About a year ago, Heather Catania approached our marketing guy in Los Angeles about shooting a paid campaign featuring our product and an A-list actress. The deal sounded very promising and since our guy had a previous relationship with this individual we took his word and said yes to the deal. Heather said she would be shooting later that week and requested $5,000 ($4,000 for this deal and $1,000 for a general model shoot) which we wired to her immediately.
Once Heather received our wire she immediately started making excuses why she couldn’t do the shoot that week. For the next couple of months it was ALL excuses and lies. Fortunately after 2 months sending her many angry emails she completed the general model shoot but the main part of the deal was far from complete. Our guy continued to call, text and email her almost everyday and she would promise us every time that the shoot would be complete ASAP. She even came back to us with a new deal outlined with specific deadlines but not one of those was completed.
After 8 months of lies we finally had our legal team send her a letter requesting our funds back. Heather told our guy several times that she would be contacting our lawyer to set up a payment schedule but that was over 3 months ago and we never heard anything from her. We have heard from several sources that she has done this to several other companies and never paid any of her employees.
As far as we are concerned she is a fraud and only used our funds to keep up with her "glamorous" lifestyle in Los Angeles. If you are thinking of doing any business with Heather Catania or The Influence be aware.
Heather Catania and Brian Ludlow started The Influence with what I hope were great intentions. The business plan seemed solid, and Heather's background definitely added credibility to what they proposed when they offered me a job at The Influence.
After my first paycheck bounced, I didn't think much of it, especially when they wrote me a new check a few days later which went through fine. After my second and third checks bounced, I started getting worried. This went on for at least 4 months. Pretty soon I just wasn't getting a check at all. I would have to follow up over and over again, asking when I could expect payment. Every time I got the same answer: "Just waiting for xx payment to come through, then we'll be able to pay you."
This wouldn't bother me so much IF it wasn't so clear that Heather and Brian weren't hurting in terms of lifestyle. A Porsche and Mercedes parked in the driveway, designer clothing, watches and handbags, yet none of their employees were seeing a dime? Seems a bit wrong, wouldn't you say?
I've since been following up for my payment (over $10,000), and everytime I get the same answers, with attitude no less. I have emails going back to November with the same. exact. response. "We'll get in touch with a payment breakdown and available date for you to receive your first payment." SINCE NOVEMBER.
Heather is still doing a lot of business, and apparently getting paid for said services, so I'm unsure why she finds it ok to use that money for her personal fun and social life rather than pay the debt owed to her old employees. I know I'm not the only one who still hasn't seen a dime. This woman just cares about keeping up appearances. I'm not sure if she's just evil or delusional.
Hope nobody else has to go through this. You've been warned.
It is with no regret that I write this report here to share my experience at The Influence Media Inc, Heather Catania's online fashion startup. I was brought on after much of the construction of the site had begun, and didn't realize the full extent of how damaged the strung together PHP was within this custom installation of Wordpress. If the code wasn't enough of a nightmare, the constant changes that were requested made my job beyond what would normally be considered full time.
In the beginning before being brought on as a contracted employee, I was given a check for $400 which bounced; this began the constant uncertainty of payment until my retirement from the company in October of 2014. So the demands were high, and managing other programmers who were brought on to assist, was another responsibility of mine at the company. Every single programmer who came on said the same thing I was saying: a) that the Wordpress theme was a monster b) Heather Catania was a difficult person to work for.
I know of one programmer who repeatedly would ask me about her payment that was well over 30 days late, and all I could think to myself was that I was recieving the same non-payment treatment. One financial document that was sent to me to print had Heather's apartment which was over $3500 a month was a monthly, budgeted business expense. So, while I couldn't pay my rent because I wasn't getting paid bi-weekly as my contract stated, Heather Catania's apartment was being paid for in full.
Eventually you stop working when you are not paid (even though you are masterfully strung along with the hope and promise of payment). So, that's what I did. When the balance hit $3500, I stopped. I had to find paying work to afford life. Then all of a sudden we all were paid with some loan that they secured. That was great, except the next pay day was the following Monday, and guesss what, no pay.
It was infuriating. It wasn't even brought up, and not once did Heather Catania or Brian Ludlow apologize for the insanity they were putting us through. So, after that missed payment, New York Fashion Week occurs, and guess who has money to take a trip for a week in New York? Heather Catania. Instead of paying the people keeping her site afloat, she takes a week to attend fashion week. Presumably she did this whit the remaining sum of the loan they had secured.
I kept working, because I was paid before, and I figured I would be paid again. Not the case, the balance hit that $3500 and I resigned, and I did so after reading up on my rights. From the moment of my resignation, Heather Catania, CEO of The Influence Media Inc had 48 hours to pay what was owed to me. She failed to meet that California State law and to this day has failed to aknowledge my debt personally. I filed a labor wage claim and with the penalties she has incurred she owes me over $10,000. She failed to show up at the mediation. It is as if the debt does not exist.
More troubling perhaps, is that deductions were taken out of my check to presumably pay for taxes. I never once was given an itemized list of said deductions and I did not recieve a 1099 from them or any form of tax documentation. I believe this money never went to taxes thus constituting theft. Theft.
If you are going to work for Brian Ludlow or Heather Catania do so with extreme caution. This was my experience, but I know she did the same to many many more people.
