CCI Alumna Cindy Brewer Establishes LEO Events Fellows Program to Promote Corporate Event Production Careers
There are so many communication careers out there that sometimes it is difficult to share the breadth of opportunity within the field with college students. But College of Communication and Information alumna Cindy Brewer (’91) wanted to open the world of corporate events to students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, so she established the LEO Events Fellows Program, which launches this fall.
“People don’t know our jobs exist or how lucrative they are—it’s a path for journalism, for broadcast, for so many things coming out of that college,” said Brewer, who graduated from the college with a degree in journalism in 1991.
Brewer is co-founder and principal of LEO Events, a corporate event production company based in Memphis, Tennessee. Though she initially was headed into journalism, she found her communication skills and interests translated seamlessly with the demands of corporate event marketing and planning. Now she wants that to be an obvious pathway for students at UT, which is why Brewer, along with her partners Kent Underwood and Kevin Brewer, committed $100,000 to establish the LEO Events Fellows Program.
While the program itself is an exclusive and experiential hands-on opportunity, perhaps one of its biggest components is the creation of a Corporate Event Strategy, Promotion, and Production minor, which students can begin this fall. Offered in collaboration with the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences, the fifteen-hour minor will help students learn all the ins-and-outs of how to plan, execute, promote, and produce corporate events.
“Through this collaboration, we are committed to providing a best-in-class student experience by integrating curriculum with hands-on industry experience,” said Joseph Mazer, dean of the College of Communication and Information. “This partnership will prepare our students for successful careers in corporate event management, ensuring they gain the expertise needed in today’s industry.”
The LEO Events Fellows Program takes the skills students learn in their minor a step further by giving fellows an annual stipend and requiring them to attend six professional development sessions over a year, and to work at least one LEO Events experience. Brewer said there will likely be a cohort of about ten fellows a year participating in the program.
“They will have the opportunity to go on site and work shows with us throughout that year, and we will be on campus a couple of times a year to do labs,” she said, also noting that LEO Events will assist in acquiring guest speakers for Corporate Event Strategy, Promotion, and Production minor classes.
Perhaps one of the most unique aspects of the program and the minor is that it will culminate in a celebratory event that is produced by the students with guidance from instructors and LEO Events. Students will be introduced to what career paths there are in both front-of-house and back-of-house roles in the world of corporate events and marketing, with the latter featuring jobs working event technology such as running teleprompters and streaming events live through satellite television. The work students will undertake with LEO Events during their hands-on experiences will range from acting as junior production assistants to meeting assistants helping with teleprompter content, and more.
“Event technology isn’t on anybody’s radar to teach or lecture about, so we’ll take something maybe they’re not getting from the school and tie it all together. They’ll get one-on-one lab time with us and our staff,” Brewer said.
She’s already seen positive results from her work with CCI over the past two years, ever since she was prompted to get involved again with her alma mater after CCI Assistant Dean for Advancement Mark Geller reached out to her to see if she could meet him and CCI Dean Joe Mazer while they were in Memphis. They reinvigorated her Volunteer spirit with new visions of what the college could do to support both students and industry, and she has participated in various employer recruitment activities at CCI with good outcomes.
“Once we just started talking about all the things CCI was doing, it started tugging at my heartstrings a little bit and I just loved my time there. And I’m so excited to see the dean with his fresh approach with the things he wanted to do in the industry,” she said.
Whether she is hiring student interns, speaking to a class, or giving an industry tour, every time the alumna speaks to students, she sees an opportunity to get the word out about her field. This pushed her to take the leap to create the LEO Events Fellows Program, and she’s excited to see the results. While she expects her company will end up hiring some graduates who participate in the program or earn the minor, Brewer said part of the program is helping them find careers and network throughout the entire industry.
“We’re building out a staffing plan right now. We want students to have a place to go once they graduate, knowing we are not able to hire everybody,” she said. “We’re building out that plan for what commitments look like for the first, second, third, and fourth year, as well as how we introduce those fellows to our other industry partners and friends.”
CCI Alumna Cindy Brewer Establishes LEO Events Fellows Program to Promote Corporate Event Production Careers written by Hillary Tune and originally published on the College of Communication & Information site.