Career Stories: How Rachel Andrews Found Her Passion in Event Management

Rachel Andrews:

Whether you think you can or whether you think that you can't, you're right. And I really love that because it got me thinking because I was like, "Wait, whether you think... I was like, "Wait a minute. I got to read this again. Whether you think that you can or whether you think that you can't, you'll be right." And what that means is that it's your mindset that is really the thing that's impactful to you, so whether you're applying for a job or whether you think you can or can't have a conversation about your salary, if you think you can't, well then, you're right, you can't. But if you think that you can, maybe you'll actually start to try.

Alyssa Peltier:

Great events create great brands, but pulling off an event that engages, excites, and connects audiences, well, that takes a village. And we're that village. My name is Alyssa.

Paulina:

I'm Paulina.

Rachel Andrews:

I'm Rachel.

Felicia Asiedu:

And I'm Felicia.

Alyssa Peltier:

And you are listening to Great Events, the podcast for all event enthusiasts, creators, and innovators in the world of events and marketing.

Rachel Andrews:

Hi, everyone. What is going on in this wide, wide world of events? My name is Rachel, and I am not your host for this week's special episode of Great Events. We are switching things up today, and I am actually going to in the hot seat with our fabulous guest, my good friend, Mark Jeffries. Welcome, Mark.

Mark Jeffries:

Well, thank you so much. I love this idea. I think this switcheroo every so often, it's good. It's like a teaching moment.

Rachel Andrews:

Before we switch, I got to brag about my friend Mark. Mark and I have been working together for years and years. If you have attended Cvent CONNECT or any of our other Cvent programs, you may also know Mark as our accomplished event host, keynote speaker, an author, my BFF, communication consultant, keynote speaker, and moderator on a lot of other programs, and obviously, honorary Cventer. And so, I'm really excited today. Mark is going to take over podcast duties as an honorary podcast host guest and interview me.

Mark Jeffries:

You know what? That sounds like a great idea. This is such an honor. And yes, Rachel, you and I have worked together for years. I'm right now in Barcelona where I'm hosting an event here, but it's the evening. So you know what? This is perfect timing, and I'm delighted to delve into your life story because I mean, you have achieved so much, and everyone has a story. Everyone has a background. And I thought today with you, we'll dip into that if that's all right with you.

Rachel Andrews:

Heck, yeah. I'm down.

Mark Jeffries:

Okay.

Rachel Andrews:

You know what? I'm actually very flattered. Mark has interviewed the most famous people in the world, and I feel a little bit like a celebrity right now, not going to lie, so-

Mark Jeffries:

Let me tell you, you should do, and you're a whole lot more charming than a lot of the celebrities out there. I mean, they're all good value on stage. We spent a lot of money on them. You've got to draw the best out, but some are friendlier than others. But Rachel, this is going to be a real treat. All right, so we've got lots of things to talk about, but I guess it's always good to know what was that moment? What was that moment when you realized in yourself, "Events, meetings, this entire industry, this is something I want to be part of"?

Rachel Andrews:

Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of moments, especially feeling belonging to the industry. But if I were to rewind time a little bit, the moment that I knew I wanted to do events was really in college. I had thought all of college that I was going to be communications and marketing all the way, PR major, thought I would go in that route. But I started doing side projects for my communications department. And so, I started meeting with the dean of the communications school at Virginia Tech back about two decades ago, and she was trying to coach me because I didn't necessarily want to go into the hospitality school, but it was too late at that point. But she wanted to give me opportunities to kind of explore this passion that I had, and she was also my mentor throughout college. Her name is also Rachel.

We were instantly friends. She's one of the reasons that I went to Virginia Tech in the first place, so shout out to Rachel Holloway as being that person that helped guide me into this. But she asked me, she said, "Hey, the 25th anniversary of the communications department is coming up, and we need to plan a whole alumni event to celebrate. And I need students help to accomplish this, and I want you to lead it." And obviously, I was so flattered because my first thought was, "I don't know if I could do this." But then, the second thought was, "Let's bring it on," and I assembled 25 committee heads to do different various things for the comms school.

