Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sophie Baker. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Sophie with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
My Dad.
He worked for the Government in South Australia for a very long time. It was an extremely stable job which was key when my Mum didn’t work as she stayed at home to raise my three brothers and I. My Dad left that job to open his own business, which was a huge risk as his job covered our rental and provided security for the family, so we moved into a small home with no air conditioning (a big deal in an Australian summer when you live in a small country town on the cusp of the desert area) and he put everything into that business and it paid off.
My parents always taught us that even if you are shoveling s**t for a living, you do it with a smile on your face – they both always supported us completely, gave us every opportunity (even when we had very little money) and let each of us spread our wings.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I grew up in a small country town in South Australia with three older brothers. I always had a want for more, and when I had the chance to go to boarding school in the city I took it and I am so glad that as a 12 year old my parents allowed me to make that decision on whether I was comfortable with going or not.
After school, I didn’t go the typical route of going straight into College / University instead working various jobs for the next few years including a grocery store, HR and IT trainee for a hotel company and in luxury travel. I eventually took a weekend job on the door of a nightclub that I loved, where I then moved into doing their social media on Monday nights after my regular full time job, before they asked me to come on full time to work as Artist Liaison for a new festival called Stereosonic. I had no idea what that meant, but was excited to have the opportunity to work with some of the biggest EDM artists in the world. Working in that role provided key skills in overall event production, complicated logistics with artist transfers on private jets and regular flights, show production and guest experience.
I continued working the role with Stereosonic seasonally for six years, while also working at the nightclub on weekly events and small to mid size festivals. All that work in music started to provide an itch for what’s next, so I applied to study a Bachelor of Entertainment Management at the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney. I was accepted and made my move to Sydney to begin my study. On the first day they asked what we wanted to do at the end of our study for work and where we would like to intern – I wanted to intern at Ministry of Sound and then move to America to work in Artist Management. Two years later I landed my internship with Ministry of Sound in their Touring and Events department Soapbox Artists – a dream come true. After my internship I was offered a position to work with their team which I took, but the same itch for the next step returned and I was ready to make my next move.
After a short stint back home with my family to save money, shortly after I made the move to LA to, willing to start at the bottom to get my foot in the door and ended up interning with ATM Artists after sending a cold call email not knowing if there was anyone who would even read my email, let alone respond. Within five weeks, a position opened and I once again turned my internship into a job – hard work had paid off and I was in disbelief that I had the opportunity to work with my musical idols, attend Coachella with them and work on a new album launch. While the opportunities around it were something I could only have dreamed of, I was not in love with the industry and ultimately ended up leaving music and making my way back to events.
Over the past seven years, I have worked in events in LA as a Production Coordinator up to my current role with Another A Story as Executive Producer. Another A Story is an experiential event agency, originating from London before expanding to the US three years ago and continuing to grow. My role with Another A Story has afforded me some incredible experiences working with clients such as Amazon Influencer Program on their yearly event portfolio, producing a gorgeous dinner with Loro Piana in the Hamptons to Camp Hermes in Aspen at Kevin Costner’s ranch.
Our team is small, but mighty and while the work can be hard and long hours, we are all in it together and willing to pull our sleeves up to help our the team, which is incredibly important for anyone joins our team. This coming year, we are looking to expand our team across the US, with a big focus on our New York office and expansion. The team will be adding Production team members from Coordinator through to Senior Producers, along with additions to our Creative / Design team to work on some really incredible events we have in the pipeline.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. Treating everyone with equal respect – this is something that I value in not only myself, but also anyone on our team. I believe leading with kindness and respect is key when you work in small teams and external vendors. Our relationships with people at every touch of our event during pre-production through wrap are key, and I believe we should treat every employee, vendor and our freelancers with the same respect. In turn, when things get tough or we’re in thick of an onsite emergency they’re willing to be there by your side to ensure the best outcome
2. Organization – this feels obvious since the entire job is based around ‘organizing events’, but being organized during pre-production with your documents i.e. saving all your quotes and invoices, taking concise notes, updating decks, prioritizing your daily tasks flow through to being organized onsite. If you show up to your site without all of your ducks in a row, you start off on the back foot when you get onsite and it can end up putting your entire load in or event to be behind schedule which is not great for you, your team or your client.
3. Willingness to learn and adapt – even after working in events for over 15 years, I am still learning and find every event can teach me something new. While each event is structurally the same at the core, traveling to different cities or countries where you’re working with different teams, vendors, and clients you have an opportunity to learn which I think is great and what makes this role exciting. You also need to be able to adapt as sometimes, even with all the planning we do that things out of our control happen and you need to pivot from the original plan, and again can be presented with an opportunity to learn about something you had not considered before and take that knowledge with you into your next event.
Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?
I’ve previously faced burnout, which is something that the fun side of social media doesn’t show. We can be faced with 16+ hour days in heat, rain or snow or you travel for extended periods and are outside your routine in a different city. The below are the exact things I’ve learnt are key for me when I begin to feel overwhelmed:
– Don’t be afraid to speak up if you have too much on your plate – this is something I also ensure all my direct reports feel comfortable coming to me with and that they know that no one will ever be upset or they’ll be overlooked for future opportunities if they speak up.
– Hand write your to do list – I was taught this many years ago and hand write my to do list in my notebook and break out the priorities from there, and either tackling something small or a task I am avoiding first. As each task is complete it receives a tick / is crossed off and I’ve found the visual of this and seeing it on paper stops the tasks swirling around in my head and realizing it’s not as bad as I originally thought.
– Exercise – first thing in the morning I workout either by doing strength training or taking a walk with dogs and no music/headphones at Runyon Canyon and take in the quiet and sounds of nature. It is the perfect start to my morning before opening any emails or slacks. If you aren’t a morning person then go at lunch or after work when you first get home, even 15-20 minutes can be helpful. When I travel, I also try to prioritize some sort of movement including a morning walk (also allows you to do some sightseeing), using the hotel gym or taking a class on ClassPass, which we’re lucky to have included as an employee perk.
– Use your holiday / vacation time – don’t hoard it, it’s there to be used. Whether it’s a longer trip or something as simple as 1-2 extra days over a weekend to rest at home and reset, it’s important to take that down time.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.anotherastory.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anotherastory/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiebaker87
Image Credits
Lex Gallegos
Happy Monday
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