Her Story
About Madison
My journey into events started in an unexpected way. I got a political science degree in college, but while I was in school, I was paying my way through with all kinds of odd jobs - I was a janitor, I worked in the kitchen. The best gig to get on campus was working on the events team. We got to ride around on golf carts and hand out ice cream, and it just looked really fun. I really loved creating the experiences, and I'm not a super extroverted person, so I kind of loved the fact that I could attend all these campus events, get paid to go to these events, but then also have a job, a role and a purpose in being there. I started doing weddings on the weekends as well through one of my contacts from the events team at my college. When I graduated, I did try the whole political thing, and I was like, I hate this. I hate the people. I don't even know what I'm doing here, and so that's kind of how I found my way back to events. I started at ALEC and have built my career from there, progressing from coordinator to sponsorship sales to my current role in event marketing.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Madison
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think honestly, not being afraid to say yes. I'll always say yes and try it, because again, you can always change it or pivot. I think just always saying yes to new opportunities and new projects and being able to learn really quickly what you like and what you don't like. It's a little bit of a struggle now that I'm reaching a point where I'm no longer necessarily at the beginning of my career - there does reach a point where you do have to put in some boundaries, because just because you can do everything does not mean you should be doing everything. But I think overall, especially when you're younger, just say yes to everything.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I think try everything. And also, realize that the scope of work available in the events industry is not as small as it might seem. I think as women, we do end up in events-oriented roles - we kind of get tagged to organize the welcome happy hour with coworkers, or all of these things. Women that do enjoy that a lot should look at it as a full career path. You don't have to be restricted to just being forced to do extra work on top of your job. Advocate for yourself - events is a real industry, it's a lot of work, it requires a lot of talent and organization, and it requires thinking in a way that a lot of people don't think. If that's your skill, definitely go out there and try things, and know that there's job opportunities out there for this. There's some that are more tech-focused, there are some more sales-focused, there are some more logistics-focused, and then there's events marketing. I realized how many incredible people work in this industry, and how huge it is. But also, working in events, you do kind of have to advocate for yourself big time, because there is still a stigma around it not being necessarily a real job.
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