Strategic Engagement & Flawless Production.
San Francisco Ballet
Working within the Revenue and Growth team as Senior Manager, Strategic Engagement, I bridge the gap between high-stakes capital and the cutting-edge artistic vision of Artistic Director Tamara Rojo. In this role, I spearhead strategic engagement events and high-impact projects that fuel the San Francisco Ballet’s philanthropic pipeline.
My focus centers on producing our multi-million-dollar Opening Night Gala, designing strategic cultivation experiences for new patrons, and building new models to activate premium affinity groups. My work spans managing the high-level production of hybrid Board of Trustees retreats and quarterly meetings, producing intimate campaign salons with the city's most generous families, and directing the entertainment and experience design for massive post-performance parties at the War Memorial Opera House. Ultimately, I build next-generation environments that capture corporate attention and new wealth while retaining our loyal supporters, ensuring long-term relevance for the art in a city that breathes innovation.
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Co-lead the end-to-end strategy, donor cultivation pipeline, and physical execution of the Opening Night Gala—a high-stakes campaign uniting an elite 800-guest VIP dinner at City Hall with a massive 1,500+ attendee after-party. By strategically designing the environment, entertainment lineups, and atmosphere for these mass post-performance activations at the War Memorial Opera House, I ensure that large-scale patron celebrations perfectly echo the world-class, boundary-pushing art onstage to raise over $3.6M annually.
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Pioneer modern, low-overhead, high-margin hospitality formats to capture next-generation donors and corporate attention on their own terms. This season, I designed and launched a pre-reception model to monetize premium corporate and alumni networks (including Apple, Stanford, and French Tech SF). Additionally, I co-produced the high-impact AI + Arts initiative at St. Joseph’s Arts Society, as well as spearheading the integration of experiential DJ activations at the War Memorial Opera House.
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Broker strategic relationships with luxury global brands and international cultural organizations to convert new, affluent audiences into long-term prospects. Alongside external brand alignment, I flawlessly produce events for our highest-level stakeholders, managing the technical production and logistics of year-round Trustee meetings, executive retreats, and intimate campaign salon experiences with the city’s most generous families. I serve as the key liaison for executive teams at brands such as Saint Laurent, Dior, Bank of America, and US Bank to design tailored client experiences that deepen their partnership with us.
Impact & Activations
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Large scale fundraisers to intimate salons
Co-led the production of the city's landmark cultural fundraiser, welcoming 3,000+ guests across a VIP dinner, a one-night-only performance, and a massive after-party. Simultaneously supported the end-to-end logistics, technical production, and hospitality for year-round Trustee board meetings, strategic annual retreats, and private VIP campaign salons for top philanthropic families.
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Opera House Activations
Created immersive environments and curated specialized entertainment for high-energy post-performance activations throughout the Opera House. Tailored to each production, these experiences included interactive art installations in partnership with the Mexican Consulate and sets by top local DJs, transforming the historic venue into an unexpected destination that deeply engaged younger demographics and the tech community.
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Pre-Performance Corporate & Diplomatic Receptions
Conceptualized and scaled Tech en Pointe, a high-profile hospitality network format engineered to bridge the performing arts with premium business, tech, and diplomatic sectors. Ideated and produced bespoke, high-touch activations for elite institutional partners and global brands, including Apple, Dior, U.S. Bank, the Allen Institute, and the Spanish and French Consulates.
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Pitch Decks & Experiential Strategy
Partnered directly with Artistic Director Tamara Rojo to spearhead the strategic decks and experiential frameworks needed to secure major corporate sponsorships and elite creative talent. Translated visionary institutional goals into high-impact pitch materials that directly secured corporate partnerships, mobilized high-net-worth donors, and recruited globally renowned artists to execute next-generation programming.
Video by Maiyan Studios
The Gala at a glance.
Being part of the team redefining how audiences interact with the Opera House has been profoundly rewarding, especially as we strategically shape the future of the performing arts’ experience. My work with the San Francisco Ballet centers on a powerful reflection brought forward by our first female Artistic Director, Tamara Rojo: how do we ensure the art form’s ongoing relevance?
For me, the answer lies in rewriting the relationship between the institution, the audience, and society at large. We set out to shatter traditional boundaries, transforming passive spectators into active co-creators of their experience. This has required us to introduce the unexpected, both within our own venue and through strategic activations across the city. A prime example was our "Arts x Tech" partnership with the SF Ballet Young Patrons Circle at St. Joseph’s Arts Society. In a city where technological shifts are rapidly reshaping humanity, we hosted a sold out vital dialogue titled The Human Spark: Art, Technology & the Future of Creativity. Inspired by the themes of Mere Mortals, we used the program to anchor a raw, timely conversation about innovation, education and creativity alongside local organizations. Partnering closely with the producing team, I led the logistics, panelist communications and preparation, and the overall day-of organization and execution.
By championing the unexpected, both through off-site community dialogues and immersive post-performance activations inside the theater, we have turned a standard night with the ballet into a vibrant, multi-generational cultural celebration. Watching the historic War Memorial Opera House transform into a pulsing communal space proves that the onstage performance is just the gateway to a larger cultural movement, ultimately inspiring deeper engagement with the art form and city-wide impact.
“The survival of our art form depends, at least in part, on risk-taking... every time you bring back the same work, less people will come.”