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TIFFANY ZHONG
FOUNDER, ZEBRA INTELLIGENCE
Taking her cue from some of the tech world’s most legendary
figures, Tiffany Zhong didn’t wait until after college before
embarking on a career. At just 18, she dropped out of UC
Berkeley to pursue a full-time job as an analyst and associate
at VC firm Binary Capital. Now, age 20, she’s already on to her
next chapter, launching teen-focused research company Zebra
Intelligence this past May.
“There’s no other firm run by and focused on Gen Z,” she
explains. “No one has done Gen Z research to such an extent.”
When it comes to targeting the demographic, one of the
biggest mistakes Zhong sees brands make is going after too
broad an audience. “Brands can’t target Gen Z as one cohort; you
have to split it up [into smaller groups] to actually get across to
them,” she says.
Zhong calls her generation “entrepreneurial and
independent,” and advises that “creating high-quality content
that is authentic and relatable [is] the hard path brands must
pursue in every campaign.”—Erik Oster
BEN WINSTON
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, THE LATE
LATE SHOW WITH JAMES CORDEN
In addition to helping James Corden create must-see moments
every night on The Late Late Show, executive producer Ben
Winston, 35, oversees a pair of programs recently spun off from
Corden’s most popular segments: Carpool Karaoke, which is
wrapping its first season on Apple Music, and Drop the Mic,
premiering Oct. 24 on TBS. (As if that’s not enough, Winston is
also executive producing Bruno Mars’ first prime-time special,
airing Nov. 29 on CBS.)
“We knew instantly the first time we did this, that this was
too good just to be a segment on a late-night television show,”
says Winston of Drop the Mic. “It’s actually better as a half-
hour than as seven minutes squeezed into” the Late Late Show.
Meanwhile, Winston is also busy turning down offers for other
Late Late Show spinoffs: “We don’t want to make something
unless it’s great.”—Jason Lynch
OCTOBER 9, 2017 |^ ADWEEK
MERIDITH VALIANDO ROJAS
CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, DIGITOUR MEDIAAs the producer of live events starring some of the biggest names from platforms like
Musical.ly and YouTube, DigiTour Media has given more than half a million screen-addicted
Gen Z-ers the chance to connect with their favorite digital stars IRL.
“About half of our stars have a musical element to them, but a huge category for us
are the ones who don’t,” says DigiTour co-founder and CEO Meridith Valiando Rojas, 30, a
former A&R executive. “My job is to figure out how to create something on stage for them.”
So far this year, the company has led 150 events for digital talent like Loren Gray (6.
million Instagram followers) and twins Brooklyn and Bailey McKnight (4.5 million YouTube
subscribers), with past sponsors including Coca-Cola, Delta, Verizon and Google. Valiando
Rojas hopes to double the number of live events in 2018.
Valiando Rojas founded DigiTour in 2010 with her husband, Chris Rojas, and since then,
the company has raised over $12.5 million in funding from investors including Viacom,
Ryan Seacrest, Condé Nast and others. This past June, it formed a record company with
Disney Music Group that will focus on signing social-first talent.
“We love identifying talent early on and contributing to their growth,” says Valiando
Rojas, who helped propel Musical.ly sensation Baby Ariel to stardom with a 2016 cross-
country tour and was responsible for “Alex from Target’s” extended stint with fame—he
even read fan fiction starring himself on stage. —Sami Main RAE: CHRIS LOUPOS; STYLING: JASON REMBERT; HAIR: FELICIA LEATHERWOOD; MAKEUP: JOANNA
SIMKIN; THIS PAGE: ZHONG: JOSHUA CHANG; WINSTON: CBS; ROJAS: COURTESY OF DIGITOUR MEDIA