Lisa Donovan
Lisa Donovan | |
---|---|
Born | New York City, U.S.[1] | June 11, 1980
Nationality | American |
Other names | LisaNova (on YouTube) |
Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, former YouTube content creator |
Years active | 2006–present |
Known for | The Pattern, Maker Studios |
Website | https://thepattern.com/ |
Lisa Donovan (born June 11, 1980) is an American entrepreneur, former YouTube content creator and the Founder and CEO of The Pattern.[2]
Prior to founding The Pattern, Donovan began her career as one of YouTube's earliest content creators and was subsequently one of the co-founders of Maker Studios, a YouTube video network which was purchased in 2015 by The Walt Disney Company for $675M.[3]) The network was absorbed by Disney in 2017 to become Disney Digital Network. The network provided production and marketing services for over 1,000 YouTube channels. [4]
She was also a founder of Zappin Productions,[5] a production company that specialized in viral videos.
Early life
Donovan grew up in Scarsdale, New York.[6] She was a student at the University of Colorado at Boulder before moving to Los Angeles, California.[7]
Career
YouTube
Donovan made her first YouTube channel in September 2005[8] and uploaded her first video, "Introducing LisaNova," a reel of facial clips in black-and-white accompanied by the Charles Aznavour song Non, je n'ai rien oublié, to YouTube on June 7, 2006.[9] She has parodied a number of celebrities and public figures; her impersonation of Sarah Palin was praised in Wired as "ruthlessly hilarious", and in 2008 Ralph Nader made a guest appearance in one of the skits.[10] In a Forbes magazine article, YouTube founder Chad Hurley highlighted Donovan's success as an example of the changing paradigm of entertainment.[11] Donovan is also a co-creator of the popular YouTube channel 'The Station', which led to her co-founding the YouTube network Maker Studios.
Mainstream success
Donovan was one of the first YouTube content creators to cross over to mainstream Hollywood when she was cast on MADtv in 2006.[12] She debuted in a spoof of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where she played Salma Hayek, the producer of the ABC Comedy Ugly Betty, and Rosie O'Donnell.[13] The episode aired on February 17, 2007. After signing a contract and only appearing in four episodes of MADtv, she left the following season.
In 2010, she was given a role in Cosmopolitan's Fun & Fearless campaign for females.[14]
In 2011, she was honored as Pioneer in New Media at the third annual Burbank International Film Festival[15] alongside fellow honorees Bill Plympton, Mark Kirkland, Fred Willard, Al Jean, and Roger Corman.
In 2015, she played the role of the flight attendant in Jeremy Garelick's The Wedding Ringer.[16] Comedian Bo Burnham called Donovan "hot" in his song, "Welcome to YouTube" at YouTube Live in 2008.
Maker Studios
Donovan co-founded and served as a board member for Maker Studios, a next-generation talent-focused technology & media company. Maker Studios was sold to The Walt Disney Company in 2014.[17]
The Pattern
Donovan is the Founder and CEO of The Pattern, an app algorithmically tied to astrology but stripped of its polarizing verbiage.[18] In 2021, Vanity Fair reported how the app was quietly released as a public beta with no advertising, no PR, and no marketing, yet The Pattern’s reputation for generating detailed information with mind blowing accuracy fueled word-of-mouth growth.[19] The app recently crossed the threshold of 15 million generated profiles and has been seeing a natural, steady rise.[20] Before The Pattern even officially launched it had found 30,000 users by word of mouth. [21]
Hollywood fans of The Pattern include Issa Rae, Lena Dunham, Tiffany Haddish, Maisie Williams and Jennifer Aniston,[22] but its most publicised user is Channing Tatum — who stumbled over the app in 2019 and posted a video reaction that went viral. In it he splutters: “How do you know what you know about me, Pattern? … I don’t even know if I wanna know this stuff.”[23]
In America apps like The Pattern are part of the $11 billion "self-development industry"[24] and the “mystical services market”, which is predicted to grow by 2.6 per cent this year alone, to a total revenue of $2.2 billion (£1.6 billion).[25] The Pattern is initially free, but with a “Go Deeper” paid subscription level for true devotees (£14.50 per quarter or £36 annually), which allows you to “run a Bond” (test friendship/romantic compatibility) with unlimited people — there is a three-per-day cap in the free version.[26] Using the time, date and place of your birth, the app creates a unique “pattern” — a user’s manual to their life, with info on personality traits, behavioural patterns, relationship habits and daily affirmations on how to navigate astrological “cycles”; which The Sunday Times has described as "Myers-Briggs meets Brené Brown".[27] Fans of the app have described themselves as “obsessed” and accuse it of being “freaky” and “scarily accurate”.[28]
In 2021, Donovan explained to The Sunday Times, W Magazine and Vanity Fair how her life experiences around the time of the Maker Studios acquisition by Disney inspired her to build The Pattern,[29] which she initially self-funded with a portion of her earnings from the sale.[30]
In 2021 Donovan announced that The Pattern intends to launch a dating product called Connect.[31]
See also
References
- ^ "The Pattern, Known for Its "Scarily Accurate" Approach to Astrology, Has Its Sights on Dating".
