From top left: Stephanie Whitehead, Thuy Pham, Rebekah Guilar, Angus Lees, Blyda Eksteen
We Are Pi has expanded its team with five hires, including Stephanie Whitehead as head of production. The move comes on the back of a the shop's biggest ever year with international business wins with PepsiCo, Heineken, Nike and Amazon Game Studios.
Joining the self proclaimed We Are Pi ‘Pirate ship’ is head of production Stephanie Whitehead, producer Angus Lees, account director Blyda Eksteen, senior account manager Rebekah Guilar and strategy coordinator Thuy Pham.
We Are Pi founder and chief executive officer Alex Bennett Grant says: “We’re thrilled to welcome five incredibly talented new Pirates from five countries who each bring worldly perspectives that make our international strategies, creativity and culture more innovative.”
Stephanie Whitehead, head of production
Head of integrated production Stephanie Whitehead brings 20 years experience at some of the planet's leading creative businesses, such as Wieden+Kennedy, Sid Lee, 72&Sunny, BBH, Knucklehead and AnalogFolk. Her boundless passion shines through in her rich history of delivering finely crafted award-winning work for the world’s most iconic brands, such as adidas, Absolut, Samsung, Corona, Google, Uber, Facebook, Rayban and Heineken. Steph has worked her way around the globe stopping in New York and London, before touching down in Amsterdam. Whitehead is returning to the Pirate ship in the new role after having produced some of We Are Pi’s most iconic work for Desperados in 2016-2018.
Angus Lees, producer
Angus Lees is a producer from London who has recently joined the We Are Pi ship. Originally training as a cinematographer, Angus has brought a breadth of film and photography knowledge to agencies across London from BBH to the & Partnership, Angus has worked on iconic brands such as Lexus, NatWest, Audi and Virgin Media. Outside work Angus is in the concepting phase of a 10 part animation series.
Blyda Eksteen, account director
Blyda Eksteen, born and raised in South Africa, comes to We Are Pi as an account director with over 10 years experience. Blyda started her career by spending 7 years at Saatchi & Saatchi Cape Town, working on P&G Pampers and went on to lead the local & regional EMEA account for Mondelez brands Stimorol & Halls. With a longstanding goal to relocate overseas, Blyda jumped at the opportunity to work in Amsterdam when she was recruited to work on Mars pet care brand Royal Canin at DDB Unlimited. There she led the global to local market integration & campaign development for over 40 markets. Outside of the office she can be found expressing her creativity in the kitchen, with the idea to one day own her own bakery.
Rebekah Guilar, senior account manager
Rebekah Guilar was brought up in an Irish household full of music and creativity. She has always loved the idea of bringing art into our everyday interactions in the world. Her move to Amsterdam was spearheaded by landing a role at 72andSunny. Once in the thick of it, it became clear she was a natural team leader. Rebekah has worked with big brands such as Google, adidas, Unilever and Zurich Insurance to shape and craft their brand. Her belief has always been that the product is only as good as its personality, and that's why driving clients to create bold and powerful creative has always been her mantra to achieving success.
Thuy Pham, strategy coordinator
Thuy Pham was born and raised in IJmuiden - a small town on the coast of The Netherlands. Thuy brings a background in fashion having worked for footwear brand Filling Pieces and most recently luxury e-commerce retailer Farfetch as a content writer. Earlier this year Thuy joined the PlusPlusOne talent programme that We Are Pi co-founded, where she got her eye on the strategy side of marketing.