Victoria Cary | INTIX Interviews

Getting to Know: Victoria Cary

‎The Senior Director of Ticketing at Shorenstein Hays Nederlander is a Dharma practitioner who loves helping her communities. Here, she reflects on her first concert, dream vacation spots and her most memorable INTIX moment.

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Who do you admire most and why?

I admire people who stand up and speak their truth. I don’t know if it’s one particular person, but there are so many important voices that stand up for what’s right and I admire them all.
 

What is the quality you like most in a person?

Honesty. I think it’s a foundational quality to have a relationship with somebody.
 

What is the quality you most like in a colleague?

Reliability. We work closely with each other and we collaborate so it helps to be reliable, to show up when you say you are going to show up and to follow through on projects.
 

What qualities are important to you in a leader?

Intelligence. Approachability is also huge. And honesty.
 

What or who is the greatest love of your life?

The Dharma. I’ve been a mindfulness practitioner for 12 years now.  The practice has supported me in meeting the all the vicissitudes of life in a more skillful way.
 

Which talent would you most like to have? 

I thought about this one a lot. I would love to be able to reflect people’s goodness back to them and have them believe it.
 

What do you consider your greatest achievement? 

I’m good with breaking down barriers and talking to people, talking to strangers and making them feel heard and seen.  I think that’s a pretty important achievement.
 

Where would you most like to live?

Where I live now, the Bay Area.
 

What is your most treasured possession? 

My health.
 

What do you value most in your friends?

Dependability, willingness to call me on my stuff and honesty.
 

Who are your favorite writers? 

I love Zadie Smith and Maya Angelou.
 

What’s the best live event you’ve ever seen and why? 

It was my first concert ever, when I was 11 or 12, and it was Prince on the Purple Rain tour.  It was amazing. I stood in line for hours to get tickets and then I didn’t get them, which was disappointing. Only to find out that my best friend’s mom got tickets for us! We were way up in the rafters but it didn’t matter. I brought a sign, I wore purple, and I got to see Prince. It was everything.  
 

What is your favorite venue and why? 

The SHN Orpheum Theatre where I work. I think part of it is because that’s where I’ve seen the most shows and I have so many great memories of years of working there.  We’ve had weddings and great shows there. It’s also the place where I’ve met some of my best friends.
 

What is your favorite song / musician / band / artist / player / team of all time and why?

Prince. Because Prince.
 

What is your favorite place to visit or place you’d love to visit and why? 

I love going to Denver because my sister and brother-in-law live there and we are really close. It’s a great town. Also, Brazil is awesome. I’ve only been once and I’d love to go back. I love the weather, the music, the friendliness, just everything. It’s fabulous.
 

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself?

To start practicing my mindfulness earlier!
 

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Spend time with friends and family. I love being outdoors and there are a lot of great hiking trails in the Bay Area.
 

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Victoria hiking. 

If you were granted three wishes today, what would they be?

Enlightenment, perfect health and maybe a few million dollars.
 

What brings you the most joy / greatest meaning in life?

Helping others. It’s important to me to do service in my community and to do service with this organization has been an important part of my journey.
 

Why are you a member of INTIX? 

Being around our industry leaders and people who are as excited as I am about this industry. There is so much to learn from each other. And we’re just a fun group of folks.
 

What do you get from INTIX?

Community.  Colleagues that I can call and talk to, colleagues who are there and respond.
 

How do you use INTIX?

Networking, developing relationships and for information.  I use it to find ticket printers and ticket stock and see what’s new in our industry.
 

What are your favorite ways to connect digitally with colleagues, family and friends?

Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
 

What does INTIX give you that is different from everything else you are doing?

INTIX is amazing because I don’t have to explain what I do for a living – everybody just gets it. It’s fabulous.
 

Who is your mentor?

Will Kabat-Zinn is my spiritual mentor and teacher. My work mentor is my boss, David Cushing. He’s fantastic, he knows his stuff. I’ve learned so much from him over the years.
 

Who or what inspires you?

Our human capacity to grow, learn, heal and love. People are amazing.
 

What do you love most about your job?

The mentoring aspect. I have a lot of young people working for me.  I love introducing them to the world of ticketing, letting them know it’s a real thing and a viable career path. One employee is now getting her Masters in Arts Administration and I am so excited for her. I brought her to INTIX last year and she had an epiphany – she knows what she wants to do with her life now.
 

What do you love most about our industry?

I love the dynamic nature of our industry. There’s always something new and exciting. We’re always evolving. It’s just a fun, great industry.
 

What is your most memorable career moment?

When I got asked to be a Director at SHN. It was really exciting. We brought all of our ticketing in-house and to be part of that, set that up, get our call center going, hire all new staff and train them, it was amazing.
 

What is your most memorable INTIX moment?

I was a speaker for the first time this year. I talked about reducing stress through mindfulness on the Inspiration Stage. We went through an exercise where I had people really pay attention to their breath and come back again and again and again to that moment. I also invited people to remind themselves to stop and take a little break, take three deep breaths. I think people in our industry forget because we’re often doing five things at once.
 

Is there anything else you would like to share that defines you as a professional or a person? 

The thing that defines me the most is that I jump in. It took me a couple of years to really jump into INTIX, but once I’m in, I’m in.  I jump in with both feet. In our industry, challenges come up and you just have to figure them out. I like a good challenge.

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Victoria at INTIX 2017.