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ProfileIssue: Capricorn 08 - The Career Issue

How I Became a Production Coordinator for REM’s Latest Tour

nataliedrillings_150Natalie DrillingsI work as a touring production coordinator for large-scale concerts. When I started out, I had no idea where I was heading in my career. I literally just walked down my own path. Ideas, actions, and big leaps of faith led me to the success I have today.

Impressions at an Early Age

My father used to take me to concerts in New York City when I was a kid. His friend was a concert producer so we would watch the show from the sidelines and hang out backstage.

Getting a Job and Pursuing an Idea

In my last year of college, I took a job as a doorperson for a nightclub in San Francisco. There was a night at the club that wasn’t going well. I had an idea to throw a party and asked the club owner. They gave me full reign, and I put together a team that formed a successful weekly party of Reggae, Dancehall, and deep house DJ’s. I became a producer with out even planning it!

Letting Myself Grow

After I put together a bunch of successful clubs, in a few years time, I decided to move to New York City to become a live event production manger. I didn’t even know what a production manager did at the time. I just knew I needed to grow and change, and I took a leap of faith. 

Just Doing It

natalieinactionberlin_200Natalie in actionWhen I moved to New York I didn’t have very much support or guidance. I had a couple of close friends that I knew and no music business connections to speak of.

Luckily I met a friend through a friend who was an assistant to a concert promoter. He got me a job as a ‘runner’ for a concert at Carnegie Hall. The job ‘runner’ consists of buying anything the artist or production staff wants. It’s usually some sort of instrument, tool, laundry, or specialty food item. Not a glamorous peppers_tokyodome_200Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Tokyo Domejob. That day I met someone who knew of an assistant production manager position open at Central Park Summerstage (a free concert series in central park with 8000+ capacity). I applied and convinced them to hire me.  

My boss was a competent production manager and a really sweet guy, but he was excessively irresponsible. Regardless, I always showed up early for work and oxegenfest08_200Oxygen Fest 08took care of everything he didn’t. Though I had no real idea of what I was doing, I followed my intuition and just did.

Eventually, the powers that be fired the production manager and asked me to take over. they saw that I knew what I was doing and was committed. I worked for two more seasons and moved on to freelance production work.  


Where I Am Now

Still following my path and having faith, I’ve toured around the world five times with top artists such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, Foo Fighters, and R.E.M. Now, I work as part of a team that produces shows for up to100,000 people. It’s pretty incredible, and I love it! dots

by Natalie Drillings

Profile Archives (total entries: 38)

Leo 09 - The Leadership Issue

Rebecca Lolosoli Provides Safe Haven for Vulnerable Women in Kenya

polaroid_rebecca_lolosoli_181Rebecca Lolosoli is much more than the matriarch of Umoja Village, an all women's community located in the Samburu District of Kenya. She put herself on the line for others…her life has been threatened for going against the indigenous Samburu traditions and culture. What started in 1991 as a group of 16 raped women, denounced and outcast by their families, on a patch of sun-dried, neglected land, granted to them by the Kenyan government at the behest of Rebecca is today a unique group of 50 flourishing, happy women and girls, orphans and widows and even a few beloved goats. (read more)

Aries 08

Nina DiSesa Shares Uncensored Tactics for Winning at Work in Her Book “Seducing the Boys Club”

ninadisesa_165Why are there still so few women in top management positions in the corporate world? Nina DiSesa, Chairman of McCann Erickson in New York, thinks it is because women don't understand men and tend to follow the rules and this doesn't work. She explains that women need to learn how to handle men in business in much the same way we do in our personal relationships - through what she calls S&M, seduction and manipulation. Nina says this has nothing to do with sex, and that in the end, everyone wins. In her book "Seducing the Boys Club" she gives the rest of us who think that all we need to do is work hard to get ahead, a swift kick in the butt!

Cancer 10

Linda Furiya Writes About Growing Up Japanese in the Midwest

linda_furiya_150“Many of the meals I ate at home in rural Indiana were Japanese. My mom used what ingredients she could get her hands on then put it out on the table effortlessly. The sensual aspect of Asian food and Mid-west sustainability is ingrained in me. Those are the basic roots of why I love cooking, “ says Linda.

(read more)