Oh Hi There

I'm Michelle, the owner and current sole operator of Events On Cue - I'm glad you're here! This started as a therapy-project turned power-point-party-presentation turned full-fledged business! I have eight years of live theatre and events management, five years human resources coordination, and a combined thirteen years of administrative experience, with a focus on project management.

Scroll down to learn a little more about me.

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My Story

TL;DR

I have a background managing live events. I pivoted my career in 2020 to HR for five years due to COVID and disabilities.

After 3 layoffs in 5 years it was time to try something different and so, Events On Cue was born!

I was born & raised in New Jersey (I'm not going to debate North, South or Central, but I DO say "taylor ham" if that's a clue - IYKYK). My childhood was spent constantly performing - dancing, choir, band, theatre - I did it all. In college at Kean University I majored in Theatre where I sustained a vocal injury and had to press pause on performing. While I healed I found myself working behind the scenes as a stage manager.

Whenever I describe what a theatrical Stage Manger does (which is everything) I always ask have you ever seen a play or a musical? Notice how the set pieces move, lights change, there's sound fx, etc. - that's all orchestrated by the stage manager. They're the ones calling the cues to the technicians backstage, responsible for the overall integrity of the show, health & safety of actors and crew, writing reports, facilitating communication between creative departments.. and so much more. They're basically the heart of a production and outside of theatre, they would be called a project manager.

By the time I'd graduated I'd almost entirely stopped performing because I'd grown to love stage managing. I did some gigs, worked part time as an events coordinator at a university, but something was out of place. I started to evaluate how I fit into my surroundings and found that if I stayed in NJ, I wouldn't have the room to grow and the freedom to be true to myself. I made a plan and relocated to California on new year's day 2014.

Looking back, the years 2015 - 2019 seem like a fever dream. Before the pandemic, I worked a variety of day jobs at times but managed to really build my stage management career in Southern California. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and worked in themed entertainment, started project managing live events and even got my union card. Like many, others, things were looking up for me until 2020.

When COVID hit I was out of work like my peers. After about five months of trying to break into online events, I realized my choices were either move back to jersey or find a way to survive in California. I made the difficult decision to retire from my stage management career in favor of pursuing a career in corporate human resources.

In processing that loss and starting a new career I came to realize that although I had a successful stage management career, my heart wasn't fully in it anymore. There were several situations of verbal abuse and somewhere along the way I lost the love I had for the work I was doing. During this time I was also diagnosed with additional invisible disabilities, which cemented my choice: I had made my decision and I wasn't going back.

Why Start A Business?

From 2020 - 2025 I did the thing:

I built my HR career from the ground up. As unprecedented as COVID was, soon came the tech layoffs. I experienced layoffs in 2022, 2023 and shockingly, again in 2024. I'm nothing if not resilient but when my contract ended in 2025, I started to re-evaluate everything. I dug deep and begin the process of grieving my old career in a way that I couldn't have done five years before. I decided to see what would happen if I freed myself from limiting beliefs that had held me back before. Could I really start an event planning business? Friends, family and acquaintances have been telling me for years to start one but I had always dismissed them.

I'm always planning quirky events. I love a themed-gathering and making new memories with friends. I've never been one to go along with traditions or societal expectations.

I've been labeled as "too much" or "too loud" most of my life, but learned to celebrate what makes me unique. I'm excited to get to work with my clients, celebrating their personalities and helping to create their dream events!