Process The Podcast

"The beauty of great satire is you blur the line of whether or not something is true or not true."- Claudia Bursill

Before she was Miss Double Bay, Claudia Bursill was just a uni student with a Woolworths review that spiralled into a national news story. Today, that same anonymous meme account is her literal resume; it's how she landed a job at the Betoota Advocate, and now leads talent and business development at its sister agency, Leverage.

In this episode, Claudia breaks down the real mechanics behind building a satire brand: why great comedy always "punches up," never down, how she decided to reveal her identity after years behind the account, the brand deals she's turned into some of her most-shared content, and why she thinks a running joke can build more trust than a perfectly polished post ever could.

INSIDE THE EPISODE:
00:00 — Intro: Claudia Bursill A.K.A Miss Double Bay
01:30 — The 'Miss Double Bay' Persona & Origin Story
02:33 — Origin Story: The Woolworths Avocado Review
06:25 — The Identity Reveal
10:57 — Miss Double Bay (MDB) & Job Opportunities
13:01 — Why Authenticity Beats the Traditional Influencer Brief 14:59 — From Meme Account to Writer to Business Development
16:12 — The Future of the Creator Economy
17:23 — A Day in the Life at Leverage
20:16 — What Is Satire, Really?
20:54 — The Golden Rule: Always Punch Up
24:41 — Turning a Moment Into Content
30:12 — Climbing & Fighting the Cringe Mountain
33:41 — Riding a Trend the Right Way
40:32 — Your Relationship With Your Phone
46:12 — PNLs in Media
48:18 — Trivia Night!
52:17 — Closing & Where to Find Her

TRIVIA NIGHT TICKETS! 
Get it here

Connect with our Guest:
Miss Double Bay on Instagram: @missdoublebay

Claudia Bursill on Instagram: @claudiabursill

The Betoota Advocate: @betootaadvocate

Enjoyed this Episode?
Join our Community!
Your host, Arielle Thomas on Instagram, ⁠@arielle.thomas⁠

Us, on Instagram, ⁠@processthepodcast

Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast

Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday. See you at the next one!

This episode includes third-party references (news coverage, satire case studies) used for educational commentary. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For takedowns or copyright inquiries, please contact hello@cinemathom.com

Aila Morin is the founding Chief Marketing Officer of Merit Beauty, one of the fastest-growing brands in the beauty industry. On this episode of Process, host Arielle Thomas sits down with Aila for a rare, in-depth conversation about brand building, marketing strategy, and product development, from Merit's earliest days as an anonymous Instagram account to its most recent Clean Volume mascara launch.

Aila walks through how Merit built a loyal community before the brand even had a name, why the company skipped paid advertising entirely for its first four months, and how a single UX fix increased sales by more than 100%. She also gets candid about product failures, the emotional weight of building something people trust, and why Merit has no interest in using AI in its creative process.

This conversation covers founder transparency, marketing strategy, brand building, product development, and the beauty industry from the inside, a masterclass for anyone building a brand, working in marketing, or curious how one of beauty's most consistent companies actually operates day to day.

INSIDE THE EPISODE:
00:00 — Intro
00:38 — How Merit Came to Be
03:15 — Finding the White Space in Beauty
05:10 — Building a Brand That Doesn't Need the Product
07:17 — Learning to Sell from the Shop Floor
09:46 — The Secret Instagram Account That Became Merit
11:33 — Skipping Paid Ads for Community as a Focus Group
13:12 — Why Great Brands Aren't Built on Virality
16:59 — Reinventing the Foundation Stick
22:13 — Data Over Market Reports: Building Clean Volume
26:11 — The Kaizen Approach to Product Development
29:24 — Story First: How a Launch Actually Gets Built
34:15 — Why Merit Never Starts With the Grid
35:20 — Casting With a Story: Whitney Leavitt & Karen Pittman
38:10 — Self-Doubt Behind the Confidence
40:28 — Owning Polarizing Reviews
42:17 — What Hasn't Worked
44:30 — The Unglamorous Reality of Running Merit
46:22 — Building a Brand That Lasts 100 Years
49:00 — Clean Volume's "See to Believe" Sampling Strategy
50:37 — The Future of Social & Why No AI Creative
52:41 — Arielle's Personal Encounter With Merit
55:36 — Beauty: Shame vs. Belonging

Connect with our Guest:
• Aila Morin on Instagram: @ailamorin
• Merit Beauty on Instagram: @merit
• Website: meritbeauty.com

Enjoyed this Episode?
Join our Community!
• Your host, Arielle Thomas, on Instagram,⁠@arielle.thomas⁠:
• Us, on Instagram,⁠ @processthepodcast
•Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast

Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday. See you at the next one!

