Danielle Hope Diamond
Executive Creative Director
As the Founder and Executive Creative Director of Epiq Media, Danielle is dedicated to blending high-growth marketing strategy with Hollywood creativity.
Regarded as one of the leading creatives in B2B and social content today, Danielle has directed content for companies like Drift, Privy, ExitFive, Snapchat, TikTok, Trainual, Loom, Hopin, Goldcast, Ahrefs, Condé Nast, Gucci, GQ, Female Quotient, Matter Made, Theatrely, Rosetta Stone, Vicks, Calm, Adidas, Native, Tampax, Invisalign, TOMs, and many more.
Often referred to as the most creative content in B2B Marketing, her work has famously become the best way to drive brand awareness. Designed to feel less like an ad and more like a TV show, her branded content has contributed to 1 Billion+ organic views, 7 Million+ followers, and over $1B in funding and revenue for her collective client portfolio.
Known for their quick wit and unprecedented virality in the world of B2B Marketing, Danielle and the Epiq team have become known for their unique ability to make markets problem-aware, through humor that connects with them on a human level, regardless of how niche or boring that product or industry may seem.
When Danielle isn’t growing brands, she can be found singing showtunes, and consulting as a writer alongside Disney screenwriters and Tony-Award Winning Producers. Most recently, she directed the specialty camera shots on the production of Weird Little Flute for Saturday Night Live (SNL). She also Directed Montell Jordan’s latest Music Video for Trainual, which is now a Finalist for the 2022 Shorty Awards and 2022 EMY Awards.
With a passion for character-centric narrative storytelling, Danielle’s personal creative work has been featured in 30+ film festivals around the world. With multiple awards for Best Screenplay, Danielle’s films have been recognized for examining the complexities of relationships within the human experience. Stylistically, she emphasizes the subtleties of life and relationships through highly purposeful structure.
If you catch her on a zoom meeting, she’ll most likely be accompanied by Bruce and Ginny, her two Bengal Cats.
A. Ari Brenner
Writer & Producer
When Ari was a kid, they made up a game where you had to write commercials. So when they grew up and learned that it was an actual job, they decided to give it a go.
Although they love making commercials, Ari Brenner is most widely known a nationally renowned playwright.
Their plays have been produced or commissioned by La Jolla Playhouse, National Disability Theatre, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Three Muses Theatre Company, Young Playwrights Inc., The Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts, Columbia University, and The Hangar Theatre Lab Company, among others, and have been featured on the 2020 Kilroys List.
Most recently, A.A. was named a Finalist for the 2020-22 Apothetae & Lark Playwriting Fellowship, and is one of the inaugural recipients of the Jody Falco and Jeffrey Steinman Award.
With their comedic flair and naturalistic dialogue, Ari is a master at making branded content that people actually enjoy watching.
Ari holds a B.A. in English & Theatre from Cornell and an MFA in playwriting from Columbia University School of the Arts. Currently, they reside in Manhattan with their cockapoo Cody.
Topher Maslanka
Cinematographer & Virality Expert
Topher got his start in production building the Filthy Frank Youtube Channel from 10K to over 8 Million subscribers, and building a corner of the internet known as the meme culture. His instinct for virality started with the creation of the Harlem Shake and blossomed many other careers on the internet amassing well over a Billion Organic Views.
Most recently, Topher has found a focus in the food and beverage industry, incorporating a high speed robotic arm for commercial clients including Coca Cola, Red Lobster, Pepsi, Wendys, KFC & more.
Topher enjoys living an insane lifestyle of Mac & cheese, chicken tendies, and skiing in Breckenridge. He recently acquired a very smol cat named Bambi, who believes she is a black panther hunting through the jungle that is his windowsill plant collection, resulting in the death of many succulents.
A can-do attitude for creative ideas has lead to a deep base for problem solving with a wide variety of scientificly based solutions. His mother is also very proud that the 15 years of art classes didn’t go to waste! Speaking of my parents, they’re the most wonderful people on this planet and have given me the space to develop into a beautiful creative soul.
Amanda Whiteley
Location Manager & Producer
An actor by trade, she began working with Epiq as on-screen talent, and quickly fell in love with what the team was doing behind the camera.
Known for producing theatre in unconventional spaces, Amanda believes that the success of any creative project depends on cultivating the right people, places, and stories. Transferring her work in theatre to film, she quickly found her niche in locations and casting.
Her expertise in site-specific productions has provided unique and exclusive access to locations spanning classic NYC Churches, Roman-Style Forums, Marvel-Quality Warehouse-spaces, Brasserie-style bars, parks, universities, and other exclusive locations across the east-coast.
When she’s scouting locations, Amanda is scouting talent. Currently an MFA Directing Candidate at the Yale School of Drama, and with theatre and performance training from Middlebury College, BADA, RADA, MFI, Boston University, NYU, and more, she loves connecting with actors, and continues to build Epiq’s network of top creative talent.
Amanda is dedicated to finding the right people and places for every creative project, for production budgets of all shapes and sizes.
If Amanda can convince hundreds of audience members to leave their cozy apartments to see Shakespeare plays... getting your audience hyped to watch your brand content is a piece of cake!
Cara Lehman
Producer & Camera Operator
Cara’s first camera came with a Jr. nature magazine catalog when she was 8 years old. She snapped away at nearly everything in front of her, thus sparking her fascination and admiration for the creative realm.
In her career, she’s taken on a variety of roles such as Producing, Directing, Writing, Cinematography, Editing and Production Design. Most recently she lead creative on digital content and commercials for clients including Kodak, Google, and B&H.
Cara received her BFA in Film/TV from The Savannah College of Art and Design in 2018. She directed her award-winning thesis Rent a Friend and worked alongside high-profile industry professionals to win a student Emmy.
When Cara’s not on set, you can find her cooking over-the-top brunches, painting nonsense onto a large canvas, or spending the day in awe of her Bombay cat Rosemary.
Lucy Gamades
Writer & Creative Director
Lucy is a filmmaker originally from King of the Hill, Texas with a penchant for the morbidly funny. If she had a nickel for every time a close family member died on the day of a significant life event, she’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot, but weird that it’s happened twice. Her work has been called bleak by some, “deliciously disturbing” by others.
She has worked full time for both Condé Nast and A+E Networks, and she enjoys shooting on 16mm.
She was a 2024 FLC Artists Academy finalist and a quarterfinalist in the 2024 Slamdance screenplay competition. Her film Mesopotamia, TX premiered in competition at the 2025 Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival, and is distributed internationally by Manifest Pictures. Her work has also been recognized by SXSW Sydney, Fantastic Fest and the Bushwick Film Festival.
She also runs a Substack about movies from the 1970s called the 70s, probably.