TEAM BIOS
Originally hailing from Toronto, Canada Michelle Leshem, had some other plan in mind, while receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology at York University. Dissatisfied with both the weather and work opportunity that Canadian life had to offer, she made the risky decision to move to Miami in search of all the mystique, temptation and promise the beach had to offer.
Quickly learning what SPF worked for her, she began to acquaint herself with the local fare and before she knew it, this new Girl About Beach was a Miami aficionado like no other. Always one, to stray away from convention and the first to get your business card, Leshem engulfed herself in the market, world, and life that would teach her to never take 'no' for an answer, and that red lipstick really does have a time and a place.
She gained her first affinity for nightlife production at Crobar, where she spent her time as VIP Director of Marketing and Operations. Taking what she had learned at Crobar, Leshem decided to gamble yet again and bet on a different division of the market. And so for the following year she found herself as Director of Marketing at the newest kid on the Downtown Block: The Pawn Shop Lounge. Being quick to recognize upcoming trends, and the first to deny jumping on the band wagon, Leshem noticed the hip potential in Downtown Miami. And so, as if poetically sprung from the ashes, Miami's Downtown core has experienced a renaissance like no other, one that visionaires such as Leshem can take pride in and expand on. But she didn't stop there.
Producing off the cuff events, that has the who's who talking, is what Leshem and her team do best. For instance, as the political marry church and state, though for Leshem, only the ballsy, have blessed unions of church and fashion. Her event, "Sunday's Best" styled by Sex and the City stylist, Danny Santiago and with proceeds going to the MAC Aids Fund, Sunday's Best was Supermarket's holy homage to things of a most divine nature. If God was a tailor and the heavens a catwalk, than this fashion show was a revelation. For there became a new type of worship in town, thereafter. These are the events to be expected when working with Supermarket.
With a very strong passion for design, fashion, music and modern culture, it has only been natural for Leshem to infuse a sense of art in all she produces, creates, preaches and promotes. After all, bringing flights of fantasy to the true reality for her clients and friends is just another day at the office.
MICHELLE LESHEM
Sean Drake is all about the aesthetic. Capturing and harnessing the best of the beautiful and the ugly, the famed and the mysterious, the glitzy and the tarnished, is what Sean does best. With an innate intuition of what looks good on film, online, and even on himself, Sean views the world around him, with the flyest shades and the finest of creative lenses.
A homegrown Floridian, with a hunger for the continental he caught the music bug, that would eventually pay his flight across a very big pond. Spinning the tables, in the Orlando music scene, at the tender age of fifteen Sean took to vinyl like a second skin, as he let reckless adventure stamp his passport at UK customs, and like the Beatles before him, introduced and American invasion in London. Quickly absorbing a new type of sound, Sean gained the respect of fans and credited industry personnel.
After gaining enrollment into the prestigious Miami Ad School, Sean honed his skills in photo design, advertising and art direction. A die hard Mac aficionado, Sean mastered his graphic design skills, while pondering the day when PC's would finally be obsolete. A day of which, in his heart of hearts, is confident will arrive.
Feeling the need to inject a sense of honest, intelligent and sometimes controversial message to the often superficial, mindless nightlife world, Sean established his agency Creative Mafia.
Stressing the theory that clever is really the only successful medium with which to communicate, Creative Mafia, provides clients intuitive and astute results. From master art direction, perceptive photography, branding that resonates and the most graphic of graphic designs, Creative Mafia, is a masterpiece that encompasses Oscar Wilde's wit, Da Vinci's logic, Andy Warhol's color and a politician's spin. All in the name of tapping into human insight, and an unapologetic penthouse, outside of the box. After all, location is everything.
With endurance to go the distance, Sean extended his creative portfolio to include his work with top design guru, Bigtime Design Studios. As Creative Director, Sean dreams up interior design concepts for leading nightlife, lifestyle and hospitality brands. Although, his client roster has included the likes of International Polo Club, Domo Japones and Quattro Restaurant, he has been known to moonlight and as 'Marketeer', with Supermarket Creative Agency, a Miami based marketing firm. Executing the visual conceptualization and strategy behind many of Supermarket's prolific brands and partners, is how Sean has been successful in expanding both his expertise and scope of industry, to include, fashion, healthcare, cosmetic, automotive and then some.
With a diverse portfolio and an even more diverse outlook on life, Sean continues to make the world and industry around him, more bright, beautiful and in some cases bearable. The flyest shades, indeed. Though its the ideas and vision that keep this man about town always stylish, his circles, always amazed and his clients always satisfied.
SEAN DRAKE