Making the Moment
Making the Moment, the podcast that brings you the untold stories, unfiltered insights, and big ideas from the architects behind the moments that matter.
Join your host Aja Bradley-Kemp, as each week she and her guests will show you how to design experiences that not only captivate audiences but also drive value for your organization. Whether you’re looking to build buzz, boost loyalty, or drive revenue, these tips will give you actionable ideas to help you design customer experiences that truly make an impact.
This is for the moment makers and the culture creators. Welcome to Making the Moment.
Making the Moment
From Zero to SOLD OUT: Ashley Adana's Secrets to Event Success
From Weddings to World Stages: Ashley Adana on Producing Culture-Shifting Events
In this episode of Making the Moment, host Aja Bradley Kemp sits down with powerhouse producer Ashley Adana, CEO of BEC Production, whose event planning journey spans nearly 15 years—from Atlanta weddings to global conferences and cultural tentpole events like InvestFest. Ashley shares how a high school reunion lit the spark for her career, why she transitioned out of weddings, and the lessons she’s learned producing events for industry giants like Rick Ross, Nehemiah Davis, and Dame Dash.
She also drops gold on crisis management, international planning logistics, negotiating venues, and why every event—no matter the size—demands excellence. Plus, she introduces her Event Creators Academy, a course built for the next generation of producers ready to scale their impact.
🎧 What You'll Learn:
- How Ashley went from planning weddings to managing 20,000+ attendee conferences
- Her behind-the-scenes process producing InvestFest and events for Rick Ross & Dame Dash
- Tips for navigating international event production (even without site visits)
- Why vendor relationships are your greatest asset
- The biggest red flags that tell you someone isn’t built for production
- How to avoid burnout in an industry that never sleeps
- The vision behind her course, Event Creators Academy, and who it’s for
- Why Tyler Perry is “having a moment” in her eyes
💡 Notable Quotes:
- “All plans are meant to be broken—but you must still have a plan.” – Ashley Adana
- “I give to myself before I give myself to the world.” – Ashley Adana
- “It doesn’t matter if the event is for 100 or 20,000 people—the responsibility is still major.” – Ashley Adana
🔗 Resources Mentioned:
- Ashley’s Course: ashleyadana.com
- Ashley on Instagram: @ashley_adana
- InvestFest by Earn Your Leisure
- Dream Collective by Tyler Perry (for aspiring filmmakers)
🎧 Subscribe & Share
If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, rate, and share with your fellow visionaries.
💼 Work With Us
Interested in booking a guest, sponsorship, or collaboration? Contact us at mtm@conversatecollective.com.
📍 Connect with Us:
- Host: Aja Bradley Kemp
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🎙️ Making the Moment is produced by Conversate Collective.
Introduction:
We've all seen them, those experiences that stop us in our tracks, the moments that flood our feeds, shift culture, and bring people together. I'm Aja Bradley-Kemp, and I've helped generate millions in revenue and billions of impressions by creating scroll-stopping moments for some of your favorite brands and celebrities.
This is Making the Moment, the podcast that brings you the untold stories, unfiltered insights, and big ideas from the architects behind the moments that matter. In each episode, I'll show you how to design experiences that not only captivate audiences, but also drive tangible value for your organization.
Whether you're looking to build buzz, boost loyalty, or drive revenue, I want to help you design customer experiences that truly make an impact. This is for the moment makers and the culture creators. Welcome to Making the Moment.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 0:50
Welcome back to Making the Moment, where we unpack the stories behind the events that shape culture and meet the visionaries who craft those unforgettable experiences.
I'm Aja Bradley-Kemp, and today we are joined by the amazing Ashley Adana, CEO of BEC Productions. For over 14 years, she's gone from planning intimate weddings in Atlanta to producing mega conferences for the likes of Rick Ross, Damon Dash, Nehemiah, and more. Welcome, Ashley. We're so excited for you to be here.
Ashley Adana 1:18
Thank you for having me.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 1:20
I've been watching your work for a while and we've had the chance to work together in the past. I'm really excited about this conversation because I think your experience and your insights are really going to help a lot of people and give us some great background into some of the amazing work that you do.
Ashley Adana 1:40
Awesome. I'm excited that you finally invited me on so yeah, let's get into it.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 1:44
Let's get into it. The first question that I had for you is, where this all began because you grew up here in Atlanta and you have gone from starting in weddings and creating beautiful experiences for people, to now creating these mega events. So what was that spark for you to get into this industry?
Ashley Adana 2:06
I actually started with my high school reunion. My high school class reunion, it was time to start planning everything and some of my classmates reached out and they were like, hey, Ash, would you love to be on the planning committee with us? And I was like, sure, let's do it.
We planned over several months and when I was able to have all of my classmates inside of those spaces that we had curated over the course of a three-day weekend, it was my spark, right? That's when it all started for me. And so to be able to know that I would be a part of that memory that they had and all of the work that the other committee members and I put together over those months, it was like, oh my gosh, I really like this.
They are really enjoying themselves, they're enjoying the work of my labor, all of those type things. And it was just like, okay, I think I have found this thing that I want to explore a little bit more. And now here I am almost 15 years later, still in the industry that I explored and was exposed to. So yeah, it's been great.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 3:14
Oh, that's amazing. What made you go from weddings to then into these big conferences?
Ashley Adana 3:23
As you stated, I started off with weddings and I did weddings for a good number of years and honestly, it started to get a little repetitive. So even though it was a new couple and we were having great experiences, it just kind of started to be the same flow of things and not really like the excitement that I was desiring or needing.
We would go to the cake tasting and we're pretty much going to the same cake people because we've developed these great relationships with our vendor partners. I can only taste this cake so many times, even though it's a new experience for them. I can only go to the caterers and do the tastings this many times, talk to the DJ this many times.
