People of Beam Suntory: Lisa Li

People of Beam Suntory: Lisa Li 

“A lifetime goal of mine is to write a song that I'll hear performed by an artist on the radio. I’ve been writing songs for about 15 years. I haven't been published yet, and there was a point in my life where I got so frustrated that I began to feel like maybe I was wasting my time. But songwriting is something I love because it’s an expression of myself, and simply gives me joy. I love music and enjoy the challenge of trying to distill an idea into something that's compelling. I really like the creative process. Sometimes, my work is like an artistic endeavor where I start something on a piece of paper and then rewrite it until it’s just right, sort of like songwriting. I think there's this assumption that a creative person just plucks an idea out of thin air and then they just plop it onto a piece of paper, and it's done. Whereas I think of it as a process, where you mull an idea in your head, then write it and rewrite it. Like songwriting, work is a journey of ideas, feedback, and revisions, especially when collaborating with a team. 

When I worked on Courvoisier, within two years we turned the brand around to gain share in Canada. It wasn't like I had one idea, wrote it down, and done. It was a journey of collaborating with colleagues and agency partners, trying things out, and if something didn't work - going back and refining it. Working through that was like coming up with a song, then coming up with a full-fledged band where everybody was doing their part to activate and build visibility of Courvoisier. Working at Beam Suntory allows for a lot of teamwork and collaboration. People sometimes think of it as an army or sports team, but I think of my team as a band. When working on a project, we’re all playing together off the same song sheet and everybody has a different role within the band, working towards creating something amazing.”

 – Lisa Li, Senior Brand Manager, Canada.