Travis Seward is chief of staff at EVG Media, a global marketing and licensing agency headquartered in Greenville and London. With a career spanning over two decades, he has held leadership roles across digital media, travel publishing and content strategy.
Before rejoining EVG Media in 2023, Seward served as vice president and general manager of USA TODAY 10Best, where he led audience acquisition and content innovation for nearly a decade. His earlier experience includes executive roles at Travora Media, NileGuide and a previous tenure at EVG Media.
He began his professional journey as a textile designer and importer, using his bachelor’s of fine arts degree in textile design from the College for Creative Studies. Beyond his professional endeavors, he is deeply involved in community service through the Rotary Club of Pleasantburg and finds creative fulfillment in quilting, a craft that mirrors his passion for assembling diverse elements into cohesive narratives.
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Q&A with Travis Seward of EVG Media
Q. How has the role of content creation changed over the course of your decades in the industry? Can you describe examples of digital content that people might not even think about but that require creative talent to generate?
A. The role of content creation has fundamentally evolved from being a purely visual and textual practice — like designing brochures or laying out print ads — to something far more dynamic and layered. In the past, content was two-dimensional: it was about how something looked and what it said on the surface. But today, digital content exists in a kind of three-dimensional space. It not only has to look good and read well but also function effectively within a complex digital ecosystem.
Now, content creation is deeply intertwined with websites and technology. For example, when someone visits a website, they see a page of images and text. But behind the scenes, creative talent has worked on how that page is described for search engines (SEO), how it’s read by screen readers (ADA compliance) and how quickly it loads across devices.
That means thinking beyond the visual and written elements to include things like metadata, alt text, structured data, load-time optimization and responsive design. Even something as simple as choosing the right file format and resolution for an image requires strategic thinking — what works for print might not work for web. You need to deliver a high-quality experience that’s also technically sound.
So today, a successful piece of digital content is not just a beautiful picture or clever copy. It’s also the result of strategic decisions that help that content perform — technically, functionally, and creatively — in a digital world.
Q. So what are some of the types of services you and your company provide to clients? Are some more challenging or involved than others, and does this vary depending on where the client is located?
A. Our core service is helping publishers create content that’s both credible and commercially valuable. We guide editorial teams to develop awards, accolades, and ranked lists — things like “Best Places to Work,” “Readers’ Choice,” or “Top 40 Under 40” — that reflect their expertise, engage their audience and can be monetized effectively. These types of programs allow publishers to use data, editorial judgment, and community input to create something truly useful for their readers — what we call “reader service” content. It’s content that informs real decisions and builds trust.
Another key part of our work is managing how that content lives online. We ensure it’s optimized for discovery, whether that’s through Google, on platforms like Local Guides, or through hotel and travel sites. The logistics can get more involved based on the region or language, especially when we’re scaling across international markets, but we’ve built systems to handle that. We’ve even joked that if a client needed a project staffed in Antarctica, we’d find a way to do it.
The publishing world has changed drastically. It used to be about printing magazines, selling ads and gaining subscribers. Now, digital publishing demands new revenue models, and that’s where we come in. We help media companies adapt by turning their credibility and expertise into programs readers trust and businesses want to support.
Q. Although this has changed somewhat in recent years, people in our region often don’t associate local people and companies with a global impact. Can you talk about what it’s like to live in Greenville and work with some of the most recognizable brands and companies on the planet?
A. For us, having a global mindset has always been part of the DNA, even from the very beginning. Back in 1999, we were building content for English-speaking travelers going abroad and for international travelers coming to the U.S., so we were engaging global audiences from day one. The web made that possible, and we leaned into it. Our early pitch was about giving readers just enough curated information to have a great experience abroad and sound savvy when they got home. It was always global.
That said, it’s still incredibly rewarding to do all of that from right here in Greenville. The international influence in this city is real — BMW, Michelin and so many other global companies have been here for decades. I live downtown, and on any given afternoon in Falls Park, you’ll hear conversations in Russian, Spanish, Thai, French — it’s a small city with a remarkably global feel. We have clients and colleagues all over the world, and these days, we’re in daily or weekly face-to-face conversations with partners in India, France, the U.K., South America and beyond. It’s become second nature.
What makes it special is that we get to operate at a global level while still being deeply rooted in a place like Greenville. That’s not just rare, it’s one of the best parts of what we do.
Q: What do you find most rewarding about the work you do? What do you find most challenging?
