Jessica Southard has been in consumer and market insights for the past 15 years, formerly at P&G for six years. Now, she is the senior insights leader at Mars, leading the company’s strategic foresight and managing its innovation programmes globally.

Jane is an alcoholic drinks consultant, educator, writer broadcaster, public speaker, and founder of the School of Booze. She's the author of eleven non-fiction books, including books about beer, gin, and cocktails, and is the UK’s first accredited Pommelier (cider sommelier). Jane is also an accredited beer sommelier and is accredited with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust.

Her professional awards include former Drinks Educator of the Year and a lifetime achievement award from Britain's Parliamentary beer group for her work in beer.

Cathy Erway is a James Beard Award-winning freelance food writer with bylines in The New York Times, TASTE, Food & Wine, Eater, Grub Street, and more.

Anastasiia Fedorova is a senior insights editor at Canvas8. A writer, curator and cultural strategist, she specialises in art, fashion, design, technology and visual culture. Her personal work explores sexuality, identity and queer communities while interrogating our place in a world shaped by rapidly changing technologies. As an avid sci-fi fan since teenage years, she is always interested in thinking about multiple and diverse futures.

Rebecca Smith is the Head of Toolkit at Canvas8. With a background in psychology, she has worked with global clients such as Google, Nike, and Mars, exploring everything from what people want from a fake tan to Gen Z’s relationship with social media. Outside of work, you’ll find her binge-watching reality TV, listening to hyperpop, or with her nose buried in a fantasy novel.

Alex Strang is a senior insight editor at Canvas8 who used to be in a punk band that was signed, shaped, and spat out. He enjoys using his experience of being the product to help brands understand how to sell theirs. After studying philosophy and critical theory, he found his feet in the market research world and has been over-analysing consumer behaviour ever since, including his own. He can usually be found playing board games, watching Seinfeld, or trying too hard to make his daughter laugh.