So to me, it started to just get very like mundane and I was missing like that excitement. And so with conferences, seminars, and tours is usually something that sometimes they're happening in different cities, they're happening even in different countries that we've done.
So that particular excitement that I was missing from my weddings being kind of the same thing, I just wanted to look into that a little bit more and I have been in conferences ever since. It kind of just was a natural flow of trying something new in the industry for me.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 4:45
And what was your first conference?
Ashley Adana 4:47
One of my first conferences was with Nehemiah Davis and it was a great experience. His were more mastermind kind of styles and then grew into conferences. That was a great experience to even just grow with him.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 5:03
And I was reading that one of those early events that you did for him were international, how was that for you? Were you doing international weddings prior to that?
Ashley Adana 5:14
I did a few destination weddings before so I knew what it took to kind of, what I say is, plan from afar. The different logistics that you have to go through, traveling for site visits, being able to communicate the needs and also be open to what those different ways of planning and logistics happen in different countries that you may go to.
So we were already familiar with handling those type things, even with shipping items out or sourcing in those different countries. It was something that we already kind of knew how to do. So it was an easy transition from doing it for weddings to doing it for conferences and seminars.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 5:54
In those days, whether it was weddings or for the conferences and you're working in an international market, because this podcast, we like to edutain the audience and really give them some nuggets of things that they should think about if they find themselves in a similar situation.
Were there any particular challenges that you had found and found interesting ways to overcome them when working in an international market, and maybe not being able to do multiple site visits? How did you set things up so that you can be successful in that sort of environment?
Ashley Adana 6:37
Your workflows in a sense are the same when you're planning internationally. I think the only thing that really changes is more of your timeframe, you want to give yourself more time to if you're shipping items, to get those over there, making sure that you're overly communicating with your vendor partners that are there.
But the one thing that I would say is get extremely close to whatever vendor partner you're going to be utilizing the most or that is the most well-rounded in that area as well. So if it is your salesperson for the venue that you're going to be working at internationally, then make sure that you develop a great relationship with them because that's going to be your source for a lot other things that you need.
One of the things that we used to always incorporate in our conferences when we do international is some type of cultural element from wherever we are. So if it is some type of entertainment portion of it, like we don't know who the best Moroccan mariachi band when we're traveling but of course you're the venue knows that, they work with the entertainment companies and things like that.
So really leaning into your vendor partners from afar is the best way that you can do it. Even if you can't go over, if the budget doesn't allow for you to go and do these site visits internationally, which we always do, is very important that we have our eyes on it. Nobody can do it like you and your client is particularly hiring you to be able to execute in excellence as much as possible for any type of event that they hire you for.
I think that being able to go over and do a site visit is extremely important. But if not, depending on who your vendor partner is, videos are always an amazing thing. Then for them to get on a Zoom call with you while they're actually walking the space from outside in the parking lot to inside walking through that space.
It'll help you be able to guide you into creating what you want that environment to be when your attendees come on site. Your vendor partners in those international, , markets are really, really important.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 8:59
And speaking of large conferences, you're known as the machine behind InvestFest, at least from my vantage point as someone in the industry. How did you go from these mastermind events for a few hundred people to then planning this major cultural tentpole, which I think in the first year was 4,000 and now it's up to like 30,000 people?
Ashley Adana 9:27
They're up in the high numbers now so probably around about 20 thousand attendees but of course there are other elements that go along with the event. There's the Marketplace where there are typically anywhere from 300 to 400 small and large businesses that are inside of the marketplace participating and then, of course, a plethora of speakers that we're managing, workshops and things of that nature.
The shift of the larger conferences, and as you stated, we kind of built it from the beginning of the conception until now so we just kind of grow and adjust for what the needs are. A lot of my referrals actually come from speakers who are able to experience our company executing these events.
The bulk of our business is referrals or again, people who have experienced us as a speaker or as a guest and they want to work with us. That's exactly how that relationship happened as well; they came and they were a part of another conference that I planned and were ready to create their own.
They were like, Hey Ash, let's talk, we really want to create something like this for our community as well and I was like, let's have the conversation. And there it is.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 10:42
What was, what was the vision from day one and how did you take that vision and run with it? I know that's a little bit of a broad question, but was your year one everything that you imagined it would be based on those initial conversations?
Ashley Adana 11:01
In a sense, yes. I think that's really big for me because I try to get so much clarity and like tell me what your vision is or what do you see for event day? That's how I get the client to just like spill it all, like give me your biggest dreams that you have.
And then of course, as producers, then we go and say, okay, how can we bring in the right people to be able to bring this particular vision together? And so what was desire is exactly what was executed, we want to have a conference to where we're able to have an experience for our community to be able to gather, to come and converse and build more outside of just us, with our online show on YouTube.
We want to them to have actual in-person experience over the course of a weekend and we want to be able to support small business owners with being a part of the marketplace, and that's what we created. That’s pretty much the foundation of what the event is.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 12:04
What do you think were some of the key learnings that you had from the first one to then year three, and I guess this year will be year four, that you guys have been able to build upon and you feel like has made the event bigger and better every year?
Ashley Adana 12:22
This will actually be year five that is going into it. Each year has its lessons that comes with it. Well, maybe we need a little more security here or maybe we need to allow a little bit more time between the different, because we actually have three stages typically going at the same time so it's a lot of movement.
But to make sure that we have a good balance of the marketplace getting all of the love that they need and having their time, along with being able to produce this amazing programming as well that serves, in a sense, majority of the attendees. You always want to make sure that everybody can walk away having a great experience, so how can that be curated?
