Adam Torres and Shelly Mittal discuss the Milken Institute Global Conference.
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Show Notes:
Listen to Milken Institute Global Conference coverage. In this episode, Adam Torres and Shelly Mittal, Senior Executive Communications at The Trade Desk, explore The Trade Desk and the Milken Institute Global Conference.
About Shelly Mittal
Experienced leader in executive communications and investor relations. Proven track record across venture capital, private equity, fintech, and corporate communications, driving measurable results and building impactful relationships globally. Executive communications for Founder CEO Jeff Green at The Trade Desk (NASDAQ: TTD).
About The Trade Desk
The Trade Desk is an independent media buying platform built to power the open internet—where the most meaningful digital experiences live. From premium streaming TV and one-click commerce to trusted journalism, podcasts, and global audio platforms, these experiences are fueled by relevant advertising—and The Trade Desk is designed to make that advertising smarter, more effective, and more accessible.
It’s more than just clicks. The platform empowers brands to grow and thrive by unlocking more: more reach across channels and devices, more precision through data-driven decision-making, and more transparency at every stage of the campaign lifecycle.
With The Trade Desk, advertisers tap into a more connected, more open digital world—one where audiences engage deeply and authentically with the content they love.
Full Unedited Transcript
Hey, I’d like to welcome you to another episode of Mission Matters. My name is Adam Torres, and if you’d like to apply to be a guest on the show, just head on over to mission matters.com and click on BR Guest to apply. All right, so today my guest is Shelly Al, and she’s a senior executive communications over at the Trade Desk, and this particular interview is part of our.
Milken Institute Global Conference, 2025 coverage where we’re creating a complete uh, interview series based on some of the people that we met, some of our future friends that all attended the Milken Conference. And we always get great guests. We’ve been, covering that conference now for I think three or four years now.
Time flies when you’re having fun. So first off, Shelly, welcome to the show. Thanks Adam. Thank you so much for having me on. All right. So first off, I know you went to the Milken conference. I’d like to kick off the interview by just getting your impression, your thoughts, you know, those that couldn’t attend.
What keeps you coming out there? I. That’s incredible actually. So this is my first global conference, which was remarkable. I actually was first introduced to the Milken Institute. My first conference was actually in the Singapore one. Wow. The Asia Milken Institute. So that was phenomenal. But then being on the home turf of LA and being there was remarkable.
I mean to me, Milken isn’t just a conference. It’s mm-hmm. More like a convergence of capital impact in bold thinking. And I think you know this better than anyone else. I mean, it’s where power meets purpose and yeah. I felt that this year’s global conference was, you know, especially energizing, the theme was flourishing towards a better future and mm-hmm.
So we saw. Dialogues around ai, clean energy, global capital shifts, middle East, India, you know, a lot of things as well as chats about tariffs that we saw go into effect when treasury Secretary Scott Bessett spoke. So it was remarkable. Yeah. Yeah, I completely agree with you. It was a really a marked experience and I do wanna take a slight diversion here because I’ve always been curious about the Singapore event, and I’ve always thought, Hey man, I want to go to Singapore.
And talk to me a little bit about that. Yeah, I haven’t, I haven’t had somebody else on yet that has mentioned that particular conference, but I’ve always been curious about it, like, how was the layout, what was the experience there? It was incredible. So by serendipity actually. So as you know, Milken, a lot of different events are happening around the same time.
So at that time, the S one race was happening in Singapore as well as a token 2049 with block like crypto as well as the super return for Asia. So I was actually there for some events around that, around those. And so when I was invited to join Milken for the institute there, it was remarkable. I mean.
It’s a bit more intimate. I mean, it doesn’t attract to, I mean, you would know, I think how many people came this year? Maybe four, three. I was told I’m not gonna, yeah, I’m not gonna say that. I, I have confirmed information. It was something like 5,000 people. It was, it was packed. Yeah. It was quite a few people.