The Influence Reviews
About a year ago, Heather Catania approached our marketing guy in Los Angeles about shooting a paid campaign featuring our product and an A-list actress. The deal sounded very promising and since our guy had a previous relationship with this individual we took his word and said yes to the deal. Heather said she would be shooting later that week and requested $5,000 ($4,000 for this deal and $1,000 for a general model shoot) which we wired to her immediately.
Once Heather received our wire she immediately started making excuses why she couldn’t do the shoot that week. For the next couple of months it was ALL excuses and lies. Fortunately after 2 months sending her many angry emails she completed the general model shoot but the main part of the deal was far from complete. Our guy continued to call, text and email her almost everyday and she would promise us every time that the shoot would be complete ASAP. She even came back to us with a new deal outlined with specific deadlines but not one of those was completed.
After 8 months of lies we finally had our legal team send her a letter requesting our funds back. Heather told our guy several times that she would be contacting our lawyer to set up a payment schedule but that was over 3 months ago and we never heard anything from her. We have heard from several sources that she has done this to several other companies and never paid any of her employees.
As far as we are concerned she is a fraud and only used our funds to keep up with her "glamorous" lifestyle in Los Angeles. If you are thinking of doing any business with Heather Catania or The Influence be aware.
Heather Catania and Brian Ludlow started The Influence with what I hope were great intentions. The business plan seemed solid, and Heather's background definitely added credibility to what they proposed when they offered me a job at The Influence.
After my first paycheck bounced, I didn't think much of it, especially when they wrote me a new check a few days later which went through fine. After my second and third checks bounced, I started getting worried. This went on for at least 4 months. Pretty soon I just wasn't getting a check at all. I would have to follow up over and over again, asking when I could expect payment. Every time I got the same answer: "Just waiting for xx payment to come through, then we'll be able to pay you."
This wouldn't bother me so much IF it wasn't so clear that Heather and Brian weren't hurting in terms of lifestyle. A Porsche and Mercedes parked in the driveway, designer clothing, watches and handbags, yet none of their employees were seeing a dime? Seems a bit wrong, wouldn't you say?
I've since been following up for my payment (over $10,000), and everytime I get the same answers, with attitude no less. I have emails going back to November with the same. exact. response. "We'll get in touch with a payment breakdown and available date for you to receive your first payment." SINCE NOVEMBER.
Heather is still doing a lot of business, and apparently getting paid for said services, so I'm unsure why she finds it ok to use that money for her personal fun and social life rather than pay the debt owed to her old employees. I know I'm not the only one who still hasn't seen a dime. This woman just cares about keeping up appearances. I'm not sure if she's just evil or delusional.
Hope nobody else has to go through this. You've been warned.
It is with no regret that I write this report here to share my experience at The Influence Media Inc, Heather Catania's online fashion startup. I was brought on after much of the construction of the site had begun, and didn't realize the full extent of how damaged the strung together PHP was within this custom installation of Wordpress. If the code wasn't enough of a nightmare, the constant changes that were requested made my job beyond what would normally be considered full time.
In the beginning before being brought on as a contracted employee, I was given a check for $400 which bounced; this began the constant uncertainty of payment until my retirement from the company in October of 2014. So the demands were high, and managing other programmers who were brought on to assist, was another responsibility of mine at the company. Every single programmer who came on said the same thing I was saying: a) that the Wordpress theme was a monster b) Heather Catania was a difficult person to work for.
I know of one programmer who repeatedly would ask me about her payment that was well over 30 days late, and all I could think to myself was that I was recieving the same non-payment treatment. One financial document that was sent to me to print had Heather's apartment which was over $3500 a month was a monthly, budgeted business expense. So, while I couldn't pay my rent because I wasn't getting paid bi-weekly as my contract stated, Heather Catania's apartment was being paid for in full.
Eventually you stop working when you are not paid (even though you are masterfully strung along with the hope and promise of payment). So, that's what I did. When the balance hit $3500, I stopped. I had to find paying work to afford life. Then all of a sudden we all were paid with some loan that they secured. That was great, except the next pay day was the following Monday, and guesss what, no pay.
It was infuriating. It wasn't even brought up, and not once did Heather Catania or Brian Ludlow apologize for the insanity they were putting us through. So, after that missed payment, New York Fashion Week occurs, and guess who has money to take a trip for a week in New York? Heather Catania. Instead of paying the people keeping her site afloat, she takes a week to attend fashion week. Presumably she did this whit the remaining sum of the loan they had secured.
I kept working, because I was paid before, and I figured I would be paid again. Not the case, the balance hit that $3500 and I resigned, and I did so after reading up on my rights. From the moment of my resignation, Heather Catania, CEO of The Influence Media Inc had 48 hours to pay what was owed to me. She failed to meet that California State law and to this day has failed to aknowledge my debt personally. I filed a labor wage claim and with the penalties she has incurred she owes me over $10,000. She failed to show up at the mediation. It is as if the debt does not exist.
More troubling perhaps, is that deductions were taken out of my check to presumably pay for taxes. I never once was given an itemized list of said deductions and I did not recieve a 1099 from them or any form of tax documentation. I believe this money never went to taxes thus constituting theft. Theft.
If you are going to work for Brian Ludlow or Heather Catania do so with extreme caution. This was my experience, but I know she did the same to many many more people.
I hope someone finds this report useful.