Q&A: What makes successful breakout sessions?

Biography

Christa is an accomplished operational leader who has led the operations of more than a dozen companies under one consolidated umbrella corporation. She has worked in a wide variety of industries during her career in operations, from ministry, insurance, consulting, and now events. She possesses a blend of creativity and innovation, with sound analytical skills and critical strategic thinking. Christa thrives in managing, and coaching teams toward personal and professional growth by creating efficiencies and scalable systems. She prides herself in being an approachable leader who empowers employees, while also building deep client relationships. Christa lives in Mount Juliet, TN with her husband of 20 years, their two beautiful teenage children, and the most adorable Boston Terriers in the world. She is passionate about musical theater, great food, creating a beautiful home, and traveling the world whenever she has the opportunity.

Biography

Born and raised in Denver Colorado, Greg made the move to Nashville to pursue a career in the music industry. After 5 years of managing artists and tours independently he joined Streamline Event Agency. Greg brings an incredible sense of detail and flow to our team – with 10+ years experience on the road with artists such as Johnnyswim and Amy Grant and having coordinated over 30 tours, Greg has worked to ensure all details were handled thoroughly to create consistency and great experiences for these clients on the road.

As one of Streamline’s event managers, Greg oversees many projects and supervises production teams on our live events, for both artists and companies. He enjoys snowboarding, good food, and traveling.

Biography

With a heart for the grit of the Northeast, Lauren is a proud Pennsylvania native. As a graduate of the Art Institute of York, PA and Penn State University, her studies focused on Interior Design, Communications, and English. Lauren’s innate curiosity and desire to learn led her to international studies in architecture and culture in northern Italy at Palazzo Rucellai, in addition to studies in southern France with The School of Visual Arts’ Graduate Studio Program, Products of Design.When her studies concluded, Lauren’s career began in the nonprofit sector managing and directing events in Central Pennsylvania and Middle Tennessee. She came to Streamline Event Agency in May of 2018 as Project Manager. Soon after, her passion for creativity and innovation launched her into the role of Producer.

Her keen eye for detail and commitment to excellence led her to her current role as Executive Producer. She has produced and executed events with companies such as Carrier Corporation, HCA Healthcare, Lebron James Family Foundation, Premise Health, Chick-fil-A, Logan’s Roadhouse, Aramark, Getty Music, eMoney, Rheem, and Wrike. As a Nashville resident for nearly seven years, Lauren enjoys the generous hospitality the South offers. With her immediate family residing in the Northeast, she enjoys traveling to visit and spend time with her family. She is also passionate about finding ways to serve and support her community, along with communities across the globe in countries such as Haiti, Guatemala, Belize, Thailand, India, and Lebanon.On a typical weekend, you can find her traveling to destinations near and far, sipping a glass of wine at a vineyard, laughing with friends, hiking a trail or cuddled cozily in a blanket watching Queer Eye or Ted Lasso.

Biography

Chad started his career in the race capital of the world with mega events such as the half a billion attended Indianapolis 500 and Super Bowl 46. Chad’s career extended into the racing and entertainment markets during his time producing Firestone and Bridgestone events, and then providing Technical Direction to one of Nashville’s largest independent production companies. During his career Chad has held roles such as production manager, technical director, audio engineer, and supervisor of event technology.

Chad’s vast technical knowledge and calm demeanor while maintaining the ability to oversee multiple projects and keep the attention to details and event experiences set him apart from the rest. Now days if he is not busy producing industry leading events, you can be sure to find him at home in middle Tennessee with his wife and fur-baby, or on a boat or the shore, but certainly with a fishing pole in hand.

Biography

After spending a decade on Broadway designing numerous Tony nominated productions, Dustin shifted gears into designing and producing experiential marketing activations and live events. Dustin spent four years as the executive producer for Lamborghini and another three years with Ducati, producing client activations and global vehicle launches, including Monterey Car Week and the Geneva Auto Show. He spent two years as the director of experiential marketing for Faraday Future, an EV startup in Southern California which sponsored an international Formula E race team, where he produced races on five continents.

Biography

Raven, a Louisiana Native, began her career in entertainment at Louisiana State University serving as a student worker for LSU’s football recruiting staff. Here she helped coordinate logistics for LSU’s home football games and official visits for potential student athletes. While earning her undergraduate degree at LSU, Raven also served as the Vice President of Public Relations for LSU’s Student Activities Board, where she helped market and coordinate student events ranging from LSU’s Homecoming Concert featuring Grammy award winning artist T.I., LSU’s Fall Fest and LSU’s Mardi Gras Masquerade Ball.