Mark Jeffries:

Sorry to interrupt you. You're just winging it, right, at this point because you'd not done this before?

Rachel Andrews:

Of course not. I had a plan. No, I was winging it for a hundred percent. I mean, that's a lot of how you learn events is... I hate saying fake it till you make it, but it was a little bit of that. But also, I had a lot of really smart people working with me, and what I've kind of learned is that I liked the project management aspect of it and kind of directing this play of things coming together. So yeah, that's when I learned. That's the aha moment for me.

Mark Jeffries:

I think that's so interesting. I'm loving finding new stuff out about you. We've worked together for so long. That's really cool. And it's interesting, isn't it? Because to an extent, the whole event experience, when you're the planner and you do this, it's almost like putting a party together. It's bringing all of these different groups together, and that experience, it generates so many feelings and emotions. I know when I go out in front of a live audience, it's so energizing. How did you feel when you suddenly realized you're responsible for so many people coming together at a certain point?

Rachel Andrews:

It's a great feeling. I think when you ask a lot of event professionals why they do what they do, a lot of their answers is, "I love to see it all come together." And that was a really cool moment when all the committee heads were together at this gala that we had planned with the silent auction and all these other programming elements. We all came together, and we were just celebrating at the event what we had accomplished, and that was a cool moment. But you're right, it's like a beautiful mix of projects and inspiration and things like that all coming together, but that feeling that you have when you see it come to fruition is probably the biggest reason that a lot of event props are in their careers.

Mark Jeffries:

So you had this fabulous moment, and you realized, "This is for me." So what was the next step? How did you then go from there to actually turning this into a professional pursuit?

Rachel Andrews:

I think about this often, and I credit my parents a lot to this. I remember after I graduated, I didn't have a job, and I had a contact that actually made at this event that I planned for the communications department in New York that said he could get me something with a PR firm that did events. It was an unpaid internship, which is like every parent's dream to have their kid go into an unpaid job. It was a struggle back... I mean, this was in 2006, and I didn't want anything to do with New York. I don't know if you know this about me, but I grew up in Virginia. I wanted to live like... I wanted to be a country girl.

If you asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, I would've told you I want to be a stay-at-home mom with 10 kids. I'm not kidding. I wanted a farm, and that obviously, when I got the job thing in New York, I was like, "Eh, that's not really for me. I'm not a city girl." And my parents sat me down, I remember on the back porch, and said, "Rachel, wake up." This is the real world. And it was the push that I needed, and they helped support that dream of mine. It didn't actually work out with this firm. It was a little bit of a Devil Wears Prada situation.

Mark Jeffries:

Oh my.

Rachel Andrews:

Yeah. I don't know if it was when that movie came out or not, but I was like, "I will not let this city, these people win. I am better than this. I can do more than this," and I just set out to have a better story. I was just like, "I deserve more than this. I want this really bad." And you kind of have to in that grind of a city, you just have to make up your mind that you won't be defeated, and you're going to win, and that's kind of where I started.

Mark Jeffries:

But it's hard, isn't it, when you have moments like that? Sometimes your confidence gets dashed and you think, "Have I even made the right decision? Should I just go home to safety, back to that farmhouse," ideally, you were thinking about. So what was it in you that drove that decision that I can beat this and I am better than this? Was there something that drove that positivity?

Rachel Andrews:

I was bullied when I was a younger kid. I was pretty shy actually, which if you know me personally, you would be like, "You were shy? No way." I was painfully shy until about college. Well, in high school, I got a little less shy because I was doing a lot of student government type stuff and got me out of my shell, but I didn't want to be bullied, and I felt like I was in a bully situation, and I was counting on myself. My parents were, and maybe it was just a little bit of the magic of living in New York City and thinking, "I don't want to be chewed up and spit out." So I started just looking for jobs. I did a lot of weird odd jobs in New York. I worked at a department store for a week.

