Today we’d like to introduce you to Lahoma Dade.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started Events Unleashed in 2014, but the path that led me there began years earlier, in two places that did not seem connected at the time.
The first was banking. I worked inside a financial institution and supported our community reinvestment giving, which gave me a front-row seat to how capital moved into the community and, just as importantly, where it did not. I noticed the disparities. I saw which organizations were gaining access to funding and which were not, and I started using my position to help nonprofits and organizations serving our most vulnerable neighbors find pathways to larger institutions with the resources to support their work. That experience shaped how I think about impact to this day. It taught me that the gap between a great mission and a funded mission is often access, relationships, and how the work gets shown to the people in the room.
The second was my church. I was active in young adult and singles ministry, and at a certain point, most of my friends started getting married. People knew I was detail-oriented and organized, so the calls started coming in. Helping coordinate weddings turned into coordinating larger gatherings, and I began to see what was possible when planning was treated as a craft rather than a checklist.
In 2014, I set off to build Events Unleashed. I was building the plane while flying it, the way most founders do, but the vision was clear from the start. I wanted a firm that would make a real impact on the communities we touched, not just produce beautiful events.
The work proved out the vision. My first client in 2014 is still a current client today. Since then, the company has grown into a national agency, supporting clients internationally. Our team and book of business have grown to produce experiential activations, conferences, national summits, non-profit fundraisers, and gatherings for Fortune 100 companies, nonprofits, and government clients, and our scope has expanded beyond event production into social impact work.
What I am most proud of is not the size of the events or the names of the clients. It is the moments. The donor who decided to give more because the room helped them see why. The student who found their voice on a panel they were nervous to join. The leadership team that walked out aligned for the first time in years. Those are the moments that reminded me why I started this company. They are also why I keep building it.
Where I am today did not come from one decision. It came from staying close to the work, listening to what each room actually needed, and refusing to let the industry convince me that excellence in event production is about logistics alone. It is about people. It always has been.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The road has been, what road?
Things get so tough sometimes that it is hard to even see the road. Between staffing challenges, growing pains, and real life, including a whole pandemic that tried to upend our industry, a war reshaping the world around us, and a climate where the kind of work that brings people together across differences is treated as a liability instead of a strength, the road isn’t just windy. It is uphill, unpaved, and rerouted more times than I can count.
The pandemic was the first time the entire events industry stopped breathing at once. Overnight, contracts paused, venues shut, and a full calendar of work disappeared. We had to rebuild from inside the storm. We learned how to produce virtually, how to keep teams employed when revenue was uncertain, and how to support clients who were figuring out their own survival in real time. That season taught me that resilience is not a personality trait. It is a practice.
Staffing has been its own teacher. Building a team that can meet the standard our clients deserve takes time, investment, and a willingness to make hard calls when alignment is not there. I have hired wrong. I have promoted too soon. I have held on too long. Every one of those decisions costs something, and each has sharpened how we hire today.
Growing pains have been constant. There is a version of this company that exists at every revenue level, and the version that worked at one stage does not work at the next. Systems break. Roles need redefining. Clients need more than a smaller operation can give them. Each phase has required me to stop, rebuild, and trust the team to carry pieces of the work I used to carry alone.
And then there is real life. The work does not pause for what a founder is carrying personally, and over twelve years, there have been seasons I had to lead through that nobody on a call would ever see. That has shaped how I lead. I try to build a culture where people are treated like full human beings, because I know what it costs to show up when you are empty.
Now we are operating in a climate where the very work that drives so much of our calendar, the kind of programming built to bring people together across difference and to serve communities historically left out of the conversation, is under pressure. Funding is being pulled. Sponsors are recalibrating. Organizations are deciding whether they can keep doing the work they were built to do. We are walking that road with our clients, and it is not a comfortable walk.
Here is what I have learned. The road is not supposed to be smooth. The road is supposed to teach you. Every difficult season has clarified what Events Unleashed is here to do and who we are here to serve. The work has not gotten easier. We have gotten better. And the company we are building today is sturdier, sharper, and more clear-eyed because of every detour we have taken to get here.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Events Unleashed is an experiential event production agency, but the way I describe what we do is simpler than that. We design events that move people. We produce experiential activations, conferences, summits, and fundraisers for Fortune 100 companies, nonprofits, and government clients across the country. We are based in Austin, but the work has taken us across the country and overseas.
What sets us apart is how we think about the event itself. Most agencies start with logistics. We start with strategy. Before we ever talk about a venue or a vendor, we ask the questions that matter. What do you need this experience to make possible? What should the room feel like when people walk in? What do you want people to do, say, fund, or build because of what they experienced here? Once those answers are clear, the production decisions take care of themselves. The work flows from purpose, not from a checklist.
We specialize in events where the stakes are high and the audience matters. National conferences where thought leadership has to land. Fundraisers where the room needs to inspire generosity. Summits where partnerships are formed in hallways and confirmed in keynotes. Cultural gatherings where communities come together around the work that matters most to them. Across it all, we bring strategy, storytelling, and operational excellence into the same room.
What I am most proud of, brand-wise, is who we serve and how. My first client from 2014 is still a current client today. That kind of longevity does not happen by accident. It happens because we treat every engagement as a relationship, not a transaction. We have grown into a national agency with a book of clients in the thousands and a team of 15, but we still operate the way we did when it was just me in 2014. We pick up the phone. We do what we say we are going to do. We hold ourselves accountable to the standard our clients are paying for, and then some.
We are also one of the few agencies in our space that openly leads with social impact. A meaningful share of our calendar is built around mission-driven gatherings, and our team thinks about every client engagement through that lens. It is not a marketing line for us. It is the reason the company exists.
What I want readers to know is this. If you are bringing people together for something that matters, you do not need an event planner. You need a partner. Events Unleashed exists to be that partner. We will tell you the truth about your timeline, your budget, and your vision. We will design an experience that does the work you actually need it to do. And we will treat your audience like the people they are, not the metrics they represent. That is the brand. That is the offer. That has been the work for over twelve years.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
In 2007, I packed up from Oklahoma sight unseen, and Austin became the place where I feel like I have grown up and my life is taking shape. I found my tribe and learned that anyone who said they were actually from Austin was a unicorn. What I know about Austin is that whatever you are looking for, you will find it. From SXSW to ACL to Eeyore’s Birthday Party and everything in between, this city has a way of meeting people where they are.
What I love best is the people, the weather, and the community. The people in Austin show up. They show up for each other, for the causes they believe in, and for the businesses they want to see succeed. The weather lets you live a full life outside, which shapes how you connect, gather, and recharge. And the community, the layered, creative, deeply intentional community I have found here, is the reason this city has held me for nearly twenty years.
What I like least is the traffic, which honestly goes without saying, and the work that still remains to make Austin a more equitable city. The growth has been remarkable, but not everyone has shared in it. Friends, neighbors, and longtime Austinites have been priced out of neighborhoods they helped build. Resources, opportunities, and access have not always been distributed evenly across the people who call this city home. Austin has the talent, the capital, and the heart to do this work better. I want to see the city keep choosing to.
Pricing:
- Every Events Unleashed engagement is custom-scoped to the client, the event type, and the impact we are designing for. There is no one-size-fits-all rate sheet.
- Pricing reflects the strategy, production expertise, and execution required to deliver an event that does the work it is meant to do.
- Engagements range from full-service event production to advisory and consulting partnerships, tailored to each client’s goals, timeline, and budget.
- For a custom proposal, contact us at info@eventsunleashed.com or (512) 270-8796.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.eventsunleashed.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eventsunleashed
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eventsunleashed
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/65429637
