Outer Boro Broad sits down with events guru and social media influencer Tracy Kessler to talk about her life’s work, her love of the North Fork and the truth about being an entrepreneur.
Q: How did you come up in the events business?
A: I actually got started through charity work. I was moving pretty quickly up the corporate ladder but was feeling unsatisfied with that the top rung looked like. So, I decided to turn inward to find my passion. After volunteering with a handful of NYC based agencies, I ended up spending my lunch hours at the Revlon Run Walk for Women – answering phones, taking donations and heading up their volunteer program. After 2 years of volunteering weekly, I quit my cushy corporate gig to jump into non-profit event work and I’ve never looked back.
The organization that actually produced the walk – Rehage Entertainment – also started the Voodoo Music Festival during my tenue there. As music is my passion, it was a match made in heaven. Within 2 years of working at Rehage, I became the VP of the company and 3 years later, I left to start TK New York.
TK New York is a full-service event production company that has produced events all over the country. We got our start producing the Maxim Super Bowl parties traveling with the Super Bowl and MLB All Star game each year. Our current* client roster includes the New York City Wine and Food Festival, the Harlem Eat Up Festival, Johnson & Johnson NATA Symposium, Women in the World Summit and many other large scale events.
* Prior to the pandemic
Q: You were a New Yorker before moving to the North Fork (like me!). How was that transition?
A: I actually had a 6-year stopover in Huntington Village between the two. When I left NYC, I wanted to make sure I could have a reasonable commute back for meetings and I also wanted a town that felt metropolitan. Huntington Village fit the bill for both.
I never intended to leave Huntington, but a divorce pushed me out to my great grandmother’s beach cottage in Jamesport in 2017. I was only supposed to be here a year then go back to Huntington, once I had saved enough money to buy another house. I set out renovating my great-grandma Tillie’s cottage DIY style and now every inch of it has my design touch. Throughout the process, I fell in love, not only with the cottage, but the slower way of life out here on the North Fork.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to run a NYC based company from all the way out here (that seemed preposterous) but my amazing staff - and clients - adjusted and we all figured out a way to make it work. I have a hotel in the city that I’ve arranged a corporate deal and during high event season, I stay in the fashion district a few nights each month to take meetings.
With Covid, everyone is virtual and that’s eased most, if not all, of my travel into the city… for now.
Q: Tell me about launching the North Fork Affair?
A: A North Fork Affair is a subsidiary of TK New York. The more I discovered the North Fork, the more I fell in love with the way of life out here, the people and the landscape. In essence, I was having an Affair with the North Fork – hence the name of my new company.
The one thing I felt was missing was more ways to build your own personal community. I was craving intimate events where new friendships would be made, so I decided to create and host these events myself. I chose activities that I wanted to do. I figured if someone was going to buy a ticket to an event that I created, they would probably be the kind of person, I might want to be friends with…. And I was right.
The local response to A North Fork Affair has been more than I could have imagined. I think that is because it was birthed from my own personal journey (documented through my personal Instagram account @nofotownandcountry) and the community watched me fall in love and embrace North Fork Life.
Q: What’s the best part about being a female business owner?
A: Truthfully, this question stumped me at first because I don’t know that being female has much to do with it. I think being your own boss is amazing – no matter the gender. I love that I get to choose which projects we work on and who joins the team for each one. I also love that I get to take vacation whenever I want. (Although I can count on one hand the amount of times I’ve taken a vacation without working during it at some point) The flexibility of time is my absolute favorite part. I work what sometimes feels like 24-7 but it’s on my terms and sometimes it’s from my beach chair.
The worst part is that it ALL falls on your shoulders. The responsibility of making sure your staff has a paycheck and benefits. Understanding taxes, payroll and 5 different types of insurance can be overwhelming at first. Let’s just say you learn A LOT when you take on starting your own business but it’s all worth it, in my opinion.
Q: Being your own boss often means being able to have a vision, but also execute. What is your process like?
A: Usually I start with a mood board to get the vision that’s in my head down on paper, so other people can then help me start to execute it. Then I turn to Excel. Running the numbers is usually next. If the project or idea makes it past these two steps, I usually move to building my team for the project and then setting up weekly All Hands meetings. I give my team freedom to work on their own and use me as a sounding board. It’s most important that they keep me informed of everything they are working on, with the understanding that I have ultimate authority to override any decision that I feel is not in-line with the project vision, as in the end, it’s my name on the work.
Q: What advice would you give to younger women who dream of having their own business?
A: DO IT. GO FOR IT. You will fail at some things but you will succeed at others. And no one is watching you as closely as you think, so when something fails, pick yourself up and start again. The size, shape and direction of TKNY has changed at least 4 times in the 15 years we have been in business. If you can be flexible and follow the work, you will survive.
Also – BE KIND. That goes for both men and women in business. Whoever decided that you had to be cut throat to get ahead in business was dead wrong. I have treated all my clients, vendors and employees with kindness and gratitude and they would all lie down in the middle of the road for me if I asked them to. People want to work with TKNY because they know they will be treated fairly and kindly and they will ALWAYS have fun doing it.
Q: What something no one tells you when you start your own business?
A: Not only are you the president, but you are also the billing department, the sales team, the marketing team and even the cleaning lady. When you own your own business, you have TWO full time jobs. The trade your business deals in and then running the business itself. It takes longer than you think before you can start bringing people on to help with all of those other tasks that make a business successful and let you get back to doing what you love.
Q: What are you currently reading or listening to?
A: I read from Heart Talk by Cleo Wade daily. And I’m waiting for her work book to arrive in the mail! I’m trying to get into Podcasts (I’m late in the game here) so I started with my friend Salina’s podcast called Spinning Plates and I like Oprah’s Soul Series.
Q: Where are some of your favorite spots on the North Fork?
A: Well, the beach is #1 but I imagine you’re asking for establishments.
Favorite Oysters -Little Creek in Greenport
Favorite Farm Stand for cheese and meat - Goodale Farms in Jamesport
Favorite Farm Stand for Veggies – Bayview in Jamesport
Favorite Coffee/Tea shop – Nofo Roco in Southold or SpecialTea House in Greenport
Favorite treat – Nofo Doco Doughtnuts in Mattituck
Favorite Lunch spot – First and South in Greenport or Love Lane Kitchen in Mattituck
Favorite spot to collect Beach Glass and watch the sunset – McCabes Beach in Southold
Favorite Spot to watch the sunrise – (aside from my own community beach) The causeway in Orient
Favorite New Spot – Duryea’s Orient Point
Favorite Dinner Spot – still looking… if you’re a NOFO restaurant and you think you have the best dinner spot, invite me there and I’ll let you know what I think…