Breese Roche, 33, is senior director, content production for Trademark Productions. She's based in San Francisco. A quote from her nomination: "She’s perhaps best known for her work at Slack, where she built Slack’s field marketing and events program from scratch, including launching Slack’s annual user conference, Frontiers, and SPEC, Slack’s developer conference. During her six years at Slack, Breese launched, created, evolved, and grew the event programming to a global scale, establishing a presence beyond North America to Japan, Europe, and Australia."
My career journey: "My career journey started in high-tech sales, which eventually led me to corporate marketing. That understanding of sales needs and goals translated well into marketing, where I could drive the types of leads I knew would help the sales team.
From there, I made the transition from corporate life to agency life at Trademark Productions. Trademark had been my longtime agency partner when I was in-house, and I knew it was an incredible group of people and an extremely creative agency that I wanted to be a part of. Being on the agency side now offers me the chance to work with a variety of businesses while bringing a creative mindset to solve a wide range of problems. My background in both marketing and sales gives me a unique perspective that I apply to clients and their marketing objectives. Every new client is a fresh chance to get uber creative."
Roche says it's important to her to give her team of three autonomy in their roles, allowing them to "take ownership of their tasks and produce their best work."Photo: Courtesy of Trademark Events
My most memorable event: "My most memorable event was Slack Frontiers 2020, where I was leading the internal team—and Trademark was my production partner. The pandemic had just begun and distancing measures were going into effect. So, we had to pivot the massive in-person event to a virtual format in under two months. We transformed Slack headquarters into a production studio and delivered broadcast-quality live content. Despite the challenges, we managed to produce the event safely and effectively, drawing around 20,000 registrants and 10,000 attendees, exceeding all our target metrics."
My leadership style: "I believe in providing clarity and setting clear parameters and goals for each project. By giving my team a road map, it allows them to have autonomy, take ownership of their tasks, and produce their best work. I value proactivity, resilience, and problem-solving skills in my team members."
My greatest career accomplishment: "While working at Slack, I built and scaled the global events and field marketing teams from scratch. I think my biggest achievement was launching and scaling Slack's annual user conference, which became a huge companywide initiative and one of the company's largest drivers of pipeline."
Roche says her day-to-day includes "spending time collaborating with our internal team developing creative pitch concepts and ensuring each of our clients' overall experiential strategies is unique and aligned with their brand and goals."Photo: Courtesy of Trademark Events
The advice I would give my younger self: "Be open to learning, stay proactive, and embrace problem-solving. Events can be unpredictable, so being able to adapt quickly and finding creative solutions is crucial for success in this industry."
What's next for me: "I am excited about working with new technologies like augmented reality and virtual reality for stage design elements and attendee experiences, as well as incorporating more sustainable practices into our events. Sustainability is near and dear to my heart. I oversaw the expansion and formalization of Trademark’s sustainability initiative, which includes zero-carbon goals."
