EP98 - Coastal Digital Group Co-Founder - Sotero Bernardo

Cracking the media industry can be tough for an employee, but for an entrepreneur? Building something from scratch can be a tall order. But it was a challenge that Sotero Bernardo was up for. Sotero is the Co-Founder, Head of Business Development at Coastal Digital Group—an experience agency combining creativity with technology. The original goal was to make it in media sales. But sales opportunities are scarce when you’re fresh out of school, so Sotero took a job as a jr. media planner at Cossette Media—working on both the Nike and Sony PlayStation media accounts. He moved into venue advertising before networking his way to a sales role with Ideon Media. His success led to a promotion along with expanded responsibilities that included managing people and acquiring new publisher representation deals. But Sotero saw an opportunity within the creative space. He had a plan to capitalize on it, and co-founded Coastal Digital Group with his business partner. Sotero Bernardo stop by to chat about growing up in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood, attending high school in suburbia, working at McDonald’s, monetizing charisma lessons, his media sales career, and entrepreneurship in the ultra-competitive media space. **Subscribe to the Media People Newsletter** mediapeople.beehiiv.com/subscribe **Listen & Subscribe** www.mediapeople.ca www.youtube.com/@mediapeoplepodcast www.instagram.com/vicgenova/