Being A Servant Leader As An Event Producer
When Fostering Connection & Information is Your Love Language
The Beginning
My love affair with event production began at the New Edition concert in Memphis, Tennessee circa 1984. Too bad I have no photos, but imagine with me if you will.
I was 11, about 4’ tall, pressed bangs with a small ponytail. A little pudgy, but pushing through and standing on my own two little feet. My Godsister Bonnie and I were attending our very first concert, with fashion & beauty assistance from her mom Julia Mae and her best friend, my big sister Bootsie.
We wore dark blue denim jeans with dark yellow stitching with matching rabbit fur jackets, and had our hair pressed & makeup done — I recall wearing a fresh face and…lip gloss (remember the clear bottle with the pink top, with glassy lip potion, way before MAC’s Lip LipGlass). And when the show was over, I remember the sheer giddiness and glee at also scoring a tan New Edition t-shirt from the merch stand.
OMG! This was the night of our whole entire lives. Seeing our favorite group perform live on a big stage at an arena like that was magical. We felt like glamourpusses and it felt like we had been waiting for this moment forever. The anticipation had been building, and this event gave us something to look forward to. But as it turns out, this experience would have a much larger-reaching impact on the progression of my life.
My Initial Quest for Event Work
Fast forward to college. My adopted big sister & beloved friend in college Renee and I made it our business to create Kwanzaa events on and off campus. We found great joy in sharing this tradition with our fellow classmates at Mizzou and Columbia, MO residents. After graduation, I was clear. With my Bachelor of Journalism degree in hand, I wanted to work in events — how I did not yet know.
You know how you have an idea of what you want to do at 20, but have NO idea how to get there? Yeah, we’ve all been there. Upon my post-Mizzou graduation landing in Chicago in 1995, I was blessed enough to find mentorship in Michelle Flowers Welch, Founder of The Flowers Communication Group (still reigning supreme in The Chi after all these years). I asserted to her my wishes of working in events. She directed me to the field of Public Relations, which included events. Mrs. Flowers Welch expounded that PR allowed me to use my journalism degree and creative writing skills in addition to my passion of events.
I followed Mrs. Flowers Welch’s advice as I trudged through my Corporate PR internship at Leo Burnett. Turns out, Corporate PR was an insane amount of WRITING press releases and alerts. As a creative writer by nature, I am forever grateful for the experience of honing business and technical writing skills professionally. But, sitting behind a computer for all my days tip tapping at the keyboard was a no-go for me. So, I chose to veer left of Corporate PR in favor of marketing transitioning from Leo Burnett to Frankel. As blessings would turn out, it was at Frankel, working on the Oldsmobile Silhouette business that I got my first taste of event marketing and event production.
My First Professional Event
Do you remember the FOX TV show X Files? Well, the Frankel client brand for which I served as an account executive, Oldsmobile, sponsored The X Files Expo in 1998. So, at 25, I got the privilege of working on the Chicago stop, and got my first taste of working with union venues like Navy Pier, and the workers’ “interesting” hours and fees.
But more than that, I saw the fans.
I did not watch X-Files, nor was I a part of that subculture. Yet, all my labor was in service of the X-Files fans. Just like there was a production manager behind the scenes dotting all i’s and crossing all t’s to ensure I had a great time at my New Edition concert, I was becoming that person to do the same for others.
A Budding Producer
So, now, 27 years later, I have many events in my rearview mirror. There’s four and a half years of working on live events at Live Nation, including Marc Anthony’s Juntos en Concierto for 3 years, Hilton Theatre Broadway Grand Opening & Live Productions such as Earth, Wind & Fire’s Hot Feet among others, Motorola Music Biz 101 featuring MC Lyte Timbaland, Questlove, Mona Scott-Young & others, Download Festival U.S. featuring The Shins, Snoop Dogg, Wolf Parade, Band Of Horses, Wrigley’s 3 Doors Down & Rascal Flatts Tour among others.
While serving as VIBE Magazine’s Associate Publisher/Head of Marketing, I led productions of monthly issue release parties and VSessions music showcases in partnership with record labels to present new & established artists to the world, with built-in press featuring Trey Songz, Busta Rhymes, Al B. Sure and so many more.
Once a music lover, always a music lover. So, once I joined Carol’s Daughter as CMO, I found ways to create events for the brand. In addition to the in-store events launching new products (which the brand had been doing before I joined), I co-created with them their Carol’s Daughter ESSENCE Festival pop-up store experience in the French Quarter featuring in-store appearances by musicians & other celebs (with a meet & greets element) to drive traffic to our store. This led to me being on the radar by the ladies of ESSENCE, which after a dinner with longtime ESSENCE Festival Head of Sponsorship Staci L. Hallmon, resulted in me being hired as a consultant to create their Road To ESSENCE Festival Tour.
ESSENCE ended up not executing the Road To Tour. But the Ladies of ESSENCE found value in my experience and work ethic and invited me to remain on the team that first year of 2014 to develop their Sponsor Stage, at the time called Center Stage (now known as ESSENCE Stage). Ya’ll, they hazed me. I love those ladies for believing in me, but those first several years I was finding my way of producing and creating on a major stage without a map, guide, paddle or job description.
Thanks to my killer work ethic (if I must say so myself), emphasis on excellence, an an unquenchable curiosity and desire to create, learn and perfect, ESSENCE Festival Joy Profet believed in me enough to grant me the opportunity to create stages which had never existed before including Beauty Carnival, Health Hub & Wellness House. Grateful that we led the development of all programming in concert with ESSENCE editors of ESSENCE Center Stage/ESSENCE Stage for 9 years (2014–2022) before all programming was brought in-house, Wellness House from its initial year of 2019–2023 in New Orleans, Atlanta, and five virtual versions during COVID, Health Hub for three years of its humble little existence from 2019–2021 (more here on that) and Beauty Carnival from 2015–2018 (more here on that).
Through this work, my gifts made room for me and PR Industry Beacon Marvet Britto invited me to join her to work on Cry Out Con, and event maven Lenier Thomas recommended my production firm to lead New York Theological Seminary, which we did. A fair amount has come to me, for which I’m grateful.
Now is the time to be intentional about who I serve.
Me Now As A Producer
This year marked our 1st full year leading programming for Cry Out Con 2025. Blessed with this opportunity by COC Founders & Co-Visionaries Pastor Keion Henderson and First Lady Shaunie Henderson, it was both an honor and privilege to be of service to two people I respect and know genuinely want others to grow and live their best lives.
Per attendee feedback that they “enjoyed everything,” that they trust Cry Out Con to bring them what they need for spiritual renewal, I am grateful that my gifts allow me to both live a blessed life, and bless and serve others in doing so.
Event curation (identifying themes and researching speakers for the right fit for your audience) and event production is hard, yet fun and rewarding work. Long hours. Lots of anxiety, details and frenetic energy leading up to the big day. But, when the work you do truly serves an audience, it makes it all worthwhile.
As I yearn to continue making impact, my eyes are set on some specific projects locally, nationally and globally. And I trust that I will arrive exactly where I should to continue living a life of service and contributing to others as an event producer and marketer.
Olivia is a C-Suite Marketing Exec, Author of 51 Brand Marketing Tips for Creators & Founder of Omerge Alliances & Freedom at The Mat. An NYU & Loyola Professor, she has led mktg at influential organizations such as Carol’s Daughter, VIBE, Live Nation, Ogilvy & more for 25+ years. A Native Memphian, now based in New Orleans, is a forever Harlemite (NYC) who travels extensively and blooms where she is planted.
