FlyteVu CEO Laura Hutfless on Turning Rejection Into Opportunity and Building a Culture-Driven Agency: “We Eat No’s for Breakfast”
…My daughter is adopted, and I have a real heart for foster care and children who are still looking for homes. It would be my dream to develop a campaign that helps place children who need a forever home. The math is doable; it is primarily an awareness challenge. People need to understand the sheer breadth of children waiting for families. Imagine living in a world where every child who needs a home has one! Most of us have empty guest rooms in our homes, while there are children sleeping on the floor of the Department of Children’s Services every night. I would love to be part of solving that, whether through FlyteVu or my own charitable work. It is a core part of my personal mission…
I had the pleasure of talking with Laura Hutfless. In the high-stakes space where pop culture meets corporate America, it is remarkably easy to lose your soul to the transaction. But Hutfless, the CEO and co-founder of the culture agency FlyteVu, has spent the last decade trying to rewrite that script. Blending the rigid discipline of her Navy commander father with the free-flowing creativity of her art teacher mother, she has carved out a unique space in the entertainment industry. “I definitely learned all of my leadership and business acumen from my dad, and acquired my creative talents and skill sets from my mother,” she explains. “I’ve been working between both those worlds ever since.”
Before building her own empire, Hutfless spent twenty years navigating the halls of talent giants like William Morris Endeavor (WME) and Creative Artists Agency (CAA). She served as the vital bridge between A-list celebrities and corporate brands. Eventually, those brands wanted her undivided attention. Ten years ago, she launched FlyteVu with a rebellious company mantra: “Safe Doesn’t Fly.” The goal was ambitious but clear. She wanted to weave brands into the fabric of pop culture rather than just slapping logos on billboards. Her approach requires a relentless kind of hustle, perhaps best illustrated by how she landed the dating app Bumble as a client. Ten years ago, she cold-emailed the founder’s team in Austin, claiming she was going to be in town and asking for coffee. “I wasn’t actually planning to be in Austin, but when she said yes, I booked a flight,” Hutfless recalls. That coffee date turned into a massive partnership, with FlyteVu serving as Bumble’s agency of record from its early days all the way through a billion-dollar IPO.
But the rise was not without its brutal, and sometimes hilarious, learning curves. In the early days of her agency, with only three employees, FlyteVu landed a pitch meeting with the American Red Cross. Wanting to impress, her graphic designer took some serious creative liberties with the presentation deck. “On the first slide, they stopped the presentation and said, ‘You reversed our logo,’” Hutfless remembers. They had placed a white cross on a red background. “They pointed out, ‘That’s the Swiss flag, not our logo.’” For the next 120 slides, the Swiss flag glared back at them. They kept the client, but the lesson was permanently inked into her mind. “The lesson I learned is to never mess with a brand style guide,” she says.
In the entertainment business, rejection is the only constant. Hutfless trains her team to embrace it head-on. “We have a saying at FlyteVu that ‘we eat no’s for breakfast,’” she says, noting that she tells her staff to expect at least five rejections before finally getting a yes. This philosophy turned a potential disaster into one of her proudest moments. When an A-list celebrity abruptly dropped out of a campaign for a reptile pet brand, the team pivoted to young rapper 24kGoldn. Around the same time, an urgent Make-A-Wish request came in from a little boy who wanted a reptile zoo. The brand and FlyteVu built the zoo, and after a show, 24kGoldn drove two hours into farm country to gift his own bearded dragon to the boy. “It changed the boy’s life and brought all of us to tears,” Hutfless says. “Where there was a ‘no’, we found a better solution that ultimately created a massive impact for everyone involved.”