Exactly. Packed, but it still felt in some ways that I was able to still run into people. I mean, when I was sitting down for lunch though, I was like, Hawking a seat. I’m like, where? That, like, don’t, don’t stand up. I’m gonna get, I’m gonna get you. I’m taking your seat. Don’t go. You said it so. Well, it was, definitely, it was hard to find a.
There, there, and unfortunately, as you know, the weather wasn’t the best until the last day. Yeah. But going back to Singapore, I mean, Singapore was fantastic. it’s a bit more intimate. Mm-hmm. So I’d say nowhere near 5,000, but yeah. Close to maybe, maybe several hundred. But we, that, the panels were incredible.
I mean, obviously with the focus on Asia and Singapore. Self, you know, being such a hub for several people, investors, as you know, family offices are huge there. So heard several panels around the future of India, which is something I’m very passionate about. The large scale, the GDP is growing there, as well as other countries and as well as like very interesting conversations about longevity, which mm-hmm.
We also heard this year. So it’s a fantastic conference and like I mentioned the pro, it allows for a lot of events around it. So I was able to have my first F1 race, which was incredible, and then also interact with a lot of the folks in the crypto scene and as well as on the private equity side. So I highly recommend it.
Let’s go. I wanna go further down that train of thought actually, when you’re talking about expectations evolving across these different geographies. ’cause you do obviously have a worldview like in say, middle East versus Asia versus the us. Like, how are LP expectations evolving? Like, what are you seeing?
Well said. So I, I really think LPs globally are no longer just seeking Alpha. Mm-hmm. They want alignment. So what I mean by that is, so as you can see in the Middle East, there’s been a, strong appetite for long-term partnerships that tied to like sovereign strategy and as well as building that relationship with US tech companies in the Middle East.
And so when I look at that. From an LP lens you can definitely see that there’s been a lot of new partnerships tied to sovereign strategy. And you’ll see LPs really, they still care about performance, but they’re also asking deeper questions about, what’s the value, what’s the transparency around this?
So I find that to be, and then going into Asia, I think we’re seeing more tech forward next gen wealth leaning into different like AI of course is invincible, but I’m also seeing things within climate and things like that. So I think overall LPs still care about performance, but they’re asking deeper questions as well about where does this really lie in the grand scheme of things.
Hmm. Yeah, no it’s a great observation and I think it’s gonna keep evolving. And one of the things that I do, like, I’m just kind of tying this back for the conference myself, is that we’re all, we’re all busy, like we’re all working in our own niches. And I’ll give you an example, going to, like, I don’t spend all of my days in longevity, but when I went to the conference, there was a, there was an emphasis mm-hmm.
On longevity in certain areas. So I feel like. This isn’t my words. Another guest used this. They said it’s like their brain candy for the year. Like, it’s like you get to explore and you know, whoever’s on stage, whoever’s like, you know, you got the real deal. Like you can trust the, that the content there is vetted and that the people there that are, you know, being trusted to be on stage, they’re renowned experts and whatever is they’re presenting.
So it’s kind of like the brain can of going around and tasting a little bit of this or that or whatever, and getting outside of maybe your, that’s such a good point for me. My, my comfort zone, right? Like, so it’s kind of cool. Really well said. Really well said. Because actually, me being my, this was my first global conference.
I am so into the financial markets, the world market. Mm-hmm. So I really wanted to dive into like, deeper conversations. So I really enjoyed those panels with Ken Griffin from Citadel Bill Lockman on the future of, of education. Mm-hmm. And like Mark Rowan from Apollo and John Gray. But you bring up such a good point because it is like.
You could have, I could have joined the longevity panel, which I didn’t know as much about and learned from the experts there. So I think that’s even another way to look at it when you go into these other conferences next time. Like I also, I’m, I’m sure, did you attend the PO Future podcasting panel? I didn’t even, I’ll tell you what, I’ll tell you what I didn’t even know that was happening.
And I’ll tell you this other part of that is no, this is the thing. I’m, I’m so jealous. I heard there was a wellness garden and the thing is I’m working Yes. There, like I’m doing interviews, I’m doing other. The, I’m like, nobody. Nobody cares about old Adam. It’s fine. No. Oh no. We have to get you there that time.