Mark Jeffries:

Which one? I need to know. Which one?

Rachel Andrews:

I worked at Macy's doing-

Mark Jeffries:

Oh, good God.

Rachel Andrews:

... some brand stuff for a handbag company. That was what was on my resume, but really, it was restocking the floors and trying to sell things. I did telemarketing. I did a lot of really random things, and I thought, "No, I need to break into events." And that's where I started doing the gig economy with a company called Hired Guns, and Hired Guns actually got me a job with Morgan Stanley doing their corporate events. So I made it to an actual job, but I had a lot of weird, odd jobs leading up to it that made me just even more emboldened to succeed.

Mark Jeffries:

I love that story. I'm a big believer in everything you do is a step up to the next thing that you do, but you've got to keep taking those steps. I think it was Woody Allen maybe who said something like 90% of success is showing up. And so, you just kept showing up until the right opportunity came up. What advice would you give to people who are facing challenges and they think, "You know what? I'm done. I can't handle this anymore"? Is it a case really of just fighting that internal negativity and looking for the next step up?

Rachel Andrews:

I think it is. Honestly, it just comes from within a little bit. And obviously, there's a lot of things not within your control, but there are a lot of things that are, including your mindset. I heard a quote recently, and I wrote it down, put it on a sticky note on my computer, and it said, "Whether you think you can or whether you think that you can't, you're right." And I really love that because it got me thinking because I was like, "Wait. Whether you think... I was like, "Wait a minute. I got to read this again. Whether you think that you can or whether you think that you can't, you'll be right." And what that means is that it's your mindset that is really the thing that's impactful to you. So whether you're applying for a job or whether you think you can't or can't have a conversation about your salary, if you think you can't, well then, you're right, you can't. But if you think that you can, maybe you'll actually start to try.

And I think that confidence is a huge part of that, and that's why fake it till you make it is said so many times. It's like you got to go in there with just a very thick skin and confidence level that I don't know where the heck it came from to be honest. I just invented it.

Mark Jeffries:

I love that. Now, it is interesting, isn't it? Leading ourselves is hard enough, making those decisions, taking those big bets. But how do you approach leadership of others? I mean, you have a huge team now. What advice or guidance would you give others on the topic of leadership and what you've learned?

Rachel Andrews:

For me, it's a little bit of manifesting like sitting down and actually writing down what do you want for yourself and then advocating for yourself. It's hard, especially the newer generation coming in. They don't necessarily even know what they want, and they don't really know what to ask for. And I think what they need to ask for is mentorship. So a lot of what I went into is I went in very curious, so I would meet with... When I was at Morgan Stanley, I asked a lot of questions like, "Why do we do this," or "Can you show me how you're doing that budget? I want to learn." And I had a lot of great early mentors that would say, "Sit with me while I do my work." Literally, I would just sit next to them and watch them work, which sounds really boring, but they would help me learn their process just by watching, or they'd give me small tasks.

I'm a haptic learner. I got to do it to learn it. I got to touch it, feel it, see it, smell it, all those things to actually learn how to do it. I've always been like that in school. I was not a great student because I can't just listen to something and learn it. I have to actually get my hands dirty. So I would say get your hands dirty. And as far as leadership of the team goes, that's also how I lead them is to dive into their shoes and what they're doing, learn how they're doing it, and then coach them on how to do it in a different way if that's the career path that they're on.

Mark Jeffries:

I think what's fascinating is how much somebody wants to learn. I remember years ago, before I even got into events, I was in television for a while, and occasionally, there'd be an intern that would join us when we were going out to film something, do a shoot. And there was a difference between the interns that would ask a million questions and would help and carry stuff around and the interns that would ask no questions at all. You could tell the ones that wanted to learn, the ones that didn't. How do you handle people within a team that just are showing to you that they don't really care? What can we do? Can you turn it around, or is it sometimes better just to say maybe this isn't for you?

