Wesley Cullen is a fascinating and full of adventure professional that enjoys every minute of her life. She’s the General Manager of the Puerto Rican Coliseum: José Miguel Agrelot. The Puerto Rican Coliseum is the most important arena on the Island. In this venue important artist such as Celine Dion, Andrea Bocelli, Usher, Guns and Roses, Diana Ross has performed. “Coliseo de Puerto Rico, a Premier Multipurpose Arena, welcomes you to enjoy a new concept that serves as the setting for higher entertainment in the Caribbean, and Central and South America. In a cosmopolitan Hato Rey setting, the avant-garde facilities will offer seating for 18,000 people with state-of-the-art sound, lighting, acoustic and theatrical systems. More events will be able to tour in Puerto Rico, thanks to never-before available features, such as an international–sized ice surface configured to NHL standards, with the capacity for any on-ice traveling show and also configured to NBA standards” – coliseodepuertorico.com (2007).
When I called her to ask if she can give me an interview for my class she immediately said: “Of course Jose, I will love to chat with you about my ‘adventure’ as a entertainment professional; I’m going to share with you so many things; so be prepare”. Mrs. Cullen was born in Spain then her parents brought her to USA when she has spent most of her life. “I am a graduated history student. I never study Communications or Entertainment business. I never dreamed of that. During my days in college I saved some money and when I finally graduated I traveled the world learning cultures, dialects, and having beautiful experiences. When the money was over I had to come home and started looking for a job to save money again. All the jobs I found at that time were regarding to the events and live shows. I started to learn a lot about this fascinating industry and then one day the WWF called me and suddenly I became one of their production coordinators. Then, I started to grow in this important company and worked with immigrations affairs, tour management –I visited the entire world by second time and for free– and then one day the Vice President quit and I became the new head of the office”.
Mrs. Cullen never dreamed to be in Puerto Rico. Although she wanted to spend her life in a country that offered to her three things: “close to the beach, learning Spanish and gaining dollars”, she said with a big and humble smile o her face. Mrs. Cullen was called by her ex boss of WWF (her mentor) to come to the Island and be the event director of this massive venue. She accepted the job an immediately she started to work, and then she became auxiliary general manager, and finally the general manager. “This experience brought me a lot more. I started to do things that I never dreamed to do like management of budgets, dealing with sponsors, taxes, distribution, contracts, the finance of the venue, classification of clients, and all that within a different culture, the Puerto Rican culture. I also had to learn how to work the air conditioner conducts”.
Another job Mrs. Cullen has to get done is to take care of her customers: “Every body wants to make a deal, specially the promoters. I have rules here but also I like to listen to those deals. My clients are very important to me because they are going to invest their money to produce their live show or event. Customer service is always available in this venue”. Also regarding to the future of this market she said: “The future of live events is great for the moment. People like to get out of their houses and have fun. Concerts and artists can fill the need of many people, that’s why they came to the events”.
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