Behind the glossy campaigns and million-dollar deals, Hutfless has weathered profound personal storms. She is transparent about the harsh realities that have tested her resilience. Over the years, she suffered a head injury, lost six clients in a single day during the pandemic lockdown, and endured the tragic, unexpected overdose and death of her boyfriend. On top of this, at age forty, she became a single adoptive mother to a little girl born at just 29 weeks, weighing a mere two pounds and facing severe health issues. “Navigating motherhood on my own with those health needs while running a company as CEO has been the toughest job,” she admits. Yet, she grounds her survival in a deep, unshakable faith. “We have a saying that whatever happens to you in one chapter, God is going to use in the next,” she explains. “I have seen God use what was really hard for good, and that keeps me going.”
Today, the agency has grown far beyond its scrappy roots. After being acquired by Driftwood Music Group, FlyteVu doubled its footprint, opening hubs in Los Angeles, New York, and Austin. They are currently rolling out proprietary AI tools to help clients spot pop culture trends without human bias. Yet, even with this massive expansion and the growth of the FlyteVu Fund — which donates a tenth of the agency’s revenue to charitable causes — Hutfless’s ultimate dream is deeply personal and entirely unplugged from corporate profits. Influenced by her own journey as an adoptive mother, she desperately wants to solve the foster care crisis. “Imagine living in a world where every child who needs a home has one,” she says, noting that there are enough empty guest rooms in America to house every waiting child. “I would love to be part of solving that. It is a core part of my mission.”
Yitzi: Laura, it’s so great to meet you. Before we dive in deep, our readers would love to learn about your personal origin story. Can you share with us the story of your childhood, how you grew up, and the seeds for all the incredible work that you’ve done since then?
Laura: Nice to meet you. I was raised by a dad who was a commander in the Navy and a mother who was an art teacher. I definitely learned all of my leadership and business acumen from my dad, and acquired my creative talents and skill sets from my mother. I’ve been working between both those worlds ever since.
Yitzi: Please tell us the story of how you started your PR agency.
Laura: We’re actually a creative and culture agency. I spent about 20 years collectively on the talent and entertainment side. I was at William Morris and CAA respectively, two of the largest talent agencies in the world, brokering brand partnerships between my roster of talent and corporate brands. Then, 10 years ago, quite a few of those corporate brands started asking me to work for them. I decided I couldn’t choose just one, but I could start an agency and they could all hire me, and that’s what happened. That was the beginning of FlyteVu. Over the past 10 years, we’ve grown. Now, our three superpowers are creative, talent and pop culture, and publicity. We help our clients connect to their consumers via the power of pop culture and purpose.
Yitzi: You probably have some incredible stories from different parts of your career. I’m sure it’s hard to single them out, but can you share with our readers one or two stories that stand out the most in your mind?
Laura: I’ll tell you about a campaign we did at FlyteVu that was really impactful. This was about a year and a half post-COVID, and we realized that the CMOs and CEOs we were working with — our clients — were really burned out. They had kept their teams motivated and afloat through COVID, at the cost of their own health. Over a period of six months, we secretly found out their bucket list wishes. We called them together for what we disguised as a virtual panel. While we had a speaker talking to them, we sent a link to their phones. It was a link to the bucket list experience we had planned and orchestrated for them. The caveat: they had to accept, or else the offer would combust in 24 hours. They had to decide whether they would clear their schedules to live out their bucket list dream or stick to the status quo. Many of them chose to take the adventure. The trips were so fun. One CMO got to record in a studio with his favorite band. Another got to take a cooking lesson from a chef in Paris, and another rode horses in London. It was a meaningful way for us to give back to our clients. Those are the things that stand out to me. Yes, we’ve done a lot of amazing things with celebrities over the years, but when we’ve really impacted and changed someone’s life, those are the moments I love.
Yitzi: There’s a saying that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Do you have a story about a humorous mistake you made when you were first starting your career and the lesson you took away from it?
Laura: We had just started FlyteVu, and one of our first clients was the American Red Cross. They had given us a brief, and we really wanted to do a great job. We only had three employees at the time, and we put together a big presentation. My graphic designer, who was the only other employee, designed the presentation. We went in to present, and we had taken some creative liberties with the deck. On the first slide, they stopped the presentation and said, “You reversed our logo.” We had placed a white cross on a red background. They pointed out, “That’s the Swiss flag, not our logo.” I immediately wanted to drop through the floor because, on every slide for the next 120 slides, we had the red background and the white cross — essentially the Swiss flag. The lesson I learned is to understand the non-negotiables. Stick to the style guides. Take risks with the rest. Luckily, we kept the business.
