Chichi Anyanwu. Photo credit: Terria Clay
After the economic impact of the coronavirus crisis left her unemployed, talent manager ChiChi Anyanwu turned adversity into opportunity and launched her own business.
Anyanwu says she thought about switching careers or going back to school when the pandemic struck, but her clients insisted they still needed her, and she did not want to let them down.
“I have always been passionate about connecting a diverse arts community and providing opportunities that advance and strengthen artists’ careers,” Anyanwu says. “Building talent from the ground up is what I want to do, what I love to do and what I am good at. This realization led me to take matters into my own hands.”
So, CHI Talent Management, LLC, was born.
CHI Talent Management represents theater, film, and television clients with a mission to advise and guide an array of talent in the entertainment industry.
Anyanwu empowers her clients to achieve their personal and professional goals through strategic career development and innovative marketing, she says.
The company, which launched in March, manages the details of artists’ professional lives so they can focus on creative productivity. “I enable artists to thrive and create, while I manage their business and career matters,” says Anyanwu who also serves as her clients’ spokeswoman.
Anyanwu’s clients have appeared in theater, television, and film. The actors, dancers, singers and comedians have been on Broadway and in national tours. Some were on recognizable shows such as: Wicked, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Jesus Christ Superstar.
Some have been seen in films such as: Otherhood, Standing Up, Falling Down, Boogie, and Vampires vs. the Bronx.
Some of her clients television credits include: The Deuce, Fosse/Verdon, Power, Gotham, Snowfall, Bull, Madam Secretary, The Code, Alternatino, Godfather of Harlem, Law & Order: SVU, FBI and Wu-Tang: An American Saga.
“Our company’s guiding principles are communication, creativity, and compassion,” Anyanwu says. “Our 3 C’s create the foundation we use to amplify our clients’ careers.”
Clients include: Toree Alexandre, Taylor Blackman, Keith Arthur Bolden, Tommy Bo, Esther Chen, DeLeon Dallas, Kyle Decker, Jasmine D. Ellis, Sarah Anne Fernandez, Esmeralda Garza, Mia Gerachis, Nathan James, Julian Joseph, Pepe Nufrio, Marsha Regis, Brandon St. Clair and Rachel Schur, Naren Weiss.
Anyanwu started her professional career in casting at Laura Stanczyk Casting and Finnegan/Keller Casting. She has served as producer for the NOW AFRICA: Playwrights Festival. NOW AFRICA works in partnership with the Center for Art and Public Policy, the Institute of Performing Arts at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, and Anna Deavere Smith’s Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue. NOW AFRICA’s mission focuses on bridging the continental divide and exposing communities to playwrights from the African Diaspora.
Her past producing projects include workshop productions of the 1st Gen Nigerian Project at the Bank Street Theatre and the Humanitas Award -winning play Good Grief written by her sister, Ngozi Anyanwu, at the INTAR Theatre. Anyanwu serves as a diversity audience consultant for Broadway and Off-Broadway theatres. Anyanwu is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a B.A. in Communication, Theater Studies minor and an African Studies Certificate.
www.chitalentmanagement.com
