Sydney Allen-Ash | SpeakerHub

Personal Details

Bio

SYDNEY ALLEN-ASH is a strategist, a writer, and a podcaster. Her practice is grounded in deep research and interdisciplinary collaboration. She likes working upstream, at the beginning of new initiatives, and is adept at steering major projects with many stakeholders from idea to execution.

Born outside of Toronto, Sydney studied Fashion Communication at Ryerson University. She joined Virtue, Vice Media Group’s creative agency, in 2016 as a social strategist managing a major telecom client. She grew quickly into a cultural strategist role where she was tasked with helping brands authentically and sustainably engage with communities. In 2019, she relocated to Vice’s New York City headquarters, where she led an effort to define Vice’s values for the first time in its 30-year history, redesigned the company’s onboarding protocols, led the development of Vice Media Group's first company website, and oversaw the development of an internal app designed to keep their global workforce connected to one another, to management, and to the work they produced together.

Since leaving Vice in 2021, Sydney has focused on projects that leverage her experience in transforming organizational dynamics while also providing opportunities for her to pursue subjects of special interest. In her writing and podcasting, she dives deep into the interstitial zones bridging athletics, race, history, equity, art, and popular culture. Sydney’s interest in podcasting developed out of her experience as a host and moderator—a role she’s taken on time and again in her career, moderating panel discussions, helming interactive workshops, conducting live artist interviews, and even hosting a short documentary produced for On Running.

Presently, Sydney edits Early, a magazine about the culture of labour published by HR consultancy Bright + Early, writes and produces Toenails, a podcast about running, history, and the future of sporting culture supported by Ciele, and teaches a course in Design Thinking at Toronto’s George Brown College.

Current position (3)

Strategist, Editor, Podcaster

Independent Practice

Senior Manager of Global Internal Communications

VICE Media Group

Innovation Lead

Vice Media Group

Degrees (1)

Fashion Communication

Ryerson University

2012 to 2016

Presentations

Presentations (6)

DX Youth Talk with Yasin Osman and Jamal Burger - February 2019

In partnership the Design Exchange Sydney conceptualized and hosted a talk with photographers Yasin Osman and Jamal Burger who have both recently created charity organizations, Shoot for Peace and The Kickback, to give back to the neighborhood that raised them, Regent Park.

In Talks with Es Devlin - January 2019

In partnership with HXOUSE Sydney hosted a talk with internationally recognized set designer and artist Es Devlin where we explored creative process, the evolution of her artistic skill set and how she maintains a creative voice.

BetterDone - a Conference by VICE Canada’s D&I Committee - December 2018

VICE Canada’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee conceptualized and produced a full day conference held at VICE Canada which Sydney hosted for a hand-selected group of high potential creative youth from youth organizations around Toronto. The conference brought in 12 speakers from Canada and the USA to explore the concept of bridging the gap between idea and execution, all stemming from the mantra “Done is Better than Perfect” hence the name, BetterDone. Featuring Kid. Studio, Jamal Berger, Jesar Gabino, Romany Williams, Nafisa Kaptownwala, Wanna’s World, Maya Annik and many more.

Call It Home: A Poetry Showcase - July 2017

Sydney co-conceptualized and hosted an evening of spoken word and music with some prolific poets from across the states. Featuring Danez Smith, Julian Randall and Nabilla Lovelace.

Build Yourself A Home - March 2016

In collaboration with artist Aaron Moore’s solo show Sydney conceptualized and hosted this talk deconstructed the impacts of migration on identity as well as exploring the realities of maintaining cultural roots on the lifelong journey of building oneself a ‘home’. Featuring Aaron Moore, Alexandra McCalla and Francisco-Fernando Granados.

The Media Is The Message - December 2015

As part of Sydney’s thesis at Ryerson University she created the platform Portrait.co to facilitate community discussion of oppression and discrimination in a variety of different contexts. This was the first talk she created which dissected the role that independent media creators play in challenging and engaging with the politics of mainstream media. Featuring Gyimah Gariba, Nafisa Kaptownwala and Jalani Morgan.