Why do I work in events?

My first event I ever planned was my Bat Mitzvah.  Perhaps I should backtrack a bit.  See I was raised in a gift shop at 95th and Nall in Overland Park, Kansas, named “Carol’s Cards and Gifts”, which my grandparents owned, and that was my daycare jumping-off point from day one – It was obvious. I was born and bread to be an event planner and comunity builder.  Grandma Carol taught me how to set, size, style, and sell, and wrap gifts for the customers, amongst other things… she molded me.  Eventually, she helped me plan my Bat Mitzvah party at age 13, and oh what a mitzvah it was!  I went with a music theme of course, with CD/s as the invitation and music note balloons, at the downtown Windsteads 50’s diner we picked the theme and ran with it, and HELLLLLLL YEAH.  That was a lot of fun. Then what?

The second event I took on was a few years later, my sophomore year of high school in my Jewish youth group when I was president of my Shoshana BBG Chapter and we had a mission to throw our annual sweetheart dance.  Nobody else wanted to take the lead, so I became president and planned the dance with earnest.  “I know how to throw a party, that’s easy” I thought. I deemed it: “Oooh baby, do you know what that’s worth? Oooh heaven is a place on earth!”. Invitations were ordered, the scene was set, got the venue, the menu, the DJ, and bam, did we have a ball that fall!

In 2004, I graduated high school and had my family drop me off at a music festival after my KU Orientation wrapped up, because I had bought a ticket since a band I loved (OAR- Of A Revolution) was on the lineup. I knew I was supposed to be there.  I didn’t exactly know what a music festival was at the time, but my parents realized quite quickly that they were essentially dropping their young daughter off at Woodstock and she might not ever fully come back.  (Thanks, Mom!)  Wakarusa (named after a river in Kansas that translates to ‘ass-deep’) certainly changed my life, or opened it right up at least, and I made a commitment that I’d go to every Wakarusa every year, and eventually, be a part of it, which I did.  I worked my way up at that festival, the second year hanging fliers to promote, then running their street team, moving on as an artist check-in agent, emceeing a side stage, performing a music set, and eventually running the whole fire dancing performance artist program in my last years.  Ass-deep we were in that magic for 13 years. It was a calling.  And I lived for it.  Long live Wakarusa. Thank you for shaping me. 

Now, it was at the 2nd Wakarusa where I had a VERY profound LSD trip, where this New Orleans band Galactic essentially ‘told me’ telepathically that I needed to become a rapper. “WHAT!? What did that even mean?” I questioned my reality as I freestyled in my head to their music and the whole tent would pop off … then drop off when I stopped until I freaked out and decided I was not prepared to control this whole shit-show when I needed to slow my roll and go sit and my tent and have a good long think.   I woke up after that weekend even more enthused and decided to start taking this ‘shit’ seriously because music and hip-hop were not just a game or something to be taken lightly. Rather, it was a way of life, and so it was to be my lot that I had to learn how to own, on my own.  What business did a white Jewish girl from Kansas have in the rap game anywho? I was about to find out and determined to prove ‘em all wrong. Or at least prove it to myself. My tongue was a gift. Mastering the craft of an emcee and poet was not to be never an easy path, but I was born for controversy, so  I embraced it.  MissConception never did things the easy way, hence the name. I am both sides of the coin.  My mission was to defy stereotypes.    

Moving through college, I ended up hosting a series of poetry slurrrrs (I refused to call it a SLAM because art should not be monetized or made into a competition; I preferred to slur my words) at the Jazzhaus of Lawrence, Kansas whilst getting a journalism degree in strategic communications from KU, nonetheless.  I took poetry courses to avoid British Literature finals, which led me to quite a platform of cacophonous collaboration! I loved hosting poetry night on the 1st Wednesday of the month where we would feature various poets, artists, musicians, and whatnot sometimes back-lined by a bass player or drummer or DJ.  Monday was jam night and musicians would regularly ask me to come up and ‘read a poem, we don’t care what you say, just spray some words, say something’ which it really pushed my creative edge.  “You, want to hear my voice?” I thought. This voice, that I was told since a little girl to “be quiet, to hush, shhhhhhh, you’re too loud”, I heard reverberating in my subconscious.  But yes, these people wanted to know what I had to say!  So I said some things.  And I thank you Jazzhaus to this day for popping that wordsmith cherry of mine.  Because it turns out, I had a lot on my mind. 

Towards the end of my Lawrence stint, in 2007, I had just graduated and I remember getting a call from my friend who was dating the writer Daniel Pinchbeck at the time, asking if I knew of a venue and could put together a showcase on psychedelics and the 2012 paradigm shift movement that was happening…. I did, and we did so.  It was fucking  BRILLIANT!  And edgy!  Talks of using psychedelics to coerce paradigm shifts of great magnitude filled the air and though my parents were pretty confused at this point, it all made sense to me.  We were aligned and set to thrive on this new knowledge quest.  I threw together the lineup, the music, the speakers, the vendors, and the ambiance at the newly opened Pachamamas establishment with the help of a dear friend, John Gallup Circada Rhythm, and we made some serious magic manifest. On events, I was hooked! 

