Today we’d like to introduce you to Reese Cisneros.
Hi Reese, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My passion for the hospitality and event industry began while interning for Kennedy Creative Events during college. I became the first intern turned full-time and worked my way to Senior Event Producer, planning corporate events, weddings, galas to large city-wide conferences,
In 2015, I joined New Waterloo, an Austin-based hospitality management and development company, as the Venue Manager for Fair Market, in its early days. Soon after we sold Fair Market, I took over as Event Sales Manager for Malverde, La Condesa’s event space, and helped transition it to one of Austin’s premier event destinations. Between 2017-2020, I served as the Director of Restaurant Events, overseeing event sales and operations for New Waterloo’s independent restaurant portfolio, including La Condesa, Sway, Malverde, Le Politique, Il Brutto and La Matta.
Two weeks before the pandemic hit, I was prepped and ready to jump into entrepreneurship and launch my consulting business. When things took a turn, I had to put this on pause. I decided to take some time to figure out how I wanted to truly operate, understand my why and dug deep into what hospitality really meant to me.
As a planner, not having answers or know what was ahead/how to plan my way out, I decided the only way to help was to get creative and use my talent in other ways. I spent two months working and helping an Emergency Management Company as on-site logistics manager – helping Travel Nurses fight the pandemic. We were sent to hot spots in south Texas and I managed nurses arrivals, departures, shuttles to and from multiple hospitals, overseeing work schedules, ensuring they had everything they needed at their hotel & stayed with them at the hotel for two months.
After this experience, I knew I was in hospitality for a reason and I couldn’t let it go/give it up. While I was on that mission, I officially launched my company and I started Strategies by Reese, an event and restaurant consulting firm.
With over 12 years of experience, I have dedicated my time to help others develop, scale, and grow their event business, with a focus on event venue sales, food and beverage operations and on-site event production.
I am passionate about the Austin community and deeply involved in the Austin Young Chamber. Most recently, serving on the Board of Directors as the Co-Chair in 2019. You’ll also find me volunteering with I Live Here I Give Here’s as the Co-Chair of the annual ‘See Us Give’ Event, a mentor for Girl’s Empowerment Network (GEN) and the Young Women’s Alliance Connect program, a volunteer for the Austin Advocates for Small Business, thoughtfully involved with Austin Chamber of Commerce, Austin Concierge & Guest Services Association and Leadership Austin Alumni Programs. I continually support my Alma Mater, Southwestern University, through guest speaking and mentoring for both academic and athletic-related engagements.
Being connected & focused on community and just people and relationships in general has truly been the reason I am where I am today. I couldn’t do it without my friends, colleagues, and the people I have met along the way.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Not completely smooth 🙂
The business side of starting a company when you are selling your services/time has been one of my biggest/most relevant struggle. The invoicing, bookkeeping, taxes, hiring contractors, the spending money before making money phases. I pride myself on good work ethic and timeliness on delivering projects and realize that I need other experts to help me with the business side of things.
But, the challenges only opened up more doors and with my event experience, I truly learned to redirect my energies and use my skillset in other ways when faced with challenges and that only helped narrow down my craft even more. I have learned that my skills are more transferable than I ever imagined and feel very fortunate to have spent over 12 years focused in this industry.
As you know, we’re big fans of Strategies by Reese. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
My work includes event management, event operations consulting and implementation, event sales, venue sales, business development, catering management, on-site operations, wedding planning, and full event production.
Venue Consulting: Whether you are building out a new space or refreshing a space for a new chapter, I work to ensure you are maximizing efficiency by building systems, SOP, training manuals, event programs, hiring your event teams, and outfitting your space to stay booked and busy.
Business Development: Extension of your sales team – creating sales strategy and pipeline – I help build rapport and cultivate long-lasting relationships with key clients, partners and vendors.
Event Production: Helping execute events from start to finish, including venue sourcing, permitting, layouts, design, run of shows, on-site execution, and more.
Overall: My top priorities are to create spaces and teams with purpose and intention, foster a healthy working environment, help grow my client’s business, and most importantly, empower and build up the next generation of hospitality professionals so we can make our industry stronger and more stable than ever.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
Best: The supportive nature of the business community, the outdoor options, how we talk about our city and the food and beverage options 🙂
Least: lack of education on transportation options available; growing housing rates
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@strategiesbyreese.com
- Website: www.strategiesbyreese.com
- Instagram: @strategiesbyreese
- Facebook: @strategiesbyreese
Image Credits
J.Genevieve Kendall Peters Photography Jules Keim
