Professor
Amanda designed & created the world’s first fully accredited program in Influencer Marketing (originally at UCLA & University of Texas at Austin). She is now directing and leading the advancement of the program along with Mohan Sawhney, Associate Dean of Kellogg and Director of the Center of Research and Technology at The Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern (still top ranked in the world for marketing!)
Chief Marketing Officer
Amanda’s marketing and digital production firm was acquired (in 2018) by Valeo Technologies, a 30+ year old legacy fitness and security brand headquartered in New York. As part of a two year exit, Amanda took the helm of CMO to direct the global re-brand and re-launch strategy as the first female Chief Marketing Officer
Top YouTube Influencer
Amanda Russell TV, a YouTube channel became one of the fastest growing fitness channels on Youtube when it hit 1,000,000 views within 2 months of launch. The channel became a business in itself and grew into a partnership deal with Maker Studios (sold to Disney in 2014).
Amanda then partnered with Trium Entertainment (the creator of the hit TV series The Biggest Loser) to build out one of the first online fitness subscription programs for women.
Marketing Consultant & Coach
Amanda advises companies and leaders across all industries on how to create, scale and nurture their influence. From entire marketing strategy planning to specific influencer marketing campaign initiatives, Amanda cuts through the noise and confusion, and helps you clarify exactly what you want to achieve and develop and execute the plan to breed those results.
Board Member and Advisor
Lamborghini: Amanda sits on the advisory board for Lamborghini Automobil, one of a handful on women selected internationally from among the most influential and representative individuals in business and culture. Established in 2018, it is a board that enjoys a unique view of the world and which Lamborghini wanted to put together in order to benefit from important external contributions in its path as a pioneering brand.
Amanda is holds a board seat spearheading marketing and influencer strategies for both the Andy Roddick Foundation and The Robins School of Business at the prestigious University of Richmond.
Speaker and Activist
There are few people in the world that can explain true influencer marketing in the way that Amanda can. Not only has she done it herself (and written the book), she has made it her life’s work to take what she’s learned to teach it to others. From the top ranked MBA students in the world, to executive around the globe, to start up entrepreneurs trying to navigate the muddled waters, Amanda has a program that has gone to the very top in both academia and executive practice.
Her unique ‘superpower’ is to use story and example to convey complex topics and give you an action plan that both inspires, motivates and leaves you walking away with a whole new way of thinking, and armed with a ‘know how’ to execute!
And she’s got one hell of an unconventional and unique background that could serve as the ultimate motivational keynote.
Founder of Renaissance Women (RW), an exclusive community and conference for today’s most inspiring female leaders, executives, entrepreneurs and influencers, from all industries, and of all ages, who are shaping the future.
Amanda is widely respected as a leader in business, professor, author, and accomplished consultant. By the age of 32, she built and sold two thriving businesses. Her first company began with a fitness Youtube channel and she grew it to become one of the first digital fitness subscription programs. She went on to found a digital marketing company that specialized in the fitness industry working with some of the biggest names in fitness.
Seeing a gap in education when it came to digital marketing, Amanda created the world’s first fully accredited program on Influencer Marketing at UCLA. She currently teaches the program, along with marketing, branding & business strategy at both Northwestern and University of Texas.
Russell advises some of the top companies in the world on influencer marketing including Lamborghini, Cedars Sinai and Lionsgate and speaks across the globe on influence and the future of marketing with a focus on building a brand through community and leveraging your employees and customers as influencers for exponential scaling and growth.
Her latest book, The Influencer Code became the official resource to influencer marketing for college programs worldwide, complete with proprietary case studies, exemplary methodologies, & original frameworks.
Additionally, she wrote the official Harvard Business Case for the subject of influencer marketing on a company she consulted for: ZICO Coconut water. The most fascinating part being that her initial start to working with the company was as their spokesperson.
After selling her agency in 2018 to a private equity firm, Amanda spent her two year non-compete in-house as the Chief Marketing Officer responsible for creating the strategy for the re-brand of their various acquisitions.