This episode includes third-party audio used for educational commentary and reference. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For takedowns or copyright inquiries, please contact hello@cinemathom.com

Your showreel might be quietly costing you clients, and no one's telling you that.
In this solo petite episode, host Arielle Thomas walks through the exact framework she's using to recalibrate Cinema Thom: why clients now hire for problem-solving over taste, the real difference between a showreel and a case study, and the asset-mapping system replacing both.
Part life update, part masterclass in founder transparency; including the six months she went quiet online, why that was a mistake, and the Tyler the Creator clip that changed how she thinks about promoting her own work.
In this episode, you'll learn:
The real difference between a showreel and a case study and why clients now expect both
How to build a campaign asset map (Arielle's own team framework)
Why "Rome wasn't built in a day" should be a content strategy, not an excuse
The system Arielle's team uses to keep posting consistently without her being the bottleneck
INSIDE THE EPISODE:
00:00 — Intro
00:43 — Why Clients Hire Me Now
02:54 — Showreel vs. Case Study, Defined
03:35 — Building the Asset Map
05:15 — Put Out Your Work (Tyler the Creator clip)
06:19 — Systems & Processes
08:15 — Behind-the-Scenes Beats the Hero Shot
09:15 — The Recalibration Roadmap
11:04 — Who Do I Want to Be?
12:12 — Closing & Community

Enjoyed this Petit?
Join our Community!
Cinema Thom: @cinema_thom ( https://bit.ly/4fwwZI7 )

Your host, Arielle Thomas, on Instagram,⁠@arielle.thomas⁠ (https://bit.ly/4v21hby)
Us, on Instagram,⁠@processthepodcast (https://bit.ly/4xJ1EKl)
Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast (https://bit.ly/44pdcFf)
Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday.
See you at the next one!

This episode includes third-party audio used for educational commentary and reference. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For takedowns or copyright inquiries, please get in touch with hello@cinemathom.com

"If people want to work with you, they’re going to find you. So you've just got to create the work, be aligned with your own taste, and put it out there." — Ali Mitton
From a darkroom in the Gold Coast to shooting global campaigns in Los Angeles, photographer Ali Mitton has built an undeniable, sun-drenched career capturing freedom, raw movement, and elevated beauty. But what happens when the high stakes of commercial advertising pull you away from your artistic centre?
In this incredibly raw and transparent conversation, Ali opens up about building massive relationships with legacy brands like CoverGirl and Aerie, navigating the toxic comparison loops of Instagram, and how a devastating personal crisis, losing her dream home in the 2025 LA wildfires, sparked an existential creative reckoning.

We dive deep into the differences between the Australian and American industry landscapes, the realities of high-stakes commercial sets, and why true artistry requires the courage to say "no".

INSIDE THE EPISODE:

00:00 — Intro
04:32 — Owning the Title Before You've Earned It
07:46 — Protecting Your Signature as Jobs Get Bigger
12:06 — The No-Retouching Era
16:16 — Getting Dropped
21:10 — How Dream Clients Actually Find You
24:35 — Shooting Playboy for the Female Gaze
28:29 — Legacy Clients, Celebrities & Managing Egos
34:35 — Being the Client for Once
36:55 — Losing the House in the LA Fires
43:45 — Learning to Say No
48:04 — The Impossible Shot List
57:51 — Beauty's Nostalgic Rewind
1:01:28 — Instagram Rewind: Behind the Shots
Connect with our Guest:
Ali Mitton on Instagram: https://bit.ly/4vLjmuR
Website: www.alimitton.com https://bit.ly/3T12QJj
Enjoyed this Episode?
Join our Community!
Your host, Arielle Thomas, on Instagram,⁠@arielle.thomas⁠ https://bit.ly/4v21hby
Us, on Instagram,⁠@processthepodcast https://bit.ly/4xJ1EKl
Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast https://bit.ly/44pdcFf
Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday.
See you at the next one!
* This episode includes third-party images and video clips used for educational commentary and visual references. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For takedowns or copyright inquiries, please contact hello@cinemathom.com

"If everyone draws from the same pool of images, but they don't know why they're drawing from that, the work becomes the same." - Zoë Yasemin
Welcome back to Process the Podcast. This week, Arielle sits down with Dutch-based creative director, researcher, and the brilliant mind behind the viral, globally ranked Substack: The Art Direction, Zoë Yasemin.
While previous guests have masterfully explored the mechanics of still-life curation and multimedia stop-motion, Zoë’s strength is the depth of her reference pool. In this expansive dialogue, Zoë and Arielle dissect "aesthetic flattening" - the dangerous cultural cycle where creators pull from the exact same surface-level internet algorithms, leading to an inevitable sameness in modern brand output. From bidding on rare, vintage indie magazines on eBay to studying the historical representation of the female form, Zoe shares an elite masterclass on how to bridge the gap between a beautiful mood board and world-class execution.
Inside the Episode:
00:00 — Intro
05:22 — Decades of Visual History
11:43 — What is True "Taste"?
17:10 — The 57K Substack Secret Blueprint
22:53 — Sourcing References Beyond Pinterest
28:22 — The Visual Curriculum Framework
33:10 — Finding Unexpected Creative Fuel
38:10 — Heritage Brand World-Building
43:49 — Inside a 3-Day Editorial Marathon
49:04 — Embracing Human Craft Over AI
Connect with our Guest:
Zoë Yasemin on Instagram: https://bit.ly/3TixD4k
The Art Direction School on Instagram: https://bit.ly/4vgZgrZ
Art Direction on Substack: https://bit.ly/4gsNWp3
Enjoyed this Episode?
Join our Community!
Your host, Arielle Thomas, on Instagram,⁠@arielle.thomas⁠ (https://bit.ly/4v21hby)
Us, on Instagram,⁠@processthepodcast (https://bit.ly/4xJ1EKl)
Whatsapp Community @processthepodcast (https://bit.ly/44pdcFf)
Follow us to get notified every time a new episode drops every Tuesday.
See you at the next one!

* This episode includes third-party images and video clips used for educational commentary and visual reference. All rights and ownership belong to their respective copyright holders. This content is utilized under Fair Use principles and does not imply endorsement or affiliation with Process The Podcast. For copyright inquiries, please contact hello@cinemathom.com