Rachel Andrews:

I think it really depends. Some people are introverts and don't go outside their comfort zone to ask the questions, but what I like to do is understand what actually does inspire them and ask them, "Hey, what do you want?" I've had a lot of people come in. The events career is very hard. It is stressful. We have a lot of mental stress. Mental well-being is a huge topic in our industry. Just the fact that it's the fifth most stressful job that we keep talking about, even above a CEO's role, it's real, and it's not for everybody. And so, for the people that are sitting there and not doing it or not asking questions or they're not curious, maybe it's not for them, and those are hard conversations to have, but maybe they don't even know where to start. So before you just dismiss them and say they can't do it, I've taken the approach of maybe they're doing it because they don't know what questions to ask, or they don't know where to start, and so starting with the baseline of, "Hey, what do you actually enjoy about what you're doing currently?"

And when you start, it's very administrative. Honestly, this job can be very administrative at any level that you're at, but maybe it's like they just need to push through that initial, "Hey, I have all these administrative projects to do. Maybe I just push through this and learn a little bit more and learn a little bit more." And then, they find their passion, or maybe they're just cool being an event producer at the AV level, and that's what they like. That's okay. Not everybody wants to lead a team of 30. Not everybody wants to do budgets and projections and do that at this level. Some people do want to be event designers where they work on the creative side of it, and that's cool, too. There's many different avenues that you can go, and I don't think stifling immediately saying, "Well, they're not cut out for this." My style is to figure out what avenue they prefer to go down because there's so many different ones you can do in this industry.

Mark Jeffries:

When we work together, you always come across to me as this wonderfully, this strong woman in the industry. What does it mean to you to be a woman in the meetings and hospitality and technology space?

Rachel Andrews:

I'm very proud of this industry. I think it doesn't get the recognition that it deserves, honestly. We like to say it's the biggest industry you've never heard of. And we joke that people call us party planners or things like that, and we're not. We're very strategic project management, experienced designers, business drivers for our companies. And I guess for me, when I see those other people staking their claim in the industry, talking about ways to move forward, talking about ways they've made impact for the greater good... I know a lot of times we don't feel like we're solving the world's problems or we're saving lives, but sometimes we are impacting the events that make those conversations happen, right? Even concerts or the UN events that happen, there's people behind the scenes making that happen, and they are changing lives. Do I think Cvent CONNECT changes lives? No.

Do I think IMEX changes lives? Maybe. I mean, maybe our conversations help build something greater for the greater good. The association for any sort of medical field, those people are there, they're planning those events, and they're talking about the next advancements in medical devices or whatever the association is representing, and that is changing things. So yeah, at a base level, our industry is helping that platform raise up to make those changes. So I'm very emboldened and inspired by the people that are around me in the industry. I've made a lot of great friends that are changing things, and that's where I get super passionate about all the different trends and things coming into the industry because the more we can raise the industry up, the better we are together and the better everyone else's lives are.

Mark Jeffries:

I so agree with you. I actually do think we're changing lives at every event. Every good event, there's so much positivity and energy. You know people are doing things differently, and they're becoming more successful as a result of having been there. But you just mentioned something interesting, advancements and innovations, and especially in the meetings industry, it just keeps changing. How do you stay ahead?

Rachel Andrews:

I mean, honestly, it's by going to industry events. It's talking to peers. It's listening to webinars. If you can't travel for work, for example, it's joining groups like MPI or PCMA. It's having those continued conversations. And I do think it's important to make time for that. I think it's important to... For the first 10 years that I was in the industry, I feel like I wasn't a part of anything. I don't mean that in a mean way. I just don't feel like I had the time to do it, and I always made these excuses for myself. And then, 10 years in, I was like, "Wait a minute. I need to get way more involved. I need to do things with other people."

