Your Name: Anne Zeiser
Business Name: Azure Media
Type of Business: Arts & Entertainment
Business Location: United States
U.S. State: Massachusetts
Website http://azuremedia.org
Twitter http://twitter.com/azuremedia
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Azure-Media/371726303717?ref=ts
Reason for starting
I’d loved overseeing strategic platforms and impact for PBS’s largest producer for icons from NOVA and Frontline to Masterpiece and Curious George and co-leading groundbreaking specials. It simply came time to create Azure Media, producing transmedia projects ON AIR, ONLINE and ON THE GO that fuel impact IN COMMUNITIES, IN SCHOOLS and IN CAPITOLS
Biggest Success
Balancing (sort of) family life with business — with both parents running their own businesses!!
What is your top challenge and how have you addressed it?
Diversifying my client and project base. Most of my first year projects were PBS-related from my previous job. I was profitable immediately, but when the economy tanked, I had to network like crazy to expand to other media outlets and media makers. The huge silver lining: revaluating my goals and the environmental landscape. Do so every two years!
Who is your most important role model?
In business: Lucille Ball. Not to be underestimated: her wit, her timing, her instincts for what works. Brilliant! (I said that on a job interview at Polaroid in the ’80s and was was asked for a different answer; walked out) In life writ large: My mom who adopted 5 kids, managed several homes and always had at least a part-time job outside the home