Meet Corinne Guirgis of Shai Media & Curium Agency

Today we’d like to introduce you to Corinne Guirgis.

Hi Corinne, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’m a marketing, media & innovation strategist. I’ve been working in some form of online media for 13 years, but that was never the plan.

In 2010, I was a junior in college studying psychology and flunking out pretty badly. I had undiagnosed and untreated ADHD and learning disabilities, and despite skating by on intelligence and all-nighters for the first 3 years, I felt lost and confused because I knew I wasn’t going to finish my degree and I wasn’t sure where that would leave me.

I began working part-time selling cell phones for a marketing company out of Walmart to make some extra money and met my mentor Nate Black who owned a satirical college lifestyle website called Lion’s Den University. I spent most of my time in class reading his articles, cracking up, and sending him ideas for his next article. Eventually, he encouraged me to start writing my own. Although I had no idea if I could do it and had never written a word outside of a school paper, I published my first post under an alias and it became one of the most-read articles on the site.

With that, a passion for writing, blogging and the internet was born – and at just the right time!

I started skipping classes to write articles (don’t try this at home!) and eventually became recognized on campus for my stories which inspired me to pursue an internship at an online magazine that summer. I learned more in that four months about online publishing and the future of media than I learned about psychology in four years of school – and I knew that my future was being set in the present moment, so I left school to pursue online writing full time.

There was a bit of “right place, right time” meets “fly by the seat of your pants” since 2011 was a pivotal year in our digital social worlds – where many brands were getting Facebook pages and advertising online for the first time, Twitter had just been released, print magazines were pivoting to digital, and every day thousands of new blogs and websites were being founded or acquired by major media companies like Disney or Discovery.

Despite my parents begging me to explore a degree in my new field of choice, there were no “digital marketing” schools or classes at that time, I was getting paid to do what I love in real-time, and I knew that one day it would be me and my class of early adopters who would become the teachers and leaders in this field (and I was right!)

At the time, it was difficult to explain to people whose entire lives weren’t dedicated to the social Internet that this was a real career path with unlimited potential (and also what a meme was and why they mattered) but just last year, when I was asked to teach a guest lecture at the exact college I failed out of, I experienced a full-circle “I told you so” moment greater than any career milestone I’ve had to date – including winning a national Gold medal award for “best social media campaign & use of influencers”.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Not only was it not a smooth road – but the potholes, speed bumps and hazards threw me off course and totaled my car more times than I can count! My road and journey from 2011 to 2023 has been full of incredible highs but also a significant amount of lows. I worked effectively unpaid or with unpredictable pay patterns, with multiple side jobs including Craig’s List postings, driving Uber and a few other things I probably can’t talk about here.

I am severely neuro-divergent, which I only started consistently addressing and treating in 2019. Before that, I was let go or fired from several high-powered agencies and jobs who I believed hired me prematurely in my early 20s for senior positions because of my knowledge and passion in the field, which made me appear qualified, but without accounting for my lack of experience as an executive working professional.

At the time, these lows were devastating and resulted in a ton of mental health struggles, questions around my self worth and uncertainties and insecurities I wasn’t sure I’d ever recover from. As I watched my peers and family members graduate from school and get stable jobs in traditional fields like medicine and law, I thought about going back to school or leaving this career behind as just another life lesson many times, but I’m so grateful that I stuck it out – because there was a very bright light at the end of the tunnel – as I allowed my executive skills and experience with failure to catch up to my knowledge and passion, and become a major industry leader in Los Angeles, who still has a lot to learn!

We’ve been impressed with Shai Media & Curium Agency, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I both work for a digital agency and own my own business which I launched earlier this year. The agency is called Curium, which is the sister agency to a Toronto-based communications firm called PRAXIS which services major players in the food, beverage and hospitality space. My business, a consulting agency called “Shai Media” uses the skills I’ve developed in the corporate world to support start-ups and creative entrepreneurs in building strong brand positions that will skyrocket them to success.

PRAXIS/Curium is a communications agency that specializes in digital media, influencer marketing and PR. While it has made me and most of my colleagues award-winning specialists in these areas, it has taught me so much more about how to be a leader – both in thought and in practice. I’ve worked there for nearly four years, the longest I’ve ever worked at any company, and in 2022 I had the privilege of expanding our office from Canada into California because my employers shared in my vision and gave me the freedom to fly with it. I’m most proud of this leap, as it is a competitive and challenging market, but it’s also one filled with limitless possibilities!

At PRAXIS, and now Curium, I have experienced true leadership from both my employers and my coworkers in the form of empowerment, guidance without judgment and the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them without consequence. I also learned humility and teamwork – and why my agency has one of the best track records of client and employee retention in the industry. Our oldest client, PepsiCo, has been with us for 20 years, and we’ve been the PR agency of record for Beam Suntory for 16! The average life cycle of an agency-client relationship is just three!

In my own ventures moving forward, I will carry these lessons with me for the rest of my life – no idea is too big or too small, and more importantly, no job is too big or too small when there is a task to be done as a team.

With Shai Media, although we have just begun, I’m super proud of the types of businesses and clients we’ve attracted and continue to build community with! In less than six months, we’ve had the privilege of contributing to the visions and further developing the brand stories of:
– Princess Sarah Culberson of Sierra Leone and her non-profit “Sierra Leone Rising”
– Sammy Chand & Rukus Ave Music Group – the largest podcast network & record label for South Asians in the world
– Nick Cooper & The Vocal Corner Store – the leading vocal coaching studio for clients such as Usher, Beyonce & Katy Perry
– Jonathan Walters, founder of Rascal Land – the safest, most entertaining kids platform in the world, and one of my favorite up-and-coming entrepreneurs.

My favorite thing that each of these visionaries have in common is that they are community-minded and purpose-driven entrepreneurs of color who are committed to inspiring the next generation of creatives and leaders.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
The simplest things make me happy! I really believe in pausing to capture the joy in the little moments and not letting them pass by without gratitude and appreciation. That first breath you take under the warm sun after a cold spell, that 5 minutes of explosive laughter with a friend over absolutely nothing, when a stranger stops you to compliment your outfit, or when your favorite 90’s song comes on in the car and you’re having your own private karaoke concert with all the windows down and not a care in the world.

Another thing that has literally brought me to tears of happiness and joy multiple times is watching people lead with love and being rewarded for it. Experiencing people unapologetically supporting each other in community environments. When you look up and see people opening floodgates of encouragement and support and leaning on their vulnerability and humanity first. It’s an indescribable feeling, but I’ve been so blessed to be in a community with people who radiate light and love and have the opportunity to reflect this same light and love back at others! I’ve been lucky enough in my 1.5 years in LA to have met incredible mentors and light-minded people. Anyone who says LA is full of fake people just isn’t looking in the right places or radiating at the right frequencies, because my LA is FULL OF BEAUTIFUL SOULS who are committed to uplifting each other with grace, kindness and inspiration!

Lastly, always be dancing. Moving my body to music is the most joyful, cathartic thing that I do, and even 2 or 3 days without dancing to at least one song will significantly impact my mood and mental health. Dance like nobody’s watching (and then post it to Instagram so everyone can watch you let loose and remember to do the same in their own way!)

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corinnethemillennial/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corinne-guirgis/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CoTheMillennial

Image Credits
Anthony Bryce Graham; @thebrycestudio