And whether it's venting to somebody that understands what I do for a living or it's talking strategy with another leader that has made strides with data prioritization or AI, those things help move us forward. Never get left behind is what I say, and maybe that's partially because I work for a tech company. I never want to be in the antiquated role where I'm like, "Well, this is the way we've always done it." I don't want that to be my legacy. I don't want that to be what is the mark that I leave on the world or the company.

Mark Jeffries:

It's funny, isn't it? Because sometimes it's not comfortable putting yourself out there, but you have to push yourself. You have to do it to get you to a point where you're meeting these phenomenal contacts and then really moving things along.

Rachel Andrews:

I feel finally comfortable in that. I'm not going to lie. It's very uncomfortable to put yourself out there to learn, to raise your hand and say, "I want to do this." I recommend to anybody in the industry, if they haven't... Maybe this isn't part of their goals, maybe it is, but I made a vow to myself that I would get better at public speaking because I felt like it was important to me to do that for a number of reasons, confidence, learning from each other, sharing the goodness and the journey that I've had with my career and the best practices that I've had because we've worked so hard on these things. And then, if you don't share, it's like just give back and help other people along the way is super important. So it doesn't matter actually what level you are either. You can submit any sort of learning so that we are all learning from each other.

Mark Jeffries:

Love that. Do you have any personal habits that power you? Is it maybe listening to podcasts or a certain type of exercise or a certain meditation? What is it that's in your life that is the underpinning of so much of this positive energy?

Rachel Andrews:

Yeah, I don't know. It's funny. I'm big outdoors person. I try to get outside every day and spend at least five minutes in the sun no matter what I'm doing. That helps. But yeah, I listen to podcasts.

Mark Jeffries:

A little four-legged friend helps as well, right?

Rachel Andrews:

Yeah. I take my dog everywhere I go. Yeah, Riley is the best. I think for me, I like to get outside. I like to have adventures. I like to plan ahead with travel and see friends. I take a lot of positivity from my friends and family, but I love planning little fun get togethers and adventures. I take from that and obviously podcasts. But I would say the outside thing. You'd be surprised what a walk can do for your mental health and what a walk could do for your overall positivity.

Mark Jeffries:

Getting that sunlight, and I've heard a lot about grounding recently. There's so much in this. I know. I love it. Our time is running short as your guest host. I need to keep an eye on those things, so maybe a couple more questions. If you weren't doing this, if you hadn't found this to be your center, what else do you think Rachel Andrews could be doing?

Rachel Andrews:

Oh, God. Can I go back to stay-at-home mom? I'm just kidding.

Mark Jeffries:

You could.

Rachel Andrews:

I'm currently just a great aunt, but I'm a fun Aunt Rachel is what I like to do. But you know, I always said travel photographer as my go-to just to see the world a little bit more, but it would be awesome to be a sponsor. I mean, this is fake life, right? Sponsored at some sort of extreme sport would be amazing. Clearly, that's not a path for me right now, but I am in the field that I was born to be in. I think I could potentially be a chief of staff or something that organizes people. I'm very good at keeping people on the same priority and passion or track. I'm good at people management, so I mean, I'm definitely in the right career, I'll tell you that. But I do love the other aspects of the career outside of events.

Mark Jeffries:

Brilliant. All right, last question, and you can take it any way you want because after all, this is your show. But what are you excited about next? People often are so busy in the present, and you've got a plan, but what really excites you about what might come next? This could be a year from now. It could be 10 years from now.

Rachel Andrews:

Such a hard question.

Mark Jeffries:

I know, right? It's almost impossible to answer. You mentioned travel photography. I want to end on that, but carry on.

