Today we’d like to introduce you to Tiara Latese.
Hi Tiara, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My name is Tiara Latese Copeland but “Tiara Latese” was born through my career. I’m in the experiential marketing industry and have been since high school. So about 20 years now, consistently which is almost unheard of in this business. Went to John Casablancas at 16, thinking I wanted to act/model. They put me in their work program doing brand ambassador work and I loved it so much I forgot about acting/modeling and went into the experiential industry full fledge after high school graduation. I moved up from brand ambassador work to doing marketing tours and managing in market programs. People’s main question is always why/how they see me with so many celebrities or at so many events! Networking is my life, I have an outgoing personality and I smile a lot! Lol…Over the years, many events and experiences made it where I cross over into the entertainment industry a lot. Everything from the brand I was representing having special guests as a part of the experience to things like being a part of a concert a brand was a sponsor of. This broadened my network and interest into being a part of entertainment events. I started to do work on production as well as event coordination. I’ve done everything from backstage production team labor work to cute things like being Artist/sponsor vip coordinator.
I’ve always worked for myself as an independent contractor but I started my own company called Superstar Elite Marketing in 2019. Goal still the same with wanting to be able to put people in positions but also wanted to show what I’m capable of without the middleman marketing agency that hired me taking most of the credit and money, lol. Make a real name for myself instead of being the one in the shadows that no one knows helped create or ran many events they’ve seen or been a part of for many major brands. Under my own name/company, I have pulled together premieres, grand openings, helped build start-up businesses from scratch that now have multiple locations, charity events and many other things. I’ve built myself as a brand to where even when I take on contracts as Tiara Latese, brands/agencies trust me to run programs from initial organizing to staffing to setup and execution.
My biggest success came when I was able to start my daughter out being a brand ambassador this year. All through senior year, she mentioned in everything she wanted to work for her mom as her career choice over going to college immediately. Even though she’s watched me work and do this all her life, I got more hands-on and trained her. As soon as she turned 18, she was immediately regularly booked on multiple programs. As an 18 years old whose friends were all working in malls or fast food restaurants, I got to be the cool mom that made it where her very first job was $25/hr and got her access to all kinds of cool events.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
In my years in the industry, I found that my experience and resume were constantly looked over many times due to being female or not looking like the typical “in office secretary”. I’m 5’2, cutesy look or “sexy, have 13 tattoos and love having switching to red hair every now and then, lol. I would constantly get passed over for positions or offered lower pay than others were offered. This happened despite my long flawless resume of experience. Then they’d end up calling me after their cookie-cutter type they hired failed a lot of the time. Was truly disheartening and made things a struggle but I never gave up. I watched it happen to a lot of my colleagues as well. Wasn’t always for tattoos but definitely appearances. Especially the females.
As I noticed this, I started to make it my goal to land programs so that I could bring on colleagues or people in general, I saw this happening to in the industry. Was also a “I’m going to show you how irrelevant my tattoos and red hair are” and prove my worth type of ambition. Knowing I wanted to be able to consistently do this and give opportunities to people who would normally not get the chance they deserve to add experience and job titles to their resume is what has been my driving force. I’ve even taken on campaigns/programs I knew I would hate lol. But it’s always the overall picture for me. For example, I love being able to give that brand ambassador with amazing potential who always gets passed over for a lead position the chance to lead for me. That way when they do well, I’ve given them the platform/training/experience on their resume to continue moving up and booking lead positions or higher.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Superstar Elite Marketing LLC—Tiara Latese?
I’ve always worked for myself as an independent contractor but I started my own company called Superstar Elite Marketing in 2019. Goal still the same with wanting to be able to put people in positions but also wanted to show what I’m capable of without the middleman marketing agency that hired me taking most of the credit and money lol. Make a real name for myself instead of being the one in the shadows that no one knows helped create or ran many events they’ve seen or been a part of for many major brands. Under my own name/company I have pulled together premieres, grand openings, helped build start-up businesses from scratch that now have multiple locations, charity events and many other things. I’ve built myself as a brand to where even when I take on contracts as Tiara Latese, brands/agencies trust me to run programs from initial organizing to staffing to setup and execution.
I’ve worked with major brands like Nintendo, Nike, One Music Fest, and probably the majority of major products/brands you’ve seen in commercials… but I’ve also worked with start-up companies/brands as well.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Confidence……confidence to not conform to industry standards with my look or accepting what I didn’t deserve. Confidence to stand up for myself and even leave opportunities when I felt necessary. Confidence to stand up for others when they needed me to. Most importantly the confidence to stay true to who I am in any room/setting/situation.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Instagram.com/TiaraLatese
- Facebook: Facebook.com/TiaraLatese
Image Credits
Guy Walton