It’s behind the mic and do some talking. I’m like, okay, fine. No, but what you’re doing is super important. Of course I made you, oh sure. I want some wellness garden. Of course, it’s important, not my Wellness Garden.
No know, I just came on. No, not at all. And I know, but I actually, on the last day I went to the Wellness Garden, if I’m being honest. I and it was fantastic. And I was like, why didn’t I come before? So I, we need to next year at this point. Not Wellness Garden. No, I know. So you’re that’s so funny getting, getting us back on track, Shelly.
So you’re part of the Young Leader Circle maybe. Tell us a little bit about that first off, and really how that’s shaping your evolution. Yeah, absolutely. So I’m very honored to be a part of the Young Leader Circle of the Milken, and it’s really it’s a select, it’s a group of 300 folks across the world that have been selected.
And it’s really, I. Has pushed me to think more boldly and not just about capital markets, but more about human capital. And it’s a reminder that, you know, leadership is about access and amplification giving back. So, you just don’t sit at a table, you build it, and more importantly, you make sure others have a seat too.
So that’s really grateful to be a part of that organization. It’s a group of very curious. Intellectual individuals from across the world that care about philanthropy, about different investments where the world is heading. And it’s a fantastic organization and it really has allowed me to look at things from a different perspective and lens.
Mm. So we are in you know, recording this in May, 2025. What’s next for you? What’s next for Shelly? What’s next for your work? Like, well, what do you have on the, on the, on the agenda for the rest of the year? Yeah. Well, I, hopefully I’m, I convinced you I’m gonna be going to the. Singapore Summit at the age of institute later this year.
But not only that, there’s a lot of I’m gonna be kind of building out our partnerships in Singapore as well as in India, which I’m very excited about because I’m of Indian origin and we feel, see a lot of growth and trajectory there as we learned at the institute and excited to help, build stronger relationships.
There and grow from there as well as attend some other conferences later down the line with, at Abu Dhabi as well. So I think Milken provides an amazing opportunity to really gather these leaders together and bring about change and I’m thrilled about it. I love it. I, I think that’s a, that’s great.
And, and for, to bring these ideas out there. I mean, this is one of my passions and my missions is to not, not everybody gets to attend these conferences. Not everybody gets to, but I like to think through podcasts, through sharing information, through, you know, keeping the dialogue going that everybody has access, you know, so that’s one of my missions and one of the things I like to do as well.
So and one of the reasons I’m, I’m glad to, to host this series and get people on here. So, that being said, Shelly, if somebody wants to follow up, if they wanna learn more about the work that you’re up to, whether it’s at the Trade desk or some, any of your other projects or ventures, or to follow you personally, like how do people connect?
How do they keep the dialogue going? Absolutely. They’re happy to connect with me on LinkedIn. I’m always very active. I love meeting people. I’m based in LA so meeting people in the community, but if not, I’m always traveling. I’ll actually be in London for a few weeks next month uh, working on things with the Cannes Lions Festival as well as things, but I feel like we’re all global citizens and it’s great to mm-hmm.
To keep in touch. So LinkedIn’s fantastic as well as, I mean Instagram is always. Great. I’ve, I’ve found that like, you know, especially as we build this community in la I feel like there’s been a big surge of tech in DC here and I’m finding myself meeting founders in DC from all across and as well as LPs at different events all in la.
So happy to connect there and I find Instagram to be a way of even just like seeing where people are at a different events in a more fluid way. But I think LinkedIn is fantastic as well. So Wonderful. I was happy to chat. Perfect. And so for everybody listening, just so you know, we’ll definitely put the links in the show notes so that you can connect with Shelly and speaking to the audience.
If this is your first time with Mission Matters and you haven’t done it yet, hit that subscribe or follow button. This is a daily show. Each and every day we’re bringing you new content, new ideas, and hopefully new inspiration to help you along the way in your journey as well. So again, hit that subscribe or follow button.
And Shelly, thanks again for coming on the show. Thanks so much, Adam. Appreciate it.
