Cheryl Cecchetto
Discovering events production via a theatre degree and a meeting with an Oscar-winning actress, Cecchetto’s background stood her in good stead for what was to come.
Ben Pundole
The EDITION hotel group has become the byword for a new type of hospitality where understated sophistication meets the needs of a new global elite that permeates all spheres of culture. Ben Pundole has the sector sewn up as the group’s head of brand development and founder of ahotellife.com.
Jovanca Maitland
As Director of Live Events and Experiential at ESSENCE, much of Jovanca Maitland’s work is focused on the magazine’s annual Black Women in Hollywood event. She gave us an inside look at what happens behind the scenes, from the initial planning stages to the glamorous night-of.
Bettina Korek
Frieze is currently one of the world’s most important art fairs. L.A. native and arts advocate, Bettina Korek was appointed as Executive Director for Frieze Los Angeles in 2019. She tell us what Brad Pitt thought of Frieze L.A. this year and what makes a great event for someone like herself.
Elyse Walker
Since her eponymous boutique's opening, Elyse Walker has been a household name for the fashion set. For over two decades, she's been serving up stylish options for the most well-heeled women, initially catching the LA elite with her Pacific Palisades boutique, then garnering global interest with her e-commerce business.
Georgina Attwood
From cockney rhyming slang to secret party planning, luxury events expert Georgina Attwood has certainly made her unique stamp on the industry. We find out why it’s important to plan a party for your grandmother and little brother.
Lisa Smith
Lisa Smith moves fast. After starting her own PR agency just three years after graduating from college, she relocated from Sydney to New York City shortly after and turned from connector publicist to publicist connector.
Dipesh Depala
According to Karla Otto, The Qode is “Dubai’s most important communications agency”. As its cofounder, Dipesh Depala discusses how the company he started accidentally has grown to straddle the globe, the mercurial nature of doing business in the Gulf, and why he misses “the days of magazines and models”.
Olivier Massart
Today, La Mode en Images is one of the go-to luxury event art-direction and production agencies but, back when Massart began working in fashion in the late ‘60s, no such thing existed. He explains how forward-thinking clients like Guy Laroche and Paco Rabanne helped him to kickstart a revolution.
Malcolm Carfrae
In one sense Malcolm Carfrae is classically Australian. He found his way to New York via extended stops in London and California. But in another sense, Carfrae is an all-American success story having conquered the Big Apple at Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren before setting up shop on his own with the much-vaunted Carfrae Consulting.
Emma van Haandel
Van Haandel is the founder and managing director of EVH, Australia’s leading full-service luxury communications agency. Based in Sydney with a team of 20, she is the visionary force behind the business, guiding creativity, innovation and strategy, and a respected thought-leader in the fields of design, fashion, hospitality and retail.
Roxanne Motamedi
There are only a handful of entertainment experts who helped shape so many of the world’s best red carpet events, including the most prestigious galas and movie premieres from LA to Cannes. Roxanne Motamedi talks about how social media changed event photography and how the global pandemic might impact the red carpet.
Matthew David Hopkins
Matthew David Hopkins likes a challenge. Dropping everything and heading to New York from Maryland set Hopkins in good stead for the whirlwind of success he has achieved with 360 Design, the events firm that global brands count on when they want to make a splash.
Bertie de Rougemont
Whether it’s an intimate ad dinner hosted by a magazine editor or a 300 strong banquet for one of the world’s biggest luxury goods brands, Bertie de Rougemont and his troupe of handsome cohorts and creative culinary artists at Cellar Society are on hand to fit the bill.
Isabelle Chouvet
The force behind global events and experiences agency K2, Chouvet’s passion for creating memorable moments has taken her from her native France all across Asia to her current (multiple) berths in China. A founding partner of The Independents, she reveals what it takes to keep the show — 12 offices, 600 employees and counting — on the road.
Noona Smith-Petersen
Smith-Petersen started her working life by going straight in at the top with Giorgio Armani. Thirty-five years on from providing PR and communications to the godfather of Italian style, her “devotion to the world of luxury and fashion in everything I do” has resulted in a career trajectory that boasts a roll-call of fashion’s most famous names.
Ana Foley
Ana Foley is the founder and CMO of Check Check Productions. Having worked in events her whole life, she has a particularly discerning eye for the technical details that make an event a truly memorable experience. She spoke with us on the timely topic of planning for the unexpected and shares tips for achieving sustainability in events.
Sam and Dawn Goldworm
Why is 12.29 more than a bespoke fragrance company? We investigate founders and twin sisters, Sam and Dawn Goldworm’s bold statement that the power of scent is the “new frontier of emotional communication”, why it’s not just about perfume and how olfactive branding translates into the world of events.
Colin Cowie
When everyone is working their hardest to fit in, why not try to stand out? The South African event planner has done just that, creating one-of-a-kind experiences for Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Aniston, Kim Kardashian-West, and many more.
Fern Mallis
With over 40 years in the industry, celebrated consultant, philanthropist and New Yorker Fern Mallis has transformed the fashion world from the inside out. The godmother of style discusses the evolution of events in the digital age and the price of social media — from the spectacle and the brilliance to the horror