Joshua
Semolik.
Creative Leader & Brand Storyteller
AI-Enabled Experiences
Brand, Commerce, Music & Entertainment
I find the story and direct how it comes to life.
My creativity, sharp visual eye, marketing experience and life experience shape the work. I find what makes a brand, artist or product matter, then direct its expression across every digital touchpoint: design, photography, film, websites and interactive experiences. AI is central to how I explore and build. It expands the possibilities and helps me move with greater speed and flexibility. The intention, taste and direction come from me.
At Billiard Factory, I directed the website rebuild and Shopify transition, connecting brand, customer experience and ecommerce. The work connects brand presentation, product discovery and complex purchasing choices. Explore the ecommerce transformation.
I now lead Billiard Factory’s paid media and SEO/AEO (search engine and answer engine optimization) and manage the contractor team. I create paid-media assets and direct their placement. I also direct the Vibe streaming TV campaign, build the ads and manage the account. My remit includes marketing analytics and performance analysis using Google Analytics 4 (GA4).
New York · January 2027. Currently leading a project in Houston. I’m open to senior creative leadership opportunities nationwide and remotely, across brands, commerce, music and entertainment. Discuss a leadership role.
How my experience fits together.
What does Joshua Semolik do?
I find the story and direct how people experience it across digital touchpoints. My practice connects brand storytelling, creative direction, commerce, music and entertainment with practical AI tools. Untold.works is my independent practice; each case explains my role and credits the collaborators.
What does practical AI transformation mean?
It means choosing a real task, building a useful workflow and helping people use it. At Billiard Factory, that includes campaign planning, creative production, product review and sales handoffs. Engine Room shows how those parts connect.
What kind of leadership work am I looking for?
Senior creative leadership across brands, commerce, music and entertainment, with nationwide and remote opportunities. I want to find the story, direct its expression and work with a team to bring it to life. AI expands what we can explore and build. Contact me about an opportunity.
How does sales enablement fit?
The story starts inside the organization. I develop product narratives and internal sales materials before products reach the market, helping the organization and sales team understand the product, believe in its value and prepare to bring it to customers.
- Billiard Factory + C.L. BaileyRetail redesign, live shoppable rooms, Shopify Plus migration, dealer tools and AI-led campaigns.
- Second Son Productions & related music workArtist sites, Robert Glasper releases and distinct Blue Note content roles.
- SavorWebsite and content storytelling through IDW Studio.
The class changed how I work.
I took MIT Sloan’s executive education course, Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy, in 2025. It gave me the moment of clarity I had been looking for: AI could change how work is organized, with an impact I think of in terms of the assembly line. Since that course, a day has not gone by without me working with AI, testing what it can do and putting it into practice.
That practice now runs from campaign planning and retail systems to websites, photography and film. Higgsfield is my primary AI image and video tool. Years behind the lens shape how I direct it: lighting, framing, composition and pacing still matter. I use ChatGPT across models to think through problems, and Claude Code and Codex to turn ideas into working sites and tools.
I also teach skeptical colleagues with tasks they already need to finish: preparing campaign assets, reviewing product details and finding the next handoff. We document what works, keep approvals visible and give the team a repeatable process.
The tools behind the work.
Hands-on AI and creative tools, alongside platforms supporting the commerce and marketing work I direct.
01 / AI building
- Claude Code
- Turn ideas into working websites and internal tools.
- Codex
- Develop, review and refine website and system changes.
- Claude Cowork
- Organize project material for day-to-day work.
- ChatGPT
- Work through research, briefs and planning decisions.
02 / Creative production
- Higgsfield
- Direct AI imagery and films from product references and creative briefs.
- Adobe Premiere
- Edit films and campaign content for brands, artists and live events.
- Vibe
- Build streaming TV ads and manage Billiard Factory’s campaign account.
03 / Commerce
- Shopify Plus
- Direct the website and commerce transition from product discovery to checkout.
- GoHighLevel
- Connect tagged campaign inquiries to sales follow-up.
- Google Merchant Center
- Product feeds connecting imagery, options and pricing to shopping listings.
- Klaviyo
- Email and SMS signup flows in the retail customer journey.
04 / Analytics & measurement
- Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
- Marketing analytics and performance analysis within the work I direct.
- Google Tag Manager
- Event-tagging workflows that connect site activity to reporting.
- Google Search Console
- Search visibility and indexing checks supporting SEO/AEO oversight.
In summer 1997, I interned for Howard Stern at KROCK Studios in New York City. My broadcast production career began in 1999 with NBA Entertainment and later the Sacramento Kings, where my work received two Emmy nominations. I later led global product launches at Lowepro, supporting the creative and marketing pitches for the JOBY and Acme Made acquisitions before working across both brands. Lowepro was later acquired by DayMen; I stayed through May 2016.
I then moved into brand and growth at NorCal Cannabis and founded Untold.works in January 2017. The studio is based in Mexico City. I later led strategy at Ingenia Agency and began expanding Untold’s AI practice in 2024. The MIT Sloan course in 2025 made that direction central to my daily work. I have led brand and concept work at Billiard Factory since January 2025. I work in English and Spanish.
Jazz and R&B have been a through line. My work with Robert Glasper spans album releases, five years of Robtober content and content for the launch and opening of Blue Note Los Angeles. I served as Content Director for four years across Blue Note’s Napa Valley festival, including its move into the Black Radio Experience. I also built the Made in Chicago site for Lalah Hathaway with AI around supplied media, and an artist site preview for Derrick Hodge, alongside content for Hodge’s Color of Noize tour. The eye and judgment I built behind the lens now shape how I work with AI across creative production and the systems around it.
- Release team for four records
- Robert Glasper
- Robtober content, five years
- Robert Glasper, Blue Note New York
- Launch and opening content
- Blue Note Los Angeles
- Content Director, four years
- Blue Note Jazz Festival, Napa / Black Radio Experience
- Color of Noize tour content and artist site preview
- Derrick Hodge
- AI-built Made in Chicago artist site
- Lalah Hathaway
- Debut album site, I Hope You Feel It Too
- Elena Pinderhughes
- Brand and concept direction, campaigns and marketing systems
- Billiard Factory
- Site, dealer portal, Brand Bible
- C.L. Bailey
- Website for Billiard Factory’s trade-only showroom, focused on designers
- Game Room Furniture Partners
- Website, content and storytelling, through IDW Studio
- Savor
- Café site
- Ki'bok Coffee SMA
- Retail sites
- Regal Billiards, Lexington Billiards and Spas
- Hotel site and ops dashboard
- Casa Schuck
- Lead intake
- OMI Growth
- Untold.works project: rebrand, website, photo/video campaign and marketing systems
- Noxguard
- Intern
- Howard Stern, KROCK Studios, New York City Summer 1997
- Senior and broadcast producer
- NBA Entertainment, Sacramento Kings 1999–2010
- Two Emmy nominations
- Sacramento Kings
- Global product launch and GTM systems lead
- Lowepro, later DayMen 2010–May 2016
- Senior brand and growth manager
- NorCal Cannabis Jun 2016–2019
- Founder and Principal, independent practice
- Untold.works, Mexico City Jan 2017–present
- Global marketing and growth strategy lead
- Ingenia Agency 2020–2023
- Head of Brand and Concept, contract
- Billiard Factory Jan 2025–present
- Directed, shot and edited the release films
- Robert Glasper Experiment, Art Science and R+R=NOW
- Employee portrait campaign films
- Hewlett Packard
- AI Strategy, executive education
- MIT Sloan 2025
- Education
- Arizona State University