I think that it's really important for clients to also do surveys and get that feedback after their events. The reason that that's important is because the community will tell you what they want and they'll tell you what they need.
I think the best way to continue to grow your events is for you to actually take that feedback, not with a grain of salt, but with a lot of substance to it to say, okay, well, this is what majority of the people are saying, or we had this great percentage that everybody keeps saying that they want this type of education. Let's make sure that we incorporate that in the following year. I think getting that feedback is really, really important and that helps each year with the growth.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 13:55
How big is the scale of your role and responsibility for the event? Is it just the production of it or does it also lean into the marketing as well and the hospitality elements?
Ashley Adana 14:12
We take on pretty much everything for the event outside of promotion and PR.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 14:20
Okay.
Ashley Adana 14:21
Outside of that, we do it all so just like you're stating, the hospitality of it being on site, the hotel blocks, we also do the production of the actual event and the shows, all of the vendor management, all of the talent management as well, taking care of that. It's the everything, so we are full service for that particular venture.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 14:44
And how many people do you need to pull off something like that? How big is the production?
Ashley Adana 14:50
It is an army, a full-on army. I say when you are the producing company, you're responsible for everything and everyone and you're also responsible for everyone's needs. That can be a very heavy load to have, but it's also a blessing because again, the same feeling that I got when I planned the very first event, which was our high school reunion, is the same way that I get when we're doing international tours, when we're doing conferences, when we're doing brand activations, all of those things.
It's just the spark of knowing that when you see those people inside of the space that you've curated, it's just such a fulfilling feeling. The bigger that the event is, the more responsibility that it is but it's also the bigger the impact. Being responsible for maybe 100 vendors along with their teams of multiples so like an AV company in itself can have anywhere from 30 to 50 people on a large production like this automatically.
All of those people are my responsibility. When we're talking about speakers plus threes, and entourages, you're responsible for those people, their experience. That can be up to 300 plus people just on the speaker side of things.
And then when you're talking about these 300 to 400 small businesses plus their teams, that's over maybe 1000 people that you're caring for specifically, solely just the business owners inside of the marketplace, on top of your 20,000 attendees, right?
It's a very heavy load to have and I always believe that your vendor partners are the most important partnerships that you'll have and that they are fully informed and they're also equipped with all of the things that they need to execute as much in excellence as well as you and your team. Everybody is just expected to show up and show out and the numbers are large.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 16:54
What are your tips for producers on developing those relationships and negotiating all of the things that you need because it requires such a strong infrastructure?
Ashley Adana 17:05
Yeah, it does. I think one of the important things, and again I'll go back to your vendor relationships and your vendor partners, I always like to work with people that I know care just as much as I do, not only about the event that we're doing, but also what their reputation and identity is for their company.
I always say when you work move in integrity and when you move with a sense of pride of your own business then it's a bonus for your clients because you're going to show up for yourself first then you're going to show up for your clients with whatever that is that you've been contracted to do.
Finding the right vendor partners is super important and people that you trust and I think that it's important to nurture those things, not just for the event that you're working on, but also important throughout the year. I love to love on my vendors. I check on them, sending Christmas cards, Christmas gifts, things like that because again, we work together for so long planning out some of these larger events to where they need to know that they're not just a number.
I think that the most important thing is to nurture again, your venues are the most important thing because in a sense that is going to be your home and your house for however long those events are.
If you're in a space where you're there for, let's just say a three-day weekend, you're literally in that space for anywhere from five to seven days, in and out days in because you're talking about your load in days and then your event days plus your load out days, which can also be numbers.
You may be in a sense, as we say, living there for a whole week but you've gone there several times for walkthroughs and poked your head in or you're attending even events that they have just to network a little bit further, to know the persons that are inside of the space that you'll be in.
The convention bureau is another good thing when you're going into these different cities, to kind of develop those particular relationships. Hotels, as you stated, are really important so knowing like your regional managers for some of the Hiltons and Marriotts and things of that nature are really important. as well for you to develop those relationships because you may need to move on to another city.
I stated, tours are really important to have those relationships because they can do some sourcing of these places for you and that cuts down a lot of time on yourself and your team.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 19:35
Are there any things that you've learned along the way that you didn't know maybe year one or year two, that you use now in year five when it comes to like negotiating that you would help other planners? I know we're going to talk about later your course, are there any little gems or something that planner would normally not think about or wouldn't think to ask for that you think is something to a little nugget to keep in mind or that they can use?
Ashley Adana 20:08
I'll say venues and hotels. With venues, it's important to also compare and I think that some people don't do that. They're like, oh, you're interested in this place, okay, we're just going to go and talk to them.
If you're going into a convention center, they may be the largest convention center in your city, but reach out to another convention center in the area to see what their offerings are, what are some of those things that they want to do to, in a sense, get your business. That way it helps you to negotiate at other places as well.
Also, I think the most important thing is having a clear vision of what it is that your client needs and you have to think of all of those things when you're going to these venues so you're not doing a lot of back and forth. What I mean by that is, again, we're going into a space and we have a three-day weekend, you may be there for seven days.
You need to be contracted for seven days, not well, we're going to be here for three days. These are things that you need to learn and know of how long am I going to be occupying these spaces? One of the other things is also think about the time that you're occupying the spaces during that time.
So, for instance, you may have workshop rooms that you'll be working and you may have five workshops going at the same time so you need five meeting spaces for that as well. But you don't need a meeting space for seven days. You may need just that meeting space one day before the event starts to get everything set up because it's a small space.
And then you may only need that one day or depending on when the workshops are going to be ending, the event day to be able to end it. Those are things that you need to be thinking about as a producer so that, again, your client is not overpaying for spaces for seven days where you really only need the space for four days.
