Meet Sandra Aderibigbe | Creative Director & Founder

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sandra Aderibigbe and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sandra, how do you think about risk?
I’ve learned to view risk as the only way to grow. If what I am doing does not have some aspect of risk in it, I probably need to dig a little deeper and get a little more creative. Throughout my life and career taking risk has become more second nature to me after seeing the impact it had on my business and brands I have worked with. I have taken many risk that did not go as planned, however every single time the lesson learned elevated me to the next level.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am a business creative specializing in experiential marketing and branding. I have a passion for event production, brand storytelling, and creative marketing. I’ve managed to get where I am today by relentlessly following my dreams and investing in myself. Entrepreneurship was something I fell into due to the fact I just was not seeing things done the way I felt they should be done. I fell in love with event planning in college and knew that it was something I wanted to do, but I had no idea how I was going to get clients. Rather than wait for the dream event to come, I created my first business DTR Events, and began to produce different types of events I knew I wanted to do such as fashion shows, dinner parties, and private events. This helped me grow so much as a business owner and entrepreneur because it put me in many uncomfortable situations that either taught me a valuable lesson or pushed me forward. I took a major leap of faith and moved to New York in 2016 to fulfill my dream of producing events for brands on a global scale. During my time I was able to stretch my creativity and really develop events with strategy and purpose, which was different then just producing events for celebrations. Miraculously within two weeks of moving to New York I was working as the Regional Brand Manager for Maersk Line, developing and managing the event strategy for the entire North American region. I was managing a six figure event budget, producing trade show booths, customer events, and global award ceremonies. I learned so much throughout my time but eventually I got to a place where I knew If I wanted to fulfill my goals, it was time apply everything I learned to my own dreams. So to everyone’s surprise after 2 years I left and moved to Los Angeles, where I currently reside today. I recently teamed up with my client turned business partner Claudia Soto to develop SWEAT + SOUL Fitness which is a health and wellness lifestyle brand specializing in athleisure apparel. Working on this brand has been a unique experience because I got the chance to develop the brand and apparel from inception. It has been such a rewarding experience being able to take everything I picked up throughout the years and put it into developing a meaningful brand and product. I truly believe this brand is going to impact the world! Throughout the years I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to constantly create the things that I wish existed while bringing to life the dream of others. I learned to never be afraid to adapt and to shift, especially in business. Thing are always changing and evolving and if you get okay with that, you will be able to overcome anything that comes your way. Rather than compete against others in my field, I compete against my goals. Having the “always a student” mentality gives me the drive to truly believe there is nothing I can’t educate myself on and figure out. However the most valuable thing I have learned in my life is that the more you develop mentally and spiritually, the better you perform in every single aspect of your life.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
First thing first, Sunday Funday is KING! We would kick the week off with bottomless mimosas and a little turnup, probably at Seaside Lounge. During the week we would get some office hours in at one of my favorite places to work called Tout- Suite. If you know me you know working out is life so we would definitely hit my favorite gym The Body Shop for some weight training and cardio. Houston is definitely a foodie town so we would have to for sure hit The Breakfast Klub, Turkey Leg Hut, For the late night munchies, Whataburger, Chacho’s, or any of those fire food trucks in midtown. Shipleys Donuts in the morning but then we have to hit Memorial City Park and run it off! For rooftop vibes, Benjy’s has always been one of my lowkey faves!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I appreciate every single challenge I’ve been through because little did I know God was preparing me for greater things! Shoutout to my first boss Cosmo for teaching me the entrepreneur way of life. My work ethic comes from watching you work 10 hours a day like it was nothing. Shoutout to Victor Elmo for showing me how to create your own lane in business and to stay in it. Shoutout to Jasmine and Stephanie for helping me plan my very first fashion show in Houston. You guys have no idea how much that show gave me the confidence I needed to jumpstart my event production career. Shoutout to Yvonne and Tammy for encouraging me to move to New York – game changer! Shoutout to Brina for keeping me sane through NY. Shoutout to Rahel and Joe for always being my voice of reason. Shout to Claudia for trusting me with building my favorite brand to date -SWEAT + SOUL Fitness. I’m grateful to be on this journey with you! Shoutout to all my clients for trusting me throughout the years with their brand and their vision.

Website: www.dtrevents.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/dtrevents
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dtrevents/?viewAsMember=true
Twitter: https://twitter.com/dtrevents
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ExperienceDTR
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Dtrevents
Other: www.sweatandsoulfitness.com

Image Credits
Photo Credit: Jamil Taylor (@jamilnotjamal), Justin McGlockton (@iamjtgallery), Cam Alexis (@cam.alexis)