Back in the saddle
Starting a new gig at TED Tech with Culture3
Very quick work history, quick because until 2018 there were really only two companies outside of being a runner on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Office wise, I worked at Corbis for 7 years followed immediately by ShortList and Stylist magazines for a decade. I was a lifer. Employee Number 5 at ShortList. And then, after 17 years I struck out on my own and launched my own events agency, Creative Influence Alliance. If you know me from Reclaim These Streets, the reason I suggested a vigil is quite simply, I knew how to execute one because of my extensive event production experience.
As I took the plunge into starting my own company, it was the first time in almost two decades, I didn’t have a commute or daily plan and I needed to develop my own pipeline and routines. Freelancing and pitching work is exhausting and exhilarating and given my network and audacity, I got the first big event that I pitched and brought my business partner Heather along for the ride poaching her from events at Stylist. Best move I’ve ever made.
Heather is a powerhouse and ridiculously serene. Unbelievably talented, organised and much much calmer than I am– and Canadian. I would imagine crazy projects and she would not only make them happen; but she would improve the ideas radically. We were unstoppable as a team, booking London Seafood Festival 2018 with Battersea Power Station through Sam Bunis, who I had worked with when I created National Burger Day.
The two of us were going to create and launch a huge spectacle of a food festival for an amazing client. The first invoice I paid out was to a mermaid. Seriously. We smashed all goals and had over 24,000 people come to the first one in 2018. Behind the scenes though, my mom had just died. And I am not exaggerating the just part.
I had flown back to Philadelphia two weeks prior to say goodbye and she understood that I needed to be back in London to make Seafood Festival happen. Both the team at Battersea and Heather said that they would cover me and that I could remain in Philly. But this was my baby, my new life, and very literally what I had eaten, slept and drank for the prior eight months. I wanted to be there, I needed to be.
Timing wise, it could not have been worse, she died on the Saturday before and the festival started three days later on Tuesday through Sunday. I was the face of it while Heather was the incredible engine room. I compartmentalised and did the best I could possibly do (whilst heavily self medicating with Rosé.)
On the press night, Tuesday night, everyone I know in PR and Media showed up in support. I had written to ask that they not hug me. I knew them being there was for my comfort, but felt like an arm squeeze would shatter my veneer. It was a beautiful night and I was still able to get excited about what was coming next.
On the Wednesday night, we were at special dinner at Fiume and I remember telling Pierre Koffman and Fransesco Mazzei (rock stars in the food world) that my middle name and my mom’s last name was Bambino. Pierre pulled up a video of a song Bambino as my best friend Gina held my hand. A Bond actress attended Mitch Tonks guest appearance at Wright Brothers, everything was packed and the weather had been glorious.
At some point my keys were locked in an office and my partner and I ended up staying in the Battersea Flats at my new friend Frank’s, with our dog. Everyone was rallying to make sure that I was busy enough to distract, but not so busy that I wasn’t competent. The behind the scenes support from the Battersea Power Station Team and Perception Live— our incredible Production guys and the Chefs as well as Emma B- our compere was incredible. Everyone knew when I needed the dog or my boyfriend and that no glass was allowed on the steps.
I remember Harsh Joshi from Cinnamon Kitchen pulling me aside with Chai and making sure I was eating. Robin from Wright Brothers shucking oysters and his enthusiasm was just contagious, he was where the initial idea for the festival had originated and just the best partner/cheerleader as we actually brought it to life. We had built it and they had come, in droves.
My boyfriend was religiously policing the steps so I didn’t get told off by security and giving out plastic cups for hours whilst McNulty begged food and made friends. Everyone quickly knit a safety net to keep me going and it actually worked. I felt loved, protected and in a way, with total blinders on, in control. I could lose it later, but this, right here, right now, I could control people’s experience to an extent. I couldn’t bring my mom back but I could make a huge crowd have a good time.
On Saturday night, there was a bit of an issue around running out of food because we doubled the expected attendance numbers. Champagne problems, eh. One diner was livid and ready for a scene. I was apologetic, accountable and offering refunds, but she was yelling and kept going– after already getting a full refund. I remember thinking, ‘ Lady, I literally just lost my mom, nothing you can possibly say is going to break my facade.’ She eventually gave up after a few comped drinks, and I was the most hospitable I may have ever been; and I worked at a fifties diner down the New Jersey shore for 3 years. If it happened today, I would probably be less magnanimous than I was that night as she was attention seeking. But it was a minor hiccup and mostly it went off in spectacular fashion and was a huge success.
On Sunday afternoon, my best friends relocated their lives to be with me. They moved dates, birthday parties of other friends (brought the whole lot— people I didn’t know so that everyone was on hand) and everything else to Battersea Power Station for the Crayfish Boil. My friend Cleve, who was our incredible musician for the event played gorgeous songs while the sun set and we held our own little memorial for my Mom as the event finished. A gorgeous little girl with some disabilities took one of the big balloons and it burst. Her mom was overly apologetic; and shielding her baby from what she expected was going to be annoyance or anger. She was insisting on paying for the balloon.
The mum was worried about our reaction but there was not one, instead we just gave her baby more balloons to pop, McNulty to stroke and she danced with us for ages. The little girl even got on the piano with Cleve for a bit. Her mum teared up at being welcomed in to our group of strange mourners dancing on the banks of the Thames that enjoyed rather than admonished her little girl. Her baby was so happy and so so enthusiastic and that felt like my mom was with us. My mom had taught for thirty six years, and that little girl dancing with me was the embodiment of my mom.