So really going into it with a plan of knowing what those needs are, are really important when it goes to the venues. For the hotels, oh my gosh, there's so much stuff with hotel blocks and things.
You can definitely work with your convention bureaus to be able to help you, your local convention, ACVB, to be able to source the hotels for you or to give you those contacts if you're comfortable with doing the blocks and things yourself as a company, as we are, because we hold our travel agency, our AOTA number so we're able to go in and negotiate.
A lot of the times with these hotels are going to offer you the same thing so knowing like what rebates and commissions are available. Most people are going to give you suites or this many nights booked and you'll get these nights off of your master and all of those things.
But to be able to do the same thing, get a couple of different quotes from hotels and then look at what those offers are. One thing we do is we build out what our access sheet is. We don't just go after what they're offering us. One of the things that we always ask for is that we want a meeting room on site for our team at whatever the host hotel would be so the main hotel.
And that means that in case we have speakers that are like, I just need to take meetings, I need to be somewhere quiet away from, depending on how host a hotel is, we can offer that room to them.
Or if the client is saying, hey, I need to have a space where we don't want to be inside of the actual venue but just a nice quiet space to talk about some things for next year or to be able to meet with a couple of potential sponsors for next year, that room is available. Or if we need to have a super late night powwow from the venue, we have that room.
That's something that we always negotiate in our contracts, which they're not going to offer to you. It's just kind of creating that list of things that you need so that when you're going into those negotiations, you're able to say, great, thanks for this proposal, these are the additional things that we need and we ask for.
We need this many valet passes that are not going to have to be paid for, we need this many suites and doubles and all of those type of things. It's a lot to do but the more that you start to negotiate and kind of see what they offer and really what your needs are, the better you get at it. It's definitely practice.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 24:35
There are so many hidden costs that you don't think about upfront, especially with hotels so all of that that you shared, are great reminders. How long does it take you to plan something like an InvestFest for 20,000 people?
Ashley Adana 24:52
Again, what I like to have is a full year. What you like and what you get is a totally different thing. The guys always talk about it as well, the first year that we made it happen, I want to say it was like six or eight weeks that we put that event together and it was a lot. But we have been at the same location every year, which is a great thing.
Not that it's a rinse repeat because that is absolutely impossible but at least you're in a space where you're familiar with it and then you can make those changes that you need to be able to serve and elevate after each year. Along the way it all comes together. A year would be amazing, but you don't always get that. You just have to work with the time that you have in knowing that it is realistic to make it happen.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 25:44
My last question for you about InvestFest that I thought about is because they have already such an inbuilt community with the EYL University, do you think about when you're planning this conference, the ways that you can help connect that community even more?
Maybe for the people that don't know someone that are a part of the EYL community, but this is like their first time to an InvestFest. Are you guys thinking about from a programming standpoint or activities, how do you enroll people or bring new people into the ecosystem?
Ashley Adana 26:21
The best start is to be a part of the community in advance. EYL University, there are separate meetups and programming that they have during the actual InvestFest weekend for those persons that they actually call them earners. So the people that are a part of the community have their own meet ups.
They have text groups, I think some of them even have Facebook groups, just their own things that are going because of course the community is so large, but they definitely do have that. So it is a part of the programming to where there are meet ups kind of leading up before the actual event days, which is that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
They'll typically have a meetup on a Thursday or something of that nature and then they just kind of grows and they kind of all get together. And then they of course have the app where there's like kind of like all of the things that are going on and associated with the actual conference itself.
So yeah, that's really important that they have those type things because it does, it grows the community. And then another thing that they do with the programming is typically there is a booth inside of the marketplace for the actual community to be able to go, and for people to sign up for it and things like that. That's always like a staple in the marketplace as well.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 27:38
Moving on from InvestFest, you have worked with some hip hop legends, specifically Dame Dash and Rick Ross. I would love to hear what it was like working with Dame because he is such a polarizing figure, people either love him or hate him. I personally love him because he gives it to you straight. What was it like working with him? What did you guys work on, together?
Ashley Adana 27:59
Dame is a sweetheart, he's very mellow and very chill. Some people would think he's ‘on’. But his personality rings true to each time that we work together. As I've shared with you before, a lot of the times that we get referrals is because they've actually experienced us at our events where they've been speakers or something of that nature.
He was actually one of my speakers at one of my events and the relationship came together where he was wanting to do an event. Well, he and 19 Keys actually were wanting to put together an event. Keys is from Oakland so he wanted to do the event in Oakland and Damon was working on American News, the new network.
He was coming out with like a new film and he was like, okay, like let's put something together and sit down and have a really deep conversation, high level conversation, is what 19 Keys always says. And so that's what we did. We curated that event for the two guys. They came together and it was a great experience in Oakland.
It was, I want to say almost 1000 attendees for that particular event and it was just a great night. I want to say that that was probably the third time that we had been kind of in the same space and work together so it was great to kind of like curate that and bring it together but super easy, super easy.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 29:35
I read that you and Ross had a really interesting connection when you guys started working together. What was that experience like for you?
Ashley Adana 29:45
I love Rick so much. He is amazing. I like to talk about the lessons that I got from him. You'll look at his Instagram and things like that and you'll kind of get like little snippets of him talking about this and that. It’ll be funny but it's just so much truth, even his comedic delivery.
One of the lessons was to stay as close to your businesses as possible, no matter how many businesses that you have, you need to know what is going on in your businesses. The event that we created for him, and it was about three years that we did that one, was called the Boss Up Conference.
It was a very intimate, unique conference for very high earning business owners who were really ready to scale and elevate even further than they currently were because again, these were very successful business owners inside of the room already.
