Blog Viewer

ILEA-MSP is excited to announce this year's scholarship recipient, Marla Etheridge. Marla received a one-year scholarship to the International Live Events Association, with complimentary attendance to all monthly programs and the annual Minnesota Star Awards. 

Meet Marla Etheridge









Job title and responsibilities
I’ve worked in roles of community, marketing, project and events management. I am passionate about creating experiences that encourage and promote the development of connection and collaboration. In my most recent role at the University of Minnesota, I oversaw an events department managing a full range of logistical components for complex, large scale events. Enthusiastically, I managed a portfolio of over 25 events per year, a planning team of up to 10 individuals, a six-figure budget and event consultations for external departments. I specialize in perfecting the details, executing the plan and being the hub of communication. 

I frequently attended educational programs produced by the local chapter of the National Black MBA Association. When the director approached me with an offer to join their planning committee, I learned more about the team and happily accepted the opportunity. I soon advanced to Programming Director, handling the creation and organization of programming and events. In this role, I recognized how much I delight in creating program ideas and handling the details to see it through to fruition. I found joy in producing environments for people to learn, build, and foster relationships. After serving several years on this dynamic board, I joined the Twin Cities Black Employee Network. As the Director of TC-BEN, I single-handedly accelerated corporate partnerships and boosted event attendance with over 500 registered attendees and 14 sponsors for one event. These experiences catapulted my interest, desire and commitment to serving in the events industry.
 

ILEA is a great professional association that offers endless opportunities for professional development and networking. I’d like to serve as a resource, adding my multifaceted experience to the robust ILEA community of varying industry professionals. I also want to strengthen my network, broaden my knowledge on industry trends, and enhance my skill set. As a past member of the organization I found great value in attending past educational sessions, events and workshops. I also appreciated the connections made and the warm reception I received when becoming an ILEA member at the 2019 conference. This scholarship opportunity facilitated a continued connection with the ILEA family that may not have otherwise happened in 2020.  

The obscurity narrative around the availability of a diverse pool of vendors inclusive of planners must change. Concerted efforts of inclusion need to be applied. In the planning of events, I am intentional in sourcing vendors of color and those from marginalized communities, in addition to mainstream vendors and venues. I suggest broadening the search for service providers, talking to colleagues, conducting social media outreach, asking friends for recommendations, etcetera. There’s also an opportunity to show diligence in inclusive events marketing, mindfully tailoring messaging and advertisements to a racially diverse audience. This could include partnering with associations that already have an established diversified network. Last, but not least, I’d add event programming, ensuring featured talent (speakers, panelist, entertainment) reflects the varied world we live in. There are so many benefits to embracing diversity and fostering inclusion. Diverse environments offer fresh perspectives and vantage points, which leads to enhanced creativity and higher innovation with faster problem solving. Ultimately, results can improve team engagement, project execution, profitability and agency reputation. It has also been noted that diversity leads to greater social coherence and overall well-being. 

I am most inspired by personal development multi speaker mega-events. I was in absolute awe of the magnitude of Oprah’s 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus half day workshop at the Xcel Energy Center. This event featured various speakers from across the nation, interactive activities and lunch for over 20,000 attendees. Not only were the topics inspirational, but I was moved by the amazing work the planning team put into the production. I marveled at how smoothly the event flowed from an attendee perspective, all while wondering how things were going behind the scenes with my event planner hat on. I can vividly imagine the immense amount of strategic planning that goes into executing a multi-city speaker tour with an A list influencer. I tip my hat to this team and all planning teams who work as a collaborative to make magic! It takes a village.   

Funny enough, outside of my typical workday planning duties you could find me pre COVID-19 hosting activities like game nights, brunch gatherings, concert outings and indoor rock-climbing functions. Post COVID I’ve become a plant enthusiast (11 so far), a jogger and a novice chef/baker (a fleeting cook I might add). I love trying new activities and visiting new places. Next up, horseback riding up North and ax throwing perhaps. Looking into the future, I hope to get some overseas travel on the calendar for 2021/22.   

How can people connect with you?
Let’s connect on LinkedIn! I’m always looking to expand my network and consider new opportunities. Feel free to drop me a note and send a request to connect.