After graduating from LSU with a degree in Mass Communication, Raven began working in the advertising industry serving as an account and project manager. Looking to branch away from advertising and pivot back to the entertainment industry, Raven packed up her bags and her teacup Shih -Tzu, Pepe, and moved to Nashville.

Biography

Derek recently moved from Toronto to Franklin to join the Streamline team and brings a breadth of CFO experience across a variety of industries including, Music & Entertainment, Technology (SaaS), Resort and Hospitality and Manufacturing. His experience spans more than 25 years where he has served as CFO & COO for both public and private companies, been involved in growing those businesses, structuring equity raises, completing numerous acquisitions, as well as founding an e-ticketing technology startup to service touring artists and events.

Having spent almost 20 years in the music industry and having been part owner of the largest independent music sales and marketing company in Canada, he is very passionate about music and its profound universal impact.

Derek and his wife Tamara are proud to call Franklin home and they love to travel to visit their two daughters, one who lives in Sydney, Australia and the other in Fort Worth, TX. In addition to being passionate about music, he is a huge fan of fitness both indoors and out, enjoys watching sports with his wife and friends and loves creative time in his home studio.

Biography

Brendan has worked in and around the special events, experiential marketing and live events space for over 20 years. He spent many of those years in NYC as a producer, account manager and Director of Sales among many other roles. He has since relocated to the Southwest and has joined the Streamline team to help further its goals in becoming a class-leading live events and production agency.

Biography

Born and raised in Nashville, Sydney has been in the world live events for as long as she can remember. After perusing a production degree at Savannah College of Art and Design, and completing two production internships with Universal Orlando Resort, Sydney spent 3 years in NYC working at Sony Music Entertainment, The Tonight Show, and more. Now, back to her roots in Tennessee, she enjoys spending time while not at Streamline with her puppy Luna, exploring vintage shops, and searching for the best margarita Nashville has to offer.

Biography

Originally from Boston, Ma, Paul joined Streamline Event Agency in the role of Production Manager. With over 25 years of experience in the event/entertainment industry, Paul has quite an extensive background. Over the last 5 years he has managed and has been a part of several national and international tours such as Wheel of Fortune Live, The Masked Singer, Theresa Caputo Live, Cocomelon Live, Assassin’s Creed Symphony, 4U Prince, Peter Pan 360, The Walking Dead Experience, Moscow Ballet’s Nutcracker and several others. Other projects include managing the 2020 Presidential Debates, ESPN Studios, Pip’s Island, Boston Ballet, Sky News, Fox News, The Today Show and Microsoft. Recently he worked with Wheel of Fortune Live where he managed all production associated logistics in reference to the tour. Paul is really excited to be part of the Streamline Event Agency family and he looks forward to working hard towards a great future ahead.

Biography

Michele began her career with the international accounting firm Ernst & Young. Her experience spans both publicly and privately held companies in finance, manufacturing, and the music industry. After leaving Ernst & Young, Michele continued to work with clients, providing day to day consulting and bookkeeping services, and has been involved in startup companies through the years. She has extraordinary skills developing business strategies to grow companies. Michele lives with her husband and three children in Franklin, TN.

Biography

Born and raised in Brazil, Larissa moved to the U.S. in 2018 for college and earned her Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design with a minor in App Design and Web Development in 2022. Her interest in Graphic Design started when she was 13, and led her to work as a freelancer Graphic Designer, gaining expertise with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and so on. While in college, she worked as an Art tutor, helping peer students with their art and design classes, and served as a Graphic Design Intern, designing posters and other graphics for college events.

Larissa loves traveling and has been to several countries such as Italy, Portugal, France, the Czech Republic, etc. When she’s not designing, you can find her longboarding, learning new languages, or walking her dog.

Biography

Justin serves as the President and CEO for Streamline Event Agency. Twenty three years of experience have carried him from an entry level artist booking agent to the Kennedy Center, Barbara Bush’s 90th Birthday Celebration, numerous live television broadcasts, high profile corporate events and an annual residency at the Ryman Auditorium with long time clients Amy Grant and Vince Gill. Through his career he has worked as an agent, audio engineer, tour and production manager, creative director, and more.

Ultimately, his passion is building a strong culture for both Streamline and our clients, finding new opportunities and offerings, and leading an amazing team in serving our clients at the highest level. “We find joy in the journey as much as the end goal and we want this experience to provide a valuable partnership to our clients”. Justin resides in Franklin, TN and enjoys spending time with his 4 children. When he is not creating for our clients, he loves to be in the kitchen creating for his family, watching Duke basketball or Titans football, and at times embracing moments of silence and solitude.

