Real Leaders

Promise Phelon, CEO of TapInfluence, has built successful companies on both coasts and made her way to Boulder in 2015 to lead the leading Saas company for influencer marketing. In this authentic and engaging conversation, Promise shares and influential stories from her early career that have shaped her approach to leadership. She also talks about her experience of landing in a city in the middle of her career on the SFO to NYC flight path: “In the Valley, there’s become an archetype of who gets what — opportunities, venture money. And I wonder if that archetype is either dated or needs to be revisited. What I think about is there’s nothing conventional about Boulder, so can there be a different archetype or an anti-archetype that gets welcomed here?” She is embracing the opportunity to build a big company that looks nothing like big companies in the Valley. How can you scale an influencer marketing business that depends on authenticity of speakers to support the major brands that are clients of TapInfl