Lia Escobar

Lia Escobar

Get to Know More About Our Founder & Chief Creative Officer

Lia Escobar was born in Villavicencio, Colombia, and is considered a cowgirl in her native country. She moved to the states in 1980 to reside in West Palm Beach, Florida where she learned English and attended local schools. She studied piano and music theory at a young age and later attended The Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale, where she obtained a degree in Audio Engineering and Entertainment Industry Promotions. She also minored in Marketing and Journalism before working in the record industry for corporations like BMG, Sony, PolyGram, Disney, and Universal.

Her start in the entertainment field began at the age of 16 as a club promoter for the first teen night club in Florida called "Cheers". Right out of college, she helped pioneer inflight entertainment with the first company to ever place music and movies on airlines, and soon after, she mentored gifted musicians and dancers at Harid Conservatory of Music and Dance and traveling with the Hartford City Ballet.

Songwriting and music production was then only a hobby for Lia, but eventually became an obsession that drove her to educate herself on all she could about the music business. She moved to Miami and took an entry-level position at BMG U.S. Latin, where she learned hands-on every aspect of running a label and fell in love with the role of handling A&R (artists and repertoire).

Mixing both her passions for dance music and the creative aspect of making records, she came up with a concept to open a dance department inside a worldwide distribution company. Pitching her idea to anyone who would listen, she caught the attention of the internationally known music guru Marcos Maynard. He immediately hired Lia to head the PolyGram Dance Division and work alongside the hit-making Artistic Director, Manolo Calderón. A team of record pool providers, DJs, and club promoters spread all across the largest cities in the country reported directly to Lia, and after a very successful run remixing, repackaging, and rebranding the existing company catalog, she became the first Dance Music Director in PolyGram's history. At the age of 26, Lia was named the first and youngest Hispanic woman A&R Director for a major record label in the United States.

Running the A&R Department in the U.S. and overseeing the Central and South American markets, Lia was responsible for discovering, signing, coordinating and producing many talented artists like Andrea Bocelli, Enrique Iglesias, Paulina Rubio, Soraya, José Feliciano, Juan Luis Guerra, Pedro Fernández, Boyz II Men, El General, María Conchita Alonso, Alicia Villarreal, Grupo Límite, Yuri, Frankie Ruiz, Luis Enrique, Cheo Feliciano, Marta Sánchez, Mijares, Héctor Acosta y Los Toros Band, Héctor Tricoche, Rey Ruiz, Daniela Romo, Tatiana, Tommy Olivencia, Luis "Perico" Ortiz, Los Panchos, Azul Azul, Enanitos Verdes, Eddie Santiago, Vikki Carr, Pimpinela, Nydia Caro, Lourdes Robles, Super Banda Radar, José Joel, Flex, Alex D'Castro, Grupo eÑe, Simone, Caetano Veloso, Caló, Konztelación, Sol D'Menta, Skapulario, Michelangelo, Salsa Kids, Maria Alejandra, Lucía Méndez, Paulo Ricardo, Mariachi Reyna de Los Angeles, Garibaldi, Lorenzo de Monteclaro, Angeles Ochoa, José Augusto, Laureano Brizuela, and La Mafia. Her artistic vision and direction earned, some of the previously named, Gold and Platinum record sales status.

In some of the best recording studios in the world, Lia has collaborated with iconic songwriters, producers, engineers, and record executives. Her colleagues are Academy, Grammy, Emmy, ASCAP, BMI, and multiple award winners like Bruce Swedien, Bebu Silvetti, Antonio "Moogie" Canazio, Jorge Luis Piloto, César Lemos, Karla Aponte, Álvaro Torres, Ramón Sánchez, Corinne Oviedo, Homero Patrón, Max Pierre, Omar Alfanno, Tony Tun Tun, Louis García, Vinny Urrutia, Rafael Basurto, Pedro Azael, Chein García Alonso, Gustavo Márquez, Gabriel Romero, Roberto Livi, Manny Manuel, and Rudy Pérez. Her love for the creative process prompted her to later open her own publishing, and production house, SLi Music International, the first Hispanic female-owned major recording studio in Miami. There she participated in writing and producing songs and remixes with artists like Gloria Estefan, Thalía, KC and the Sunshine Band, Wild Orchid (Feat. Fergie), A.B. Quintanilla (Selena's brother), Control Machete, Tito Puente Jr., Kabah, Xuxa, BoyZone, Aurora y la Academia, Emmanuel, Johnny O, Nice N' Wild, Remy, and Louie Louie among others. In 1998 PolyGram Entertainment merged with Universal Music Group and Lia decided to take a break from the music industry to become a mother. As she focused on family, she was sought after as a Marketing Consultant and Public Relations Specialist.

