Lisa Butler spent her childhood in San Francisco.  Her entrepreneurial parents came from Mississippi, the Deep South, and instilled in her the importance of hard work.  Lisa’s vision of discovering the world developed early as she would spend days in her mother’s closet trying on her shoes, clothes, makeup and jewelry.  Her dress up games created images and a vivid picture of where she would go when she ‘grew up’. Her intuitive mother observed this and encouraged her to follow her dreams.  This imagery facilitated in developing her vision and style, and most importantly crystallized who she would later become.Lisa went on to become an accomplished model, and has been the face of several international campaigns for popular brands such as Revlon, Rimmel, Liz Claiborne and Almay.  She’s done work for household brands like Lycra, Hanes, Nabisco, Coca Cola and appeared in French Vogue, Elle and O Magazine, to mention a few.  With every accomplishment, that little girl in her mother’s closet continues to fuel her drive to create unsurpassed imagery.Lisa has found her true form of expression as a Creative Director. Instinctively following her unique vision that was cultivated over time led her to create, direct and style the photography for the “I Am America” project.  The pure joy of unrestrained creative expression is what drives her to-date.

Alex Elena was born and raised in Rome into a family of artists and musicians. He started playing drums at the tender age of three.  By the time he was 17 he was living in London and playing professionally.  His thirst for creative development prompted a move to New York to begin producing music.  His unconventional approach eventually landed a Grammy nomination for the soul singer Alice Smith. Alex has also produced successful artists such as Lily Allen, Evan Dando, Citizen Cope, and Michelle Shaprow.Alex’s work evolved to include photography in 2009 when a sudden decision to create a portrait of the Darien Strip took him to the jungles in Panama.  His father was his first creative mentor in music, but regarding photography, he is completely self-taught. He’s photographed a range of subjects spanning the globe: from the slums of Kenya, everyday life in The Gambia, the vanishing Indigenous Tribes in Central America, to the aftermath of the war in the former Yugoslavia.His book of photography entitled “A Mission in Panama” was installed as a multimedia event in London and Rome.  All proceeds from the sales of this work were donated to charity for the preservation of the Indigenous cultures of Central America.

Alex currently lives in Los Angeles.