Carrie 'Quizz' Sigurdson: Unquestionably a party promoter
Published:Monday | July 4, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Keisha Shakespeare-Blackmore, Staff Reporter
Last week, Flair gave you the men behind the mother of all party marathons ... Smirnoff Drean Weekend, set for Negril from July 29 to August 1.
This week, and next week, we will look at the women behind the dream.
Are you a veteran of the party series? Have you attended all the parties non-stop in the past? Tell us about the experience at: lifestyle@gleanerjm.com
When you think of party promotion, usually it's a man who is the driver.
But Carrie Sigurdson, popularly known as 'Quizz' is one of the few chosen women in a sea of men at the helm of Smirnoff Dream Weekend. Quizz, better known for her role as co-founder/host on RE TV and creator of Whaddat.com (an entertainment website), is no stranger to the world of party.
Quizz said that even as a young girl, she was always the life of the party, and back then, she would host slumber parties for her birthday, and special events. Being very artistic and a budding graphic designer, Quizz would design her own invitations, accented with hand drawings, and send out to her peers. And even after she moved to London when she was about 13 years old, she continued hosting her little parties.
For Quizz, it was only natural for her to end up doing parties for a living.
the big league
So when she moved back to the island around 1990, her love blossomed even more. Then, before long, her friends began encouraging her to host these parties at a cost. This was advice she took, and by June 2003, she moved into the big league when Yush was born. Being one of the Yush promoters, which is one of the Smirnoff Dream Weekend parties, it was only natural that she became one of the key players of the weekend.
Quizz told Flair that her role for Smirnoff Dream Weekend is focused mostly on marketing, voicing adverts, manning the website and viral marketing
"My role is getting the word out there about the weekend, using social media as well, and having a large following on Twitter and Facebook also helps," explained Quizz.
The Dream team is largely dominated by men, thus for Quizz, being one of three women on the team, she believes the biggest barrier is to be taken seriously in addition to living in a male-dominated society.
"Therefore, I just stick to the marketing and leave the guys to do the business side of things. Plus, I tend to be a rebel, a bit disorderly doing things my way, and I don't like deadlines or meetings, so they just leave me to be Quizz and know that at the end of the day I will do them well."
challenges
The promoter pointed out that while she does her work to the best of her ability, there are challenges with putting on such a huge event. She said that the challenge is to keep things fresh without duplication, as all the different parties have different focuses. But at the end of the day, they all put their heads together and ensure that the patrons are pleased and they stay ahead of the competition. That said, she pointed out the greatest reward for her is when the patrons' reviews are positive.
"It just warms my heart when the patrons are happy."
Quizz is quite the worker bee, and aside from working with Smirnoff Dream Weekend, she has quite a bit on her plate. Having studied at Ontario College of Art and York University in Toronto, majoring in advertising design, she is a graphic designer, baby and adult clothing designer, writer, project manager and a mother. If you wonder how she handles it all, she said it's with the help of her mother and son's father, who are very supportive. Plus, she has a day planner which she cannot function without. And despite all her jobs, she said she makes sure that she spends quality time with her family, and what helps is that she is her own boss and works from home.
As to the future, she tends to take things day by day, believing that today's hard work will pay off tomorrow. Plus, she hopes in three years to be able to purchase her BMW 7-series.