The Pavilion is fortunate to have several very special events coordinators each with diverse and interesting backgrounds.
Alicia O’Brien, one of our events coordinators, grew up in the San Fernando valley and graduated from Granada Hills High School. Her mom Marilyn was a background singer for Neil Diamond and her dad Cubby was an original Mouseketeer who also became the drummer for The Carpenters, and on many television variety shows. Alicia went with her dad to rehearsals for live shows and loved to sit for hours watching all the behind the scenes activities that went on.
As a teenager, Alicia knew that she wanted to do something in television or film production. She got her break by working for Dick Clark Productions, doing many award shows like The American Music Awards, The Oscars and numerous variety shows. She worked her way up and became a production manager for several production companies in Hollywood. She enjoyed being in charge of all of the logistics for each show, hiring camera crews and making sure the day stayed on schedule.
Alicia worked in television for over 25 years, sometimes 16-18 hours a day. She eventually moved from Hollywood to the Palm Springs area but still had the passion for showbiz, so she started working for public events. She had so much fun doing city tree lightings, easter egg hunts and over 15 city events per year. She loved the creative aspects that live events provided, coming up with event ideas and seeing them through from the beginning to the end. She believes “Seeing all of the people in the community truly enjoy an event I worked on was so rewarding."
Alicia has been married to Tom, who she met in show business, and they have been married for 20 years. She loves animals and has always had cats and dogs. They love to travel with their dog. They have been on tons of road trips (her husband always finds the best roadside attractions, like the world's biggest fork, biggest ball of twine and biggest totem pole among a few. They've traveled to China where they walked the Great wall of China, visited Japan, Italy, many trips to Hawaii and are soon planning another European trip which will include Paris and Austria. There have also been many family trips to Oregon and St. Louis Missouri for family holidays and celebrations.
Alicia and Tom moved to Ventura at the beginning of the pandemic. Ventura was always just an hour drive from where they lived in the past and they often came for the weekend to enjoy the beaches and cool weather. They decided they wanted to try living in Ventura, so they made the move. She loves the climate and living near the ocean, but decided she still liked working events, so she ended up getting a job at The Poinsettia Pavilion. “Helping people come up with ideas for their event is so rewarding. I've met so many wonderful people working here. Meeting an engaged couple and going over all of their dream wedding details and then seeing them on the biggest day of their lives as a married couple delights me. Working with such a great team of people at The Poinsettia Pavilion is the icing on the cake.”
In her spare time, she enjoys painting, cooking classes, photography and dancing. One of her favorite escapes is to get on a sailboat or any boat for that matter and be on the water at the ocean or at a lake. She and Tom often go on boat tours or rent a boat for the afternoon and there is usually a daily trip to the beach for her dog's walk.
“I absolutely love living and working in Ventura, especially working with Margarida and the Pavilion staff.”
RICH SPRAGUE
Rich is responsible for the Pavilion marketing. He created our business rebrand, including the design of our new logo, the production of our marketing materials, and the development of our new website. He is extremely passionate towards the complete marketing and sales process. In addition to his Master’s Degree in Web Design & New Media, he has a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and has been writing articles since high school. Rich's email is rich@richsprague.com.
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