San Lee
Marketing Manager, Cultural Sector · Audience Development · Programming Communications · Community Engagement
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About
Cultural marketing professional with 15+ years developing audience communities, institutional brand identities, and integrated campaigns for arts, heritage, and cultural organisations. Direct experience with a world-class museum mega-launch (M+ Museum, Hong Kong), a flagship Canadian heritage property (Casa Loma), and decade-long engagement with the Hong Kong cultural sector. Certified by Sotheby's Institute of Art in Contemporary Art Since 1990; active docent at M+ and volunteer at Museum of Toronto and the Young Centre for the Performing Arts.
Bilingual in English and Traditional Chinese — with deep, lived insight into culturally diverse audiences across both Hong Kong and Toronto. Passionate about expanding access to culture, building programming communities, and translating institutional vision into brand experiences people genuinely feel.
Experience
Senior Marketing Manager - Casa Loma - Toronto, ON
(2025-06 - 2026-02)
Strategic and operational marketing lead for Toronto's most beloved cultural heritage site — directing all campaigns, brand governance, programming communications, and visitor experience marketing.
- Led integrated marketing for seasonal exhibitions, heritage programmes, concerts, and events — developing campaign strategy that drove +32% uplift in holiday event ticket page visits.
- Developed a storytelling-led social content strategy grounded in Casa Loma's cultural identity — growing organic social traffic by +34.3% through audience-first, community-driven content.
- Governed institutional brand standards across OOH (TTC, billboards, radio), digital, email, on-site, and wayfinding — maintaining voice and visual consistency across all audience touchpoints.
- Built co-marketing frameworks with ROM and Sheraton City Centre Hotel — extending institutional reach into new cultural audience segments and tourism channels.
- Directed Mailchimp campaigns and automated workflows for membership communication, visitor retention, and programming promotion.
- Managed agency partners and vendor relationships — overseeing creative production, signage, photography, and digital assets to institutional standards.
Brand Strategy & Digital Marketing Lead - Seaway Pools & Hot Tubs - Toronto, ON
(2023-10 - 2025-06)
Led brand repositioning and integrated digital strategy — delivering +1,044% social conversions and +87% website sessions through storytelling-driven audience development.
- Managed agency relationships, creative briefs, paid media (Meta, Google), email automation (HubSpot / Mailchimp), and performance reporting.
Digital Marketing Instructor - Tamwood International College - Toronto / Vancouver
(2023-05 - 2023-10)
Led and mentored a cohort of 18 adult learners through marketing strategy, content, and community building — achieving 90% satisfaction through real-world project learning.
Assistant Marketing Manager — Cultural Institution Launch - West Kowloon Cultural District (M+ Museum) - Hong Kong
(2019-07 - 2022-02)
Core member of the pre-opening communications team for one of Asia's most ambitious cultural institutions — HKD $1M+ budget, trilingual audiences (EN / 繁中 / Cantonese), 2 direct reports.
- Co-developed and executed go-to-market strategy for M+'s pre-opening phase — orchestrating integrated campaigns across 7+ channels to reach multilingual cultural audiences across Hong Kong.
- Built a KOL ambassador programme of 100+ influencers across arts, lifestyle, food, and fashion — a community-first audience development initiative that grew social following +250% pre-launch.
- Led consumer and cultural insight research — synthesising qualitative and quantitative data to identify audience segments, engagement triggers, and content territories across Hong Kong's diverse communities.
- Planned high-impact community engagement events — including a launch preview for 100+ local taxi drivers and families, building grassroots civic connection to the institution before opening day.
- Managed 2 direct reports through the launch phase — providing daily coaching, performance feedback, and strategic direction.
- Coordinated cross-functional alignment with curatorial, programming, retail, and operations teams — ensuring marketing reflected the institution's mission at every touchpoint.
Digital Marketing Specialist - Hong Kong Trade Development Council - Hong Kong
(2015-07 - 2017-07)
Developed audience strategy and digital campaigns for international trade exhibitions — managing 1 direct report, budgets of $100K–$500K, and delivering 744,000+ impressions through KOL and editorial partnerships.
- Achieved +72% conversion improvement and −40% CPA reduction through insight-led audience segmentation and A/B testing.
Assistant Promotions & Advertising Officer - Harbour City Estates Ltd - Hong Kong
(2012-04 - 2015-07)
Developed bilingual institutional communications and media strategy for major art exhibitions attracting 100,000+ weekly visitors — securing global press coverage for shows featuring KAWS, Yue Minjun, and Florentijn Hofman.
- Managed social community strategy (Facebook & Instagram) and cultural trend monitoring to maintain institutional brand relevance across bilingual audiences.
Education
Master of Marketing - Marketing - RMIT University (2017 - 2018)
BBA (Honours) - Service Operations Management - City University of Hong Kong (2007 - 2010)
Foundations of Applied Mindfulness Meditation Certificate - Mindfulness Meditation - University of Toronto, School of Continuing Studies (2024)
Certificate - Contemporary Art Since 1990 - Sotheby's Institute of Art (2021 - 2021)
