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Shelley Oto has spent 25+ years creating experiences that make people feel something, and building the teams that deliver them at scale.
 

Her edge is cultural credibility, and it's earned, not borrowed. She came up as a professional dancer in the Bay Area's hip-hop and street dance scene. In 1999 she founded One Cypher, one of the first online magazines dedicated to street dance and art culture, and spent years throwing dance battles and producing live music and art events across California. She has never had to fake fluency in the communities brands want to reach, because she has been part of them. Brands trust her to show up in culture without looking like tourists, and artists and communities trust her to protect what makes their world worth showing up for.
 

As an entrepreneur she learned every job in the room. She has since led from every side of the table, across five industries:
 

• Consumer: At Red Bull North America she oversaw cultural programming across 13 territories, including Red Bull Music Academy, Thre3Style and EmSee, in what became the highest-grossing region in Red Bull's global network. The work earned coverage in the New York Times, Rolling Stone and the Wall Street Journal. She has also produced for adidas, LEGO, Hennessy and Taco Bell.

• Entertainment: At Disney Worldwide she led branded entertainment, including Clarins' "Worth the Wrinkle," which won Best in Class at Maker Studios, and the campaign that became Disney's first Creator Conference. At Cashmere she built the experiential team and delivered campaigns for HBO's Euphoria and Watchmen, Jordan Peele's Get Out and Us, and Universal.

• Retail: As Director of Events and Design at Sephora, she led the producers and designers behind every company event from the  Sephora Festival to the three-day Store Manager Conference, with Lady Gaga and Gwen Stefani, to virtual Town Halls, Brand Summit, and brand trainings. 

• Tech and travel: At Airbnb she launched and built the production team for global experiences partnerships, with a team that has ranged from 11-22 people plus in-market agencies across 30+ countries.
   

Her Airbnb team works hand in hand with some of the world's biggest rights holders. They've delivered more than 40 athlete-hosted Olympic and Paralympic experiences, Airbnb's first global music partnership with Lollapalooza across Chicago, Berlin, São Paulo and Mumbai, and the first Tour de France experience series, alongside programs with Art Basel, HYBE and FIFA.

Her real skill is turning a blank page into a program, a team and a playbook. She has led everything from scrappy, self-funded crews to global teams, owning budgets up to $20M and building the processes that let creative work run safely and on time across borders. She hires and grows producers, manages agency networks, and translates between talent, partners and the C-suite.

Having been the founder, the agency and the client, she knows how agencies price work, how brands make decisions and how to make a budget go further.

Her conviction: as more of life moves to screens, the moments people show up for in person matter more than ever. The best experiences do more than entertain. They're unforgettable, they move people, and above all, they make people feel they belong.

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