Name: Marissa Shrum
Role: Co-Founder
Location: Williamsburg / Brooklyn / NY
Works at: McCann Erickson as a Strategic Planner
Capacities: Communications planning, program design and execution, competitive and inspiration research, strategic partnership/relationship development, client relationship management, small group facilitation, public speaking, grassroots organizing/community outreach
Contact: marissa@ifweranit.com
Marissa Shrum has been building bridges between people and cultures since 1981.
She has worked in a variety of functions in the non-profit, political, and marketing sectors and served on Vanderbilt University’s Board of Trust from 2003 – 2007. Working as a field organizer during John Kerry’s 2004 Presidential campaign inspired Marissa to better understand ‘marketing.’ Four years later, her client roster includes HSBC, NBC, Toyota’s Scion, and Verizon, and she’s proud her work has won a few awards for impact and innovation. She has been a speaker at Idealist.org’s C.O.O.L. Conference and a presenter for the National Conference for Community and Justice. She was named a John Kenneth Galbraith Scholar in 2002 and a Starting Bloc Fellow in 2007.
Whitney Houston was right about crack and wrong about kids: We aren’t the future…we are the NOW. Waiting for credentials, degrees, nest eggs, or permission to participate is not an option…let’s get to work!
Name: Michael Romanowicz
Role: Co-Founder
Location: Bushwick / Brooklyn / NY
Works at: Fahrenheit-212 as an Innovation Consultant
Capacities: Interaction design, conceptual development, product design, creative direction, ideas catalyst, branding design, experience design, digital communications strategy, branding strategy
Contact: michael@ifweranit.com
Since moving to New York City, Michael has worked in a creative capacity across a wide range of projects where he provided key strategic ideas, conceptual development and creative vision for brands such as HSBC, NBC, Pepsi and Target.
In 2007, Michael made the switch from communications to innovation because he wanted to create tangible products that could be owned, and ideas that would outlast just this season’s ad campaign.
Currently, he works at one of the most respected innovation consultancies in the field—Fahrenheit-212. As one of its youngest members, Michael brings a youthful yet credible voice to the innovation team.
Michael finds inspiration from constantly searching for emerging trends across a diverse set of categories from design to pop culture. He is also desperately in love with the future and fascinated with technological innovations that provide utility to people’s lives while addressing issues of transparency of use and sustainability.