Adam Thomas Eisenhut
Adam Thomas Eisenhut
Show + Community Director of Brand Assembly
Brooklyn, New York
Instagram @siradamizen
WHAT DO YOU DO?
“I’m the Show + Community Director for Brand Assembly. We love working with emerging brands by giving them a place to meet & show their collections to potential retail buyers - venues where stores go to shop for the merchandise they will soon carry.”
I produce our tradeshows (currently in LA, soon the rest of the world) and guide operations for our co-working spaces in New York City and Los Angeles. This means working directly with all of our participating brands (about 200 active brands at any one time across all of our platforms), facilitating the logistics of building out the tradeshow, creative directing/designing marketing materials and the actual setup of the shows, and whatever else comes up! We also host a variety of ancillary events for our members: press previews, panel discussions, editor dinners, and even yoga classes--I put those together with my team as well. I’m also our in-house floral designer. On the side, I create goofy textile animals and other silly things, help people with events and do a little more work with flowers when I can. I am also working towards becoming a swimsuit model. I lost 20lbs last year, so I’m well on my way--I hope.
WHAT STEPS DID YOU TAKE TO GET TO WHERE YOU ARE NOW?
I did everything. My background is a little bananas because I have a habit of toying around with whatever interests me until I go try something else. I grew up performing and studied directing + costume design in college. While in school, I started working in sales as a Ballroom Dance Instructor for Arthur Murray (I was ranked internationally among all of their teachers at one point!), and after school moved to Prague to teach English to children. I went back to sales in Real Estate when I moved to NYC and then landed a job at a menswear tradeshow when I decided I wasn’t greasy enough to make it as a New York Real Estate Agent. From there, I discovered some of my strengths in creative direction and helped to shape the way we marketed and featured our Emerging Designers; so after a few years there, I set out to do a little of that on my own. I started a business creating events for menswear designers to sell directly to the consumer, Esquire and Esquire Network became my major sponsors and we had a blast. I also picked up more work in event production and design which I really love. I was scooped up by Brand Assembly over a year and a half ago and it’s as if someone mushed the entirety of my background into one job. (I haven’t found a way to incorporate Ballroom Dance yet, though.) Never in a million years would I have thought that this is where I would be when I was younger, I didn’t even know what tradeshows were. However, now I look back and see how my interests in costume and fashion design, experience in theater production, sales, learning how to teach English as a second language (which helped my writing immensely), and everything I’ve learned in tradeshows and events have equipped me to handle/speak to all the different parts of what I am doing.
FOR OTHER PEOPLE IN YOUR FIELD, WHAT DO THEY USUALLY LACK?
My clients know me for being super-accessible and always willing to look into any solution for solving a problem they might have. I think my communication skills and customer-service mindset have definitely gotten me to where I am today. I’d also say that in the heat of the moment, when the event is coming together (but something isn’t quite right), I am able to stay solution oriented and keep my cool, instead of spreading unnecessary frantic energy which I see too often at other events.
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON RIGHT NOW?
Right this moment, I am in the last weeks of production before our F/W 17 show in Los Angeles. I’m working on finishing up our printed collateral, keeping our show info emails going out on schedule, bringing in a couple of last minute brands, and wrapping up the show design and move-in logistics. We also have a big event in partnership with The Zoe Report that will take place after one of our show days and we are producing our first-ever magazine.
I am also working on a diorama of a newly-wedded praying mantis couple; however, the bride has already eaten the groom’s head. Charmingly unfortunate. (This is not connected to Brand Assembly, in case you were a little lost.)
WHAT'S YOUR STYLE/PERSPECTIVE/TASTE? DO YOU HAVE A PROJECT THAT REPRESENTS THIS?
When left to my own devices, my style is fantastical, something like a Haute Couture Children’s Book. I love silliness and every once and awhile it gets just a little bit creepy.
WE ARE ALL SLASHIES WITH MULTIPLE SKILLS, WHICH ONE DO YOU WISH YOU COULD DO MORE OFTEN?
I wish I could focus on using my hands more. I love to make things and get totally lost in it. My days spent installing flowers, making 6’ ostriches, or even event load-ins when I get to be inside of the work are my favorite. They don’t feel like work, but therapy for me. So, at some point, I’d love to focus even more of the physical creation of things. I’m trying to figure out how to get some of my animals in the Bergdorf Goodman Christmas windows...anyone have a hook-up?
WHAT IS FRUSTRATING YOU RIGHT NOW?
I think this is tied to the above; I’d like more time/opportunity to create for a wider variety of projects. My job is full-time(+), so it can be challenging to make the space and to continue building a personal brand. On the other hand, I am appreciating these things called “salary” and “direct-deposit”…it’s magic! My bank account always has numbers in it and I’m not 100% used to that, so it’s all very exciting.
IF YOU COULD HIRE SOMEONE FOR $20/HR, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE THEM DO TO MAKE YOUR DAY EASIER?
If someone could help me out by curating/keeping up with my social media/digital presence, I am pretty sure I could be unstoppable.
LET'S BRING OUT THE TIME MACHINE. WHAT DO YOU WISH YOU COULD HAVE TOLD YOURSELF, WHEN, AND WHY?
I would have told myself to practice more when I was a kid. The piano...the guitar (can I tell you that my mom made me take guitar because she thought it would make me cooler?! She was right, though, I was (am?) very uncool), or even French...anything. I just read about growth mindset the other day which I have developed more as I’ve gotten older, but definitely realize that I did not have this growing up. I wish I had learned more patience when acquiring skills so that maybe I would have honed in on the types of things I wanted to make earlier….maybe even gone to art school or something.
Also, to have taken more classes on digital design!
But what am I saying?? No regrets, right?! I am happy with where I am and the life I'm building. It's been very interesting/informative and we all have to take our own path.
IF YOU COULD TALK TO AN EXPERT TO GAIN MORE INSIGHT ON SOMETHING, WHAT WOULD IT BE ABOUT?
I definitely need to represent myself more online, so I could use some guidance/expertise on building a personal brand and unifying the story I am telling to the rest of the world. I feel like I have a strong aesthetic in the actual work I create, but I have trouble documenting and presenting it with the same kind of consistency; so I could use some help there.
WHAT KIND OF OPPORTUNITIES/PROJECTS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
Making events beautiful and making fun creations for events/shows/windows/your home.
DESCRIBE YOUR IDEAL JOB/CLIENT/COLLABORATION.
I'm always looking to expand my circle of creative friends and would love to work on some exciting projects with other artists. Honestly, I get so excited about almost every opportunity that as long as good people are involved, I'm game.
WHAT IS YOUR HOURLY RATE, RETAINER, OR SALARY RANGE?
We could be talking so many different things here; I am currently salaried but projects have ranged from $20/hr for floral installation (working freelance with a company) to $200/hr for Event Direction/Consultation. So, it's probably best if we just talk about the project. I strive to be fair and transparent with how I price things, so my clients and I usually come to an agreement we are both happy with fairly quickly.
HOW SHOULD SOMEONE APPROACH YOU ABOUT WORKING TOGETHER?
Shoot me an email and send me a mood board. I love a good mood board, I get like a million ideas at one time and will be totally in it almost instantly.
And if you are interested in me modeling swimsuits for you, please call my agent when I get one.
adam.thomas.eisenhut@gmail.com
HOW DO YOU STAY CREATIVE?
Make The World You Want.
This member profile was originally published in March 2017.