Sofia Colucci Brings Beer, Bold Ideas, and Honest Career Advice

If your idea of a dream job involves beer, Super Bowl commercials and TikTok partnerships, Sofia Colucci might just be living it. As Chief Marketing Officer for Molson Coors across the U.S. and Canada, Colucci is the architect behind some of the beer industry’s most buzzworthy brand moments—and was recently named the 2024 Advertising Woman of the Year.

Speaking at the Cannes Lions Festival as part of the Explain It to a Teenager interview series with host Lucy, Colucci broke down her role in a way that was refreshingly unfiltered.

“I am the chief marketing officer at Molson Coors for the U.S. and Canada,” she said. “My job is about how do you make people want to reach for your brand—so it could be a Coors Banquet, Coors Light, Miller Lite. We’re trying to get them to find our brands.”

Her days can include everything from crafting a Super Bowl ad to curating viral moments. “A typical day could be working with our teams on, like, coming up with a new TV commercial for the Super Bowl, thinking about finding the right partners on TikTok,” she explained. “I love the fact that we get to put things out in the world and you see them.”

That joy in visibility is real. “I’ll turn on the television and suddenly there’s a commercial for a Miller Lite or Coors Light. Or we walk into a store and you see all of our stuff there,” she said.

She’s also leading the charge on culture-forward partnerships that blur the lines between beer, food, and fandom. “Miller Lite is all about grilling—like the beer you drink when you cook meat,” she said. “We partnered with Pringles to come up with a beer can chicken flavor—Miller Lite beer-flavored Pringles. It went on fire and people loved it.”

While her current job might sound like a creative playground, Colucci’s path was paved with unglamorous stops and serious hustle. “I had a lot of part-time jobs. I worked at a Canadian drugstore. I worked at a brake pad factory,” she said.

Her advice to the next generation of marketers cuts through the cliché. “Every experience is going to lead you to something else,” she said. “When I went to college or university, I volunteered. I joined clubs. I got involved in things. Doing that got me more experiences. Then I was able to get an internship. Then I was able to get a better job.”

And about that age-old career advice to “follow your passion”? Colucci doesn’t fully buy it.

“Find something you like and work your butt off,” she said. “I don’t think that initially it’s going to be really exciting. It might be a little boring at the beginning. But the harder you work and the more you show that you’re getting out there—if you like marketing or advertising, get some kind of experience. Work for free. Get a part-time job. Do anything that is going to get you experience because I promise you things will be awesome.”

At a time when Gen Z talent is looking for both meaning and momentum, Colucci’s message is clear: the fun comes after the grind.