I held on to McNulty and danced encircled by my London crew and thanked God that we had pulled it off. Correction, Heather had pulled most of it off with me as a shell of myself. But I had also done an amazing job and held it together. I had and still have such immense pride in the two of us and what we accomplished and the faith Sam Bunis and her team had put in us.
I was still the face of it despite the grief, in my crab dress, with crab face paint. Really.. I still was the hostess with the mostess. I love people, like really really love people, extreme even as an extrovert and I love being the person that creates moments that awe guests. To see people dance to an artist I booked, to see kids light up with balloon Ariel’s from Miss Ballooniverse and just really happy people enjoying food and Battersea Power Station was still a joy.
A kid bought the mermaid an ice cream because they don’t have that under the sea. Those moments were just so wholesome and joyous, and I was still able to feel that magic and pride. We had done it, we had been audacious and ridiculously enthusiastic in our pitch and it worked. The two of us pulling off a feat of 24,000 person event as the first event under my own agency is wild, but exciting. We met the challenge and then improved on it for 2019 with over 40,000 guests. 2020 London Seafood was in full production mode when covid hit and in the intervening years the Battersea Power Station Station opened and the need for footfall has disappeared as the reconstruction opened to the public and there are hoards of people.
During Covid, Heather relocated to Dubai to do events for her own agency This is the Collective(after working at a crematorium for almost a year, but that is another story.) In November of 2020 she called me at 7 am whilst I was walking McNults and asked if I could get myself to Abu Dhabi on a flight that left 7 hours later. To help her team put on Vidcon Abu Dhabi. For three weeks. Obviously I jumped on the plane.
Arriving in another country and putting on huge events for You Tuber Content Creators was amazing. Reminding myself I still had the chops and still love events. One of the clients asked if I was the enforcer. I took it as a huge compliment. I love the satisfaction of getting a job done and doing it brilliantly. Added bonus if you do it in another country that you’ve never been to. My favourite idea/bit was making a playable real life Guess Who for the beach. We got the creators all illustrated and made sure they had different variables so you could actually play. My friend Tom did the spreadsheet of attributes to make it actually work as a game, and those kind of details, the joy of the super famous You Tube creators realising they were in the game, that was magic.
And now, this week I have joined the Culture 3 team to produce TED Tech, TED’s very first tech specific event which will be held at the South Bank. I’m running sponsorships and partnerships and dusting off my publishing and sales expertise to help make the event shine. I am like a puppy with a new toy and over excited about the possibilities and options. Doing my own TEDx last year was one of the hardest and most fulfilling processes I’ve ever done and I am hugely passionate about the brand. To be around and amongst incredible thinkers and speakers on topics that will impact all of our lives is a privilege. And with Misan Harriman at the helm, we share the optimism, the activism and the commitment to truly incorporate social values and diversity into the fabric of the event rather than just tick boxes.
I started work this week, whilst still on an already booked holiday in Malta. I met and chatted with an Italian man, Roberto and his wife who own a global tech company– I pitched TED Tech to them whilst we were on the beach and am meeting him next week to discuss possibilities. I guess my point is that I live my brands and the companies I partner with. A friend once suggested I have a work phone and establish better boundaries between work and life; but I created National Burger Day on my birthday. If I am in, I am in, and you get the full effect of the cyclone of enthusiasm and amplification. I don’t know how to not be fully immersed or engaged, which is why my campaigning work has been so omnipresent over the last two years. I have no idea how to be half arsed. Like me seeing a puppy and not stopping and sitting on the floor and making out with them— oh wait, that isn’t normal, but it is 100% me.
The first week in new gig is always the heady mix of exciting and terrifying. The new kid at school; but oh the possibilities. On Wednesday and Thursday I barely slept for trying to get my feet under the desk whilst contacting my entire rolodex. (Wish I still had an actual one to be honest, but maybe for TED Tech it isn’t the right analog fit.)
I will attempt to have some work/life balance right and even tonight, I feel like I’ve got a much better hold on what I need to do and the path to nailing it. I excel at creating spectacles and activations that get tons of attention but more importantly get the right audience in front of the right brands. I just needed a reminder of my abilities and the ability to commute.
Of course there is some fear. Of course I was worried that I had lost my mojo whilst being an activist. That I had forgotten how to sell, how to crystallise opportunity and how to add to an already incredible team. But actually, if anything, the activism and break from events has improved my ability to see opportunity and to concisely present options. A hundred LBC interviews means I cut the bullshit and get to the point; and the most important part is that I am excited. I believe in what we are doing. I’m passionate about the curiosity and intersection of Tech and Culture and the notebook on my bedside table is no longer filled with bullet points about the Met police; it’s filled with ideas and people to talk to to engage and integrate with TED Tech.
I had joked that after two years of meetings about violence against women I couldn’t bear to sit in 17 meetings about humanely killing crayfish again; but you know what? I can definitely talk about TED Tech and Culture 3 and the opportunities to use it to enhance our collective future. I have evolved and I like this evolution and am legitimately optimistic and excited about the ideas, the debates and such brilliant people wrestling with such big ideas that will impact humanity.
It’s going to be mind blowing and I get to be at the heart of it. So, what can I say, come join us. Get involved, buy a ticket and join us on September 18th and 19th and the Southbank Center and if you know any companies that should be in the room where it happens you know where to find me. Or explicitly find me on jamie@culture3.com.
See, I still remember how to end on a sale. My chops weren’t that dusty. Always Be Closing. Love, The Enforcer.