40 Under 40: Chrissy Devenny, Dynamo Events

Chrissy Devenny, 26, works in Los Angeles as founder and CEO at Dynamo Events. As a 2017 40 Under 40 honoree, Devenny discusses her passion for the events industry

*Connect with Devenny on Twitter and Instagram. What I do: I help marketers and meeting planners dream up and execute live events that drive their business objectives, whether that’s driving demand generation through a series of road shows or an annual user conference, tying increased sales to a kickoff or incentive trip, or ensuring an off-site boosts strategic alignment across their executive team. My passion—and experience prior to founding Dynamo—is in the technology industry, so I tend to work with tech companies and am sharply focused on leveraging what I learned in Silicon Valley to help “Silicon Beach” companies grow in Los Angeles. How I got here: I started out in the floral industry but made a quick shift to the tech industry as a marketing event coordinator. I loved the combination of creativity and strategy that the role had to offer and eventually grew to manage global events at my company. Ultimately I decided I wanted to help other marketers and event planners like myself produce better-performing events, which is why I started Dynamo. My greatest career accomplishment: I’m most proud of taking the leap to leave my cushy corporate job with colleagues I loved in favor of starting Dynamo. Seven months in, my most exciting achievement so far is producing an eight-city road show across the U.S. for a leading technology company.  Impressive stats: I’ve managed more than $3 million in events budgets and tied results to each of them. What I’m working on: Right now I’m producing a user conference in San Francisco for one of the world’s largest webinar companies, which is a blast. They have an art and science theme I’m excited to incorporate into each part of the guest experience, from scientific beaker message-in-a-bottle invitations to using paint palettes as serving trays for catering. What I do outside of work: I love traveling and have made a vow to ski a new mountain and dive a new site every year for the rest of my life. This year the mountain is Mammoth in California and the dive site is Ishigaki in Okinawa, Japan. Five phrases that identify me: Moment maker; thinker; evolver; partner; dynamo