Like many other content marketers we’ve interviewed, Brazil-native Thiago Kiwi’s career started in journalism. While studying, Thiago worked for various news outlets in Brazil, covering big stories like the Air France Flight 447 air crash and the 2009 Swine Flu epidemic. He then moved to London to pursue his journalism career and eventually joined Papo de Homem, a leading online Brazilian lifestyle magazine. 

One year later, Thiago joined the London School of Business and Finance as their PR and social media executive. This role allowed him to live out his passion for education and development, while also furthering his studies with a postgraduate in digital marketing and then a master’s in political communication.

After two years at LSBF, Thiago moved to their umbrella company, Global University Systems, where he worked on a series called Great Minds, interviewing business and political leaders such as Sir Richard Branson and Sir John Major and leading a team of 11 responsible for managing over 20 global brands.

Currently, Thiago is the head of marketing and communications at Headspring, a joint venture by the Financial Times and IE Business School. A large part of Thiago’s role at Headspring has been building the brand from scratch, with content playing a pivotal role. Two key campaigns have been their launch campaign, “We don’t have the answers,” and Learning Xchange, a global event that they have run for the last two years.

Tune in for the full interview as Thiago chats with Kyler Canastra about his passion for learning and development, his career journey from journalism to marketing, and how political communications is connected to the world of business—plus loads more!

“I believe brands are built on content nowadays, especially with social media being so strong. You need content as a brand.”

You can watch the full conversation in the video above or on YouTube, and listen to the podcast on Apple or Spotify.

Rapid-fire recs  

• Recommended reading: 
  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey: “If you want to spend some time reading a book that’s going to change your way of thinking, I recommend this book.”

• Source of inspiration: 
  • Running: “Running is a part of my life and something that I need.”
  • Reading: “Reading is probably the most impactful thing you can do in your life for your learning and development.”
  • Barack Obama and Michelle Obama
  • The story of St. Paul from the book Paul and Stephen by Francisco Cândido Xavier: “A good story of imperfection.” 

• Learning resources:
  • Squared Online
  • The Creative Thinkers Toolkit

Connect with Thiago and Kyler on LinkedIn.

For more on building a brand with content:

• Creating disruptive content for brands that challenge the status quo
• Get more eyes on your brand with YouTube marketing
• How to grow your brand’s online presence
• Leveraging podcast interviews to gain brand awareness and inbound leads
• When it comes to brand repositioning, content is king
• Captivating audiences with strong brand narratives

To read the full transcript, click on page number 2 below.