- ^ "The Pattern, Known for Its "Scarily Accurate" Approach to Astrology, Has Its Sights on Dating".
- ^ "Disney Paid $675M For Maker, Its 10Q Discloses". Media Post. February 12, 2016.
- ^ "Smaller Studios, for the Smaller Screen". The New York Times. April 10, 2011.
- ^ Morrissey, Brian (January 1, 2007). "Lisa Nova On The Spot". Adweek. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved January 4, 2007.
- ^ 15 Minutes of Fame: Becoming a Star in the YouTube Revolution by Frederick Levy, P. 75
- ^ "Lisa Donovan Joins the Cast of MADtv". January 31, 2007. Archived from the original on July 14, 2007. Retrieved July 11, 2007.
- ^ "lisa's channel - YouTube". YouTube. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
- ^ "Introducing LisaNova - YouTube". YouTube. June 7, 2006. Retrieved July 16, 2007.
- ^ Wortham, Jenna (September 2, 2008). "YouTube Comedian LisaNova Packs Heat for Sarah Palin Spoof". Wired.
- ^ "YouToo". Forbes. May 7, 2007.
- ^ Nova, Lisa. "Lisa Nova". Huffington Post.
- ^ Wallenstein, Andrew (April 29, 2007). "How YouTube Helped LisaNova Start Her Career". The New York Times. Retrieved July 7, 2007.
- ^ "Cosmo's Fun Fearless Female Campaign Video Clip". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
- ^ Burbank International Film Festival, 2011 Honorees Archived October 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "The Wedding Ringer".
- ^ "It's Official: Disney Acquires Maker Studios For At Least $500M".
- ^ "The Pattern, Known for Its "Scarily Accurate" Approach to Astrology, Has Its Sights on Dating". Vanity Fair. May 19, 2021.
- ^ "The Pattern, Known for Its "Scarily Accurate" Approach to Astrology, Has Its Sights on Dating". Vanity Fair. May 19, 2021.
- ^ "The Pattern, Known for Its "Scarily Accurate" Approach to Astrology, Has Its Sights on Dating". Vanity Fair. May 19, 2021.
- ^ "Why The Pattern astrology app founder Lisa Donovan is the Millennial Mystic Meg". The Sunday Times. July 11, 2021.
- ^ "Well Intentioned: How Jennifer Aniston Prioritizes Self-Care—And Her Non-Negotiable Coffee Ritual". Vogue. June 28, 2021.
- ^ "Channing Tatum Is Spooked By This Popular Astrology App, And, Honestly, So Am I". Buzzfeed. July 13, 2019.
- ^ "The Pattern, Known for Its "Scarily Accurate" Approach to Astrology, Has Its Sights on Dating". Vanity Fair. May 19, 2021.
- ^ "Why The Pattern astrology app founder Lisa Donovan is the Millennial Mystic Meg". The Sunday Times. July 11, 2021.
- ^ "Why The Pattern astrology app founder Lisa Donovan is the Millennial Mystic Meg". The Sunday Times. July 11, 2021.
- ^ "Why The Pattern astrology app founder Lisa Donovan is the Millennial Mystic Meg". The Sunday Times. July 11, 2021.
- ^ "Why The Pattern astrology app founder Lisa Donovan is the Millennial Mystic Meg". The Sunday Times. July 11, 2021.
- ^ "The Pattern, Known for Its "Scarily Accurate" Approach to Astrology, Has Its Sights on Dating". Vanity Fair. May 19, 2021.
- ^ "Why The Pattern astrology app founder Lisa Donovan is the Millennial Mystic Meg". The Sunday Times. July 11, 2021.
- ^ "The founder of The Pattern and its new dating feature, Connect, decodes what's in store for a season of transformation". W Magazine. June 10, 2021.
External links
- Lisa Donovan at IMDb
- LisaNova at YouTube
- 1980 births
- Living people
- American businesspeople
- American people of Guernsey descent
- University of Colorado alumni
- Maker Studios people
- American YouTubers
- Scarsdale High School alumni
- American sketch comedians
- American film actresses
- American web series actresses
- 21st-century American actresses
- American businesspeople in the online media industry
- YouTube channels launched in 2005
- YouTube channels launched in 2006
- 21st-century American comedians