Yitzi: There’s another saying that “no” is not rejection but redirection. Do you have a story where you received a “no” to an opportunity, but it led to an unexpected success or blessing?
Laura: We have a mantra at FlyteVu that “we eat no’s for breakfast.” When you do what we do — creating first-of-their-kind campaigns — you get a lot of no’s. I tell my team to be prepared to get five or six no’s before finally getting a yes, and you can’t give up after those first few attempts. I believe that everything happens for a reason and God always works out the best plan. For example, we had brokered a campaign with a big A-list celebrity and a reptile pet brand. This particular celebrity had a bearded dragon and was known for loving pets. At the last minute, the celebrity had to drop out of the campaign. Everyone was disappointed. We found another celebrity, a young rapper named 24kGoldn, who had a bearded dragon and loved reptiles, so we replaced him in the campaign. During the course of this campaign, we heard about an urgent Make-A-Wish request for a reptile zoo from a little boy. We all knew what “urgent” meant. The brand and our team decided to create this reptile zoo for him. It just so happened that 24kGoldn was coming through town around that same time. After his show, he drove two hours into farm country to give his own bearded dragon to this little boy. It changed the boy’s life and brought all of us to tears. Where there was a no, we found a better solution that ultimately created a massive impact for everyone involved. Sometimes a no is really a no, but we have to turn that into an opportunity. Keep searching, keep looking, and keep knocking on doors; the right one will always open.
Yitzi: Laura, what has been the most challenging project or role you’ve taken on so far, and why?
Laura: The most challenging role I’ve taken on is being a mother and a CEO simultaneously. A unique part of my story is that I adopted my little girl on my own at 40, as a single adoptive mother. She was born early at 29 weeks, weighed two pounds, and had a lot of health issues. Navigating motherhood on my own, while also running a company as CEO has been challenging. But it has also been the most rewarding.
Yitzi: Laura, please tell us about any new, exciting initiatives or projects you’re working on now.
Laura: FlyteVu was acquired in 2025 by a holding company called Driftwood Music Group. We were their first acquisition. Since then, we’ve doubled in size. We’ve expanded with hubs in LA, New York, and Austin. Our investor has been very successful in the AI and tech space, which has helped us look to the future to develop our own proprietary AI tools. These tools will help our clients identify trends and opportunities in pop culture, react faster, and take bias out of the process. We plan to roll those out in Q2, which will be a major launch and announcement for us.
Yitzi: What would you say you and your company do that others in your space aren’t as good at?
Laura: We are experts at identifying the right pop culture opportunities for our clients and brokering the best deals. Because of our collective experience in the entertainment universe, we understand what motivates talent and third-party IP. We use our deep relationships and long history in that space to help brands craft offers and campaigns that are true partnerships rather than just paid endorsements, making it less about the transaction and more about what each partner can achieve together that they couldn’t do on their own. We are experts at understanding how to get the right people in the room to broker those types of campaigns.
Yitzi: Laura, you are an amazing networker. Can you share some tips with our readers on great networking, both in real life and online?
Laura: I love this question. When I meet with young executives, one piece of advice about networking is to focus on building trust, developing the relationship, and always ask for two more introductions. That is a relatively easy request for most people to fulfill. If you keep doing that at every meeting, you will soon build a massive network. That is exactly the approach I took when I moved to Nashville. I just started taking meetings and asking for two more introductions, which led to my current career path.
Also, don’t take “no” for an answer. Keep following up. If they don’t have time for coffee, find out where they are speaking next or what group they are involved in, and show up. About 10 years ago, I really wanted to land Bumble as a client. I wrote to the founder’s team in Austin, told them I was coming to town, and asked to meet for coffee. I wasn’t actually planning to be in Austin, but when she said yes, I booked a flight. You really have to put yourself out there to make the right connections.
