Kirstie Adanick, CTA
Kirstie Adanick, CTA, is an accomplished sales and events leader with more than 15 years of experience driving revenue growth and delivering high-impact event experiences. She currently serves as Director of Sales and Events for the River Heritage Conservancy, a role she has held since May 2025. With a distinctive hybrid expertise in both sales and event execution, Kirstie specializes in identifying client needs, securing business, and producing large-scale events that balance profitability with exceptional client experiences. She is leading strategic efforts for the highly anticipated launch of Origin Park’s premier event venue, scheduled to open in May 2026.
In her current role, Kirstie is deeply engaged in the venue’s pre-opening phase, overseeing concept development, standard operating procedures, client acquisition, and operational logistics. She manages lead generation, collaborates closely with clients on future events, and coordinates critical backend details including vendor partnerships and event infrastructure. This project holds personal significance, as it transforms land in southern Indiana, where she grew up, from former junkyards, landfills, and brownfields into a vibrant destination featuring a premier event space and future whitewater rafting attraction. Prior to joining River Heritage Conservancy, Kirstie spent nearly three years with Emerald as a Senior Sales Executive, where she led sales for the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas and earned Top 5 President’s Club honors in 2024.
Earlier in her career, Kirstie held key roles with the Kentucky International Convention Center, supporting Louisville Tourism in attracting large-scale citywide events, as well as positions with USA Today and Signet Jewelers, where she became the youngest assistant store manager, overseeing a $5.5 million operation. A graduate of the University of Louisville, she is a Certified Tourism Ambassador (CTA) and was named one of Louisville Business First’s “20 People to Know in Events” in 2026. Kirstie also credits the guidance of her mentor, Laura Whitehead, as instrumental in her professional growth. Outside of her career, she has served for nearly a decade as head dance coach for duPont Manual High School in Louisville, leading a nationally ranked team to top 10 standings and a gold medal as Team USA in junior hip hop in 2022, reflecting her commitment to leadership, mentorship, and community impact.
• DCA (Diamond Council of America)
• Tripleseat University Diploma
• Certified Tourism Ambassador (CTA)
• Diamond Council of America Certified
• Top 5 President’s Club Winner, Emerald Exposition
• Rising Star Nominee, Louisville Tourism
• “20 People to Know in Events,” Louisville Business First
• Meeting Planners International (MPI)
• Greater Louisville Incorporated (GLI)
• One Southern Indiana (1SI)
• Kentucky Humane Society - fostering animals
• Head Dance Coach
• DuPont Manuel High School
• University of Louisville
• NATIONAL DANCE COACHES ASSOCIATION
• American Advertising Federation of Louisville
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute a lot of what shaped me to be who I am to watching my aunt, Jamie Sattler, who helped raise me. I came up from a pretty hard background I was one of the first people on my mom's side of the family to ever get a college degree and pursue college. My mom had some of her own demons, so I went back and forth between my mom's and my aunt, who ended up helping raise me. Watching my aunt work hard through incredible challenges, including overcoming cancer while raising a family and picking up the slack for her sister to help raise her kids, has always motivated me. My mindset is always, if she can show up to work and push herself the way that she did with stage 2 cancer, I can do anything. It will never be as bad as that. From a young age, I saw that, and paired with the struggles that I saw my family face, that's what's always motivated me to keep striving for more.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've received is to not take no for an answer. Especially in the sales and events world, taking no for an answer is not really going to get you the results that you want. If you can't open the door, you have to find a window, and you have to figure out how to make things happen. I really attribute that into my everyday life as well. Things will not always go the way that you plan it to go, but it's how to figure out that workaround, and how to find that workaround to get the results that you're looking for.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't take no for an answer. That is truly it. You can't... you can't dull your shine to make someone else sparkle. You can be that strong, independent person, and you can do all of the things that everyone around you can do. Don't dull yourself to fit into a box, because if you're too much for a place, you'll find a place that welcomes you.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge I face is being younger in my industry. I've always felt like I was ready to take that next step, but it was really hard to convince people that my 7 years of retail jewelry experience would translate into any sales career I could grow from there. People would look at retail jewelry and think it's just retail, not realizing that I ran a $5.5 million store with a team of 15 people underneath me, managing P&L, budgets, and staff hours at the age of 23, 24. Trying to convince companies like USA Today or the Kentucky International Convention Center that I was the leader I was, when they saw me as just this young person right out of college, fed into that don't take no for an answer mentality. Even now at [AGE] in a director of sales and events role, I'm still one of the youngest amongst my peers in the industry, so sometimes it is hard to push that boundary of proving I do have the experience and I do understand what I'm talking about, versus being seen as just not experienced enough yet. I think that's the biggest challenge that anyone who's growing in their space faces right now. As for opportunities, this position at River Heritage was one of the biggest. This project is really near and dear to my heart - we're building a park in southern Indiana where I grew up, transforming what used to be a junkyard, landfills, and brownfills into a beautiful event center opening in May and working on a whitewater rafting project. The challenge is getting the community to buy into it and change the mindset of people who've lived here for decades to see this as a great asset that will help the economic development of the area and bring the community back.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Honesty and transparency go hand in hand and are the most important values to me. Especially as a leader, I only know what I know, so I expect my team and anyone I work with to be transparent with me and let me know what their needs are. I'm not a mind reader, so it's important for those to be honest and transparent with me, and me to be honest and transparent with my team, because setting expectations is key. If someone doesn't know what their goals are, or what their journey is supposed to be, how do they know what steps they need to do to take that? Keeping very clear lines of communication and open and honest feedback is some of the key things that I look for, not only in myself, but in the team that I work with.