Date: October 11, 2023 11:00 am – October 11, 2023 12:00 pm EST
Location: Online
Registration available for corporate members only – sent via direct invitation.
Be part of a very hot and timely conversation about how allyship by a business of any size needs to be more than around pride season only.
Chat with a 35 years queer media and marketing expert about how to make queer media your friend and why it is important to advertise/speak to the queer community in the medias they love (queer media IS the voice of the community), and also via organizations they support and events they attend.
Antoine Elhashem, President & Creative Director of INspired Media Inc.
A 35 years’ 2SLGBTQI+ media and marketing expert, Antoine Elhashem has had, and continues to have, one of the most successful careers in the industry. In Toronto (and Canada in general) Mr. Elhashem has worked at all the major 2SLGBTQI+ publications over the years during his media career, including a 12-year stint at The Pink Pages Directory, and was an integral player in opening many doors between mainstream businesses and the 2SLGBTQI+ community, as well as advocating for respect and inclusion.
His wide range of experience gave him the tools and skills to deal with all aspects of promoting, marketing, advertising, and sales needed for any business to thrive. With that, Antoine opened his own advertising, marketing, graphic and web design firm in 2004, and called it INspired Creative.
In 2007, Antoine brought on board a team of passionate and experienced individuals to form INspired Media Inc., which by this point became a corporation, and he acquired The Pink Pages Directory, the number one directory of its kind in Canada, and one of the oldest publications in the history of the 2SLGBTQI+ community in the world. Over the years Antoine and his team launched three very successful magazines PinkPlayMags and theBUZZ for the 2SLGBTQI+Q market, and The Local Biz Magazine for mainstream families across Durham Region. He also produces and hosts the longest running 2SLGBTQI+ entertainment talk show in local history ON the COUCH on ROGERS tv across Ontario. Recently he launched an online talk show called “the Queer Bunch” with a panel of hosts and guests discussing important and relevant community topics.
Antoine has been called a “force to be reckoned with” and “the man who puts ‘inspire’ in inspiration”. His insistence of diversity and everyone being represented, and his passion and love for the industry, for the power and influence of positive media, for every client he worked with over the years, and for the communities he belongs to, as well as the big world in general, is the key to his success in work and in life.