I was 21 [and in] my junior year of college at UCONN, when I started throwing parties on the weekends and the summer at the Bryant Park Hotel. My dad would actually pick me up from the train station (I lived in NJ with my family during college) every weekend at 1 AM after working all night!

Back then (almost 10 years ago), venues weren’t running rampant on Facebook asking you to host your birthday, anniversary, or networking event at their spaces. Instead, it was much more organic. I started by reaching out directly to my friends, just asking them if I could host their next party. This turned into a 60- to 100-person party every single weekend at Cellar Bar (in the Bryant Park). 

I always took running events very seriously. I’d run in and outside the venue, making sure every single person in the party got in without trouble (I still am so grateful for those incredible doormen who dealt with me for hours every single weekend). I learned so many things from that role: to make sure to treat every single person you deal with with respect (from clients to bus boys to managers to doormen), to just put yourself out there and not be afraid to fail, and also that you can create a life for yourself—even when you’re 21 and in college and your dad has to give you rides, even when you have two other jobs and an internship, too. I never let the limiting factor of time get in my way of exploring new opportunities.

I went to college intending to graduate with a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from a program with a record of 100% job placement. But when I graduated in 2009, I was confronted with the fact that absolutely no one was getting a job. I was directed to a very different industry: nightlife and hospitality.  After 5 years in NYC, studying and working, I met my current business partner and friend, Tony Hsieh [the CEO of Zappos], at a conference called the Summit Series. He inspired me to think differently about my future. 

I felt strongly that education should be a right and accessible for the 99%, as opposed to limited experiences geared towards the 1%. I started CatalystCreativ with the intention to create inspirational, educational experiences for as many people as possible for an affordable and accessible price, or whenever possible, for free.  At CC, we believe that brands are the best educators, and we work with them to inspire the world.  If it weren’t for my student loans and the recession, I wouldn’t have ever looked at the education system as a whole, and I would never have been challenged to see things differently.

This is the the hardest question, and the question that we ask ourselves practically every day at CatalystCreativ. It’s so much easier to help other organizations with their brand strategy than it is to help your own organization!

The way I describe CatalystCreativ is through the origin story. My background, as I mentioned, is in education and events & marketing so when starting CatalystCreativ, the intention was to combine the two forces to help brands engage their millennial consumer. Perhaps my aunt at Thanksgiving wouldn’t understand this explanation, but this is at the core of what we are and what we do.

CatalystCreativ is an experience studio. We design experiences that are educational and inspirational. “Experiences” can be social media campaigns, branding and design, or physical events. We have an expert understanding of millennials and Generation Z, who are our core demographic. We know they deeply connect with the idea of making the world a better place, which is the foundation of our organization.

We have worked with some of the most tremendous partners that have helped us grow over the past three years.  Some memorable projects include: Dell and an experience we worked on called “7 citizens changing the local city and the world” in Austin; launching a sustainability partnership between EKOCYCLE and Starwood Hotels. We’ve also worked with numerous foundations and nonprofits including Schusterman Foundation, NPR Generation Listen, and The Nature Conservancy. Then there was Downtown Project, in which we created an inspirational, educational content series called Catalyst Week, where we brought 2000 people and 250 speakers to Downtown Vegas for two and a half years, and of course, Life is Beautiful. 

Life is Beautiful is near and dear to my heart because it focuses on beautifying Downtown Las Vegas (which is where CatalystCreativ was essentially born). It’s a 100,000 person festival with music, art, learning and culinary components. CatalystCreativ’s role was to produce, program, and curate the entire learning series. We brought speakers like Bill Nye, Justin Baldoni, Kat Graham, Rosario Dawson, among 30+ other incredible individuals. The whole foundation for our program was “you cannot be if you cannot see it”, and so all speakers spoke from their hearts to the audience as opposed to speaking at the audience about their accomplishments.

No apologies needed and thank you! Yes, I’ve encountered biases because of my age and because I'm a female entrepreneur, but I don't know if I have dealt with as much bias from others as I may give myself. Recently, when moderating a Q+A, I was embarrassed when the incredible woman I was interviewing asked me my age in front of the room. It took me a minute to realize why I felt that way—I was concerned that people would take me less seriously when they realized I was younger than 30.