What Rick wanted to curate was, I want them to have a space where they can get in front of even heavier hitters than they are, but also me be able to just pour into them and give them the game on how to really safeguard your business as well.
Not like some of the other conferences that we had, but he had like business lawyers in here talking to them and giving them game in like how their businesses should be set up after they're growing to certain levels and really successful other people in there as well. He didn't post all of it so I won't go into all of those details, but it was a very intentional experience and it was just truly a blessing to be able to be a part of that.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 31:22
Wow. It sounds like a memorable moment in your career.
Ashley Adana 31:27
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 31:29
How does it differ from working on conferences, regardless of the size or masterminds with a talent, I guess, that is of one caliber in terms of audience and reach. And then working with clients that are a little bit more high profile, like a Rick Ross or a Damon Dash? Is the onboarding process with working with these types of clients a little bit different? Do you have to approach it differently?
Ashley Adana 31:56
No, not really. Onboarding is honestly the same because your processes are your processes of how you get to, I always say, event day and to the actual experience that people are going to have there.
There maybe a couple of other requests that you may have that are out of the norm because they have a certain level of expectation for certain things. But at the end of the day, it's still all about the experience that they want to have in the room. So it may be the lunch is a little different to where everybody is served lamb chops and lobster tails versus our regular chicken and mashed potatoes and green beans.
So it's like a different service level. The budgets are a bit different and the experiences may be different. Or again, just having access to different clientele than you would at other conferences but at the end of the day the service level should always be the same. You're walking into any event that you are responsible for.
That's what I always try to tell people, to be responsible or to get a booking or a project is to take on responsibility of what that experience is going to be for people so you have to always want to make sure that you do the best job as possible for whoever it is.
Just me authentically who I am I don't care if I am serving the girl who just started her business and got a great following on Instagram so now she's one of my speakers and I have no idea who she is. But she has accomplishments and she has served in enough to be able to be on the same stage as the Tyler Perry that I'm serving.
So for me, there's no difference in how I'm going to serve them as long as they let me know what their needs are. Honestly, Tyler Perry was probably one of my easiest speakers ever and you would think this billionaire is like, oh my gosh. But he was so sweet and laidback. The only order was feed you water, fruit, simple.
You think that it'll be this long hospitality rider with all of these things. But he was just there to serve the purpose and to speak to the people and give that motivation and inspiration and share his story and it was that simple. Sometimes people would think that these large names come with super large personalities and that's not always the case.
Even with Dame, Dame is like super chill but you would think that the personality, what some people would say is wild out, but he’s just very direct with how he feels and what that means and what's wrong with that?
Aja Bradley-Kemp 34:46
Yeah. I would say I was in a meeting with Dame Dash when I was in my 20s, it was a business meeting and I found him to be the most professional and respectful and easiest person to talk to, which is very different than what is portrayed at times but that's Hollywood, I guess.
Ashley Adana 35:08
I think Barack said it best, when you get to these tables, you have these expectations of who these people are supposed to be and it's not that. They're just like you, they put their pants on the same way.
They just may have a couple of different locations to be able to go and lay their head where you might have one. But at the end of the day, they have challenges, they have successes and wins the same way that everybody else does. So you treat them with respect and you'll get that same respect coming back to you.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 35:36
Definitely. What's the favorite part of the work that you do? What do you enjoy most about it?
Ashley Adana 35:42
The favorite part is the smiles on the faces, the excitement of when you open up doors. I think at the very, very end where we're all able to take a breath, see what it was that we created, I say if an ambulance and a police car didn't pull up to the event, then we’re good to go, we did great.
I think that for me, that, is like the most fulfilling thing to just know that they are walking away with memories and they're walking in with an open heart. It's like that beginning and the end is nothing like it and everything in between all of the fires that you have to put out, all of the adjustments that you have to make, all of the planning that went into it, it's like worth those two moments.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 36:31
Yeah. It's the joy, why a lot of us do this work, it's the joy that we bring to other people. I have two questions for you because you mentioned the fires. Is there something that's happened at an event and you could be as specific or vague as you want, but did you have like a moment where you really had to do some crisis management and was able to turn it around and the audience was none the wiser, and maybe even the client was none the wiser about what happened?
Ashley Adana 37:04
Well, honey, that's every event. I always say the client does not need to know what they don't need to know because they are there to have and feel the same experience as the attendees, the same thing with attendees.
The attendees are not going to know the fires that you're putting out before you open up those doors. It doesn't matter if the trust fell down and now you have to get that back up within 45 minutes and have all hands on deck to be able to get those doors open on time.
They don't know that to be able to put out these fires, it's just a million and one things, nothing goes as planned but it's always important for you to have a plan. That's the thing that I always say with events, all plans are meant to be broken but you have to have a plan in place to be able to execute, period.
And be flexible. I think flexibility is one of the most important things when you're doing these events because you just don't know when you have to adjust and move something and how that small adjustment that small adjustment can make a huge impact in somebody's success. I think that that's important to have that flexibility.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 38:18
What has been your, your most favorite project that you've worked on in your career?
Ashley Adana 38:22
Oh, that's like having kids and saying, which one is my favorite child.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 38:26
Favorite memory?
Ashley Adana 38:31
You can just pull from everywhere. I think my class reunion, the very first are always like the best because it’s like, we did it, you know? I mean, we did it, the class reunion was complete. Oh my gosh, we did it, we got them down the aisle and they have pictures to be able to look at because they're not going to remember anything from the day because it was so busy so yes, check mark on that.
Oh my gosh, we're doing an international event, this is crazy, but we did it. I think probably the first are always like the ones that always come to mind that are the best milestones, your first of everything. Your first brand activation, working on that with a company.