Biography

Jennifer is a native of Baltimore, MD and graduated from Mount Saint Mary’s University with degrees in Accounting and Spanish. Her early career as an auditor with Deloitte and Ernst & Young took her from Washington, DC, to Denver, CO, to Nashville, TN. After she left public accounting, she spent two years as a Sr. Revenue Accountant for AT&T Wireless in Atlanta, GA. Jennifer’s skills are invaluable to Streamline Event Agency. She and her husband live in Franklin with their five children.

Biography

Originally from South Africa, Hein immigrated to the US at a young age. He grew up in Boulder Colorado, studied art at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and has been working as an art director and illustrator in Nashville for 5 years. He has been blessed to work on dozens of nationwide ad campaigns for the likes of Cadillac, Delta Airlines, and even the 2019 remake of Disney’s Aladdin. In the music industry he has storyboarded music videos for Florida Georgia Line, Jake Owen, and Morgan Wallen to name a few. In his spare time, he is currently working on multiple board game projects, both as a designer and illustrator. He loves his wife, the Lord, and whiskeys in the evening.

Biography

Erica was born and raised in the middle Tennessee area. She has spent a majority of her career, and personal life, in the sports world. She received her undergraduate Bachelor of Science in Sports Administration with a minor in Communications from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and her Master of Business Administration from Mercer University. Erica has experience in minor league baseball, middle and high school athletics, sales, sponsorship, events, as well as coaching youth sports.

In her previous role as the Manager of Strategic Partnerships with the Nashville Sports Council, she gained valuable event experience. Some of those events include SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament, St. Jude Rock n’ Roll Marathon, Music City Bowl Games, and many more. In her spare time, Erica serves on the Nashville Coaching Coalition board, volunteers on the Nashville Sports Council Women in Sports Committee, and often finds herself sitting in front of a TV watching the Tennessee Volunteers, Tennessee Titans, and Nashville Predators.

Biography

Caroline started her career in Washington, D.C. working for, and on behalf of, campaigns at both the state and federal levels, serving in an array of roles including donor development, event management and digital advertising. She has worked in logistics and operations for large-scale events such as National Party Conventions and a Presidential Inauguration. More recently, Caroline launched her own business planning conferences, festivals and other meeting-based events, contracting with organizations in both the political and private sectors, and spent a year with the Nashville Institute for Faith + Work, running their intensive fellows program.

Caroline is an avid reader, a mediocre cyclist, and extreme evangelist of the game Scrabble. She joined the Streamline family in 2021 and is the Type A organizer to her Type B creative counterparts. She’s excited to leverage her years of experience in planning, operations, and media to drive dynamic events powered by world-class content and unique creative solutions. Caroline has made life-long commitments to both a fully earth-toned wardrobe and to her husband, Landon, with whom she makes a home in beautiful Nashville, TN.

Biography

Throughout a career spanning twenty-years; I have worked in multiple sectors of the events industry including destination management, global event production, design and décor,
while overseeing all aspects of event production, sales, client relations, staffing, hotel contract negotiations and more.
Most recently I worked as a Product Specialist, Events for the Project Management Institute, in Philadelphia, focusing on virtual event production, trade show management and sponsor relations. Prior to that, I lived and worked in Abu Dhabi, UAE, with Etihad Airways, where I served as Event Manager to the PCEO; managing global events, media and product launches, sponsorship events and executive leadership conferences, while initiating and fostering strategic partnerships with governmental entities, suppliers and venues throughout the world.

Biography

As a lifelong performer, Brooks Parker has spent decades exploring the many facets of the entertainment and event industry. After graduating from Belmont University in 2007 with a degree in Commercial Music, he spent two years as a Music & Talent Coordinator for UpTV, television network before finding a home at JKC Artist Group. During his time at JKC Artist Group, Parker was instrumental in the career management of multi-platinum GRAMMY Award winning recording artist Amy Grant.