I think those reactions are, in part, a phenomenon of being a woman in a fast-paced industry. Women often feel way more insecure than men do about a lot of things—countless studies show it's been ingrained in us to think that way. I frequently reference the book, Knowing Your Value by Myka Brzneski. She talks about how women under-negotiate and undervalue themselves as business leaders. Women leaders should feel proud of their role no matter what; I work on that every day

I'm lucky enough to be a part of a lot of different communities including TED, Nexus Youth Summit, PTTOW, Summit Series, Hatch, Dot to Dot…and I'm on 4 non-profit boards: Mama Hope, I Am That Girl, Global Citizen Festival and NPR Generation Listen.

Working with so many organizations means I encounter diverse ways of thinking. I also get so much of my inspiration from following people on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and watching what they post. I end up doing research often and reading as much as I can get my hands on, but honestly, the first step was curating my online and physical community to reflect my lifestyle and what I’m striving towards.

Our company runs as a “holacracy,” which is a self-organization model that Zappos has been promoting for quite some time. Rather than being identified by your title, each person is identified by the roles they fill. In most start-ups, people play many roles but don't get acknowledged for all of them. The holacracy model is a way to make sure everyone has a say and gets acknowledged for all the random hats they wear. That includes me so my day varies according to roles.

I usually wake up at 9AM PST. My colleagues are all over the country and work remotely so we are usually on different time zones. I check emails for about an hour, then around 11:30AM, I hop on a weekly with one of our clients (this is part of my role as account manager). Next, I’ll have calls or meetings with new business prospects (now I’m playing my Biz Development role), which take up a couple hours. Around 4PM, I’ll either have a check in with the team or go back to emails. And somewhere in there, I’ll set aside time to work on a proposal, a creative brief, a deck, or concept with the team when needed.

I also travel a ton, so this is the most “normal” day at CC, but I find myself in different cities often. For example, in the month of November I was in Washington, D.C. for a conference, NYC for meetings, Miami for a client, Dubai for a client and then NYC for meetings again.

I think I’ll reframe some mistakes I made into advice I’d give:

1. Don't hire your friends just because they’re your friends, only hire them if they have the skills you’re looking for.

2. Don't start a business just to start a business, be sure you have done the work on yourself before starting anything. A lot of people create companies because of things they still need to play out emotionally, take care of your baggage so it doesn't manifest in your business.

3. Value yourself enough to ask for what you are worth from investors, and partners. 

4. Set boundaries, take vacations, relax, sleep a lot.

Working alongside people I love and respect at CatalystCreativ. This includes my team (who I feel is the hardest working team on the planet), our partners and clients who believe in and support us, and our community, the people who send us business, attend our experiences, and believe what we’re doing matters.  It's amazing to work every day with people that you enjoy being around.

Meditate. I do this even when I don't have the worst day so that when I do have the worst day, it’s a lot less terrible than it would’ve be otherwise. I think it is crucial to my sanity to meditate as often as I can. I was lucky enough to have friends that paid for me to attend a  David Lynch Foundation transcendental meditation training years ago, and it’s paid off big time. I’ve done so much work on myself including attending leadership courses, reading, working out, healers, psychics, mediums, body work, you name it. My boyfriend always says: “Work harder on yourself than your business,” and that approach helps me bounce back faster from disappointments.

I believe success is feeling good about the work you’re doing, the people you’re working with, and how you make people feel. Success means you’re making people feel inspired and ignited about their futures and their opportunities. It means impacting as many lives as possible for the better. For quite some time, I didn't like considering monetary value as a success metric but I’ve realized after three years (and defying the odds of most start-ups), it's important to have monetary goals and continued financial success. Doing good and doing well are not mutually exclusive.

I definitely want to do more public speaking. I love the power that speaking to an audience has in terms of the way people connect with CatalystCreativ. I am looking forward to having more international clients, and partners that help us expand our impact. We have some incredible digital experiences coming up that I am so excited for. And I would like to write a book, but only when I am completely ready and know exactly what I am most passionate about.