We were lucky to catch up with Kendall Gall recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kendall, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?

I was very fortunate that I was exposed to a lot of experiences growing up. I think that a lot of kids get caught up in the traditional school system and it being all that matters… although it is extremely important, there are so many other things that play into being well rounded from an educational standpoint. At the bare minimum, I think we as a generation should do a better job teaching students the non-negotiables that they will face as adults. These are things like taxes, budgeting, buying/selling cars, health insurance, and life insurance. I would even include the stock market, basic investments, and other financial aspects in there as well. Aside from things you can just teach them from textbooks, students need tangible experiences that can shape their thought process and critical thinking. These can be taught from family, school, friends, and many other avenues.

As a younger kid, I went to school but my parents also ensured I was in many extra-curricular activities. I played a few sports where I was learning to be on a team and play well with others. I was involved in a church youth group that encouraged me to be super involved and take responsibility on mission trips we would go on. As I got older, my elementary/middle/high school had a trip for each grade that was their annual trip with a tagline of ‘The World is your Classroom’. They would send us out into the world to see the things we were learning about in our classroom. They started in fourth grade, and each year up until twelfth grade, they got bigger. We started out traveling to the state capital building for the day, and in fifth grade we began to stay overnight. Sixth grade we took our first airplane and went to Washington D.C, and by the time we were a senior we were going on an overseas trip to a location that we voted on as a class. In addition to that, they offered a trip each year on spring break that was also overseas. I was so lucky that my dad signed us up for every single trip he could, and we went together. Not only was I able to see things from my history book in real life, I was also learning about how other countries differ from my own; learning how to ride the subway in Paris at 12, how to communicate and be respectful of other cultures as someone visiting who only spoke English. These may all seem like small things, but at a young age I truly believe they shaped my way of thinking and how I function today as an adult.

Following that same strategy into college, and knowing how important those experiences were to my early years, I tried to stay as involved as possible in similar ways. I knew that my college degree was not going to be enough and that I needed to supplement it with a network, as well as real life work experience. I knew I wanted to go into corporate retail (at the time, so funny how things change), and I found a local stylist that had previously spent time in NYC. That internship led to another one in Los Angeles (with a DREAM brand, and just happened to have an employee from my college town), and then I wrapped up my senior year of college by doing my senior research in New York City, spending each day inside various offices and meetings, interviewing executives, and really understanding what my next steps could be as I entered the workforce.

I’m not saying that you must have these experiences in order to be successful, I totally understand how fortunate I was to have these things… but I will say that without them, I would not have gotten to where I am today as quickly as I got here. Every step provided unique insight that allowed me to make a choice in that moment to continue pursuing knowledge on that path, or to realize that I wanted to pivot a bit to learn either something totally new, or just a little different.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Fresh out of college I was in corporate retail. I had a job that entailed management of large teams, merchandising, and buying/product forecasting that moved me from Birmingham, AL, to Atlanta, GA, Dallas, TX, Newport Beach, CA, and then finally landed me in Los Angeles. With a day job as Head of Retail — opening and building new retail stores, strategizing the operations, planning out merchandise allocations, and buying, eventually I got a little bit bored. I loved what I did, and who I did it for, but it was not personally fulfilling me to do the same thing every day. On the side, I began managing a few of my friends who were influencers and musicians, and eventually took off to freelance full time. This allowed me to take on a few different clients in different areas, which I really enjoyed. My days all looked different, I was my own boss, and I had more control on my levels of success. I decided to make that into a full business, and used the name that my new talent and friends had all given me along the way — Manager Kendall. To sum it up, I manage people, places, and things… and most recently, events. I like to call the business I have built as a company to house all the work projects I love most. I am so fortunate to be able to have the flexibility to take projects that I truly am passionate about and want to do. Clients vary from top experiential marketing agencies that are producing some of the biggest events in the country, to stationery brands that I support their influencer marketing efforts (and for those who don’t know, I LOVE stationery), and I still manage the talent that I’ve been with for years.

To get a little more specific, I would sum up my services into consulting within the fields of influencer marketing, talent management, experiential marketing/production, and retail operations. The clients and projects I take on I like to really get into the day to day, as well as consult from an aerial view. I want to truly understand their needs and goals to help build a path for growth and sustainability of that growth.

Any advice for managing a team?

I’ve always been a firm believer in leading by example. When training new employees, or just working with a team, it’s important to have a chain of command but to also establish leadership. For example, when I was in Dallas I was co-managing a team of around 45 in the retail industry. Retail is hard enough — long hours, grueling interactions with customers especially during the holidays, it’s tough! Knowing that, I knew it was crucial to lead by example and build a community within my team where they knew that I was their boss, but that I would be right beside them if and when they needed me. Anytime I asked someone to do something for the first time, I did it with them. Not only did this help teach them exactly how I wanted it done, but it allowed us to get to know one another, spend some time together, and build a working relationship. I’ve carried that with me ever since. Recently in my role producing events, there have been many days where I am doing something completely out of my job description. But in the moment, it’s what needs to be done and may need a full team effort to get it done, so that’s what we do. It goes so far to not just be someones boss, but to be a human and a team player.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Word of mouth and networking. The world is truly so small… each interaction matters. Most of my work now falls within the entertainment industry which to most of you will seem so big, but it is so tiny. Looking back at my career path and how I have obtained each client, they have all led from one to another from an introduction or an overlap in a project. It may have been direct by working with someone who remembered the great job I did, or just enjoyed working with me and they introduced me to a friend of theirs. Your network is one of your most valuable resources, and it’s so important to use it wisely.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.managerkendall.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/managerkendall
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/kendallrwatson

Image Credits
I have all rights to these images.