What is Contraband International and what is your role?
Contraband International is a corporate entertainment agency that provides entertainment across the UK and internationally. We offer over 1,500 acts from face painters to arcade games, belly dancers to glass harpists and everything in between.
I’m the Managing Director and set up the company nine years ago. I work on the sales side of the business as well as business development.
What inspired you to get involved in the events industry?
I simply fell into the events industry. I ran several businesses before Contraband and each business morphed organically into the next. First I was a professional henna artist running training courses, then I had an online mail order company and also worked at public events and corporate parties. During this time my business morphed from performer to agent.
I love working in the events industry. I love the fast pace, the creativity and working with the very best talent. I enjoy giving great service to our clients and I’m incredibly lucky to have the fabulous Contraband team behind me.
What type of act seems to be in high demand at the moment?
We’re finding that sporting performers are in great demand at the moment, most likely a knock-on effect from this year’s Olympics. Acts such as our free runners, power risers, football tricksters, rugby freestylers, acrobats and BMX tricksters are currently the most sought after acts.
Flash mobs continue to be really popular. In fact, we did a lovely flash mob event last month for a private American client who had flown into London to watch the Olympics. He booked a team of 20 flash mob dancers to surprise his wife outside Covent Garden tube station, the exact spot they first met, to celebrate their 14th wedding anniversary.
What has been the most memorable event you have ever catered for?
That’s never an easy answer as many of our events have been memorable. Contraband has provided entertainment to over 10,000 events with over 100,000 performers over its nine years.
One of my favourite events we worked on was for Jack Morton at the Royal Wedding for Will and Kate. We supplied the band that played to 300,000 revellers in London’s Hyde Park, as the largest public part of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding celebrations. The company was looking for a wedding band that would make all of the guests in the park feel as though they were at a wedding. The band, MIB, performed brilliantly and the audience, which was the largest of any outdoor concert in the UK, formed a giant conga line. It was fantastic.
What is the most bizarre act that you have on your books?
We’ve got a few bizarre acts on our books but two that stand out have to be Garry Stretch and Stevie Starr. Garry is the Guinness World Record holder of having the stretchiest skin in the world. He is known for being able to clip the most clothes pegs on to his face. Stevie swallows live fish and snooker balls. We recently sent Stevie Starr to Beirut for a shopping centre and he was a huge crowd-puller, although some of the shoppers did have their hands over their eyes.
What have been the highlights of your career?
There have been a few. My career started when I sold my worldly possessions on a second hand market stall in 1995 and flew to India with an empty rucksack and £1,000 to set up a company. From there I became a Shell Livewire Regional Finalist in 1997 and became the Natwest Everywoman Athena Winner- a female entrepreneur award- in 2011. That was an honour.
I’ve grown my company from market stall to manufacturer, importer and exporter, an online mail order company and now a global entertainment agency. Today, Contraband supplies over 6,000 acts to over 1,500 events a year. We employ 12 full-time staff and have a turnover in excess of £2 million. All while being a single mum to my son who’s nine years old.
What advice would you give to anyone wanting to get into the events industry?
It’s pretty tough getting into the industry as event management degrees have been the number one degree of choice for many years, churning thousands of graduates out into a very competitive market.
We provide internships and work experience placements and I can’t recommend enough offering your services to get into the company you’d like to work for and gain experience hands on. For me, a CV which is packed full of real life events experience will always win hands down over a long list of qualifications.