Holly Mac’s Secret Passion and Motivation

I received a tweet from Jeff Berger (@GenYjobs and founder of koda.us), promoting KODA. I thanked him, and told him that I did not think of it as a coincidence that he had sent me the link the moment that he did. I also said that I would spare telling him my life story over twitter, in an attempt to explain why it wasn’t a coincidence, to which he responded, “I will be impressed if you can do it in 140 characters” since that is all twitter allows. I took that as a challenge, and this is what I came up with: “boston-meets-san diego, PM 4 GC inspired by late physics dad, soul searching-events/travel? goal bicoastal, miss big family, <3 NYC,LA,Vegas.” If for some reason you couldn’t gather my “secret passion” from that tweet, I will explain!

People that don’t know me well wonder how the heck someone with a structural engineering background would want to or could go into PR, concierge-related work and event planning. There have always been so many aspects of my life that I have wanted to put on paper; aspects that I feel are strengths of mine and very representative of my passions, but I never was comfortable putting them on a typical resume.

I never thought my engineering degree would get me to where it has in the non-engineering world. I have always been a very social, outgoing person, so I suppose I’m not completely surprised. I have always been good at staying in touch with people, and naturally enjoy networking. My 2nd engineering job sent me frequently to Las Vegas for Construction Defect Litigation projects. For approximately 3 years, on average I was flying there every other week. The frequent travel combined with my social nature led to learning the ropes and building an empire of contacts in the local nightlife industry. I began helping friends, friends of friends, and others as a concierge would – connecting them with the right people to get into clubs for free, consistent clubs that I prefer, which now get consistent business from my recommendations, etc. For approximately 6 years now I have been recommending restaurants, bars and hotels. I have developed working relationships with people in Las Vegas, VIP hosts, casino hosts, DJ’s, photographers, radio show hosts, restaurant managers, bartenders, etc.

Because of Las Vegas, my passion for concierge work, travel arrangements and networking has blossomed and spilled over into many other areas. I find myself helping people on a regular basis. I connect people with other people, in any arena and any city – friends visiting Boston have asked me to help put together itineraries for them; a friend in Los Angeles who works for a producer of a reality show needed help putting together recommendations on where to film in San Diego for the day; another friend needed help advertising to find ring girls for his MMA event; a contact of mine is searching for private aircraft owners to help fund operations to find child predators – just to name a few. I have thoroughly enjoyed all “tasks” and find the common thread to be networking.

One of the large tasks that I took into my own hands was the planning of my high school 10-year reunion. My class president didn’t seem to be enthusiastic at our 5th year about planning the next, and at the 10th year, I hadn’t heard from him. I contacted him and volunteered my time, even though I was 3000 miles away and I wasn’t even a student officer. I reached out to all 209 people for the reunion. I hired a DJ, chose the venue, managed the finances and the guest list, and managed decorations and invitations with the help of a couple of people. It was a successful turnout with an attendance of 85. I thoroughly enjoyed reacquainting myself with everyone and bringing everyone, teachers, students, family and friends together.

If I had one word to describe myself, it would be “connector”.

I am still doing some soul searching, but have made quite a bit of progress, and have met some very amazing and influential people along the way.

One of the biggest influences in my life has been my late father. He continues to influence and motivate me. He had many quotes and life “mantras” that he lived by – one of which I always come back to: “Step out of your comfort zone.” This has helped me to constantly challenge myself and to maintain my self-confidence when the going gets tough. I am so grateful for my father and everything he has brought into my life.

I miss my family in the northeast, but absolutely love living on the west coast. One of my goals in life is to have the flexibility so that I can be bicoastal and visit my family as much as possible.