Brooke Contreras was sleeping on a piece of foam in a Costa Rican jungle when Lyte called her with a job offer.
“It was three-and-a half weeks before I saw a mirror and there was no indoor plumbing, so you can imagine how spotty the connection was,” she says. “We kept getting disconnected. But I ot the job.”
Brooke is Lyte’s newest Field Operations Manager. That means she’ll be on the ground at some of the biggest festivals and events we power on our exchange, thinking fast on her feet and making sure things run smoothly during all of the excitement and craziness. Brooke also is working with our fan experience team to help ensure stellar customer service to every single person who interacts with the platform.
She comes to us after finishing a gig working as part of a build team for the Envision Festival, an annual fest nestled deep within Costa Rica’s rainforest. Here, Brooke talks about working at festivals, appreciating the comforts of home — and powerlifting. Check it out.
Maggie: Your career has taken you down some really cool and interesting paths. Tell us about your background.
Brooke: I graduated from South Carolina State in December 2016. The following January, I moved to California and took a desk job at a Mercedes-Benz dealership. I had to make 150 calls a day trying to get people to come shop for cars. I was miserable! I kept thinking, “I hate this, I can’t do this.” But it got me over any phobia I had over talking on the phone.
I happened to attend my first Coachella that year with a friend who had gotten into doing field ops as a contractor. I went with my brother and this friend, and I decided to join my friend’s camp. They offered me a job at EDC to work with their Customer Experience team, now called Headliner Experience. I helped out in the heat for 14 hours a day. They threw me a radio and I’m there trying to figure it out and figure out what I was supposed to be doing. It was hard, but it got me in the door.
From there, I moved over to ticketing. Then I was working on credentials. I began working at different festivals all over with some really great people!
Maggie: What brought you to Lyte?
Brooke: I first heard about Lyte at a conference that Ant (Taylor, Lyte’s CEO) was speaking at. I was blown away. I thought, “Finally there is a great service that can be directly integrated into the ticketing platform.” I was salivating thinking about how many problems it would solve on site. For one, it would prevent a lot of people from buying tickets on Craigslist only to find out they are fake.
Fast forward: A friend of mine had contracted with Lyte so I contracted with them for Life is Beautiful. That’s when I got my hands dirty and saw how it all worked. I’ve been dying to be here ever since. Then I was in Costa Rica working on the Envision Festival and Gerard (Mitchell, Lyte’s head of operations) reached out to talk about some details on things that were coming up. It went from there and here I am.
Maggie: I am sure throughout your contract work you saw a lot of the problems that the Lyte platform addresses.
Brooke: Yes, things happened at all the different festivals in some respects. When someone came with a ticket that wasn’t valid or had been used already unbeknownst to them, we could sometimes offer them a solution to buy a ticket and go in, but a lot of times we had to turn them away. Some people would get upset; others really angry — one person tried to punch through the bullet-proof glass. I get it, as a fan myself. It was heartbreaking to see. That’s why Lyte’s platform is so great. I don’t want those things to happen to fans anymore.
Maggie: What was working on the Envision Festival like?
Brooke: I was on one of the festival’s build teams between Jan. 30th and March 7th. The festival is literally in the middle of the jungle. I slept on a piece of foam and wood, and had plastic wrapped around me as a blanket. My concerns went from “Will I meet a deadline?” to “Will I eat today?” I learned how far I could be pushed physically, mentally and emotionally. Would I do it again? Absolutely not, but it was a good experience. I’m glad to be back in air conditioning.
Maggie: You played soccer in college and are still an athlete. Tell us about that.
Brooke: Soccer made me hate running to the point that I can’t play anymore, not even for fun! I had been looking for something that would challenge me and feed my extremely competitive side. So, I got into powerlifting. At first I couldn’t do three reps with just the bar! Now, my favorite lift is squats. I went from being able to bench 45 pounds to 135 pounds. It took a very long time — but I got there.
About Lyte
Lyte makes it easier for fans to go to more live events. Founded in New York City and San Francisco by CEO Ant Taylor, our killer fan feature is returnability. In an industry where a “no refunds and no cancellations” policy is the standard, Lyte enables fans to return their event tickets, no questions asked, to the official point of purchase.
Lyte also provides a safe and official reservation booking system, offering fans who sign up a fair price for in-demand tickets. One hundred percent of the tickets bought and sold through Lyte are issued through our ticketing partners and delivered directly to fans. Lyte has delivered millions in fan savings — $1.8 million in 2018 alone. It’s only getting better from here, thanks to our growing partnerships with bands, venues, promoters, ticketers and festivals.
For the industry, we function as a full inventory management solution, including a private-label secondary market to optimize event yield for event producers. Visit lyte.com.