J. Ray Sparks Social Media Marketing Consultant (Freelancer)

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Personal Information

  • Summary I am a New Yorker who has worked in various aspects of the media business for many years. I manage the official online fan communities for The Daily Show and The Colbert Report which are TV shows that air on Comedy Central in the US, and Channel 4 in UK. I also work as a consultant in social media production, strategy and marketing with a focus on the EU market.
  • Wants agencies, companies, individuals
  • Haves experience, app development, community development
  • Interests New media, mobile, apps, cause marketing, kite boarding

Professional Experience

  • Sep 2007 - now 4 years and 8 months

    • Comedy Central Networks

      Social Media Producer / Freelancer comedycentral.com I am honored to have the privilege of working for two of my media heroes, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. I produced Facebook pages for each show and developed fan forums which I still manage part time. Winning the race to first Facebook TV show page to reach one million fans with South Park was exciting, as we were neck and neck with Scrubs right up until the last few hours of 2008. And I have been lucky enough to work with some amazingly talented people at CC Digital Media on several apps, widgets and Flash based projects.
  • Oct 2006 - now 5 years and 7 months

    • New York Videography

      Producer / Partner NYV is a video production company that has been comprised of myself and a loose network of talented freelancers. I enjoy producing video very much. But currently I mostly just produce occasional kite boarding promo videos with my friends at Kite Worldwide.
  • Oct 2003 - Jan 2005 one year and 3 months

    • Toolshed

      Director of Promotions / Full time employee toolshed.biz Toolshed is a new media marketing company focused on the music business, with an emphasis on indie rock in the US and UK. Label clients have included Righteous Babe, Beggars Group, Merge, Touch & Go, Matador, Kill Rock Stars, Fat Cat and many others.
  • Aug 1997 - Jan 2002 4 years and 5 months

    • Speakeasy

      Director of Marketing / Full time employee Speakeasy.net When I joined the Speakeasy crew in 1996 I worked only on Sundays at what was at the time the largest Internet cafe on the west coast. By the end of 1998 we had morphed into a full service boutique ISP specializing in that newfangled "broadband" Internet. By mid 1999 we took the company national and lead with the tag "High speed Internet", only to be imitated by large corporate competitors. Speakeasy resisted temptation during the Seattle "gold rush", taking moderate VC and consequently weathering the bubble bursting with admirable grace. The company went on to become a Fortune 500 company. In 2008 Speakeasy was acquired by Best Buy for $97MM, and it continues to provide access to small businesses across the US.

      That is Speakeasy the business. But Speakeasy was also a very unique business culture, of which I feel lucky to have been a part. We literally built our own offices. We worked as a team that was in lock step toward being the best, while thumbing our pierced noses at the cubicle farms down the street. And even as the company began to annex other buildings in Belltown, we always had the cafe. I am proud to have been a part of it.

Basic Information

  • Name J. Ray Sparks
  • Gender Male
  • Marital Status Single

Contact Details

  • Mobile Phone
    • Work
    • Work