09.09.09 6:00 AM
After Stints at Nonprofits, Producer Ryan Zynger's New Firm Focuses on Fund-Raisers
Ryan Zynger got his start about 15 years ago, doing down-home events like barbecues and petting zoos for a Canadian military family resource center in Victoria, British Columbia. After moving to Los Angeles in 2000, he worked as the event manager for the California Science Center, where he spent eight years before moving on to work with CauseForce, a for-profit company that produces fund-raising events for nonprofits with ties to cancer research. Zynger left CauseForce to start his own production and consulting firm, Zynger Event Designs Inc. , last year. MORE >>
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Emirates Airlines , Tourism Australia , Break the Cycle , American Association of Museums
06.24.09 8:00 AM
Michael Smith Creates Integrated Sound Programs for Events
Since he started out as a DJ hobbyist in 2000, Michael Smith has gone on to make a name for himself, spinning professionally for luxury, fashion, media, and entertainment brands. Now he’s expanding his offerings with Michael Smith Event Music , which creates complete programs for corporate clients like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Vogue . Call it sonic branding: sound services beyond a traditional DJ’s purview that work with a brand’s specific mission.MORE >>
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Louis Vuitton , Jaguar
04.29.09 9:00 AM
Clover Chadwick Creates Eco-Friendly, Locally Sourced Floral Arrangements
Clover Chadwick is the owner and principle designer at Dandelion Ranch , a floral design firm that opened a new studio and storefront in October. With a name like Clover, you might say working with foliage comes naturally: After stints as a restaurant manager at spots such as Nick & Stef’s and the French Laundry in Napa, she eventually moved on to do flowers for eateries including Campanile , Grace , Mozza , and Lucques . That was the start of what is now Dandelion Ranch, which has a full-time team of six employees.MORE >>
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Going Green
02.25.09 9:00 AM
Kate Fujimoto Draws on Fashion Background for Event Designs
After seven years as a designer and product manager for companies such as Betsey Johnson, Trina Turk, and Guess, Kate Fujimoto wanted to channel her creative energies into a different project. “I was getting a little frustrated with the corporate structure and felt that my aesthetic didn’t necessarily match up to some of the companies I worked with,” she says. After planning her own wedding, Fujimoto began to consider a career in event design. She took on small events at first, including a few for C magazine. The publication’s design and style editor, Andrea Stanford, was so impressed she recommended Fujimoto to friends. With a growing client list, the budding designer launched Kate Fujimoto Event Design in November 2007.
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C Magazine , Lacma
01.14.09 8:00 AM
Bolthouse Vets Join Forces With Boutique Production Firm
Visionary Group's Robert Badgley (left) and Brian Diamond Photo: Zen Sekizawa for BizBash
Opposites Attract: Robert Badgley and Brian Diamond say they first discovered they made a good team while working in the event marketing division of Bolthouse Productions . Badgley focused on production-related responsibilities, and Diamond handled sales and client relationship management. “I like getting my hands dirty and doing the design or actual production behind an event,” Badgley says. “The partnership’s a good fit, because Brian’s much more of a people person than I am, and he’s very good at dealing with clients, whereas I just like to be behind the scenes.” Together, they designed and executed events for T-Mobile, Victoria’s Secret, and HBO, but when Bolthouse merged with entertainment group SBE in late 2005, the two decided it was time for a change. “Things became a little more corporate, whereas we liked the boutique-ish company we’d worked for before,” Diamond says. Each took on freelance event work, naturally calling upon one another to collaborate on projects. “At one point, we thought maybe we should just form an L.L.C. and try doing this ourselves,” Diamond says. Last January, they launched Visionary Group , a full-service event production firm.
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Ocean Pacific , Pepsi
08.13.08 9:00 AM
Cake Monkey Specializes in Mini, Retro Desserts
Cake Monkey's Elizabeth Belkind (left) and Lisa Olin. Photo: Zen Sekizawa for BizBash
Internet Connection: A love of cake and a Craigslist posting brought business partners Elizabeth Belkind and Lisa Olin together. Olin, a film and television producer with a sweet tooth, wanted to open a bakery specializing in individual layer cakes and her favorite childhood treats. With the concept, logo, and bakery name selected, all she needed was a qualified baker. Enter Belkind, a Campanile -trained pastry chef and designer of the dessert menu at contemporary American restaurant Grace . “Because I was familiar with [Belkind’s] background, I knew I wanted her before I even spoke with her,” Olin says. “But then when we met, it was all the better, because we had the same ideas when it came to cakes, like what ingredients and flavors to use.” With their interests in sync, last December the pair launched Cake Monkey Bakery .
