One of the last places a Texan with a computer science degree and a specialty in the oil and gas business ever expected to be was Hollywood. Yet here LaQuishe Wright is, reflecting on her wild journey from an Uber en route to an entertainment industry press junket for one of her star clients.
Wright, or “Q,” as she’s known in the business, provides social media management services for celebrities like Channing Tatum and Zac Efron, as well as film and television studios, non-profits, and more. The focus of Q Social Media, LTD has evolved and been refined over the past 15 years.
Wright started out as a programmer and business analyst, but always had that entrepreneurial spark; down deep, she knew she would have her own shop. Post-9/11 changes in companies’ staffing led her to launch by offering web design services, which quickly morphed into SEO offerings, which eventually became social media.
She then worked up a “test case” to prove the value of social media for fan communities. That case later became a client, and Wright’s reputation grew from there. She knew there’d be big business in Hollywood because fan communities already existed for celebrities.
Wright was instrumental in actually defining what social media could mean as a benefit for entertainment businesses.
One of the ways this value has manifested is that Wright is now embedded on her clients’ film sets. This presence, and the work that comes from it, had its most recent victory while working with her client, writer Nicholas Sparks, on his 2016 movie The Choice. Wright was able to invent, and receive, a “unit digital publicist” credit.
Though she spends a lot of time on both coasts with high-profile clients, Wright is still based in Houston with her family. A working mom with two boys, she feels lucky that she can often work from home, and has achieved an enviable work/life balance. With a job that’s taken her all over the world, when she’s in Houston, “I’m really home. Of course technology helps, and we have a great support system, but the boys know their mom is really happy.”
That doesn’t mean she downplays the tremendous amount of hard work and drive it took for her to get where she is.
“People see the glamour and the fun, and don’t realize that also means I work seven days a week and on holidays,” says the WeWork Commons member. “I believed in the value of an idea, and had to be willing to be in the weeds day after day proving that it worked.”
Stepping out of her ride at the end of a breathless conversation, Wright offers this insight to would-be entrepreneurs: “Passion is the most important thing. Is your idea something you would pursue for free? It really has to be on that level to succeed.”
Photos: Salvador Ochoa