Our very first one was Puma and this was years ago when they released one of the shoes and it was like, oh my gosh, like brands are doing things like this. Oh my God, the whole staff is getting shoes and shirts.
Like what the world? It’s like all of these things that you just don't know until you experience them. So I think that all of the first are super special moments,, no best babies, but all of the babies.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 39:39
Fair enough. Now, I know you as very bold and unapologetic. Very direct. So is that something, because you've worked with so many interesting personalities that it sounds like you've had great experiences with all of them, but is that something that you're that personality? Have you always been that way or is that a muscle that you've grown since working in this business in production?
Ashley Adana 40:09
The muscle has always been there and it's always shown and it's always come out. That's why I say, I think that it is very, very important to authentically be who you are in all environments so that people know what they're getting. I think that when you do that, then the right projects and the right people along the way come to you.
So again, as I've stated, I show up the same in all environments and on all projects. The reason that I do that is because I never want to be in a situation where I have to be anything else, or even I feel in my heart that I should be something else. I will never be anything else but Ashley, that's just how I show up in the world.
But as far as who I am, the business that I have and the clients that come to me and that are working with me is off of my reputation, it's off of my business and how we serve our clients. That has always been something that I lean very much into, which is who I am. Do I soften in certain situations when I need to?
Absolutely. But when we really talk about, again, the responsibility and the role is something that I don't take lightly. It's something that feels as though it is a large response responsibility and it is and I don't take it lightly. It doesn't matter as you even stated how small the event is, the responsibility is still major.
I just move in a sense that works best for me and my team and my vendor partners to be able to execute as well as we can so that we can see the smiling faces. If I didn't put a high emphasis on my vendor partner's must show up and show out. If you don't, then you won't have an opportunity to work with me.
I lead the team and again, the army, as I state that is behind me to be able to create these experiences. It cannot be a meek and mild person. It cannot be somebody who is not as detail oriented and asking a million and one questions and having their core team to be able to be as detailed.
It doesn't work like that. That's when you fumble so much. That's when a lot of things don't get done. And also when people take advantage of you being so lax, as they say. Like, no, I'm on.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 42:32
Right.
Ashley Adana 42:33
Right. When I'm at events, I'm on. When I'm at, even at the family cookouts, I'm on. I'm making sure that the things are set up right before we go down the line for the barbecue, making sure that the drinks are over here. Making those adjustments so that when the family comes in, their experience is easy as possible.
They don't have to do a lot of guesswork. And that's just always been my personality, which is why I have excelled and done so well in business. So it's true, she's very direct, no nonsense, let's make sure that everybody has a great experience.
And I say, I love as hard on my people as I am hard on them. They're going to be appreciated, they're going to be seen. And that's my team and my vendor partners and my clients, they're going to know that I love them, but you're going to also know that Ashley will get on your ass.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 43:24
Right. Yeah. When it's time to get it done, we got to get it done.
Ashley Adana 43:27
Yeah.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 43:28
So you talk about being on, how do you switch off? Because the work that you do and we do, is very intense and can go for an extended period of time. How do you switch off and recharge?
Ashley Adana 43:41
Typically, I switch off when I leave the space and I go into my very mental, I say my soft zone in a sense, right? So after every event, and I encourage people to do this as well, as producers and just even as working in the industry, just us as event professionals, we're always giving our all to these projects that we're a part of; to the DJ, to the janitor, to whoever it is, the catering manager, the venue manager, the salesperson, the AV company.
We just give so much to make sure that that vision happens and one of the things that I do is I gift myself after my event. I'm always going to go and get a massage. I will be in some massage or some spa, it doesn’t matter where I am in the world, I'm going to be at a spa. No more than 48 hours after, that's where I am.
I also don't do many meetings the week after my event, if possible. We're not in like back-to-back season, I don't take meetings and things that week after. It always has to be at least two weeks out and I just kind of pace myself. The beauty in this is that we are our own business owners.
We don't recharge ourselves, if we don't give ourselves that break that we need, then you're going to get burned out. And you're going to get burnout, not just from the industry overall, but there’s a joy that you have for the industry. There’s a joy that you have for your work. And once you lose that, then you show up in a different way.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 45:11
Yeah, that's true. Are you seeing any or feeling any headwinds with the economy and talking to clients? Are you concerned? Are they concerned? What's the temperature?
Ashley Adana 45:22
I think the adjustments are definitely having to be made with the economy changing. There's a lot of scares in the country as well, the terrorist is a whole other thing that we're now also worrying about because that is an increase even on our industry on your swag bag items cost a little bit more, your t-shirts even that you're having for your conferences are going up.
The material and the labor is also costing more. It's like everything is going up. And I think that whatever adjustments have to be made, we have to go with the flow because one thing that will continue to happen, of course unless we run into something like COVID again, is people are going to gather.
People are going to want to be a part of some type of community. We yearn for that as humans. I mean, so I think that this event industry is not going anywhere unless we have, unless we can't gather, right?
Again, when COVID first started and things like that. But other than that, people have a need for it. It may be some adjustments that have to be made to where you have to pull back, but to still be able to create that experience is always not going to happen. I mean, it's still going to always happen. It's not going to go away. Yeah. Yeah.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 46:41
So what's next for you? We're in the second quarter of 2025. What does the rest of the year look like for you?
Ashley Adana 46:49
I have a pretty large tour that is going to be starting in just a couple of months with a client, so super excited about that. That one is actually going to take us all the way throughout the end of the year so it's going to be some breaks and things throughout the way, thank God.