In 2006 Lia began working in radio when she joined ABC as part of Radio Disney. Her media career took off when she was recruited by Clear Channel Media + Entertainment in 2007, to head the Promotions Department before becoming part of the on-air talent for iHeartMEDIA on their first Latin music radio station in West Palm Beach, Florida, WRLX Mia 92.1fm (now Mia 94.3fm). She has been an influence in Palm Beach County, where she arrived and has lived on and off since she graduated Forest Hill High School in 1990. Lia says, "This industry is my passion, and the birth of Latin radio in the United States means a lot to never before tapped Hispanic markets."

Since she stepped into broadcasting, Lia hasn't looked back. Working with internet radio stations like Sonido 809 and starting on-air at WRLX Mia 92.1fm as the news, events, and traffic reporter for the morning and afternoon day parts. She eventually joined the morning show host to take part in what became the most popular segment in the morning drive called "Debajo de las Sábanas". That show took a life of its own and eventually landed her on television as a host and producer on megaTV, while conducting live events, remotes, and doing voice-overs through various stations in different major markets.

She served as master of ceremonies for many local fundraisers, festivals and concerts and has endorsed and/or voiced for products like McDonald's, AT&T, Schumacher Mitsubishi, Habitat for Humanity, Susan G. Komen, The Home Depot, Wendy's, Telemundo, Burger King, Ford, Office Depot, Toyota and many more.

For over 4 months, Lia was in charge of the Programming and Promotions department for iHeartMEDIA's only Latin radio station in South Florida, where she eventually hosted the afternoon drive on 'elFlow' on Mia 92.1fm. This program, which was full of artist interviews, pop culture premieres, and a mix show with famous guest DJ appearances, eventually became the #1 radio show in ANY language in her market for years. Her ability to effortlessly switch from Spanish to English in her dialect started an on-air "Spanglish" frenzy and it led her to take part in shows with some nationally syndicated personalities like Ryan Seacrest, Elvis Duran, Enrique Santos, Paul Castronovo, The Breakfast Club, Rush Limbaugh, Bobby Bones, Jimmy Cefalo, Brian Mudd, Humberto Rodríguez "El Gato", Jeff 'Defo' DeForrest, Mack in the Morning, Sean Hannity, Kevin, Jason & Virginia, Mo & Sally, The Love Doctors, The Greek, Chanel, Andy Preston, Jody Stewart, Nelson Rubio y Rodrigo Durán, Los Anormales, Super Martinez, Chad Valentine, Diane Fong, and Nio Encendio. She's been heard on internet radio through Sonido 809, terrestrially in markets like Tampa, Orlando, West Palm Beach, Stuart, and Port St. Lucie, and streaming throughout the world. Her segments have aired in Florida on radio stations like Y-100, TÚ-94.9, REALRadio, Big105.9, 103.5 The BEAT, WiLD955, The Gater, KOOL 105.5fm, NewsRadio 610WiOD, 1290 WJNO, 940 WINZ, 93.9MIA, Radio Mambí 710, WDBO 107.3, Rumba 100.3, Mia 921fm (currently Mia 94.3fm), 92.5MAX¡MA and on television networks like ABC, TheCW, NBC, MundoFOX (now MundoMax), américatevé, Univision, Telemundo, TVAzteca, megaTV, UniMás, and PBS.

In 2010 she discovered she had a knack for covering events like Jingle Ball, and became interested in the organization of live concerts and festivals as yet another extension of her abilities. In 2012 she was involved in the planning and execution of the iHeartRADIO Music Festival in Las Vegas, and in 2013 she went to the iHeartMEDIA Headquarters in New York, to present in front of the creative team her conceptual idea of what a year later became the iHeartRADIO Fiesta Latina. After a decade of working in radio and becoming the first Latina to produce national content for the iHeartRADIO brand, Lia began her journey as a consultant and strategist for national and international brands. She serves as a mentor in the Student Media Advisory Board at Florida Atlantic University, and contributes to causes like St. Jude's Children's Hospital, Habitat for Humanity, Children International, Wreaths for Veterans, the Literacy Coalition and Autism Speaks, and since she is completely fluent in Spanish and English and knows some Portuguese, French and Italian, her voice is not only featured in federal campaigns like Rock the Vote Latino and the National Census, but also as the official voice for all SoundCue Audio products worldwide.

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In 2019, mentor, and record industry veteran, Marcos Maynard, publicly recognized Lia for being the only woman and one of the most important A&R figures in Latin music in his rockumentary, "Camilla Faustino & Trio Guará - Bossa Sempre Bossa". He also dedicated this project to her and five of the most influential Artistic Directors he has ever worked with during his whole career.

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In 2020 she was invited to become a member of the International Society of Female Professionals where she was recognized for her many contributions to Latin music, and acknowledged as a major player in the entertainment industry.

She currently runs her own company, elFlow Media, along with her childhood friend and business partner, Daniel Dipierro.

Lia still resides in South Florida with her husband, 18-year-old son, and two rescued pups, Chula and Lola, and continues to enjoy doing radio, producing, arranging, and writing music.

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