The festival life
Junior Diem Dang gains a professional opportunity be attending the Beyond Wonderland music festival.
My semester in Los Angeles has been nothing short of exciting. This city is filled with people who work in the entertainment industry, and everyone’s passion for this field radiates through L.A.
These past three months, I have been working for a public relations, marketing and special events agency, and a lot of my internship consists of attending film premieres, brand activations and award shows. My favorite event was when I was given the opportunity to attend and work at the Hollywood Critics Association Awards.
The HCA Awards is an up-and-coming award show. This event took place at the Avalon in Hollywood, and it was the real deal. There was a massive red carpet, photographers, black ties and ball gowns, and an array of A-List celebrities, from Lin-Manuel Miranda, to Andrew Garfield, to Nicolas Cage, to Kristen Stewart.
I was in charge of VIP check-in. There, I was given the full guest list of talent and publicists, and I was responsible for checking them in and leading them to the red carpet. This event was truly all glitz and glamor, and I loved being able to see it all go down.
Once all the talent did their time on the red carpet, I helped guide the guests to their tables inside the theater. Then the award show began. I have only ever watched award shows on television, so being there in person and seeing the energy and work that goes into the production was incredible.
My boss allowed me to stay for the award show, and it was so fun seeing the event play out. It was a successful night, and I learned so much from the experience. Attending the HCA Awards further ignited my passion for event management and my love for the city of Los Angeles.