Haley Rodriguez is associate creative producer for Apartment Therapy Media. She's based in New York. A quote from her nomination: "Prior to working on the 2022 [Small/Cool NYC] program, she had minimal event planning experience; however, you would have never known when looking back at her performance."
How she spends her days: "I produce cross-platform branded content for our award-winning Homemade Studios at Apartment Therapy Media. On the day to day, I help manage talent partnerships alongside our influencer and talent manager, and I help execute all photo and video production with our branded production team.
In tandem with branded production, I often work cross-departmentally to bring special company initiatives to life. Since joining Apartment Therapy in 2021, I have helped create our Kitchen Essentials List; AT Gift Edit; 40 shoppable house tours; Dine By Design; and our tentpole event, Small/Cool NYC—a BizBash award-winning pop-up experience. Small/Cool NYC is a fully fabricated pop-up storefront with trend spaces, each 120 square feet or less, designed by industry experts and tastemakers, all identified by Apartment Therapy as shaping the future of design.
We just kicked off our 2023 production, and this year I’ve been tasked with project-managing multiple installations from start to finish, a first in my events career."
Impact she wants to have on the industry: "In high school, I was on the yearbook staff, and receiving hundreds of boxes of freshly printed yearbooks was my favorite day, above all the late work nights. In college, I worked on a magazine staff that printed an issue every semester. I loved it so much because I could be a part of the impact my team’s hard work had on others. I could also see my work in a tangible form, and working in events has given me that same opportunity again.
In everything I do, I want others to feel positively impacted, whether inspired to create or simply enjoy the smaller, cooler things in life. I love that I work on an event that has the potential to make a change in our audience’s lives and homes."
Career goals: "Entering the events industry has been such a pleasant surprise, and although I still am ironing out exactly where I see myself in five years, producing events is something I can see myself doing in the long run. I plan to keep learning from my peers and managers at Apartment Therapy, who guide me and teach me something new daily.
If the next five years match half my progress over the past five, I will be proud of myself no matter what. If I had to shoot for the stars, I’d love to plan a music festival or curate events for a museum abroad."
Advice for her peers: "You’re young, eager, and qualified, so being starry-eyed is OK too. I heard these words in Shakey Graves’ song 'Late July' over 10 years ago and made it my life/career mantra. I have confidence in my generation to couple our idealism with our know-how, and I think my work reflects that.
In this industry, we often have to think on our feet, which can be stressful, but remember to take a beat because you’re already equipped with the knowledge and skills to turn a situation around on the fly."
How she spends her free time: "I’ve been lucky enough to take time off and travel to eight countries in the past couple of years, but locally, I often attend concerts, comedy, and Broadway shows in NYC. I attend trivia weekly with my friends, Lads on Tour, a nod to Love Island (UK), which I also tune into during the summer. I also look forward to volunteering with SafeWalks this summer, New York City’s largest community-driven public safety initiative."