Trading on his extensive experience and network of contacts in the entertainment and event space, Parker transitioned into the role of sales manager with Streamline Event Agency in January 2018, focusing primarily on corporate and association event sales. With the many hats he wears, Brooks thoroughly enjoys people and thrives on building relationships with potential and current clients, and infusing creativity into everything he does. Apart from Streamline, Parker has served on the Belmont University Friends of the Arts Board, the Gospel Music Association Honors Board and Hall of Fame committee, and works with the Saint Thomas Health Foundation Board. He also serves as the director of music at his church, where he plays the organ, piano, and directs the choir. When he’s not working or making music, he prefers to be in the water, on the golf course, the tennis court, or a bike. Parker’s most treasured roles are those of being husband to Chelsea, and dad to Harlow, Benning, and two identical twin girls expected summer of 2020.

Biography

As a passionate professional with an expertise in creating memorable experiences, Brittany has built a fulfilling career in project management, event production, and client management. Brittany is a graduate of Central Michigan University with a major in Communication, and double minors in Event Management and Hospitality. While interning for the American Pavilion at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival in France, she fell in love with event planning and all things logistics, working on events for Spike Lee and the stars alike. Brittany has worked coast – to – coast planning internal and external events for audiences up to 20,000, but nothing beats planning a small summer rooftop gathering in her hometown, Detroit. Upon graduation, she spent time working in sports for the Detroit Red Wings before transitioning to a nine-year career working in corporate event planning, project management, and employee engagement for Rocket Companies. She loves challenging the status-quo, brainstorming out of the box event solutions, and delivering on initiatives that connect, engage, and inform attendees.
In her free time, Brittany enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband and two stepchildren, vacationing in Northern Michigan, and creating systems while reorganizing the spaces in her home for the umpteenth time.

Biography

Anne-Marie, born and bred in Kentucky, began her career in entertainment as a Production Manager in Television. After years spent living in Los Angeles, traveling the country with shows like Gordon Ramsey’s “24 Hours to Hell” and CBS classic “Undercover Boss”, it was time to take her talents back to the south. Pivoting her skills from film sets to events, Anne-Marie uses her “show must go on” passion to elevate the client experience to a top tier value.

Biography

Beth is a graduate of the University of Kentucky with a degree in Journalism & Advertising. Upon graduation, she moved to Nashville and began a career in the non-profit sector as Communications Specialist for the Tennessee Medical Association. During her fifteen year career at TMA, she moved into the world of meetings and events, and was promoted to Director of Meetings.

In 2015, Beth made the leap to Opry Entertainment where she spent nearly seven years in corporate and convention sales. In that role, she was responsible for private event sales and attraction tickets to such iconic venues as the Grand Ole Opry and Ryman Auditorium. There she worked hand in hand with corporate, association and third-party planners to design exceptional events at the company’s world-famous attractions.
She has also been a tireless volunteer for the Donelson-Hermitage Chamber of Commerce and was President of the organization in 2021. Beth has also served as Chamber Secretary and Chair of the Public Relations & Promotion Committee, and has been a member of Women in Business, the Influencing Women Awards Gala, Taste of Donelson Hermitage and DH Christmas Parade committees.

Beth is a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) and is a member of MPI, PCMA, Heels and Handshakes and various other industry associations. She lives in Donelson with her husband, Charlie, and beloved pup, Dillon. She enjoys cheering on the Kentucky Wildcats, Tennessee Titans and Nashville Predators. She enjoys cooking, travel and good books.

Biography

Jessica is a native New Yorker, and recent Los Angeles transplant, who began her career in the music industry. As a graduate of Syracuse University’s Bandier Program, she spent her time in college working at local venues, interning in music management, and serving as President of Syracuse’s student programming board – University Union.

After leaving Syracuse, Jessica started her career in Los Angeles, as an Executive Assistant and Label Coordinator at Darkroom Records, a joint venture with Interscope and home to Billie Eilish. She then transitioned into freelance event production, working with companies such as Amazon Prime, Apple Music and Jimmy Kimmel. Jessica spent the following 2 years working as a Day-to-Day Artist Manager and Project Manager at 88rising. There she worked on operations and marketing initiatives, as well as experiential activations for the Head in the Clouds music festival. Jessica relocated from Los Angeles to East Nashville in 2020 with her fiancé and two pups.

Biography

Christine earned her Bachelor of Science in Event Management from the Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida. Since receiving her diploma, Christine has 10+ years of experience in managing, planning, and executing live, virtual & hybrid events all over the globe. She specializes in event management technology & hospitality solutions which includes virtual diagramming, various registration platforms and email marketing systems.

Christine also has certifications in event diagramming, supplier networks, event management and advanced event management. As a Certified Special Events Professional (CSEP) and Digital Event Strategist (DES), Christine is looking forward to continuously produce successful events by navigating and evolving in this ever-changing industry.