Get to know our 2025 Torchie Awards finalists
The competition for the Torchie Awards was fierce this year, and our finalists represent the top tier in a field crowded with creativity. Let’s dive into the stories of our finalists for four categories: Bonfire Community Leader of the Year, Rising Marketing Star, Marketing Leader of the Year and Braze for Impact. Bonfire Community Leader of the Year This award recognizes a community member who stands out for helping other Braze users. We are continually impressed by the passion, dedication, and collaboration in the Braze Bonfire community. You all really look out for each other, and bring a spirit of innovation and desire to grow in everything you do. Let’s meet our finalists! Allan Heo, Founder & CEO at For Now Marketing Allan, a 2024 runner-up for Bonfire Community Leader of the Year, is a dedicated Braze professional who empowers the marketing community. As a Badge, Discussion, and Solutions Leader, he's a prolific contributor to the discussion boards, sharing educational resources and guides daily. Daphné Leblanc, Director of Lifecycle Marketing & CRM at Spark Networks As a Bonfire Marketer of the Month and a tenured Braze user, Daphné empowers her peers on their journey with Braze. During her popular Ask Me Anything session on Bonfire, she shared tactical ways to center personalization in a core lifecycle marketing strategy and expanded on trends from the 2025 Customer Engagement Review. Lior Peleg, Co-Owner at HippoCampus Tech LTD Lior is on a mission to create tools and content useful to all Braze users—and as a member of Braze Bonfire, he doesn't gatekeep! He's an active contributor to the discussion boards, sharing his expertise and valuable resources for the community to leverage. Manoj Kumar, Technical Lead at Digitas This is the second year in a row that Manoj has been a finalist for the Bonfire Community Leader of the Year, for good reason! Manoj consistently contributes to Bonfire, and is leader in Badges, Solutions, and Discussions. Whether he’s troubleshooting a bit of Liquid on someone’s post or helping them to understand how to push the boundaries of Canvas, Manoj is always willing to share his expertise. Ted Scott, Sr. Solution Architect, Braze at Cognizant A long time Braze expert, Ted is extremely active on the Bonfire Community, both in answering questions and helping fellow community members out with problems big and small. He’s also passionate about the ever expanding Braze ecosystem of careers, and helps to boost and amplify roles posted on the Bonfire Job Board. Rising Marketing Star This award recognizes exceptional new users of the Braze platform who show great promise and use technology to support stronger customer relationships. While they might be new to customer engagement or to Braze, they are no stranger to success! Here’s a peek into their stories. Divyanshu Pandey, Associate, CRM at Chegg Divyanshu, an exceptional early-career marketing technologist, earned four Braze certifications in one year and created automation scripts and validation checklists that have saved hours of manual work and become best practices across teams. Ellie Ledwith, Sports Content Deputy Manager at bet365 Ellie played a critical role in her company's transition to Braze from outdated tools, leading the effort to create a complex and dynamic email footer system and training over 100 staff members. Lindsey Spillman, CRM Specialist at Wendy’s In just over a year, Lindsey transformed the CRM program at Wendy’s, increasing campaigns from 15 to over 50 unique touchpoints per month and achieving a 66% increase in loyalty sales year-over-year. Maxim Radoczy, Lifecycle Marketing Lead, Engagement at Canva Despite a lack of direct management experience, Maxim launched Canva’s first "Next Best Action" model, which delivered a 55% uplift in engagement, and is now leading an initiative that incorporates predictive models and generative AI. Nicholas Baltovski, Lifecycle Marketing Manager at Venmo Nicholas went from no experience in lifecycle marketing to leading some of Venmo's most impactful programs, delivering millions in incremental profit and getting promoted twice in two years. Marketing Leader of the Year This award honors marketing executives who demonstrate excellence in leadership and customer engagement. They’re taking their team to new heights and their strategy to the next level, and have the results to prove it. See for yourself! Jason Feldman, Senior Director, Customer Experience at BEES US Jason championed the adoption of Braze to digitize operations across 26 countries, using advanced solutions like a dynamic email template that saves over 125 hours per month. Josh Hanson, Associate Director - Growth Marketing at Optus Sport Josh