Viral TikTok sensation Keith Lee is beefing up his entrepreneurship empire with a featured session at South by Southwest (SXSW) in March.

SXSW is already several announcements deep into its conference lineup, which includes regular sessions called featured sessions, as well as daily keynotes that usually feature especially influential speakers in larger formats.

But Lee's promises to be a standout. His featured session, called "Mastering the Art of Influencer Entrepreneurship," will give an inside look at how everyday media is no longer primarily being produced by "powerful entities," but by thousands of regular people thanks to the rise of the "Creator Economy."

And who better to demonstrate that than Lee? He's built his social media empire based off his 16-million-follower TikTok account where he gives honest reviews of small local restaurants in food-scene-driven cities all over the country. His reviews have resulted in surges of customer traffic, which has been coined the "Keith Lee Effect" by several restaurants.

According to the session description, Lee will join UK-based Digital Voices founder and CEO Jennifer Quigley-Jones to discuss the many ways content creators "can strategically use customer insights, innovative marketing techniques, and AI technology to fuel business growth."

This isn't the first time Lee has shared tech tactics. Although customer surges can be great for a business, they can be overwhelming; in June of 2024, Lee partnered with Microsoft to showcase how its AI products could help three small Black-owned restaurants weather the busy periods.

The major conference panel is a big achievement for Lee, who has come a long way from reviewing various Texas restaurants and buzzy Texas State Fair food. In fact, he enjoyed Texas' foodie culture so much, he packed up and relocated from Las Vegas to Dallas.

Keith Lee's "Mastering the Art of Influencer Entrepreneurship" featured session will take place on March 7 from 2:30-3:30 pm. More lineup announcements from announcement on February 11 are listed here.