So we have that tour coming up and then the other thing that I am super excited about, and you kind of mentioned it already, is the course that I have out to where it's honestly just equipping the next generation that want to be event producers and things of that nature, just kind of pour into them very freely. That's my next thing that we have coming down the pipeline and it's all exciting.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 47:34
So the Event Creators Academy, who is the ideal customer for this course? You said it's the next generation. So is it people that are looking to break into the industry, is it existing producers, is it wedding planners that want to move into conferences? Who's the audience?
Ashley Adana 47:54
I think it's everything that you named. I think that it just really depends on where you are in your business. It’s like a little tap on the shoulder that I always get like Ash, do you do one-on-ones or I would love to shadow you, do you do mentorships? I think the larger the events get, the more you have people who are more interested in how do you do this or how can I get into this world?
That is exactly why I created the course so it is for those people. It's for the people that are wanting to dibble and dabble into conferences to see if that's really what they want to do but they've been doing social events, be it weddings, birthday parties, showers, things of that nature. And they're really just kind of ready to try and move over to conferences.
Or it's for the people who do small conferences but are really ready to like look at somebody else in the business that is doing larger scale events and they're just ready to grow and scale as well. It's also for the aspiring planners and producers as well, who just really need to have access.
When we talked about having access and being a part of communities, that is what it is and that's what we're building, which is a community where they can come, they can learn from each other. They can also hopefully work on different projects with us and things of that nature just by being a part and taking the course. The way that the course is set up is it is a self-paced course.
They can go online now currently to www.ashleyadana.com and they can purchase the course, and then they can go through the self-guided process of going throughout the entire program. The bonus that they're getting right now is starting in June. So anybody can purchase the course now, but starting in June is where I will do a six-week Q&A session and walk them through the course that they just looked at.
Even if they decide to buy it now, and then we get started in June with it, we'll walk through each one of those chapters of the course together and at the very end, we'll have an in-person to be able to kind of go in depth and have that community engagement and that in-person experience with each other. I'm excited about that. And we have that coming. So yeah, it's going to be good.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 50:09
I was looking at some of the topics and you had a module in there called Honoring Yourself and Your Flow. Tell us a little bit about that.
Ashley Adana 50:18
Honoring yourself and your flow, again it goes back to what I just talked about when you were like, so what we hear is Ashley is a little firecracker, she is bold, she is direct and all of those things.
That is what that's talking about and I think that once we truly honor who we are, then the right tribe can come along, the right clients can come along, the right projects can come along because who you are putting out to the world is not somebody who you want to be, but exactly who you are.
So just honoring what works for you, saying no to projects that you know are not aligned with what makes you feel good. The reason that we start our business is for us to be able to do what we want to do, live our life how we want to live it, live on our own terms.
And for you to have your business and then not do that and be somebody who is very unauthentic to who you are and not honoring what works for you, you don't win. You don't win.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 51:16
It's also about identifying what your boundaries are, right?
Ashley Adana 51:21
Girl, big on it. I'm huge on it. Like you say, if you don't have boundaries put in place like one of mine is, and I talk about it all the time, is whenever I speak, I don't take meetings before 11am. The reason that I say that is because I love slow mornings.
Of course it’s not that I wake up late but I like to be able to get up and be able to do my morning meditation, to be able to do my journaling, to be able to do my Bible study, to have my cup of coffee, to have my breakfast, and then be able to start my day.
And so again, you are able to put into place those things that work best for you and what your flow is. And not to say that sometimes you don't adjust those things depending on your client, the project and what it is that you need. But your norm should give you that consistent flow that you need in life to be able to enjoy it, enjoy your business, enjoy your family, all of those things.
So if it's getting the kids up, taking them to school, coming back and working out, whatever that flow is for you, figure out what that is that makes you happy and then everything else that you're creating outside of that will all come together.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 52:33
It's so important and necessary, whether you're a man or a woman. I know a lot of these conversations ends up going along the gender lines, but the work that we do is so personal and emotional because we're dealing with people. At the end of the day, we're not dealing with counting products or widgets, so to speak.
We're really dealing with the human experience so it takes so much, so much out of you, you have to make sure that you're going into each day filled and energized and in a space so you can deliver a good result for the people that you're working with.
Ashley Adana 53:16
I absolutely agree. One of my mottos is I give to myself before I give myself to the world, is super important. Literally, I give to myself that morning time, not taking meetings before 11, not starting before 11.
It's like just my time to just give to myself and do all of those things so then I am full. When I go out and I give myself to the world, be it doing a podcast or doing Zoom meetings or going out for site visits or traveling. Whatever those things are that I'm doing, it has to come after I give to myself because if not, then I'm no good.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 53:56
100% Now, another thing that I saw with your course is you have a topic that says, Why Isn’t Event Production for Everyone?
Ashley Adana 54:06
Yes.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 54:07
Why did you include that? And what are the red flags that you teach to identify why this might not be for everybody?
Ashley Adana 54:16
I mean, listen, event production is no joke. I tell people, if you've been in this industry more than 5 years, yes you are a little wonky, yes you are a little crazy, yes, you like to be stressed out and welcome to the club because I've been here for almost 15 years. It is but it's so much joy that comes from that.
In that particular module, one of the things that we talk about is that able to literally know if you're going to be a good producer or not. Some of those skill sets that I feel like are so important for you to succeed and excel because you really have to sit back and think like, is this where I need to be, is this where I want to be?
Because as a producer, not to say that you can't have a creative spirit and a free-flowing mind, but to be a producer, that can be one of your top skill sets. It's okay for you to possibly not be the producer but to be the creative director.
So what those visuals look like and working with the graphic designers and what those smells when they come inside of the room or what those swag bags are going to be and curating that. That may be where you need to be as the creative director if those are the things that speak to your heart more. But to be the actual producer director of it all, you have to be detail-oriented, you have to be organized.