transformed the company's lifecycle marketing from a fragmented function into a strategic, data-driven engine, leading to a 50% increase in offers converted via Braze and a 5% increase in minutes watched. Maria Bonello, Subscriber Engagement Director at MGM+ As a solo marketer, Maria built MGM+'s customer engagement program from the ground up, engineering a robust automation system using Connected Content and APIs to deliver real-time, dynamic messaging at scale. Melissa Neikirk, Director of Lifecycle at Remitly Melissa's empathetic and experimental approach to lifecycle marketing led to a 400x increase in daily email click-through rates and the creation of a digitized, full-year customer journey map that has been instrumental for cross-functional teams. Pedro Solís Cámara, Head of Growth at RappiCard As Head of Growth, Pedro created a unified vision that integrated growth, engagement, and financial performance, leading to a 40% increase in portfolio value and a 70% improvement in retention. Braze for Impact This award recognizes companies that have used the power of Braze to create positive social change within their communities. In addition to being recognized at our flagship event Forge, the winner of this award will also be able to direct a $10,000 grant from the Braze for Social Impact Fund to the charity of their choice. Boys and Girls Club of America Boys and Girls Club of America completely reimagined their internal and external communications with Braze, helping them improve their CEO email open rate by 5% and drive a 61% increase in email revenue from critical fundraising campaigns. iFood iFood used Braze to engage delivery drivers in two social impact initiatives: "My High School Diploma," a program aimed at completing high school and enabling drivers to enter higher education, and "Decola," which is an online course platform. This platform offers learning options for iFood's internal topics, as well as entrepreneurship, financial education, workplace safety, delivery safety, motorcycle maintenance, among others. Over the past year, iFood engaged more than 370,000 delivery drivers in the education initiative, with the educational platform on the app recording over 1 million course completions. Braze was instrumental in providing strategic, segmented, and automated communications, saving iFood's team time while enabling deeper and smarter data and strategy analysis. Venmo Venmo’s Small Business Grant initiative used Braze to generate over 150 million impressions, driving incremental business sign-ups and 50,000 grant applications to support small businesses from historically excluded communities. Volo Sports Through Canvas flows, Volo introduced new players to its charitable arm, the Volo Kids Foundation, driving a 41% volunteer recruitment rate and helping provide free youth sports programs to over 70,000 kids. Ready to see who takes home the Torchie? Join us at Forge to celebrate all the finalists, learn from the best in the industry, and cast your vote for the People's Choice for Creative Excellence and the People’s Choice for Campaign of the Year. Whether you're a long-time member of the community or just getting started, Forge is where you’ll gain the insight, inspiration, and support to stand out by using your creativity in new ways.May Marketer of the Month
May truly got the best of me, where does the time go?! Take a moment to celebrate Shelley Drogt with me, who I had the pleasure of getting to know IRL at City x City London last month. Meet Shelley Drogt, Senior CRM Specialist at King, the team behind Candy Crush 🍬. From leading the All Stars 2025 Tournament strategy to launching personalized player experiences like Candy Unwrapped, Shelley’s creative CRM work is as addictive as the game itself. Shelley is a powerhouse. You won't wanna miss this blog post!April Marketer of the Month
Join us in honoring our April Marketer of the Month: Kayla Upton, Senior Manager of Marketing Automation at Neighborly®! Kayla has taken the lead on over 28 live canvases across 15 brands, showcasing her exceptional ability to launch Content Cards that effectively drive engagement. She doesn’t just enhance processes—she creates a symphony of marketing excellence. Her remarkable skill? Transforming intricate technology into innovative, customer-centric solutions that shine. ✨ Active in the Bonfire community, Kayla is always ready to share insights and collaborate with fellow marketers. Whether she’s designing impactful campaigns, tackling complex MarTech challenges, or working with teams to turn ambitious ideas into reality, Kayla embodies the spirit of a proactive marketer who consistently delivers results with grace. Congratulations, @kayla_upton ! We’re proud to have you as a vital member of the Braze Bonfire community. ⭐🤩🌟 Read more here!March Marketer of the Month
