Annie Balliro, Founder and President/CEO uniphigood, LLC

A visionary risk-taker who sees connections and synergies most people would miss, Annie Balliro creates unique opportunities for musicians, Astronauts and other celebrity clients through uniphigood, LLC, the talent management agency she founded in 2009. Representing an impressive roster that includes musicians such as Toad the Wet Sprocket, Buffalo Tom and BLKBOK and Astronauts Garrett Reisman, Michael López-Alegría, Susan Helms, John “Danny” Olivas, and Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger among many others, uniphigood oversees all aspects of their clients’ businesses, including brand strategy and endorsements, speaking engagements, social media, digital advertising, merchandising, web development and more. 

As President and CEO of uniphigood (a word created by Balliro to represent the tone and spirit of the organization), Balliro lives by the ethos “go big or go home” and heads up a remarkable team of industry experts that leverage their unique talents to drive fans, brands and valuable opportunities to their clients. Its uniphi space agency division has become the premier Astronaut talent management agency, working with over 100 astronauts since the company began. They recently expanded their roster to include celebrity clients such as influencer Maynard Okereke, known as the Hip Hop MD. 

After several years in the music industry working in prominent positions at major label group Island Def Jam and global entertainment brand Hard Rock International, Balliro realized that there was a great need for a company that would bring all vital aspects of clients’ business management under one roof. 

“I started uniphigood as a direct result of my musician friends who would call me for advice and help navigating the music business,” Balliro explains. “It occurred to me that there was a need to approach talent management with a different twist so we could offer more services and tools for our clients, whether that was helping build their websites or manage their digital advertising strategy, or building their merch business, so it would all be part of a cohesive plan. It was a direct response to what I was seeing the artists were needing.”

 What started off as a music artist management and marketing company soon expanded to become the country’s largest private talent management firm for Astronauts, and uniphi space agency’s brand tagline of #WeBelieveInAstronauts encapsulates the team’s spirit. The initial idea was sparked for Balliro when a friend asked for her help getting Astronaut Garrett Reisman on The Colbert Report live while he was in space. (The whole story, Balliro says, is worth asking about). “When I met up with Garrett after he had just retired from NASA and was going to start at SpaceX, it occurred to me that here was this rock star Astronaut sitting in front of me who needed help navigating the entertainment industry, managing speaking gigs and so on, especially since he had such a busy new day job,” Balliro says. “It was the exact same thing I do with musicians and I knew I could help. And so, the uniphi space agency was born.”

Balliro soon discovered that after Astronauts left NASA, it was helpful for them to have allies and advocates for finding and navigating career and business opportunities in the private sector. She understood that these Astronauts were part of an elite cadre of less than 700 people in the history of the world who were professionally trained to travel into space and whose experiences were invaluable and inspiring. “Being an Astronaut is iconic and aspirational and one of the rarest experiences in the world,” Balliro says. “They often do pro bono work to support charity, but being an Astronaut is also their livelihood and their job. Our team at uniphi works tirelessly to help raise the perceived value of what it means to be an Astronaut and to build their authentic and individual brands.”

uniphigood is often hired by outside organizations as experts to advise on Astronaut collaborations in media, film and television. It's also the first known agency to actively cross-pollinate space travel and music/pop culture. The musicians Balliro works with are fascinated by space travel and want to interact with Astronauts, and vice versa, so uniphi launched “A Little Spacey,” a podcast featuring conversations and storytelling with Astronauts and rock stars together, and also orchestrated the first-ever piano duet from space with uniphi clients Commander Michael López-Alegría and BLKBOK. 

What’s more, uniphi space agency launched National Astronaut Day in 2016, held annually on May 5th to celebrate Astronauts and share their stories. In 2024, uniphigood is launching the inaugural Astronaut Rockstar Awards, which honors the enduring connection between Astronauts and music, with rock stars presenting awards to Astronauts, individuals and organizations who push the boundaries of awareness, understanding and support for space exploration and STEAM education.

As an avid music fan growing up in a Boston suburb, Balliro worked three jobs in high school. While at UMASS Amherst, she worked at a snack shop where she’d play her favorite bands on a boom box cassette player and dubbed Tuesdays “Toad Tuesdays,” playing nothing but ‘90s alternative rockers Toad the Wet Sprocket (who are now her clients). After college and back in the Boston area, she spent her nights seeing shows and working the door at local Cambridge rock club T.T. the Bear’s Place at night, while during the day was a Financial Analyst at AT&T.

She later moved to New York City where she worked at major labels including Island Def Jam and then served as Head of Philanthropy, Artist Relations & Memorabilia at Hard Rock International, where she created programs and built relationships with musical icons such as Willie Nelson & Family, Ringo Starr, Lionel Richie, Yoko Ono, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Melissa Etheridge and more.

“I have so much respect and love for music and the brilliant creative souls who make it,” Balliro says. “It’s always been in my blood. Even back then I felt like a mama bird, always trying to help.” 

Now, having turned this desire to help into a thriving career working with artists and Astronauts to maximize their potential, gain new opportunities and strategically integrate all aspects of their business, Balliro can still be found in the front row at concerts. In her free time she enjoys gardening, learning to speak Italian, supporting “grassroots” charities and walking with her dogs – the uniphi mascots. Her garden is a living example of how she carefully tends to her clients, giving them all the nutrients and nourishment they need to succeed. “I’m a big connector – I put a lot of thought into what I plant next to each other,” Balliro says. “There’s an analogy to being a talent manager. What are the core aspects of what’s being put together? Is it being nourished and tended to, and how do we, as a team, help to help nourish that? I Iove getting my hands dirty and growing things. The real goal for me in all of this is to plant seeds that not only grow, but thrive, germinate and endure for generations to come.”

About Annie Balliro, Founder and President/CEO uniphigood, LLC (SHORT BIO)

A visionary risk-taker who sees connections and synergies most people would miss, Annie Balliro creates unique opportunities for musicians, Astronauts and other celebrity clients through uniphigood, LLC, the talent management agency she founded in 2009. Working with clients to maximize their potential, gain new opportunities and strategically integrate all aspects of their business, Balliro and her team live by the ethos “go big or go home.” Its uniphi space agency division has become the premier Astronaut talent management agency in the world, and has worked with over 100 astronauts since the company began, launching the globally recognized National Astronaut Day in 2016 and now the Astronaut Rockstar Awards in 2024. A Boston native, Balliro’s early career as a financial analyst and in prominent positions at Island Def Jam and Hard Rock International has cultivated the unique skill set to build her clients’ authentic brands around the world, be their biggest advocate and bring all vital aspects of their business management under one roof.