Kristen Brown
The Happy Hour Effect Training and Development,
happyhoureffect.com
Life always presents one with many twists and turns. It’s how you react and adapt that makes the difference.
Speaker and author Kristen Brown, who spent 15 years on the corporate ladder in senior leadership roles with Fortune 500 giants such as Disney, Hanes, Target and Kraft, was dealt the ultimate wild card in 2007 when her previously healthy husband died of a sudden heart attack in his sleep, leaving Brown a widow and single mother of an infant daughter just as the economy was collapsing during the Great Recession.
“After my husband died and I was left with a 10-month-old child, it became practically impossible to maintain that corporate lifestyle,” Brown says, adding that as the stress piled on, her body started to react, leading to panic attacks and subsequently a radical career change that helped her cope with the trauma.
“I actually developed a health supplement called The Happy Hour Effect, which I sold to [nutritional supplement corporation] GNC,” she says.
Not wanting to take on the headaches associated with operating a corporation, however, Brown used some recently acquired knowledge of the speaking and self-help world to embark on a career as a speaker, speaking at meetings industry events such as SpinCon and PCMA’s Convening Leaders, on TV shows such as Live With Kelly & Michael, and for top corporations such as General Mills, Target, Boston Scientific and others.
Her message? Be aware of the time drains and energy zappers that can get in the way of making positive decisions. Brown drives home her message and techniques via keynote speeches and exercises such as completing a life map, but can also tailor her presentation to more-corporate-focused topics. To view a demonstration her presentations, visit happyhoureffect.com.
Kim Randall recently took her part-time side business and turned it into a full-time job, and is the now the owner of Kim Randall Events. She brings over 12 years of industry experience in venue management as the director of special events at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, as well as event planning as a senior producer with Rafanelli Events and a production manager for From the Top which carried National Public Radio and PBS. Randall is currently the V.P. of Educational Programming for MPI, New England.
Event Producers, a New Orleans-based live event production and design firm, named Cammy Livingston its the new national business development sales manager. Hired to develop client relationships and grow key business segments in major cities across the U.S., Livingston is tasked with building relationships with national corporate meeting planners, brand marketing firms, national production companies, independent producers and national destination management companies.
Robert Clarke is the new director of food and beverage at the 491-room Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort & Spa. In addition to providing vision and oversight for the resort’s restaurants and in-room dining services, Clarke will serve as a member of the leadership committee. The hotel offers more than 60,000 square feet of indoor meeting space as well as over 240,000 square feet of outdoor event space with pavilions and an amphitheater.
The Irving CVB named Wendy Foster, CMP, as its customer services manager. She will work directly with clients of the CVB and the Irving Convention Center and serve as a liaison for customers booking directly with Irving hotels. She will also assist with event planning and implementation details such as site inspections.
John Yeadon is the new director of sales and marketing at the 1,628-room Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego. In this role, he will oversee varying aspects of the property, including revenue forecasting, developing business plans and owner relations, as well as the recruitment and hiring of the hotel’s sales team. The hotel recently completed renovations of its 316,000 square feet of event venues.
