We continued our popular “Women in Ticketing” series in the first half of 2025, profiling some of the top female decision-makers in the ticketing and live events space. One of the first up was an interview with Brianna Pena, Director of Ticketing/Box Office Manager for the Celebrity Theatre in Phoenix.
Interestingly, Pena has been one of our youngest interviewees. She works for a venue that is regarded as one of oldest cultural landmarks in her home city, dating back to 1963. The Celebrity was where the late comedian George Carlin recorded his classic HBO stand-up special “George Carlin: Again!” in the round at Celebrity Theatre in the late 1970s. And it has since hosted a number of the world’s most accomplished musicians — everyone from Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and the late Whitney Houston to Beyonce, Kendrick Lamar and Smashing Pumpkins.
Pena marvels at the talent that has played at the Celebrity since she came onboard. “I absolutely love being a part of some of the best nights of people’s lives, which they have said with their actual words to me,” she stated. “It’s wonderful being in a job where you are seeing other people happy. I also love knowing my employees are making us invisible. Because at the end of the day, we shouldn’t be notable. Attendees’ focus should always be on the concert or the event or the comedian or whoever/whatever they’re seeing. We should be invisible. They shouldn’t even notice us, unless we step in and need to do something extra.”
Good advice, for sure! Some of our other interviewees had equally wise words. One was February’s other interviewee, Brittany Pallozzi. The Director of Patron Relations at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, New York, urged other women in ticketing to “keep educating yourself on industry topics and delve into professional development opportunities. I signed up this spring term for a mentorship with INTIX and matched with Anja Arvo. She is helping me in the world of RFPs and migrating data to a new system, which I'll admit I've never done before.”
And definitely keep loving the business. Pallozzi’s passion for her work can be traced back to those first live performances she attended as a child and the fascination she had with the business of live events that grew as she got older. She even looks back at her hiring at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall with fondness and whimsy, recalling, “All of my to-be colleagues were interviewing me. Talk about being nervous with five people asking you questions! I was asked what fun fact I wanted to tell the group, and I shared that I LOVED metal music. [laughing] Yes, you can see me in the orchestra at the symphony on a Saturday night … and then in a mosh pit the next day at a metal show!”
A profile of Christina Pryor, Director of Entertainment Ticketing for Opry Entertainment Group, followed. She offered the following bit of counsel to all ticketing professionals: “The nature of ticketing demands a high level of attention to detail, and I know the pressure can be intense at times. I want to remind everyone that mistakes happen — we’re human, and human error is inevitable. What I emphasize to my team, and hold myself to as well, is that what matters most is how we respond. I encourage you, as I do myself, to see mistakes as opportunities to learn and grow. That’s how we improve, both individually and as a team.”
Exiting the box office for a month and entering the virtual world, the Women in Ticketing column next featured Holli Campbell, Senior Director of Partnerships at TodayTix Group. In that job, she oversees all listings on the TodayTix app and website for the New York market.
Campbell remembered being very young in the business, and a mentor advising her to never take any experience for granted. “Because every single one can shape and influence the next,” she explained. “That’s stuck with me throughout my career. Whether it was an internship in a fundraising office, an assistant job at a summer stock theatre, a short event or my work now at TodayTix Group … each experience has taught me something valuable that I've used in a future job. And this is a small industry — I'm still working with some of the same people I met right out of college!”
For June’s interview, our spotlight returned to the desert sunlight of hot, hot Arizona. Karie Lurie, Senior Director of Audience Services at Arizona State University’s Gammage campus, told this interviewer that it is better to “ask for forgiveness than permission.” When asked to elaborate, she said, “Ticketing is always up against the clock, trying to get each patron in before the show starts. Instant decisions are necessary. I encourage my managers to trust their judgment, and I will always have their back even if it isn’t the choice I would have made.”
Our final first-half 2025 sit-down was with Laura Prunty, General Manager at Antix Management, a specialist ticketing consultancy headquartered in Australia. She was also eager to share advice she had been given earlier in her career and tips she had for women in the industry today: “A great piece of advice I’ve carried with me is: ‘Don’t panic, mate.’ That might sound casual. But in the ticketing and live events world — where things can change in a flash and pressure runs high — learning to stay calm and navigate through complexity with composure is an underrated superpower.”
She added, “And if anyone tells you this industry’s too niche or too hard to break into, ignore them! I was told entertainment was a pipe dream and that I should aim for something more conventional. But if you want it, and you’re willing to put in the work, you absolutely can make it happen!”