Yitzi: That’s an amazing story. Did you get Bumble as a client?
Laura: We did. They were our largest client for a long time. We were their Agency of Record from their beginnings in 2015 all the way through their billion-dollar IPO. We even produced their Super Bowl commercial. Here is a fun story: the very first commercial spot I was ever involved with was a Super Bowl ad for Bumble. We started big! I am really proud of that one.
Yitzi: You really helped grow it into a super powerhouse. That is amazing. This brings us to the centerpiece of our interview, our signature question. Laura, you’ve been blessed with a lot of success and have learned a great deal from your experiences. Can you share the five things you need to create a highly successful agency like yours?
Laura: Okay, I will focus on character traits.
- Resilience. Life is going to kick you in the teeth both personally and professionally. I am a firm believer that to be successful at this level, you simply cannot quit. I experienced many hardships — a head injury, we lost six clients on the same day during COVID, my daughter was born prematurely at two pounds, and a boyfriend unexpectedly overdosed and died. You will experience pain on this journey, but you have to dig deep, be resilient, and find a purpose in the pain. Whatever happens to you in one chapter, God is going to use in the next. You have to hold onto that and push forward.
- Fearless. You cannot be afraid of failure; you have to be a risk-taker. I was already a risk-taker in my personal life — I love jumping out of planes and bungee jumping. I love being in uncomfortable situations and learning new things. You have to love taking risks and be excited by the process of failing and learning.
- Generosity. You don’t get here on your own; many people help you along the way. Be generous with them. Be generous with your time and your money. It is not worth getting to this point alone; it is much better to arrive with a team.
- Integrity. Your word and your reputation matter. Always do the right thing. If a problem can be fixed with money, pay the money, but always do right by people. You never know where they are going to end up — you might be working for them one day.
- Hire Good People. We made some excellent hiring decisions early on. I truly believe it was a gift from God, as some of those incredible people are still with us ten years later. You need a leadership team that shares the same core attributes and values: integrity, fearlessness, resilience, and generosity. You will get through the inevitable hard times because you have great people by your side.
Yitzi: I love it. On a personal level, can you share some of the self-care routines you practice to help your body, mind, and heart thrive?
Laura: I start every morning in prayer. I call it my ‘quiet time’ to connect with God and pray for wisdom, because you need loads of it when you’re leading people. I love to run, being outdoors and walking in nature. I also have a sauna, which I highly recommend. Since I was raised by an art teacher and now have a four-year-old daughter, I love doing arts and crafts with her. It is a great way to build creativity without the immense pressure that running an agency brings. You get to be creative, silly, wild, and make a mess. It is a wonderful way for me to decompress and tap into that core creativity we sometimes lose as we grow older.
Yitzi: This is our final aspirational question. Laura, because of your amazing work and the platform you’ve built, you are a person of enormous influence. If you could spread an idea or inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know how far your ideas can spread.
Laura: My daughter is adopted, and I have a real heart for foster care and children who are still looking for homes. It would be my dream to develop a campaign that helps place children who need a forever home. The math is doable; it is primarily an awareness challenge. People need to understand the sheer breadth of children waiting for families. Imagine living in a world where every child who needs a home has one! Most of us have empty guest rooms in our homes, while there are children sleeping on the floor of the Department of Children’s Services every night. I would love to be part of solving that, whether through FlyteVu or my own charitable work. It is a core part of my personal mission.
Yitzi: Laura, how can our readers continue to follow your work? How can they reach out to you and your company to engage your services, or support your work in any possible way?
Laura: You can go to our website at flytevu.com to see our work. There is a link to connect with someone on the team, or you can email me directly. Please reach out!
Yitzi: Wonderful. Thank you for this amazing interview.
FlyteVu CEO Laura Hutfless on Turning Rejection Into Opportunity and Building a Culture-Driven… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.