You have to be able to think for the masses with everybody involved. You have to be able to lead a team and be a leader and be vocal. It's all of these different things that we kind of talk about and the characteristics of being a great producer that you really need to have in place because if not, this business will swallow you up.
And again, that joy that you have in your heart will leave because it's just filled with stress and nothing but stress because you aren't working and moving in your truth.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 56:21
It's not for the faint of heart. It looks glamorous and fabulous and it looks like a lot of fun, you get to go to a lot of events and be around all these famous people and have all these cool experiences but it's hard work. It's interesting, I talk to people all the time and they're like, yeah, I want to do events. And you're like, okay, come on, let's go. And then a couple months later they’re like, you know what, this is not for me because it's not for everybody.
Ashley Adana 56:49
It's not. We dig into that really good to say that and just make sure. I tell people just try it out, go and shadow and do an internship somewhere to really see if this is the work that you want to do and I can honestly tell you after one season you're going to know.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 57:10
Right. Sure.
Ashley Adana 57:11
You will know. It doesn't take a lot. It's just a couple of experiences and then you'll know if this is really what you want to pursue.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 57:20
So are there any red flags that come to mind for you that you've seen over time in building your teams where you can spot off the back that this person, this industry is not for them.
Ashley Adana 57:33
I have to say that I have truly been blessed, with my team. Even over the years we have had beautiful people come in and leave and go on to different chapters in their life. I have to say that a huge red flag is on event days, if you have a million and one questions for me, you will not be working with us for long.
The reason that I say that is because I do so much, not only I, but the team. We do so much preparation and meetings and phone calls and walkthroughs and vendor meetings and all of these things to where definitely my core team members are usually a part of all of these things.
You should not be asking me questions on event day that you already have the answers to. It really makes me upset because we're there to execute at this time. We're not here to plan and I'm absolutely okay with clarifying.
If I ask you to do something or even if something in your realm and you just need a little more confirmation that this is the right thing, or is this what we need to do to be able to get it done? Then absolutely. Ask those questions because I want you to be fully confident in what you're doing.
But if you're asking me for things that we have already discussed, we already have a plan in place and especially if it is in black and white in front of you. The aggressiveness will definitely come forward for sure. Typically, on event days, what we're doing is putting out fires because the plan has been made and the plan has been discussed over and over again and we have it in front of us to study on our own time to be able to execute on event days.
So I think that just not being attentive to everything, all of the resources that have been given to you, if you have a lot of questions, this is not for you. And especially if you don't know how to handle crisis management, your crisis management skills are not as good then this is probably not for you because we talked about it a little earlier.
Clients don’t know a lot of the fires that we put out, attendees don't know a lot of the fires that we put out. Honestly, I probably don't know all of the fires that my team puts out and it should be that way for a reason because those things don't need to live in some of our minds or our clients' minds because we don't need that to be a situation that they even have to think about.
If it's not something that could come back to hurt the business, the brand, or something of that nature, we are here to put out those fires. So if you can't be a part of the team that does that, then this really might not be for you.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 1:00:12
Before you go, we have to ask you, who is having a moment, where is having a moment or what is having a moment?
Ashley Adana 1:00:20
I would have to say that Tyler Perry is having a moment right now. He just released, and I don't know if you've heard of it yet, but he just released an initiative that he has which is called Dream Collective. I think that it is so beautiful of what this man has built; the studio, the impact of the culture, all of these things.
This new initiative that he has, I just learned about it, is called the Dream Collective. With the Dream Collective what he is is it's a process where for 10 weeks, if I'm not mistaking that there will be a selection of, after they go through all of the applications and everything, there will be 10 people who will be able to experience a 10-week experience at the Tyler Perry Studios for aspiring filmmakers.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 1:01:16
Nice.
Ashley Adana 1:01:7
It's like he is literally catapulting the next generation, the same as I aspire to do with Event Creators Academy. The next generation is going to be a little bit better because of that experience that they get to have with somebody who has lived in their car before, just his whole story and to now be able to own that studio and give back. and be able to create this experience for these upcoming filmmakers is like Tyler Perry is it. That is like a real deal who is a moment like that. It's just amazing so I'm excited to see it
Aja Bradley-Kemp 1:01:57
Yeah and I hope it's still around when my son gets a little bit older because he wants to be a filmmaker.
Ashley Adana 1:02:02
Yeah. Yeah. So yeah,
Aja Bradley-Kemp 1:02:05
I'm going to look into that. Thank you for sharing that because I did not know about that. So there you go. Tyler Perry is having a moment y'all look into it. Well, Ashley, where can we find you? How can we keep up with you and where can we find the course?
Ashley Adana 1:02:18
For the course you can go to www.ashleyadana.com, you can also go to my Instagram, which is also Ashley_Adana. The links and everything are there. I hope that can reach the next generation of amazing event producers that are just ready to excel to the next level and just kind of need that mentorship and that community to be able to do it.
Which I think everyone should lean into and have because I know I had that when I first got started and even as I scaled I just had the community around me so I pray that everybody else has that as well but yeah that's where you can find me on Instagram or on the website.
Aja Bradley-Kemp 1:03:00
Well we will keep up with you. Thank you so much for being here
Ashley Adana 1:03:04
Thank you for having me
Aja Bradley-Kemp 1:03:05
Ashley, thanks again for being here today and sharing your passion and insights with us. All right, Moment Makers, I hope today's story sparked a new idea, challenged your thinking, or reminded you of the impact that only you can make. Don't forget to like and share this episode. And if you haven't done so already, make sure you hit that subscribe button so you don't miss the next one. I'll see you next week.