A: Before starting this company, I spent many years at USA TODAY working with the travel team — essentially one brand. Now, I get to work with more than 75 companies, each one bringing its own brilliance and creativity. That’s what makes the work so rewarding: the people. I get to collaborate with some of the best and brightest minds, across industries and across the globe, who are just as passionate as I am about what they do.
And personally, it’s incredibly fulfilling to get to blend my own passions — travel, tech, food and fashion — with the professional side of what we do. There’s nothing better than helping someone build something from the ground up. I love the act of creation. Once it’s built, I’m already thinking about the next thing.
Of course, that’s also where the challenge comes in. Trends are always evolving. What’s relevant today might be outdated tomorrow. So we’re constantly updating, refining, rethinking and doing it across dozens of brands at once. It keeps things energizing, but it definitely requires stamina and focus. The pace is fast, but that’s part of what makes it exciting.
Q. What holds you here in Greenville? How does that inform or inspire the work you do?
A. Greenville has been home since 1991, and in that time, I’ve been deeply rooted in the community, not just as a resident, but as someone who’s helped shape it. I’ve served on boards, supported countless events on Main Street, worked with organizations like MAC to help fund arts and culture grants, and during COVID launched Hampton-Pinckney PorchFest. I’ve spent years supporting education and youth through Rotary, including hosting international exchange students in our home.
That kind of involvement builds a deep sense of ownership. When you participate in the planning, the visioning, the rebuilding, you see the city differently. Greenville has reinvented itself time and again, from textiles to aviation, from automotive to technology, and that kind of resilience and entrepreneurial energy is contagious. It’s one of the reasons I’ve always felt like this is a place where anything is possible.
It’s also a community that says yes. If you want to get involved, you can. If you want to make an impact, you will. That spirit has absolutely informed the work we do. It keeps us humble, collaborative and forward-looking. And it reminds me that the best ideas don’t come from one place. They come from the mix of people and perspectives, something Greenville has in abundance.
And OK, I’d be lying if I didn’t say the food scene holds me here, too. We’ve hit critical mass in the best way. Greenville has genuinely become a world-class culinary city. And nothing says “local pride” like the tasting menu at The Anchorage, where for $85 you can eat everything on the menu, course after course, with a killer glass of wine in hand. That, too, is part of the joy of living here.
Q. What do you do to unwind? Are there hobbies, crafts or activities that help recharge your batteries or help you maintain perspective?
A. Believe it or not, one of the ways I unwind is by getting even more involved. When the president of our Rotary Club stepped down unexpectedly, I stepped up and have never felt more energized. But when I really need to recharge, I turn to quilting.
My background is actually in textile design. I have a BFA, and it’s what originally brought me to Greenville. After stepping away from that world for a more words-and-ideas-based career, quilting has become a way to reconnect with that creative part of myself. There’s something grounding about taking fabric, cutting it into small, precise pieces and stitching it back together into a completely new whole. It’s meditative, a little messy and completely satisfying.
And, if I’m honest, it’s also a perfect metaphor for my work and my approach to life: take what’s available, find the through-lines, and piece it all together into something bigger and more beautiful than the sum of its parts.
Q. In recent years, many content creators have expressed concerns about the role of AI in content creation. Is there a way to balance the use of AI as a tool with the need for creative human minds to produce original content?
A. Let me just ask ChatGPT how to answer that…
Kidding. (Sort of.)
Look, I understand the concern and I’ve had my own questions too, but here’s the thing: AI is a tool, not a replacement. And in our work, the magic still comes from lived experience and original insight. You can’t ask AI what the tasting menu at The Anchorage is really like unless it’s been there, sat down and eaten it (which it hasn’t—it doesn’t even have taste buds). You can’t rely on it to tell you what it’s truly like to work at a company unless someone’s done the hard work of gathering real data from actual employees. You can’t ask it to test a stand mixer or sleep in a hotel room and report back on the pillows or how clean the bathroom was. That’s the human part.
What AI can do — and what I’ve found genuinely useful — is help move ideas faster. For example, recently I was developing a new Rotary fundraiser. I used ChatGPT to mock up budgets, timelines, potential pitfalls and even vendor lists in under an hour. It sped up the grunt work. But it still took my own creative thinking, strategy and lived experience to shape it into something viable and valuable.
So yes, there’s absolutely a balance, but only if we keep human creativity, curiosity and context at the center. AI can support our thinking. It just can’t replace the thinking itself.
