Cat Kevern is the event industry Stalwart, marketing expert, and champion of women and entrepreneurs. With a decade of event experience, CAT is the founder of Electric Cat Productions, Director of Nowie and Head of Fractional Chief Marketing at One World Rental.
She is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion in the event industry, with a special focus on women’s experiences. CAT is a veteran keynote and panel speaker on a variety of topics, including DEI, entrepreneurship, and marketing.
How many people are in the events industry?
I have been involved in the events industry since 2016. They began promoting nightclub events and then moved to production and large outdoor events. Then, in 2022, they launched their own event marketing agency, Electric Cat. All clients are event suppliers and organizers.
How do you balance the growth of professionals with personal commitment? Also, do you think the industry is evolving in terms of work-life balance?
Honestly, there’s not much balance! I have dedicated the last 10 years to my career. It goes beyond my professional growth, but I don’t have much time to concentrate on extracurricular activities.
I recently started trying to give myself a balance by prioritizing exercise and downtime. I’m fortunate that much of my work is enjoying it with great people. He’s also much better at blocking breaks and cutting off on weekends.
As for the industry as a whole, it seems like the media is more focused on getting a better balance, but the reality is that it’s very similar to when I first started my career. As the show’s date approaches, you have to give it everything. Needless to say, I have little time to think about other things.
How do you think the events industry is evolving in terms of diversity, equity and inclusion?
Dei is increasingly appearing in panels, in media and in social media. It’s great to see and hear people taking part in these conversations. But I think there is still a long way to go to achieve better equity for women and marginalized communities, especially when it comes to senior leadership.
The Women’s Network at Event (Nowie) recently released “Big Survey.” This is a study of women’s experiences at events examining topics related to flexible work, wages, career development, and harassment. Live Recruitment has also released a big report on the event industry DEI this year, which has attracted people’s attention. There are several shocking findings in both reports, indicating that many of these issues are invisible at a surface level if delved a little deeper, but it is undeniable that there is still a long way to go.
What advice would you give to young women looking to join the event industry and succeed?
My advice to young women stepping into the doors of this industry is to be confident in their abilities, proud of their achievements, and accept that they are out of their comfort zone. There is a common misconception that requires you to “know everything,” but we all learn every day, so don’t be afraid to ask questions if you think they’re ridiculous!
How do you handle set errors and failures?
I would lie if I said it was easy to accept failure, but that’s a necessary evil. When something bad happens, I allow myself to be emotional, sad, or upset. I then sit on myself and try absolutely hard not to carry it until the next day. After a good night’s sleep, everything gets much better.
I’m extremely fortunate to have an incredible network of family, friends and advisors acting as a resonating board for me. They also try to learn as much as possible from any situation, especially negative situations, and move forward with those learning. I always encourage people to fail faster and learn faster because no one is perfect and we learn more when we fail!
What changes do you think are still needed to create more opportunities for leadership women?
I believe there are so many contributing factors that this could be the whole article itself, but we need to do better at every stage of every woman’s career. It starts very at the very bottom, empowering newcomers and is actively committed to advocating for leadership, support policies at all levels (period, maternal, menopause, everything in between!), and more diversity in the board and the role of senior leaders.
Do you want to be able to communicate your young self? (You know what you know now)
I think I’ll tell myself, “It’s okay to keep cracking, get curious, don’t have a niche.”
I didn’t know exactly what my career goals were, what I wanted to do, or which events I liked the most, but I wanted to start my own business. Most recently, I have seen the value and power of having a wide range of skill sets and different experiences. Nothing has been lost and in fact, it’s all rewarding when I run the electric cat and Nowie by covering a lot of grounds at the start of my career.
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