“You can have a lot of talent, but success will only be because of your mentors.”

I fondly remember what my mentor, Grammy Award winning Patti Austin, once told me. Before I found Patti, I was, almost unconsciously, searching for someone to guide me through life. My dreams weren’t something you could learn in a college classroom; they were things you would only learn by doing. I wanted to produce live shows. I wanted to manage talent. I wanted to learn from the best.

One of my top goals was to manage tours, and who better to learn from than Boston fashion icon, Yolanda Cellucci. I thought the innovative designer’s legendary fashion shows were outrageous and were the talk of the town. So what did I do? I hunkered down and studied the shows until I knew them like the back of my hand. I called and begged the designer for a job that could just help me get my foot in the door of the fashion industry. Any job was fine as long as I could gain experience in producing shows.