How Savvy Events founder DeNeitra Burnett’s pandemic pivot led to a seven-figure business

DeNeitra Burnett is the founder and CEO of Savvy Creative Agency, a Los-Angeles based event production, and creative agency. After so many years of working full-time in the event industry, she decided to call it quits and started her own agency.

Initially founded as Savvy Events, the sole focus at the company’s inception in 2010 was weddings, however, DeNeitra was able to put her marketing and events background to work and transitioned the company’s focus to solely corporate and influencer events in 2015.

Soon, Savvy Events gained recognition for its expertise in “experiential engagement via marketing activations paired with unrivaled design,” DeNeitra noted in an interview. However, at the height of the pandemic, she saw the need to pivot once again and launched new channels for business.

“We took the foundational principles we used to design live experiences and added custom mailers to our repertoire, which has now led to working with some of the biggest companies in the world, from Google to Netflix to La Roche-Posay,” she told BizBash. “This led to our full rebrand in 2022 to Savvy Creative Agency, as it’s more reflective of what we offer to those looking for experiential marketing solutions.”

Today, Savvy Creative Agency has grown into a leading Los Angeles experiential agency serving top global brands, Fortune 500 companies, and more.

At the core of Burnett’s success are innovation and forward-thinking. According to her, the rapid changes technology is bringing into the world directly impact how entrepreneurs like her do business, particularly when it comes to cultivating unique experiences that make an impression and create lasting memories. For her, to be innovative is to be a risk-taker.

“It means leveraging technology and presentation in new ways, and not being afraid to rework it if your initial iteration is a flop,” she explains. “At our agency, we believe in crafting immersive experiences that inspire, delight, and leave a lasting impact on our clients and their guests. And, to be frank, with the level of clientele we’re working with—who attend exclusive events or receive 10-plus mailers a day—you have to do it up in a way that they’re honestly just not expecting, and that’s where innovation comes into play.”

Burnett says her successful journey as an entrepreneur cannot be told without the influence of her parents, and the unwavering support of her husband when she started her business journey.

Before venturing into entrepreneurship, she was uncertain about the direction of her professional life. However, she decided to take a shot at law school and become a lawyer. After three unsuccessful runs at the LSAT, she decided to put her dream of becoming a lawyer on hold.

DeNeitra has an MBA from CSU, San Bernardino, and a BA in Communications from Howard University.