Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexis Chamberlain.
Hi Alexis, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
As a local Tampa Bay area resident for more than a decade now, I thrive on watching our city grow to its full potential. I love exploring the sights, tastes, and sounds of communities—and, as someone who can’t get enough of traveling, I know that we’ve got some of the best!
I have a passion for the media industry and creating content long before I began my professional career. My formal experience is backed by more than 10 years in the local media and events industry, utilizing marketing, promotions, social media, event planning, production, sales, writing, reporting, branding, public relations, and more.
But long before that, in my early teen years, I taught myself HTML and was building websites for some of my favorite musicians (I actually had one of the very first Kelly Clarkson fan websites, hahaha, which was featured on The Today Show when I was around 14 years old!).
I love learning about things to go on then finding ways to tell people about them—that was always one of my favorite parts of being a writer when I first began my career. I’ve never been the “gotta-get-the-story-first” writer; I was the “find something cool and tell other people about it” writer.
After graduating from USF with a Mass Communications degree focused on Magazine Journalism, I began as a journalism intern and evolved into a community representative for Tampa Bay area media companies.
Today, I keep locals in the know about what’s happening in Tampa Bay. In my current role as Marketing & Events Director at Tampa Bay’s 32-year-old alt-weekly Creative Loafing, I spend my days working side-by-side with local businesses to get people excited about the city they live in.
I’ve organized events of all sizes—from micro-events to festivals with more than 3,000 attendees, worked both on- and off-camera for Tampa Bay area morning shows and behind the mic for local radio, telling compelling stories about our community for print and online, and helped both local and national businesses and brands connect with potential customers.
But what many don’t know about me because I was extremely anti-social when I was younger and was actually homeschooled in middle and high school due to social anxiety. It blows my mind every time I finish filming a TV segment—I used to suffer from such bad social anxiety that I didn’t want to be around people, let alone have my conversations with them filmed!
I taught myself for most of my middle school and high school years, and I think because of this, I always strived to continue learning and teach myself new skills as my career evolved. I truly believe you can achieve anything you put your mind to.
Anything is possible with hard work and persistence. You can be whoever and whatever you want to be. And, most importantly, you can start at any time. Just show up. Do good work. Be honest with yourself and others about what you want. You’re in control of your success.
This is one of my favorite quotes: “For what it’s worth… it’s never too late, or in my case too early, to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit. Start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing.
We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you’ve never felt before. I hope you meet people who have a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start over again.”
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Most of my role at Creative Loafing is organizing their live events (Best of the Bay Awards Party, Bolts Brew Fest, Margarita Wars, and everything in-between!) and digital promotions (Tampa Bay Restaurant Week, Pizza Week, Burger Week, and any other food week we can think of!).
I do everything for CL’s events from start to finish: I plan, market, sell and execute our local lifestyle events with attendance rates upwards of 3,000 attendees by managing event P&Ls, event websites, and ticketing pages; seeking and coordinating vendors; selling local and national sponsorships and supervising media campaigns and on-site activations; branding event and selling tickets via print, social media, e-mail campaigns, and local partnerships including outside media and influencers; press and media including TV and radio interviews; managing on-site staff and vendor and attendee expectations; coordinating talent and experiential event elements; seeking and overseeing grassroots promotional opportunities, and cultivating attendee experience. I’ve produced more than 40 events for Creative Loafing.
The event I’m most proud of is Bolts Brew Fest, our partnership with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Working at AMALIE Arena was such a surreal experience! My favorite events are HighBall, Margarita Wars, Brunched, and Tampa Bay Cannafest, but it’s hard to choose a favorite. They’re all so different and bring in a unique group of people always looking to support locals and have a great time.
I think my organization and communication help set our events apart. I love working with locals to create event experiences unlike any other! I love working alongside our pool of talented local business owners, chefs, artists, creators, etc.
You can learn more about my work and day-to-day here: helloaqc.com/work
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
You always have to be on your toes in the event industry, and lord knows Covid has kept us on our toes! Covid has taught me to be more flexible in my planning—you’re not always going to have complete control. You need to learn how to adapt to situations and things thrown your way.
I also loved watching how our community came together during Covid. Of course, the circumstances were terrible, but seeing how local businesses and restaurants adapted to reach their customers and meet their needs at the pandemic’s beginning was so inspiring.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: helloaqc.com
Image Credits
Headshot images: Caroline Allen Photography Event images: Nick Cardello Photography