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Mango , In Style Magazine , Elle , Des Kohan , Hollywood Foreign Press Association , John Wayne Cancer Institute , Paramount
07.23.08 8:00 AM
New York-Based Production Studio's West Coast Counterpart
Bicoastal Businesses: Jeremy Smith, an independent contractor with experience helping galleries and artists produce large-scale or technically challenging installations, may not have pictured himself working on events, but an opportunity came along that he couldn’t pass up. Peter Brown and Jeffrey Hatfield, founders of New York-based design and production firm Brooklyn Guild, wanted to open an office in Los Angeles and had their sights set on Angeleno resident Smith, who met Hatfield in Los Angeles through a mutual colleague. “We needed somebody we could trust with our clients and who could, if need be, hang from a crane and weld,” Hatfield says. Smith was intrigued by the company’s full-service approach to production: “Jeffrey really sold me with the design aspect,” Smith says. “[The position] gives me the chance to fabricate pieces and work with clients directly instead of only working in a studio, where it’s someone saying, ‘This is what I want; now make it.’ Instead, we’re getting a little more interaction with the client—you give them ideas and they give you ideas, so you’re really working together on the whole project.” In November 2007, the trio opened Los Angeles Guild , with Smith permanently based in the West Coast office and Brown and Hatfield managing both branches.
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M.A.C. Cosmetics , Dior , South by Southwest , Levi's , Stella McCartney
03.12.08 8:22 AM
Siblings Serve Up Vegan-Friendly Fare
Spork Foods's Heather (left) and Jenny Goldberg Photo: Zen Sekizawa for BizBash
Family Practice: Although Heather and Jenny Goldberg grew up in the same household, it wasn’t until the sisters took off for universities in different cities that they each decided to go vegetarian, even cutting out such animal byproducts as eggs and milk. After college, the pair moved in together and eventually channeled their shared interest and diverse skill sets to launch a catering company, Spork Foods , last June.
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Vitasoy , TreePeople , Ralphs , Albertsons
02.13.08 9:25 AM
Miranda House Brings London-Style Service to "Generic" L.A. Events
DLA Inc.'s Miranda House Photo: Georgina Richardson
Across the Pond: Miranda House first decided to pursue event work after organizing club nights, managing guest lists, and looking after V.I.P.s at her brother’s London-based company, London Parties. But rather than team up with her sibling, she landed a job with event management company Dora Loewenstein Associates (DLA) in 1998. At the three-person company, she quickly took a hands-on role in production and management for private, nonprofit, and corporate events, eventually overseeing Mick Jagger’s 60th birthday party in Prague and a charity fund-raising concert with Elton John that attracted Prince Charles and raised £2.3 million for cultural institution Somerset House and children’s charity Absolute Return for Kids. House is now putting her experience to use as the new event director of DLA Inc. , the company’s first American office. Minding the Gap: “A lot of the events [in Los Angeles] are quite generic across the board, and a lot of these big event companies churn out the same event over and over again,” House says. “What sets us apart out here is that we provide a very personal service with a huge emphasis on attention to detail.” That includes tasks from managing logistics like budgets to compiling guest lists and sending out invitations. “We don’t just happily write the names and ‘plus guest’ and hope for the best,” House says. “We research and ring everyone to get the right spelling, the right title, and the correct guest name.”
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Somerset House , Absolute Return for Kids , Virgin Unite
01.18.08 9:05 AM
Agency Veteran Primero Launches PR Company
Brooke Primero Photo: Cat Jimenez for BizBash
Best of Both Worlds: As the former senior director of special events with entertainment public relations and marketing firm BNC , Brooke Primero handled PR for everything from major product launches to award show after-parties to events for T-Mobile and Vanity Fair. But she was tired of dividing her efforts among several accounts. “You’re assigning a certain fee for a project, and you keep track of your hours based on that fee so that you don’t over service anybody and everybody gets your attention. I found that kind of stifling,” she says. “You get to the point where you can see opportunities being missed because you don’t have time to explore them on behalf of the client.”Primero Media .A Multidimensional Approach: In an effort to explore and execute every publicity angle for clients, Primero handpicks no more than two events per month and refrains from taking on two in the same week. She looks for two- to three-month projects and takes a very hands-on approach. “At another firm, you might have an assistant who has maybe done three events sit in on the call to rep the firm. [Here] it’s going to be me, who has done about 100 events a year for nine years,” she says. While Primero tackles typical PR tasks like red-carpet management and securing media coverage, she also advises clients on venues and interactive activities, drawing on her experience as a journalist for Petersen Publishing and Disney Magazine Publishing and in event production at Paramount Pictures .
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BNC , YMI Jeanswear , Peace Over Violence
