Rich Paul, Pinky Cole, among speakers at Atlanta creator conference

Declaring Atlanta “the newly crowned influencer capital of America,” global talent agency UTA is ready to put those influencers to work.

This Saturday the newly-opened Atlanta office of the Beverly Hills, California, mega-agency will entertain 1,000 young social media creators at a day-long conference featuring a slate of 42 speakers including such personalities as sports agent Rich Paul and Atlanta restaurateur Pinky Cole.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

The event will be staged at the Overtime Elite Arena, a 103,000-square-foot facility in the Atlantic Station complex, which contains three NBA-sized basketball courts, classrooms, a dining hall and locker rooms.

Called UNLOQ404, the stated purpose of the conference is “to help the next generation of creators UNLOQ their potential and passion to create successful brands and thriving businesses.”

To attract that digital-savvy audience, UTA is presenting such youthful social media personalities as Atlanta YouTuber Baylen Levine, Atlanta radio personality Audley “Fly Guy DC” Feemster Jr. and model and entrepreneur India Love.

Steve Cohen, co-head of the Atlanta office of UTA, stressed that the young people attending the sold-out conference would see young presenters onstage, “people that look like them and talk like them. It’s meant to be for young people in Atlanta who, in many ways, help define what’s cool out there.”

Said Cohen, “a large part of this is about creating a road map for these young people to professionalize their passion.”

United Talent Agency was created in 1991 in Beverly Hills, and quickly grew through mergers to become a rival to such giants as CAA.

At first known for promoting a stable of comedians, the company also represents artists in film, television, music, sports, fine arts, news, and broadcasting, among other areas. UTA has branches in Chicago, New York, London, Miami, and Nashville, Tennessee. The Atlanta office opened in March.

With panels scheduled to take place Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., the presenters will offer advice in a series of “verticals,” including fine arts, sports, entrepreneurship, music, fashion, beauty and content creation.

No one is expected to stay in their seats for nine hours, said Cohen. The audience will be diverted with a performance by teenage rapper Luh Tyler (AKA Tyler Meeks) of Tallahassee, Florida, and can browse vendors and visit a food and drink court.

In addition to offering the audience members advice on expanding their social media impact, UTA hopes to recruit young influencers for its own talent pool.

“We think technology has fractured the way a consumer gets their media, and we want to be out in front of it,” said Cohen.

Among the presenters Saturday are:

Credit: UTA

DJ Drama: Atlanta hip-hop pioneer and T.I.’s righthand man, Drama’s Gangsta Grillz enterprise turned mixtapes into a cultural force, before the underground mixtape economy was effectively scuttled by the recording industry.
Pinky Cole: Atlanta-based restaurateur and creator of the Slutty Vegan chain, Cole has demonstrated that eating your vegetables can be not only healthy and tasty but also sexy. She made her way onto many lists of top food celebrities, including the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 40 Under 40 and Time magazine’s 100 Next.
Rich Paul: Founder of Klutch Sports Group, and superstar sports agent, Paul represents Lebron James and negotiated a $200 million deal for Darius Garland, star point guard with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Samir Chaudry: One-half of the hit YouTube chat show “Colin and Samir,” Chaudry interviews creators about creating: 1.35 million subscribers to their YouTube channel are listening.

Credit: Ben Gray/ABImages

Cohen said the response to the sold-out conference is encouraging. “The enthusiasm we received is hopefully proof of our thesis that young people are hungry for this.”