LISA CHU
The Godmother of Influencer Marketing
One half of the team of OG influencer marketers, Lisa Chu co-founded Team Epiphany in 2004 — long before influencer marketing was even a thing. “We understood the emerging power of influencers and influencer marketing and — with the philosophy and slogan ‘we influence the influencers’ — started what was really the first agency focused on representing influencers and building influencer-brand partnerships,” Lisa said in a recent interview. Together with Coltrane Curtis, her partner in work and life, Lisa built their agency by getting to know the people who work with celebrities to build their personas. And creating that network led to a lot of business — from American Express to Nike and from Coca-Cola to Audi. From there, the married business partners and their team of 70 were off to the races. Recent work includes design and production for the LEGO Center for Creative Flow, and a series of launch parties for HBO’s Insecure that lovingly became #InsecureFest.
Projects
Hosted in Downtown Los Angeles in October 2022, LEGO’s Center for Creative Flow was a two-day popup to capitalize on the newfound popularity of LEGO building among adults. The creativity experience for grown-ups promoted the benefits of LEGO play and featured workshops and demos using LEGO’s Botanical Collection paired with actual floral installations by designer and stylist-to-the-stars Jeff Leatham. Team Epiphany’s work on launch events with HBO spans the network’s portfolio — from Ballers to Being Serena to 2 Dope Queens to Insecure. To celebrate the final season of Insecure, Team Epiphany went all out for the annual #InsecureFest, where guests could experience their favorite scenes firsthand, hear music from Black artists, and eat food from Black-owned vendors. The event was the winner of Best Cultural/Multicultural Event from BizBash’s 10th Annual Event Experience Awards.
