There is a particular kind of alive that only happens when a plan meets reality at full speed, in front of people, with no opportunity to iterate.
I came to events sideways. The same systems thinking I'd spent years applying to civic data and product roadmaps turned out to be exactly what a festival production operation needs. Which makes complete sense, in retrospect. Events are complex and alive. Everything has to connect and everything has to flow, because once the gates open, whatever state operations are in is what people experience. The chaos and the hours aren't for everyone. For me, being on the ground when a plan meets reality is where I come alive.
I love this work in a way I did not anticipate. The particular 2am energy of a problem that needs solving right now is part of it. It balances desk time in a way that feels vital rather than optional. I am not doing events because it fits neatly into a career plan. I am doing it because I cannot imagine not doing it.
No two events are the same, which is most of what I like about them. I've worked across festivals, immersive experiences, and large-scale productions in roles that have included production management, accreditation systems, logistics coordination, volunteer management, vendor liaison, and the thing that does not have a title: the person who sees the gap before it becomes a problem and quietly closes it.
Sometimes I'm in from the beginning, helping shape the operational architecture of an event before a single ticket is sold. Sometimes I arrive closer to the day, embedded in a team that needs an extra pair of experienced hands and a clear head under pressure. Sometimes I'm the person on the radio at 2am when the accreditation system has a discrepancy and three hundred people are waiting.
The role changes, but the approach does not: understand how things work, spot the gaps, and develop clear processes that help things flow and help people excel. And when something goes sideways, as it always does, stay calm and figure out what the moment needs.
Three days and two nights in a wilderness location outside Tulbagh - a collaboration between ten Cape Town promoters that brings together music across multiple stages, art installations, conscious dance, wellness programming, and a few thousand people who come every year like a reunion. It is the kind of festival that has its own culture, which means logistics have to serve that culture rather than fight it. I worked as vendor manager.
bazique.co.zaThree days, 150km outside Cape Town, on a farm in the mountains. Earthdance has been running globally since 1997 - a conscious dance festival that pauses simultaneously around the world to play the Prayer for Peace on the UN's International Day of Peace. The Cape Town edition is non-profit, community-rooted, and exactly the kind of event where everything has to work because there is nobody else to call if it does not. I came in for 2025 across marketing, communications, and production coordination. I am deep in planning for 2026.
earthdancecapetown.co.zaOne day. Green Point. Red Bull Racing's RB8 on the streets of Cape Town with Table Mountain in the background. A live viewing of the Qatar Grand Prix - the second-to-last race of the season - for thousands of people who had never seen an F1 car in the flesh. Heineken's global tour brought F1 energy to cities without a Grand Prix, and Cape Town got it right: speed, local music, premium experience. I was vendor manager for the Cape Town stop.
A daytime culture festival that takes over the Castle of Good Hope and refuses to be just a music event. Food from the city's best chefs, immersive theatre, roaming performers, and headliners that have included the Gipsy Kings and Basement Jaxx. Kiss Kiss is a relatively new event with a very clear point of view about what a festival should feel like. I worked the inaugural 2025 edition as vendor manager, and came back for 2026 on accreditation, office and production.
kisskiss.babyA global festival that brought its South African edition to Cape Town - 20,000 people at the 2025 debut headlined by Kaytranada, 12,000 at Kenilworth Racecourse in January 2026. Multi-genre, multi-stage, the kind of event where the operational complexity is significant and the margin for error is not. I managed accreditation.
milkandcookiesfestival.comIf you're producing an event and you need someone who thinks in systems, moves in the real world, and genuinely loves the work, let's chat.