We continued our popular “Women in Ticketing” series this past year, profiling some of the top female decision-makers in ticketing and live events. These popular articles, which were brought to the readership by the INTIX UPLevel Leadership Program, kicked off 2024 with a profile of Liz Baqir, Associate Director of Ticketing Services at Cal Performances.
She spoke of the challenges her job presents her, week in and week out. “There’s no down time,” she said. “I am constantly challenged to think outside of the box, and it can be exhausting. There are times I get overwhelmed trying to keep up with it all. Fortunately, I love what I do, and I have my INTIX colleagues to reach out to when I think I can’t handle it anymore!”
In February, we reached out to our next featured interviewee, Kacy Woody, Box Office Manager for High Point Theatre in central North Carolina. At that point so early in the year, Woody was looking forward with much optimism to 2024. She said, “As a small venue, we’re busier than we have ever been. I think a lot of venues are [reporting similar results]. People want to go out and do things. Even shows that don’t attract big, big audiences, we’re seeing that the people who do come out really, really want to be there.”
We then shone the spotlight on Jessica Lee, Director of Ticket Operations for the Atlanta Braves and Truist Park. She was eager to warn younger female INTIX members not to follow the counsel she was given earlier in her career: “The worst piece of advice I ever got was when I was an intern and was told, ‘Say yes to everything!’ I was 22 or 23 years old and saying ‘yes’ to everything to the point where I had no time to myself. The projects I had weren’t [getting done] to the best of my ability, and I was being reprimanded for the quality of work. I was stretched so thin to the point where, if I got to eat, I would have maybe a yogurt in a day! That takes a toll.”
Next up was Lauren Dugan, Moody Center’s Director of Ticketing in Austin, Texas. A good portion of her interview also centered on advising young women on what they should be doing to achieve their goals. “Make connections,” she urged. “And feel free to test out different areas — sports, live entertainment, arts, etc. I did and found my niche working in arenas. Overall, make yourself a positive and memorable known force, especially as a woman in sports and entertainment.”
Double Eagle Consulting founder Terri-Ann Feindt was our fifth Women in Ticketing interviewee in 2024. Under her leadership, her firm has managed to stand out in the marketplace because it represents an intersection of expertise, blending the worlds of entertainment and technology under the stewardship of owners with executive leadership experience in such large cultural institutions as Lincoln Center and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Feindt noted, “These organizations required adept navigation of complex networks of stakeholders, including artists, donors, board members, government entities and the public.”
We then “crossed the pond” to chat up Rebecca Molloy, Business Intelligence Analyst for Bristol Old Vic in the United Kingdom. She laughed at the various instances where she told people her job title and got back different versions of the same question, “So, uh, what is a business intelligence analyst?” Her frequent reply: “Simply put, it’s my favorite parts of the work I did in ticketing but applied to the whole business.” She went on to list those parts, which range from capturing, cleaning and analyzing data to linking up software programs and improving internal processes.
June saw the Women in Ticketing column feature another Rebecca. In this case, Rebecca “Becca” Bloom, Senior Revenue and Ticketing Analyst for Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group. We had the benefit of speaking with her right at the beginning of 2024’s second half. Looking ahead to those six months back then, she said, “We’re seeing people going earlier to shows than later. We’re seeing people either having the money to get really good seats or buying the least expensive, and then there’s this sort of gap in the middle. There’s also a lot of entertainment opening in a lot of different places, so there’s a lot of competition. It always comes down to ‘share of time and share of wallet.’”
We next spoke with Amy Kline, Director of Client Success for Activity Stream, a cloud-based operations intelligence service platform that uses artificial intelligence to improve venue and event services and operations. She said the favorite part of her very interesting job was the problem solving. “I work a lot with marketing managers and marketing directors,” Kline noted. “In the same way that I am excited to talk to clients, they’re excited to get their customers more engaged. We create new ways to do that.”
Moving out of summer and into autumn, we interviewed Linda Bowlen on her experiences as Director of Ticketing at the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert on the campus of the College of the Desert. The McCallum had over 150 shows scheduled for its season. “Primarily, I build all of the shows, working with marketing and our development department to create sales strategies,” Bowlen stated. “I collaborate with our president on the day-to-day ins and outs of fulfilling contract requirements, doing settlements, and making sure everything goes on without a hitch. I am also a VIP ticket concierge to our more than 600 ‘Founder’ and above level donors. Then, there are the hundreds of little things that add up to a thousand big things all the time. Call me Official Chaos Coordinator!”
Bowlen was followed by Jo Michel. Her interview covered her more than two decades of experience in the ticketing industry in Australia and the United Kingdom. Drawing on that experience, the Client Relationship Manager for the Queensland Performing Arts Centre touted ticketing as the ideal business for women to be in currently. “My experience is that women rule in ticketing,” she said. “The environment in other businesses doesn’t always allow women to shine. Ticketing, I believe, values the characteristics that we bring: multitasking, lateral thinking and patience are all so necessary. The ticketing industry also encourages women to be leaders and learn other business-related skills that are valuable in all industries. I wouldn’t work in any other industry now.”
The column next took to Broadway to spotlight Jennifer Flynn as Client Services Director at The Shubert Organization. Looking ahead to 2025, Flynn said, “I am very optimistic. I feel that tourism is really picking up. And working in Times Square, I can feel the overall excitement and energy increase in the crowds as I go to and from work every day.”
Our final Women in Ticketing interview this year was with Dawn Zappitello, Senior Manager, Park Arrival and Guest Relations, for Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando. What better way to close out a positive year for ticketing and live events than talking with yet another cool and interesting INTIX member who just so happens to work at “The Happiest Place on Earth.”
Zappitello conceded that people’s faces often light up when she tells them where she works. Laughing, she said, “When people hear I work for Disney, they think I have the coolest job and that I work next to Cinderella’s Castle in the Magic Kingdom. Although I get to go see the castle, I work at a desk in a regular office like so many other people! But, hey, I can’t lie. It’s a great job. I get to work where other people play.”
Catch up on the full Women in Ticketing series, only on Access.
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