Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Bailey Day. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Bailey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
The first creative conference I produced, a small, regional comic convention in upstate New York, gave me one of my most meaningful experiences that I will remember for years to come. I was the project manager for a team of about 50 people, all working together in different departments over a 5 month span to put on a two day conference. We load all of the vendors in bright and early on Saturday, work all day Saturday-Sunday hosting the event, and clear out like it never happened on that same Sunday night. The days and nights are long, working the event during the day, and hosting special guests for dinner and networking events in the evening, so to say you get a full nights rest throughout the weekend would be a lie!
For most of my team running the event, this was the first time any of them had done an event like this, and they absolutely rose to the occasion to put on the best show possible for all of our guests, vendors, and conference-goer’s! They went above and beyond to make sure everyone was comfortable, happy, and excited to come back next year, and I am so proud of the work they put into the event.
What stood out to me the most as a leader on the project happened on Sunday night. We had just finished loading out our last vendor to send them on their way home, and when I came back upstairs to the showroom floor, I had expected to find an empty room, just a shell of a successful weekend, but instead there was the whole team! They looked at me and said, ‘well what’s next?!’ excited to keep the weekend going. I happily told then to go home and sleep!
Sometimes you work with a good team, but the people don’t really band together. Other times you work with teams that don’t mesh at all. In both cases, you come back to that empty conference room, and it’s truly empty, even the event staff have gone home. Completely understandable; it’s a job, and people have their own lives. But sometimes, you have a team that turns into something else; a unit, a united front working in the flow state. Everyone finds their place on the team, and is given the opportunity to thrive. People work to support others on the team, not only because it is in their job description, but because they want others on their team to succeed too. On those rare occasions when you can find that flow on a team, when their feet hurt and they are running on fumes and bad convention food, but they want to keep going, THAT was a true win for me as a project manager. It was an honor to work amongst that team, and I will remember their hard work and charisma for a long time to come!
Bailey, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am a creative producer and project manager working in creative marketing and live event production. During and after college, I helped independent artists produce their short and feature films. Combining my love for both art and business, this role allowed me to help storytellers amplify their voices and share important stories with communities around the world through screenings and film festivals.
Later, I went back to further my studies, earning my MBA in Marketing & Media Management, where I was able to merge my love for producing films with an interest in live events. There I learned how to translate my skills on a film set to the role of event producer. Now, I help small businesses around the country produce conferences and other live events for their networks, most recently working on the Lake Tahoe Documentary Film Festival as the Festival Manager. The pandemic changed a lot of things in the world in irreparable ways, but I think it also reminded us how important community events are when it is safe to have them. Live event production is important to me, because of how meaningful the interactions are for everyone who attends them, and I love being apart of the behind-the-scenes team that helps make those meaningful moments happen.
In addition to the seasonal work of live event production, I am also a full time content editor for an online learning platform and YouTube channel that garners over 3 million views per month and 800k+ subscribers. I love creating meaningful content that contributes to peoples day!
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
As a young artist, I wish I would have learned about the art of networking sooner! People are the greatest resource you have access too, and finding a community of people on the same wavelength as you is invaluable when trying to find opportunities and connections, especially when trying to ‘break in’ to a new industry. But beyond that, once you find people that are excited to help you succeed (and that you also want to help succeed!), find a new position, or recommend you for an opportunity they heard about, learning how to nurture these relationships is so important! There is an important balance of give and take to help these business-oriented relationships flourish.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Life as an artist who works in the world of business significantly improved for me when I removed myself for the self-imposed rat-race everyone told me I needed to be in to find success. Competition in small doses can be a great motivator, but I find I am more happy working my craft when I want others to succeed around me and with me, rather than to be at the top all alone.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @thebaileybee
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/baileykday/