Amanda has vast international experience and has taught at some of the top schools in the world, including Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Business, London Business School, Harvard, Wharton School of Business, The University of Stockholm Business School,
She also serves as board member and advisory council to several global organizations including Lamborghini and The University of Richmond Business School.
In 2021 she launched the podcast ‘School of Influence,’ with the widely celebrated marketing scholar Neal Schaeffer in which they interview a different influential leader weekly.
As a former Olympic Level runner who came to the United States from Canada, Amanda strongly believes in providing youth opportunities in sports as a way to teach life skills, discipline, and provide greater opportunity. In addition to volunteering independently, she holds a board position in the Andy Roddick Foundation.
Her new book, The Influencer Code: Breaking through the Noise to Unlock the Power of Influencer Marketing to meet your business goals, is the official guide to influencer marketing complete with context, exemplary methodologies, & frameworks. More than a ‘how-to’ book, The Influencer Code is a how-to-think book, that will change the way you approach every idea, every campaign & make you a bulletproof marketing force.
“A force of magnetic energy, passion with a true higher purpose. Amanda has the ability to turn the most seemingly impossible ideas into reality.”
“Amanda is one of those rare professionals who has mastered many trades. As an Olympian-turned entrepreneur, Amanda stood out to me since the moment we met. My students at Harvard University expect the best, and can easily spot inferior professionals. Amanda has provided a positive impact on my course, helping students to “see the light”, and bridge from books to the real world…”
A world-class distance runner, Amanda’s accomplishments had earned her an automatic spot in the 2008 Beijing Olympic trials—before a life-altering injury brought her career to a halt. Rather than giving up, Amanda took the curveball life threw at her as an opportunity to rewrite her story. Against all odds, she not only recovered but forged a new path launching a transformative online fitness and lifestyle community: Fit, Strong & Sexy.
It was through this platform that Amanda began her journey as a pioneer in Influencer Marketing. Recognizing the power of YouTube to grow an audience, Amanda realized opportunity that most top marketers of the time overlooked — the power to convert to her own platform. Her strategy paid off.
After just two months, Amanda had grown her channel to 1 million views.
With accolades as one of YouTube’s “Next Top Fitness Channels,” it was clear she had her finger on the pulse. Today, more than 80,000 subscribers still wait breathlessly for her next upload.
This same innate digital acumen led Amanda, now a widely recognized marketing thought leader, to expand the application of her expertise to other markets.
She co-founded the Interesting Agency, offering full-service brand strategy, marketing, and content production services, eventually selling to take the helm as the CMO of the world’s largest legacy fitness brand — Valeo Securities, where she’s heading up a re-brand and international re-launch as Valeo Fit.
Always looking for a challenge, Amanda took her expertise to academia.
With Influencer Marketing becoming the buzzword du jour, she saw first-hand how many companies were wasting resources on fluffy, one-off campaigns that failed to achieve real results. She channeled her deep experience, stellar industry reputation, and dissatisfaction with the status quo into developing the world’s first fully accredited program in Influencer Marketing at UCLA.
Whether Amanda is motivating a roomful of C-suite decision makers to take on a high-impact collaboration, inspiring a group of renaissance women to achieve their potential, or teaching future marketing pros how to be unforgettable, Amanda is a tornado in a tutu and combat boots with a mission to help you find the key to your success.
Amanda graduated from the University of Richmond where she attended on a full athletic scholarship and holds a MBA with a concentration in marketing.
— AS SEEN IN — The New York Times, The Toronto Star, ELLE France, The Chicago Tribune, The Toronto Star, FORBES, Aspen Sojourner, Hamptons Magazine, The Huffington Post, Shape, SELF, Forbes, LiveStrong.com, and many more
It’s tough to use words to describe Amanda Russell. She is a true expert in the marketing & specifically influencer marketing. Amanda thinks about influencer marketing in an entirely different way & communicates it so effectively (& entertainingly) that people actually get it. It’s hard to describe, but Amanda is able to teach & demonstrate in a way where it just clicks. Want a speaker who can both charm your audience & propel them to action? Meet Amanda Russell!
Host/Co- Producer Good Morning LA LA LAND
