Renaldo Elliott is a sales manager at Shepard. Based out of our Las Vegas branch, he’s been working with the company since March 2023.
How he got his start: Renaldo found his way to the industry from a very different side of the event world: working as a full-time musician. Back in 2019, he was performing to big crowds everywhere from Japan and Korea to Turkey and at the iconic Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. A drummer who studied jazz, Renaldo describes his musical influences as “a little bit of everything,” noting that he’s performed in genres as diverse as reggae, hip-hop, and funk.
An exciting culmination of that successful 2019 run? A performance at NPR’s wildly popular Tiny Desk concert series. “Tiny Desk was a very cool, intimate experience,” he remembers, noting that none of it is filmed in a studio—he was actually drumming behind a small desk in the NPR office. “The crowd that you hear are the employees that work at NPR. You get two takes and that’s it, and a couple of months later they give you the recording. It’s amazing what they put out.”
Working on the performer side of the event industry has given him a unique appreciation for what it takes to pull off a large-scale event (or even one as tiny as an in-office concert). So when the COVID-19 pandemic put his music career on pause, he was excited to take a job at a B2B trade show company and learn the ins and outs of the event world. Eventually, he joined Shepard’s west coast team in March 2023.
Why he loves events: “I love making everything come together,” Renaldo says. “It’s such a big undertaking, and to see all of that come to fruition, and to see our clients succeed and reach their sales goals, is so satisfying.”
Why he loves working at Shepard: While he’s still new to the team, Renaldo appreciates the support he’s found from every colleague he’s interacted with. “There hasn’t been one person that I’ve called on that hasn’t been able to help me—and if they can’t help me, they always direct me in the right direction,” he explains.
He’s also inspired by the company’s family-oriented, boutique-like feeling. “People that work here tend to stay here, and that’s always a good sign,” he points out. “The overall atmosphere is really, really welcoming, which you don’t typically find when a company has multiple locations around the country. Despite our size, we still have that mom-and-pop mindset, which I really appreciate.”
Memorable moment: Renaldo recently experienced a fun moment that merged his two worlds. He was able to attend the NAMM Show, an annual California-based convention for the National Association of Music Merchants. “I’ve gone for years as a musician, but to actually attend from the standpoint of a contractor was really exciting. I went with Lauren Bauer, Director of Sales – Western Region, and she was able to teach me a lot about what to look for at a show, the do’s and don’ts, and to think about how we would approach a show of that size. It made me really optimistic and eager to try and get business like that for the future.”
Where he finds inspiration: Renaldo is most motivated by his wife and 10-year-old son. “They are definitely my ‘why’—and why I keep going even when I’m tired. They always keep me motivated.”
The advice he’d give his younger self: Renaldo would encourage himself to explore the event business sooner. “There’s a lot of opportunity to pick up young, energetic, and talented people—but a lot of them don’t even know this industry exists,” he says. “When you hear about trade shows or conventions or conferences, young people might think it sounds boring because they don’t see the background and the passion and the full scope of people that are putting this together. I would tell my younger self, ‘There’s a career here. You can really grow with this.’”
