“Perfect is the enemy of good.”
That has been the long-time mantra of Kristen Olson, Vice President of Learning and Community at Tessitura. Olson is one of the top mentors of this month’s Women in Ticketing interviewee, Karyn Elliott. Elliott serves as Chief Member Officer at the software and services provider, which is dedicated exclusively to arts and culture organizations.
Karyn Elliott
So what have those six words come to mean for her in her career? “When you care so much about your mission, about your customers, about your industry, it’s so easy to fall into trying to achieve perfection. But perfection is a trap. It’s an impossible pursuit that compromises so much more good. We joke at Tessitura that we have a lot of ‘recovering perfectionists’ on our team — ballet dancers, orchestra musicians, stage managers.”
The Woman, The Job
Elliott has been at Tessitura for 15 years and has held various roles across the organization, from implementation to support to customer success. Prior to joining Tessitura, she was the General Manager of First Stage, a professional theater for young audiences in Milwaukee.
She states, “As Chief Member Officer, I am responsible for the entire end-to-end customer experience with Tessitura. From onboarding to support and everything in between, I oversee the incredible team that serves our members 24/7/365. I have the privilege of working with the most iconic and influential arts and cultural organizations in the world, and I do not take that responsibility lightly!”
Of all the different perks and aspects of her job, the one she enjoys the most is traveling and getting to see members in action. She says, “I get a lot of pride and joy from building deep personal relationships with our members. Getting to know the teams that help these organizations flourish fuels me. The people behind the scenes are the fabric of these institutions, and I have made many real life friends through this incredible work I get to do.”
But the job also has its stresses, of course. The biggest? The hardest? “There are only so many hours in a day,” this married mother of two laments, “and I want to be everywhere for everyone. But that’s just not possible.”
A Look Back
The Women in Ticketing series of articles has given several of our interviewees the opportunity to really look back at their careers, take stock of where they have been, and assess where the are now and where they are still headed. Elliott was similarly introspective.
She says, “When I feel moved, I get emotional. Early in my career, I felt insecure about showing my emotions. I used to feel a lot of shame and insecurity about that, but I’ve worked to harness that emotion as a strength of my leadership and a way to build deeper, more meaningful relationships.”
When asked to give counsel to any young women professionals in ticketing and live events, she was quick to offer: “My advice would be don’t try to emulate the leaders you see, be the leader you are.”
And definitely have fun along the way! Elliott has many stories and anecdotes of her time in the business. For instance, her first job in a professional theater was as a “baby angel wrangler” for a production of “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” at Milwaukee’s First Stage. Six days a week, she was in the basement of the Marcus Center with a dozen kids ages 5-9 years old, and she had to make sure they got dressed and stayed in costume and made all of their entrances and exits.
But as the run went on, not surprisingly, the kids started to get a little bored and even “squirrelly,” as Elliott described. “So I’d let them dress me up and do my hair and make-up! My looks got wilder as the weeks went on. I know I was basically a glorified babysitter, but I had a degree in Theater and was working for a professional theater company. I couldn’t have been more excited! The best part is that I’ve maintained contact with many of those kids to this day, who are now proper grown-ups with their own adult lives and families.”
A Look Forward
The Women in Ticketing column also had the great benefit of interviewing Elliott here in the fourth quarter of 2026. So, the exit question was asked: “Are you generally optimistic, pessimistic, or mixed about these waning days of this year and what’s next in the new year with regards to live events and why?”
Her reply: “Of course I’m optimistic! The work we do is fundamental to society. People need connection, they want to feel something, and they want to continue to understand and grapple with this rapidly changing world.”
She concluded, “I’m excited — and slightly terrified — about the pace of change of technology and how that accelerates our art forms, our businesses and our customer expectations. But I recently read this quote by [author, speaker, and former Harley-Davidson Chief Marketing Officer] Shelley Paxton: ‘Feeling energized and terrified is always a sign that you’re pushing your edges and growing. Lean into it, and you’ll be astounded by the opportunities it creates!’”
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