Tapping into the power of influencers

When Texans Diedra Pyle and Lindsay Messina started their agency a few years ago, one of their goals — their “North Star,” as Pyle described it — was to work with influencers.

Pyle and Messina founded their agency as Rove Travel Co. in 2022. They’ve since rebranded the agency to Fiorae Luxury Travel, but remain affiliates of Embark Beyond in New York.

At the time, they saw great potential for working with influencers. They frequently go on trips, and considering how many there are, the opportunity seemed ripe.

That strategy is coming to fruition. Fiorae handled a babymoon trip for influencer and hairstylist Eric Vaughn-Trainor and his husband, Tony Trainor. When their twins turned 1, they came back to Fiorae to plan a celebration trip in Paris.

Pyle and Messina arranged for everything from a decorator, to a videographer, to a photographer — after all, content is key for influencers — and their efforts have been rewarded.

“We really saw a huge payoff from working with the Vaughn-Trainor family,” Pyle said. “We are working on two Paris trips as a result of them just seeing it on their page right now. They’re not influencers, but they’re great trips.”

One is a mother taking her two daughters to Paris. Another is a couple who has had a hard year but has never been to Europe before and they’re investing quite a bit into the trip.

The Vaughn-Trainor trip also had another kind of payoff: Fiorae’s own follower count on Instagram grew.

“We want to duplicate that model and keep doing that,” Pyle said.

Both Pyle and Messina started their careers in public relations. They officially left their jobs in April so they could work full time on Fiorae. 

“We have just blown up,” Messina said. “Everyone is reaching out. We’ve been able to put more time and effort into marketing and our social, and we’ve seen the results come back twofold.”

Outside of influencer work, Fiorae specializes in honeymoons. It’s the phase of life both Messina and Pyle are in right now, Messina said, making it easy to relate to couples. They’ve partnered with several wedding planners, as well, who feed potential clients to the agency.