Yaroslav Meshalkin

I help organizations build reputation systems that drive business performance — integrating PR, brand, and digital product strategy.

My expertise spans:

• Corporate & Executive Communications
• Brand Transformation & Market Positioning
• Digital Channels, Community & Product Growth
• Crisis & Reputation Management

Industries: Media, Gaming, Esports, Entertainment, and Fintech — where technology, culture, and business intersect.

I work as a strategic advisor, fractional CCO, or board consultant, depending on the scale and challenge.

I believe communications are a business function, not a support role. My teams don’t “do PR” — we build influence architectures that align narrative, product, and leadership voice. I’m hands-on with emerging formats, from Telegram ecosystems to interactive media, and I treat every channel as a potential growth platform — not a news feed.

I have 18 years of experience in B2B and B2C communications with a focus on esports and gaming — segments of the media and entertainment industry as defined by PwC. In 2026, I founded the Gaming & Esports Communications Center, which helps businesses and government entities communicate effectively with gamers, while enabling gaming projects to reach a national level.

In 2024–2025, I led the communications agency Heads’made (part of the CROS Group) as Managing Partner, overseeing strategic growth, product development, and industry relations.

In 2022–2023, I was Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer at Virtus.pro, managing brand communications, digital development, and offline presence. From 2018 to 2022, I worked as Chief Strategic Communications Officer at ESforce Holding (VK), leading information policy and external communications in Russia and internationally.

Previously, I headed PR departments at the Russian Esports Federation (2017–2018) and the Europplan Financial Group (2014–2017), and earlier worked at leading PR agencies such as R.I.M. Porter Novelli and FleishmanHillard Vanguard (2008–2014).

Member of the Union of Journalists of Russia. Guest Lecturer at Lomonosov Moscow State University, Higher School of Economics, Skolkovo School of Management, and others.

Founder and former chairman of the “Gaming Industry and Esports” business cluster at the Russian Association for Electronic Communications (2020–2023). Expert on digital technologies in sports for the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture and Sport, and participant of the “Development of Esports in the Russian Federation” working group (2017–2022).

Jury member for industry awards such as BLOGEMA, ABA, Silver Archer, LOUD, and Press Service of the Year. Contributor to the Public Relations Professional Standard project by the Russian PR Association (2014–2016).

Winner of IPRA Golden World Awards for Excellence in Public Relations (2020) and IABC Gold Quill Award for Excellence (2021).

Honored by the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, State Duma, Russian Association for Electronic Communications, and the Russian Esports Federation.