Danielle M. Alexander, 39, is owner of and director of special events for Posh 5 Productions. She's also a freelance consultant. She's based in Los Angeles.
My career journey: "I first started working in the event industry while I was in college. I took on a summer internship for an event production company and ended up working with them through the fall semester. I absolutely loved the process of telling stories through events and having the opportunity to create memorable experiences for people in the process.
That summer internship then turned into a career post-graduation. In the nearly 20 years since then, I've had the opportunity to work with and produce events for a number of organizations, including The Walt Disney Company, the American Film Institute, and the University of Southern California.
I currently serve as the owner and director of special events for Posh 5 Productions, a boutique planning and program management company based in Los Angeles. In this role—in which I offer both freelance and full-service event management services—I’ve had the honor of working on a number of high-profile projects, including the Emmys Governors Galas, BAFTA LA Garden Party, AFI FEST, as well as a host of other corporate and nonprofit events held throughout the U.S. and Europe."
Alexander has worked with and produced events for a number of organizations, including The Walt Disney Company, the American Film Institute (AFI Fest pictured here), and the University of Southern California.Photo: Courtesy of AFI/Araya Doheny
What inspires me: "Anything that could potentially bring a smile to someone's face—whether it's an Instagram post, a painting, a nostalgic scent, or a song on the radio—inspires the work I do and ideas that I bring to the table. I love creating experiences for people, and there are plenty of opportunities to find inspiration in the day-to-day if you just take a second to tune into the senses and look around."
My greatest career accomplishment: "I'd say that my greatest career accomplishment has been to produce and work on the signature fundraising events for some truly worthy nonprofit organizations. I've had the honor of working with some great causes, including Project Angel Food, Venice Family Clinic, and Year Up. Knowing that the events I worked on helped raise funds for their respective causes is truly rewarding."
My most memorable event: "Every year it gets harder and harder to answer this question—I have so many fond memories at this point! A few that come to mind are working the 90th Oscars, planning a podcast taping in the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, and producing a networking event at the Lindt Chocolate Museum in Germany. If I have to choose one, though, then I'd say spearheading USC homecoming while I served as an event planner for the university's alumni association. USC is my alma mater, so getting to plan and also rebrand the event for my Trojan family was really special."
Alexander helped produce the 47th annual USC Black Alumni Association Scholarship Benefit.Photo: Courtesy of USC Black Alumni Association/Celeste Photography
The time I averted a complete event disaster: "I once worked on an event where I needed to send out invitations to a mailing list consisting of thousands of people. A temp was hired to assist with some tasks, and I asked them to go through the list and remove any duplicate addresses. Once finished, I double-checked the list and approved it for the mailing. Fast-forward to a couple of days later, and we start getting messages from people saying they'd received an invite, but addressed to someone else. It turned out that the temp had incorrectly sorted the list, and I didn't catch the error.
Needless to say, there were hours of panic while I went into damage control, but we sent out an email to everyone on the list and also re-sent the printed invitations with the correct names and addresses. It was a scary situation, but at that point I just had to accept that the error was irreversible and focus on a solution. Thankfully, everything worked out in the end, and we still had a great turnout for the event."
My ideal day OOO: "I'm all about self-care, so for me it would be to sleep in, go to a spa, spend some time outdoors, and end the day with friends and family."
