Social shopping firm Orca adds Patreon, Fullscreen vets to executive team

Orca has announced a pair of new hires. The ecommerce company has brought in Sarah Penna as the Senior Vice President of its creator team and tapped Khudor Annous as its Senior Vice President of Client Success.

Penna’s digital media experience most recently included a stint at Patreon, where she served as the Head of Creator Partnerships. Her deep experience in the influencer marketplace will be a valuable asset for Orca, which operates studio spaces where creators can host shoppable live streams.

Annous will bring his own wealth of experience to the client side of Orca’s business. He most recently worked at the Branded Entertainment Network, where staffers were recently hit with a large round of layoffs.

Orca, co-founded by Max Benator and Lauren Stevens serves as an official social commerce partner for brands like e.l.f. and Estée Lauder. In that capacity, the company has become one of the top sellers on TikTok Shop.

As Orca has steadily expanded its leadership team, it has looked to individuals with long histories in the creator economy. Earlier this year, the ecommerce firm promoted Chris Miller to Head of Orca Studios while hiring Haodong Yin

, who previously worked for the prominent Chinese social app Xiaohongshu.

With this wave of hires, Orca is bringing in leaders who worked in the creator economy before that term was even in use. Both Penna and Annous played pivotal roles during the multi-channel network era of web video history. Penna was the Co-Founder of the influential network Big Frame, while Annous spent about three years at leading MCN Fullscreen.

Over the years, Penna and Annous have connected with Orca’s Co-Founders. “I’ve known both Sarah and Khudor for over a decade. They’ve each built world-class businesses in the creator and brand marketing industries,” said Benator, who serves as Orca’s CEO, in a statement. “Their leadership, experience and strategic direction will bring immediate, meaningful value to our brand partners and the 10,000-strong creator community that we work with every day.”

Orca has already hit the ground running with several new initiatives. It recently launched Bleu Beauty, a boutique based around social commerce and shoppable streams.