Our Story
First Influence was founded in 2016, back when much of influencer marketing was only focused on "views" and "virality"
While these vanity metrics were great for top of the funnel awareness and general impressions, they often failed to deliver on our Client's most important goal: Return on Investment. Recognizing a need from brands in search for more effective ways to utilize influencers, First Influence was created with a shared vision to connect brands with influencers who could actually drive meaningful growth. Leveraging our diverse backgrounds, we have been fortunate to serve major brands and industry disruptors from all over the world, including Korea, France, Brazil, and more.
Experts of the industry and kind to the core
Relationships First
Collaborative goal setting, open lines of communication, and fair negotiations have helped us cultivate relationships that are worthy of a long-term commitment across brand clients, influencers, managers, and agents.
Empathy
We put our client's success first, our success is a mere by product of that. Multiple projects? Last-minute changes? These are everyday occurrences for our clients - we'll navigate these twists and turns together.
Efficiency
We are built to support multiple levels in our client's growth - from their seed round to series C - and are proud to be their trusted advisors in the influencer marketing space.
Some of the brands and companies we’ve empowered
We take pride in being great partners to collaborate with. Our communication is based on sincerity & openness — there is no deception in our sales pitch (or in our work).
Overview of First Influence
8
Year in Business
23
Clients Served
9
Marketed Countries
10
K
+
Number of Activations
$
15
M
+
Budget Managed
890
M
+
Impressions
Founders
Julie Choi
Julie has mastered the art of blending diverse industries—journalism, hospitality, and influencer marketing—into an impressive career. At an early age, Julie was recruited as a junior journalist in Washington state for a local news station. She then expanded her horizons, exploring the globe and refining her expertise in managing a fine dining restaurant group.
Her exceptional operational capabilities led her to join FI, where she rapidly increased the scale of her top clients' influencer campaigns to over $2M within the first year, achieving a remarkable 5x growth. Fluent in Korean and English, Julie currently oversees FI's global operations.
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Andrew Morin
Andrew is a graduate of George Mason University with a B.S. in Business Administration and Boston University with a M.S. in Business Administration. Prior to founding First Influence, he began his career within Defense/Aerospace industry, managing a portfolio in excess of $250MM across various government agencies.
In 2012, he shifted his attention to the growing social media industry, founding his first company and working with some of the most prominent influencers and early MCN's (multi-channel networks). An east coast native, he was raised in Virginia and enjoys all things health and wellness, travel, and being outdoors.
Christy Choi
Christy's journey in marketing began as an in-house content creator for a gaming company, long before branded social media content became mainstream. Her early exposure to this emerging field helped her develop a deep understanding of consumer behavior on social platforms.
After successfully scaling the IP developer's influencer partnerships to outperform all of its paid ad channels, Christy co-founded FI. She continues to take great pride in crafting effective social campaigns that put authenticity at it's center. A University of Washington graduate, Christy's passion for the outdoors shines when hitting the PNW slopes with her golden retriever, Wonder.
One Step Ahead
The landscape of Influencer Marketing is constantly evolving. Our team works hard to innovate the latest best practices and stay on top of current trends. We operate as an in-house extension of our client's team, we intentionally keep our client list small, and we only partner with the brands we believe in. This ensures that our clients always receive our very best work.
We look forward to meeting you!