Rachel Andrews:

I'm always excited obviously for the events that we're planning. I feel like as event professionals, we live in the future of what we're doing. A lot of times when people say, "This year," I'm thinking, "This year, like '25 or '26?" I forget that we're still in '24, but I'm looking forward to... Honestly, I tried not to schedule as much travel next year, and I'm looking forward to doing more things meaningfully in the next year and really focusing on things that bring me joy, spending time with friends and family, and obviously, I'm still going to travel. It happens every year. I say I'm not going to travel as much, and then I end up doing it. But I have a really hard time saying no to things, but I have started to get better at that.

I just had my 40th birthday this year, and those are part of my intentions for just living a fuller life and making those things, just writing them down and then achieving them. But yeah, I have a little bit of a bucket list that I want to get done in the next couple of years that I wrote down, and I want to make sure that I'm tackling those things just from a personal standpoint. And then of course, there's always the professional goals that we want to hit, right?

Mark Jeffries:

Every single time. Rachel, I have to say that I, even if we weren't doing a podcast, I love working with you. You are such a good friend. You're just so engaging, and I'm very happy to know you. Plus, just from this interview, I've learned we have a lot of similarities, travel photography. I have my favorite camera here. I'm going to take a picture of this moment. Okay, so you ready? Let's see. Hold on a second. Pose. Lovely. Nice. That was so much fun. And now, because this is your show, I'll hand it over to you. Thank you.

Rachel Andrews:

Oh my gosh, Mark, so fun. I love being in the hot seat. I feel like I'm a little bit of a new celebrity that you have under your tool belt.

Mark Jeffries:

You are. You absolutely are.

Rachel Andrews:

I need to be listed on your website next to all of the famous celebrities who... Okay. Well, I have to ask you one question. Who is the latest and greatest that you've interviewed?

Mark Jeffries:

There's been several. There's been lots of business sorts of late. But the biggest celebrity that I did only a couple of months ago was Kevin Bacon. I'd never done Kevin Bacon before, and he was outstanding. He looks amazing. He's 60. Everyone's like, "How are you 60?" But he told the story about that incredible movie and Footloose and being at the school and going back to the school because they were finally closing down, and he learned that they'd saved his locker, and they kept that exactly where it was in the movie. He was great. I liked him.

Rachel Andrews:

Oh, how many six degrees of separation jokes did you make?

Mark Jeffries:

Oh my goodness. Nonstop, relentless, and now, it's just one. Me and Kevin, like that.

Rachel Andrews:

I love it. I love it so much. Well, thank you so much for joining and interviewing me. It was so much fun. I'm actually surprised with some of my answers, so you brought out a whole new side of me, I guess. Mark, you're good at this.

Mark Jeffries:

It's what I do.

Rachel Andrews:

You should do this for a living.

Mark Jeffries:

I should, shouldn't I? I'll have to think about that. I love it. It's the greatest honor is actually doing these interviews and hearing just this phenomenal background. I've learned so much about you, Rachel. Thank you.

Rachel Andrews:

Oh, you're the best. All right. Well, thank you listeners for joining in here, a role reversal, Great Events podcast. I hope you enjoyed. If you are interested in more, you can always reach out to me on LinkedIn or Mark Jeffries on LinkedIn, and we'll also put those links on your favorite podcast platforms. Thanks so much, Mark.

Mark Jeffries:

Bye.

Alyssa Peltier:

Thanks for hanging out with us on Great Events, a podcast by Cvent. If you've been enjoying our podcast, make sure to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an episode.

Rachel Andrews:

And you can help fellow event professionals and marketers just like you discover Great Events by leaving us a rating on Apple, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform.

Felicia Asiedu:

Stay connected with us on social media for behind the scenes content, updates and some extra doses of inspiration.

Rachel Andrews:

Got a great story or an event to share. We want to hear from you. Find us on LinkedIn, send us a DM, or drop us a note at greatevents@cvent.com.

Felicia Asiedu:

Big thanks to our amazing listeners, our guest speakers, and the incredible team behind the scenes. Remember, every great event begins with great people.

Alyssa Peltier:

And that's a wrap. Keep creating, keep innovating, and keep joining us as we redefine how to make events great.