he led product development for advocacy and mobilization), and RealNetworks, bringing expertise in real-time rendering, product management, and building technology that supports creative expression and complex problem-solving.

Dennis Crowley is a technology entrepreneur focused on creating things that make everyday life feel more fun and playful. He is Co-Founder & CEO at Hopscotch Labs, and Co-Founder/Co-Chair at Foursquare, one of the world’s leading location technology platforms. Previously, he founded Dodgeball, one of the first location-based mobile social services, which was acquired by Google. Crowley co-created PacManhattan, one of the earliest “big urban games.” He is also the Co-Founder/Co-Chair at Street FC and the Founder/Chairman of Kingston Stockade FC, a semi-professional soccer team in New York’s Hudson Valley. Crowley holds an MA from New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) and a BA from the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. He splits his time between New York City and the Hudson Valley.

Gabor Cselle is a Member of the Strategy Team at OpenAI. Previously, as a Director at Google’s Area 120 incubator, he guided the development and launch of new consumer and prosumer products. He is a serial entrepreneur whohas founded three startups—T2, Namo Media, and reMail—with successful exits to Twitter and Google. After Twitter acquired Namo Media in 2014, he joined as a Group Product Manager, where he led work on ad products, and growth initiatives. He then founded reMail, a mobile-first email client acquired by Google, and helped integrate its ideas into Inbox by Gmail. Earlier in his career, he served as VP of Engineering at Xobni, a top-ranked Outlook plugin for email search and social analytics. He holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from ETH Zurich and is based in Berkeley, California.

Andrew Essex is Senior Managing Partner at Tata Consultancy services, the $29B global information technology firm. He is a former McKinsey Senior Advisor and former Chief Executive Officer of the Tribeca Film Festival. He is founding CEO of Droga5, which was acquired by William Morris Endeavor in 2013 and sold again to Accenture Interactive in 2019. A highly creative strategic executive with three decades in branding, business development, and M&A, Essex sits on the board of Finance of America, MMA Global and Plus Pool. He is a former advisor to the White House American Office of Innovation and the Wharton SEI Center for Advanced Studies in Management. A frequent angel investor, he serves as an advisor to Glasswing Ventures, an AI-native fund. Essex began his career as an award-winning journalist and editor. Essex has an MA and BA from New York University and lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Amy Friedlander Hoffman brings expertise in brand building, experiential marketing, and strategic partnerships. Her leadership roles as Chief Business Officer at Liquid Death Mountain Water, Head of Business Development & Experiential Marketing at Uber and SVP of Programming at AT&T have given her a proven track record in scaling innovative brands and engaging diverse audiences. Friedlander Hoffman holds a JD from the University of Chicago and a BA with honors from the University of Michigan. An avid traveler, she lives in Santa Monica and is the Vice Chair of the Los Angeles Waterkeeper, an organization dedicated to protecting the city’s waterways. She lives in Santa Monica, California.

Dotty J. Giordano is Chief Revenue Officer at Summit, where she drives growth strategy, monetization, and community experience for an invitation-only global network of entrepreneurs, CEOs, and thought leaders. A trailblazer in the creative industry, Dotty was the only female partner at global digital creative agency Code and Theory, where she co-led the Brand Group. Giordano helped launch THE WELL and Sage + Sound, where she scaled experiential wellness platforms. She led award-winning campaigns at Ketchum and Ogilvy for iconic brands such as IKEA, Virgin America, and Leica Camera. She earned her B.A. in Leadership Studies with a minor in Journalism from the University of Richmond, where she was an NCAA Division I Lacrosse player and member of multiple academic honor societies. Giordano lives in New York City.

David Goodman is an executive with leadership experience spanning the auction, travel, music, and live entertainment industries. He served as CEO of Julien’s auctions, the internationally recognized premier auction house for music, entertainment, and Hollywood memorabilia. Under his leadership, Julien’s has achieved record revenue growth. Prior to this, Goodman was Chief Commercial and Marketing Officer at Lindblad Expeditions and Executive Vice President of Marketing and Digital Development at Sotheby’s, where he directed the company’s global rebrand and led its digital transformation strategy. He also served as President of Productions and Live Entertainment at The Madison Square Garden Company. He also spent 13 years at CBS in senior roles across its businesses and played a key role in CBS’s digital innovation. He holds a B.A. from Indiana University and splits his time between New York City and East Hampton.

