The Road To Cry Out Con 2025
The Labor & Delivery of A Purposeful Event Production
In my life & career, I’ve had the great fortune of working in the fields of advertising and marketing in NYC at Live Nation, VIBE Magazine, Carol’s Daughter, and Chicago for many advertising agencies like Leo Burnett, DDB & Ogilvy. Over time, I’ve grown weary of my field’s predatory nature of selling more, and more, to often unsuspecting people (often using manipulative sales strategies to do so).
Why Event Marketing?
In marketing, we pride ourselves on identifying the white space to sell our products & services. Even while serving as Chief Marketing Officer at Carol’s Daughter (a brand and product category I loved and still love to this day), there was a void for me in the work I was doing. How many ways and times could I convince women they need new (or more) face, body and haircare products? The one marketing tactic I never grew tired of, was event marketing. As a lifetime lover of music & concerts, I looked for find ways to integrate events to my marketing mix, no matter where I was.
EVENTS to me are critical to any brand wanting true connection with their audience. One-to-one contact is the only way for true connection.
How I Got Involved with Cry Out Con
Last year, an industry colleague Marvet Britto, called and asked me to support her on an initiative she was working on with her two clients, Pastor Keion & Lady Shaunie Henderson. In 2024, Cry Out Con was an event production in its second year, and Ms. Britto suggested that I join the team to help with content curation of breakout sessions. I contributed that year by booking talent and shaping a few conversations, and script development. I did so sheepishly due to the tight timeline and not fully knowing the mission of this project.
Just like this year’s event’s theme, in 2025, I was All In. I liken event creation and event production work to labor & childbirth (ok, not that I truly know — having born no children, but still think my analogy makes sense). Follow me why don’t you!?
How The Birthing of Event Productions & Babies Are Similar
Over the course of several months, you meet tirelessly with your teammates to create what you think will be a good event for your attendees. We create on paper, and on computers to develop concepts and frameworks for our event production (often in Google Sheets).
We guess, we assume, but we never really know. But then, the time comes for the eventbaby to be born. There’s very little sleep if any the week of the event, anxieties and headaches surge high amongst the team, and you push through the labor because you want to see your baby.
You want to see how the world responds to the countless hours you’ve invested in talent outreach, negotiation, contracting, travel planning, segment development, physical lights, camera & sound production and more.
And then boom…the water breaks…(meaning people show up, lines form, and wait for the doors to open…and boom, your baby is here). It’s a miracle in many respects. You A) actually survived the planning process, B) people showed up, C) now the show has to roll out and you hope it’s goes as planned and your baby is received well.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DJdQQghtSY_/
This year, attendees roll in. They are actually happy. They seem to like what you’ve put together. They comment that the event experience is “flawless.” I’m shocked. The backstage shenanigans are distinctly different from front of house attendee experience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aID0UMXtn2g
All this to say, after another successful event with Cry Out Con 2025, my heart is full because people were served. I have long lived a life led by two premises “to whom much is given is required” and “it is a blessing to be a blessing.” Having the opportunity to use my 30 years of marketing and 20 years of event experience to create and offer content to drive people’s spiritual renewal brings me great pride & joy.
In life, we must all make a living, ’tis true.
But if in your life, if you get and seize the opportunity to truly serve others, it makes living feel more meaningful, and you never really feel like you’re working at all.
Join us at Cry Out Con 2026 in Jackson, Mississippi! See more here.
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.
