Team expansion and leadership shift at Bastion Shine

AUCKLAND, Today: Bastion Shine is off to a dynamic start in 2025, bringing on four new talents to beef up its social media prowess and promoting Joanna James to Managing Director of Communications and Experience.

Holly Dean steps in as the General Manager of Social, a role crafted in response to the agency’s rapid expansion. With over 16 years under her belt, Holly has delivered high-impact social media and influencer campaigns for big names like McDonald’s and Google.

Tom Dyton joins as a Senior Content Creator, bringing a wealth of experience from a decade in visual content creation across social media, television, and newsrooms. His role is crucial for elevating the agency’s content on social channels.

Amber Holyoake and Ellie Nicholson also join the team as Senior Social Media Manager and Social & PR Senior Business Executive, respectively. Amber’s background spans both agency and client-side, while Ellie has experience in consumer and corporate PR and social from an agency setting.

“Jo has built a talented team of professionals who are delivering outstanding results. I’m incredibly excited about the continued growth in this area of our business under her leadership, and Holly’s arrival to lead our Social Media business.” – Toby Sellers

Since Joanna James spearheaded the Communications and Experience team in late 2022, the group has grown to 11 members. Their broad expertise spans public relations, corporate communications, social media, events, and activations for various consumer and B2B clients.

“Continuing to build our team enables us to continue delivering both social-first thinking, whether always-on or as part of campaigns, for our clients that’s delivered at speed through our in-house content creators and editors.

Alongside our growing social team, we’re also adding to our PR team with a new senior hire arriving in the next few weeks,” says Joanna.

Toby Sellers, CEO of Bastion Shine, praises the strategic growth. “Attracting exceptional talent across PR, Social and Experiential is vital to strengthening the integrated thinking we deliver for clients.

“Jo has built a talented team of professionals who are delivering outstanding results. I’m incredibly excited about the continued growth in this area of our business under her leadership, and Holly’s arrival to lead our Social Media business.”