I must mention, it was during these years that another friend kept putting a hula hoop in my hand insisting that I MUST learn dem tricks and that hula hooping was the future!  I resisted endlessly because I thought the hoopers just looked slooppy and silly, but a few more trips down some seriously syndicating rabbit holes and I too became one with the hoop. I resisted for so long, until it finally unlocked something in me I never knew possible.  Funnily enough, it took learning how to hula hoop which eventually gave me enough courage to become an emcee and step up believing in myself on the mic.  If I could look stupid spinning hoops around doing nothing, surely I could unleash what I was born to do: SING. 

Moving back to Kansas City in 2008 attempting to hold down a “real job” on the side I started a little local poetry open mic night called Poetic Underground at the Uptown Arts Bar. Each Wednesday would be a different host to share the burden of hosting and we all took turns making sure the good spoken word art form had room to grow. After dark, I would attend these super beatnik midnight poetry candlelight readings occasionally that felt like you were in a dream and the collective consciousness of creativity was purveying alive and kicking.  

It was 2011 when I get a nod from my friends everybody’s favorite hippie store It’s a Beautiful Day, who said their guy John Bukaty was looking for performance artists for a new festival called Kanrocksas.  “How many people can you bring, Sara?”   We brought 60 dancers, painters, movers, shakers, and performance artists, and the Vibe Tribe of Kansas City was born!

Then, in 2012, our dreams and prayers came true, when we were so heavily focused on asking the universe for a space to commune to call our own, and a bus to travel around, and BOTH of those things were gifted to us, for FREE!  You cannot imagine the responsibility that comes with managing even FREE hippie events.  It was our golden hour…. and in hindsight, we could have done so much more. But for one year the VibeTribeKC thrived at 5504 Troost Street, KCMO, where we hosted almost entirely free yoga and dance classes, performance arts and musical/theatrical events, and then some.  Drag queens on stilts spinning ribbons? You got it. We had it.  It was a vibe.  But you had to be there.  And it definitely wasn’t sustainable. 

I was asked to produce not one, but two Fringe Festival Shows, with encouragement, thank you Cheryl Kimmi, and the KC Fringe team.  I put together a full stage show and even opened for the Flaming Lips once outside of Lawrence’s downtown theater, which was an epic notch on my belt!   My DJ Q used to spin beats on stilts with two tables stacked on top of each other, just to pack a punch.  Two rules of show business I’ve always said: 1. Shock Value. 2. Always leave them wanting more.  We owned that shit. 

I quit my job twice to go to Burning Man, first in 2013, and then again in 2015 when I assured the synagogue I worked for that “I’m not coming back!” and finally meant it.  I landed at a nudist resort and lived in a yurt selling high-end granola on the side to make ends meet, no joke.  You wouldn’t believe me if I told you…. Throwing events at the Lupin Lodge outside on those magical grounds has truly been one of the highlights of my life, and for that community, I am so grateful.

The bay has embraced me so, and while nothing tugs at the hearts strings quite like home, I am so grateful for all of the confidence and permission California granted me.  Coming from the Midwest, I felt like everything I did was a little too loud.  In California, all I hear is “Turn it up”. People are hungry for more innovation and ingenuity than ever before. California is definitely pushing the envelope. 

Now you wouldn’t think it, but it took a global health pandemic to turn this rockstar extravert into an extremely particular introvert.  My patience has dwindled over the years.  I don’t have time for much bullshit anymore.  I like to get right down to brass tax if I’m going to cross a bridge or dedicate any of my rare free time to something. I currently work as the Event Rentals Manager at the JCCSF and am loving the vibe here, being able to use this wealth of event knowledge I have accumulated over the years to try and help sort out people’s needs and wants for event space in the bay area. It is truly an honor to serve the various communities I get to interact with, from the Jewish folks to the Drag Queens, there is a space for you, and we’re inclusive OKAY! How can you not be?

Volunteering on the Burning Man Community Events Team has been a wonderful honor, helping procure Decompression, Precompresion, Burnal Equinox, and more.  Bringing people together in the name of art and creativity is definitely my passion.  Nothing pleases me more than getting everybody I love together in one room and watching them fall madly in love with each other.  Magic in event work is found in synergy, and I am so blessed to be surrounded by so many talented and dedicated individuals who come together to create new experiences that keep our hearts and minds active and fresh. 

So what’s next? Well, if you’re planning an event and want to take it to the next level, give me a call.  We’re just getting started!

And then some,

MissConnection