TED Community » Michael Ventura

About Me

Michael started his career with a mixture of strategic, creative, and entrepreneurial endeavors. During his experiences both in work and life he developed a rich interest in the merger of art and commerce. The nuance of these respective areas brought Michael to the realization that starting his own agency focused on the merger of art and commerce would afford him the opportunity to craft an original and bespoke approach to the world of media arts.

In 2005, Michael founded his first creative agency (Seed), focusing the firm's efforts on creating innovative and interactive advertising. Seed's clients included: Mountain Dew, Sony Music, Nike, L'Oréal, Unilever, Diesel, Vespa, Estee Lauder, Panasonic, and others.

In 2008, Michael restructured Seed to chart a course toward becoming one of the first media agnostic creative agencies. In 2009, Sub Rosa was born. The agency is helping lead the charge toward bringing conversation and narrative back into the advertising lexicon. Abandoning the traditional verticals of print/TV/web, the agency is instead focused on telling stories and bringing brands and consumers together with substantive meaning.

Before founding his own companies, Michael was a Creative Producer for HNW, a high-net-worth media agency, developing advertising and collateral campaigns for clients such as Citigroup, Merrill Lynch and Fidelity Investments. In addition, Michael has served as a media consultant for companies like New York University, DaniloBlack, BMG, Ziff-Davis and American Media.

Michael sits on the advisory boards for several organizations and businesses including Behance, Mark Ecko’s Sweat Equity Enterprises, the United Nation’s-based New York AIDS Film Festival, and the international cause-related youth advocacy organization FYI: Film Your Issue. He has also spoken on several panels and conferences regarding the role of creative design in advertising and the media. In addition, he serves as a judge for the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Emmy Awards and several advertising and design awards. Michael lives in New York City with his wife Caroline.