Pro to Pro

XLIST Council Spotlight: Lesly Simmons

Many of us didn’t dream of becoming experiential pros. Maybe we knew, growing up, that we had a knack for throwing birthday parties, or we discovered that our favorite part of working at a tech start-up was preparing for industry events and trade shows. But we didn’t have the vocabulary to describe this exact industry. Luckily, neither did XP pro and member of the XLIST council Lesly Simmons. Now the Head of Community Innovation at Amazon, Lesly began her career as a reporter in Washington DC and eventually transitioned into PR.  "We know experiences have the power to open hearts and minds, and even change lives."Lesly Simmons “A big part of my work in PR was taking executives and leaders to events. And I realized that there was an opportunity to support speakers at these conferences and talks,” says Lesly. “I leaned into that space because it combined my love of writing with my love of experiences — and now I’ve been working and growing in experiential for more than a decade.” We spoke with Lesly about how her first career path influenced her second, why personalization and DE&I matter so much to your guests (hint: because they can smell...