Creative Conversations with Lisa Foti, Managing Partner & Senior Producer at Captain Creative
Expert in Experiential Marketing
Lisa is friendly, funny, warm, and welcoming. As we sat down via Zoom for our interview, it was like sitting down with an old friend. When she admitted that this was her first time being interviewed, I sighed with relief because this was my first time interviewing someone outside of a college journalism course!
“So, Lisa,” I started. “Tell me about yourself. How did you get started?”
She proudly said, “I’m a native New Jersian. I was born and raised here.” Then she told me about how she began her career in print media and after attending events and tradeshows, she found a passion for experiential event marketing. That led her to Jack Morton where she worked as the head of the graphic design and print department for 7 years. After that, she decided it was time to be her own boss and went off on her own to start her own agency.
“What exactly inspired the name, Captain Creative?” I asked.
“Clients want their agency partners to be dedicated and to take the lead on projects,” said Lisa, “It’s like being the Captain of a ship.”
Lisa went on to explain that there’s never a problem she and her team haven’t been able to tackle. “We’re known as a company that never says ‘no, we can’t do that’…we always just figure it out.”
She also knows how important it is to keep up with the trends in experiential marketing. To stay ahead of the curve, she reads industry publications and goes to a lot of events to see what others are doing.
Lisa has two favorite events that the Captain team has worked on. One involved transforming a large parking lot into a “mini-festival” and live concert where Gwen Stefani performed. The other was taking a 100,000 square foot convention center and creating a festival village that people could walk through to experience different neighborhoods and engage with each other. She makes a point to say how critical her team was to the success of both projects.
I asked if she had a motto. She said, “I wouldn’t be where I am today without this piece of advice,” Keep asking questions”. If you don’t know the answer, ask a CEO or a janitor, just ask. Nobody is off limits… just ask questions. When we stop asking, we stop growing. There is always something to learn.”
And with that advice, I asked my final question, “What did your worst day at work teach you?”
“There are no bad days.” She uttered effortlessly. “There is a lesson in everything. When I hit a wall or come up against a challenge, I always look for the solution. We can choose to be in the problem or find the solution and I’m in the business of solutions. There is always a silver lining.”
By Belle, Social Media / PR Assistant | October 22, 2021
