Maiya Kinoshita is one of the few truly bilingual, bicultural, award-winning female creative directors in Japan, nurtured by the wit of Osaka and the sunshine of California. Currently at TBWA\Media Arts Lab Tokyo, she serves as creative director for all Apple advertising in the country and is frequently tapped for global projects. Her recent works include ‘Shot on iPhone – Midnight,’ as well as ‘Mac for Students’ and ‘Relax, it’s iPhone – All Day Battery.’

Before joining MAL Tokyo, Maiya spent a decade at Dentsu, Japan’s largest ad agency, where she integrated PR practices into classic and innovative advertising platforms, to create award-winning effective campaigns for brands such as Coca-Cola, Uniqlo, Netflix, and Zespri.

If you’re a regular at Cannes Lions, you might have seen her presenting at the 2019 seminar ‘The Paralympics' Impact on Our Creativity and Humanity,’ where she interviewed a Paralympic gold medalist. If you read Japanese and are interested in diversity, you might have come across her co-authored book ‘LGBTQ+ Basics for Business People’ (2022). And if you’re a comedy fan, you might have caught her performing as a regular standup comedian at Tokyo Comedy Bar.