EP 161: Adrienne Lahens on the Next Chapter of Brand Storytelling

International Women's Month Series

Adrienne Lahens is the Co-Founder and CEO of Infinite Studios, an AI-native studio transforming how brands produce content. She built and scaled TikTok's Creator Marketplace across 24+ markets, launched TikTok Symphony, and founded the Symphony Collective. Before that, she was COO of Influential, driving 10x growth before its acquisition by Publicis. She helped pioneer native advertising at BuzzFeed during its hypergrowth phase.

Then she walked away from all of it to start her own company.

In this conversation, Adrienne talks about why she made the leap. She had a beautiful role at an amazing company. Leaving felt like jumping out of a plane without a parachute. But she kept coming back to the same question: what's the bigger risk? Staying comfortable or getting to the end of her life wondering why she never tried?

She shares the moment that shifted everything for her on stage. She used to get nervous before speaking. Then she realized the audience isn't thinking about her. They're thinking about what she can offer them. When she started approaching it as service instead of performance, the nerves went away.

She tells a story from dinner the night before. A woman with an incredible resume—VP of marketing at major Fortune 500 brands—said she was looking for a senior director role because the market is tough. Adrienne stopped her. You're going for the CMO. You've done the work. If not you, then who?

Her advice is simple: the moments you feel the absolute lowest are usually right before something amazing happens. Life tests you like that. Power through.

Connect with Adrienne:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/adriennelahens

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