OUT OF OFFICE *

For the past two years, I’ve been running ‘Out Of Office’ parties for Secretaries—a Toronto based brand where I have worked as lead producer since 2021. Hosting these events every month or two has been a super valuable way to gain hands-on experience while continuing to growing a strong network within the industry.

When planning these parties, I take the lead on organizing and planning. On my end I try to find unique, untapped venues and bring DJs our crowd may not be familiar with to create a new experience. They have been a mix of DIY events and partnerships with local nightclubs and the goal is always to provide the most immersive and fun experience for partygoers.

My role includes

```
Venue scouting
```
```
Curating the DJ lineup
```
```
Budgetting 
```
```
Creating and executing a marketing plan
```
```
Managing digital ticket sales
```

Hiring and managing event staff, from bartenders to security guards to event photographers and videographers

Working with a team to design the space and create a certain experience for partygoers

```
Renting equipment
```

These events are a great experience and have taught me so much about event planning, execution, and hospitality.

Video Marketing

Below are some fun video’s we created to market the OOO parties. These always add a fun flavour which tailors people’s expectations going in so they know to come in with a great vibe.

SSICC

The Secretaries Shirley International Chess Club (S.S.I.C.C) is a collaborative event between Secretaries and Toronto-based brand Shirley Company we organized in Spring 23'. While we had interest in collaborating, we noticed the popularity of chess skyrocket and figured it could be a unique way to bring people together. This led to the development of our chess club, which is more of a party that combines dance music with chess—surprisingly a great combo for making new friends.

Around this time, a new bar called Bowie opened up and was becoming a buzzing spot in Toronto. So, we reached out and booked our first chess club. We got custom wooden chess boards made, hired some great house DJs, made some flyers, and had a great event.

SSICC x Soho House

In December of 2023, we decided to bring the event back at a bigger, more accessible scale. Bowie was a great first event, but it was a small venue and lot of our community couldn’t get in. Soho Toronto is much bigger, but typically inaccessible for a younger crowd. We reach out and book an event- they give us budget as they want to bring more young people out. So we book 2 extremely talented vinyl DJs from the city, Milch and Bikethug along with a fun promo video.

We ended up with over 300 attendees and had a great night as people were able to dance, play chess, and socialize at their own pace which created a house-party energy.  We viewed this as a success and wanted to continue building.

Finally, it was time to put the ‘international’ in SSICC. Paris had long been one of the cities we wanted to throw a chess club at in the future, and PFW was the perfect opportunity to do so- when else is seemingly the entire industry in one city? We got to work and eventually found WAX Bar, a hifi cocktail bar with great interior design in the 10th with a super receptive owner named Oz. We booked it, filmed a promo clip here in Toronto using a TV as the background and hired voice actors for the french speaking, found a DJ, made a flyer, and set out to Paris with the goal of meeting and inviting as many people as we could in the first few days of fashion week. It ended up being a success, with around 75 attendees throughout the night and a lot of local Parisians which we were stoked on. It was a great first step into the international game, and we plan on scaling these global parties over the next 2 years.

* Secretaries Rodeo

Inspired by the 1980 film ‘Urban Cowboy’, The Secretaries Rodeo was the theme for our SS23 release and it was my job to produce the event.

With an branded event like this it was important to start with incorporating product into campaign imagery without losing the flare of the rodeo theme which led to some fun shoot ideas. Then it was simply about organizing talent and picking the right team to execute the theme we were going for. Not to mention negotiating time to shoot in the venue before opening allowed us to develop some beautiful shots to promote product and the event.

Video

The video content for this campaign reflected the same 80s, cheesy references utilizing old Western film tropes and VHS style infomercials I co-wrote with Parker Murchison. Our directors, Adrien Marquet and Jack Peros did an incredible job bringing these concepts to life.

Event

The promotional run culminated in an event at Rock N Horse Saloon, a western themed bar with a mechanical bull and all the western fixtures. It is over the top, a little sleazy, but really fun and true to the source material. After providing the over 250 guests with a unique experience and great music, the night wrapped with a full dance floor, strong engagement, and a clear sense of impact—both for the brand and personally, a rewarding feeling after months of work.

First Class Fest

First Class Fest is a national music festival series spotlighting emerging and underground hip-hop talent across Canada.

Brought onto the core team for my live event experience and industry relationships, I played a key role in executing three of the festival’s largest shows—in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. From artist coordination to on-the-ground logistics, I helped ensure each city delivered a consistent and elevated experience.

Working on First Class Fest taught me how to manage high-pressure events with over 1,000 attendees, while keeping sight of both the big picture and the small details that make an event memorable.