10 Questions. Pet Projects

• Author: Jenny B. Davis
• Pages: 12-14

10 QUESTIONS

Pet

Projects

This NYC-based lawyer

runs a talent agency

for internet-famous animals

BY JENNY B. DAVIS

It doesn’t take much for a pet to

be considered cute. Those button

noses. The big ears. The way they

look when they’re lapping, nib-

bling, preening, grooming or just staring

up at you. But for a pet to be standout

cute on Instagram? That takes quite a

bit more effort. In fact, it takes so much

effort to capture the attention of the

social media platform’s more than 1

billion active users that it can feel like a

full-time job. And for New York City-

based lawyer Loni Edwards , it actually

is her job. Edwards is the founder

and CEO of the Dog Agency , a talent

management company that connects

animal-focused social media accounts

with commercial opportunities. Among

her most in uential clients: Tika the

Iggy , Crusoe the Celebrity Dachshund ,

Harlow and Sage , and Toby Toad .

Edwards is also founder of PetCon, a

multicity annual conference that Travel

and Leisure magazine called “one of

the most magical events in the world

for pet owners.” And it all started when

she decided to share a few snaps of her

miniature French bulldog with friends.

Your career started out pretty

conventionally—you graduated

from Harvard Law School and

got a job as a lawyer. How did

you get from private practice to

the pet inf‌l uencer business? Did

you always intend to become an

entrepreneur?

No. My whole life, my goal was always

to be a lawyer. When I graduated from

law school, I moved to LA and joined

a  rm focused on IP litigation. I was

there for six months, but then I had

this entrepreneurial itch. I wanted to

do something more creative. I’m from

New York, so I moved back and started

a fashion tech company. I was alone all

the time working and wanted a little

friend to sit with me on the couch, so

I got a dog. Chloe was my  rst real

dog—my family had a dog when I

was younger, but I was off at board-

ing school. I didn’t know much about

the dog world at the time, and Chloe

changed my life completely. Looking

at her would just make me so happy.

I couldn’t get enough of taking pho-

tos and videos of her, and I wanted to

share that with my friends and family,

so I created an Instagram account for

her. That was in 2013 . Dog in uencers

weren’t really a thing then. I only made

a separate Instagram account for her in

case people didn’t want to see endless

pictures and videos of my dog.

As it turned out, many, many

people wanted to see your

photos! You eventually started

partnering with brands, turning

her into a full-f‌l edged pet

inf‌l uencer. What inf‌l uenced you

to scale this success into a talent

agency for other pet inf‌l uencers?

At the time Chloe was becoming an

in uencer, I was still running my fash-

ion tech business. I made tech-enabled

handbags that charged phones—I was

making them in the garment district—

and I was also licensing the utility

patent I received for it. But I started

meeting other humans in the pet in u-

encer space, and they were saying, “Ah,

I got this contract. I don’t know how to

read it; can you look at it?” I realized

there was no centralized hub that

helped pet in uencers and brands put it

all together. With my legal background

and having a pet in uencer myself, I

saw the potential to build around that.

There was someone who wanted to buy

my patent, so I decided to switch gears,

Loni Edwards strikes a pose with her

dog, Chloe, who died in 2017.

ABA JOURNAL | APRIL–MAY 2021

12

Inter Alia | 10 QUESTIONS

Photo courtesy of Loni Edwards

ABAJ AP -MAY rA PM