Scott Goodson is a visionary marketer and founder of the influential firms StrawberryFrog, StrawberryFrog Ai, Inplural, and StrawberryFrog Media. He provides strategic guidance to consumer and B2B brands. Goodson has over 35 years of experience leading global teams. The iconic brands he has worked with include AfterPay, ASICS, Google, BlackBerry, Emirates, Heineken, Northwell, Natura Brasil, PepsiCo, Truist, and Walmart. He lives in the New York metropolitan area and is the author of best-selling books “Uprising,” which introduced the world to Movement Marketing, and “Activate Brand Purpose,” which shows how activating purpose drives brand growth.

Poppy MacDonald is a senior executive and growth leader with deep experience building audience, credibility, and revenue models for purpose-led, editorially driven organizations. Most recently, she served as the first President of USAFacts, hired by founder Steve Ballmer to scale the organization’s reach and impact, where she grew its audience and national profile and built trust across media, policymakers, and consumers. Previously, she led media companies responsible for driving audience growth and revenue, including launching POLITICO Pro, a paid subscription for public policy professionals, and later serving as President of POLITICO. She also led National Journal’s membership model for senior government affairs professionals. Earlier in her career, she built the commercial and consulting model around the Gallup World Poll, a global public opinion data platform. Poppy has a long-standing passion for travel and exploration, shaped in part by living abroad in Nepal during college, and continues to seek out new places and perspectives with her family. She splits her time between Seattle, Washington and Cannon Beach, Oregon.

Erik I. Moreno serves as the Executive Vice President of Growth and New Initiatives at Sony Pictures Entertainment, where he focuses on growth strategies and identifying new business opportunities for SPE and other Sony Group Companies globally. His focus areas include emerging marketssuch as India, the Middle East, and Africa, as well as growth sectors like sports and emerging technologies like AI and the Metaverse. Previously, Moreno was the Executive Vice President of Corporate Development and M&A at SPE. His experience includes senior roles at Time Inc., 21st Century Fox, News Corp, eBay Inc., and Level 3 Communications. Moreno is a Trustee of Strada Education Foundation, serves as a Board Overseer for The School of Social Policy and Practice at the University of Pennsylvania, and a Board member of CityYear Los Angeles. Moreno is an alumnus of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in the greater Los Angeles area.

Edie Rodriguez is a seasoned global executive with over four decades of leadership experience in the travel and tourism industry, particularly in luxury cruise, hospitality, and technology sectors. She has held CEO and senior leadership positions with some of the world’s most iconic cruise line operators, including Crystal Cruises, Royal Caribbean’s Azamara Cruises, and multiple Carnival Corporation brands (Cunard, Seabourn, and Carnival). She has also served in many board and advisory roles including with The Saudi Tourism Authority, APCO Worldwide, and NASDAQ-listed Gaucho Group Holdings.

A true global citizen who has traveled to over 100 countries, Edie is recognized for driving business growth, advancing digital transformation, and guiding companies through worldwide expansion and billion-dollar outcomes. Her expertise spans strategy, finance, retail, technology, marketing, and operations, with a particular gift for building iconic brands and empowering teams around a shared mission.

Gary Stewart is a Yale-trained lawyer, investor, serial entrepreneur, and executive whose career spans three continents. He spent two decades in Europe—living in London, Madrid, and Barcelona—where he led Wayra Spain and Wayra UK, part of Telefónica’s $265M early-stage venture fund, one of the largest corporate VC initiatives across Europe and Latin America. He later served as Managing Director of Techstars NYC powered by JPMorgan. The companies he’s backed have collectively raised over $2 billion in follow-on capital. Now based in New York, he is the founder of MyCofoundr.AI, an AI-powered business advisor. He also teaches at Yale and serves as a venture partner at Hearst’s Level Up Ventures. Born in Jamaica and raised in the Bronx, Gary has explored more than 70 countries.

Lauren Zalaznick is an innovative leader in creating growth and brand strategies for leading media and digital companies. The hallmark of her corporate career was as Chair, Entertainment & Digital Networks at Comcast NBCUniversal, where she transformed networks like Bravo, Oxygen, Telemundo, and Fandango into powerhouse brands. She has been widely recognized for her accomplishments. Today, she is a Senior Adviser at BCG. Through her company, Yorick, LLC, she advises founders and CEOs across various media and tech entities. She is a director of The RTL Group, a Bertelsmann Company, and serves on the board of TNL MediaGene. Zalaznick is the former chair of National CineMedia, a former director of GoPro, The Nielsen Corporation, Shazam (acquired by Apple), and Penguin Random House. She is a Trustee emerita of Brown University, from which she graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. She lives in New York City.