We're excited to share that Lani Ha is Braze’s Marketer of the Month for March 2025! 🌟 Lani has spent five years mastering #Braze, starting as early in her career as an intern at a startup before becoming a Marketing Manager at Acorns. She expertly blends data and creativity to craft standout customer journeys, utilizing Liquid Logic for dynamic content and pushing the limits of multichannel marketing. Her advice? Experiment, innovate, and let Braze power your ideas. Check out her inspiring journey and insights here: Read more about Lani Share your thoughts below!⭐ February Marketer of the Month ⭐
🔥 Meet Inês Pais (inespais) , SkyShowtime’s Retention & Monetization Manager and our February Marketer of the Month! 🎉 With over seven years of experience in Growth Marketing, Inês is revolutionizing customer engagement strategies in the streaming industry. Her work in launching SkyShowtime’s Premium tier across 22 markets is just one example of her innovative approach to lifecycle marketing, where she leverages Braze’s powerful tools to create seamless, personalized experiences. Inês is a master of smart automation and data-driven insights, having successfully delivered over 175 unique touchpoints and 1,900 message variations in under two months! Join us in celebrating Inês and her significant contributions to our Bonfire community by checking out her blog post.January Marketer of the Month
We’re excited to recognize Justin Guan (justingsf ), Senior Manager of CRM MarTech at foodpanda, as Braze’s January Marketer of the Month! Justin's journey to his current role was shaped by his passion for side projects that sparked his interest in marketing and technology. Originally a chemical engineer, he discovered his love for automation while creating scripts to simplify tasks in his daily life, which ultimately led him to the world of CRM and MarTech. In his role at foodpanda, Justin focuses on developing innovative engagement strategies and building automation tools that enhance user experiences. His efforts have led to impressive results, including a 3.7% increase in monthly orders from a revamped prospect lifecycle flow across 11 APAC markets. Join us in celebrating Justin's remarkable achievements and the creative spirit that drives his success! Read his blog post here.December Marketer of the Month
We’re thrilled to recognize Daphné Leblanc, Lifecycle Marketing Manager at UpLift, as Braze’s December Marketer of the Month! ❄️ With over four years of experience using Braze across multiple industries, Daphné has established herself as a customer-centric marketing leader. As the first lifecycle marketing hire at a startup from the Tech for an Equitable Future program, Daphné spearheaded the implementation of Braze, believing in its potential to transform businesses. At UpLift, she blends creativity and purpose, collaborating with product teams to design impactful customer experiences using Braze's powerful tools. Join us in celebrating daphne by checking out and sharing her blog post. Congratulations, Daphné! 💫💫💫November Marketer of the Month
Did November feel .30 days long for anybody else? My greatest apologies for this delayed congratulations to Sam Wood, Senior CRM Executive at Deliveroo, for being Braze's November Marketer of the Month! We're excited to highlight his exceptional contributions to enhancing rider experiences across ten markets in Europe and Asia. Sam thrives on innovation, recently streamlining campaign processes using Braze Catalogs to save time and improve personalization. Let’s give a round of applause to Sam! 👏 Learn more about his journey by checking out the blog post. 🙌October Marketer of the Month
Our October Marketer of the Month is Michelle Forde, Senior Marketing Manager at Hachette Book Group! 🎉 With over a decade of experience in the publishing industry, Michelle has been instrumental in leading Hachette's consumer email marketing program and audience acquisitions. Her passion for books and innovative marketing strategies have driven successful campaigns, including her exciting plans for Cyber Week and the holiday season. Join us in celebrating shelloquent achievements! 🌟 Check out her blog post here.June Marketer of the Month
🌟 This month, we're proud to recognize Lynn Chan, Lead, CRM MarTech & Automation at foodpanda, as the June Marketer of the Month! Under Lynn's leadership, foodpanda has expanded its quick-commerce footprint in over 400 cities across 11 markets in Asia. 🌐 Lynn is pioneering new launches, leveraging Braze functionalities, and pushing the limits of CRM innovation, making a significant impact in the customer engagement space. Congratulations, Lynn! Read more here.
