By Holly Pierson
Junior, Professional Writing

One Purdue graduate who jokes she's just a girl from a village in Ohio now works in Los Angeles planning every aspect of some events for NBA players and other celebrities.

Aubrey Walton, B.A., 2007, is an associate of special projects and events at the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission.

Walton's duties with the commission include event registration; recruiting, training and managing volunteers; gathering and cataloguing items for silent auctions; handling logistics for speakers; and all other aspects of event management. She is also responsible for assisting in the editorial production and distribution of all LASEC printed materials and press releases.

At a recent event, Basketball 101 with the Los Angeles Lakers, Walton did everything from designing and ordering gift bags and T-shirts to corresponding with players, coaches, celebrities, and popular TV, radio and print media. Her experience was one of a kind because she not only had to lead the players and coaches at the event, but she also had to set up interviews with the press while being the point person for over 50 volunteers.

"You know you've done a good job when Phil Jackson and Derek Fisher give you a hug at the end of the night," Walton said of the Lakers' coach and key player. "All the stress is worth it for this once in a lifetime experience."

Walton's path to working with the commission began the summer of her freshman year when she visited a family friend in Los Angeles. She came away from the experience planning to spend a summer working in the city during college.

During her junior year, Walton applied for a summer internship with Life Sports Management in Beverly Hills. After navigating six interviews, including two in person in Los Angeles, Walton received a phone call notifying her that she had been chosen for the position. That summer, she worked with NBA guard Baron Davis and producer Cash Warren. As Davis' publicist's assistant, Walton went with Davis to numerous TV show appearances, radio interviews, parties and other events.

Her greatest accomplishment with Life Sports Management was planning an entire three-day weekend centralized around Rodeo Drive and a celebrity basketball game. The "LA Stars Charity Event" was attended by over 50 NBA players and other celebrities.

"Doing a huge A-list event like this as a 21-year-old college intern?" Walton described herself as thinking at the time. "We don't have these things in Ohio."

Nonetheless, Walton's event was successful and provided her with industry contacts, including her current boss, Kathy Schloessman, which led to her post-college job at the commission.

Networking is crucial to success in Los Angeles, Walton said.

"I now 'network, network, network' in both my professional and personal life," she said.

She also stressed the importance of being able to adjust to new and unfamiliar circumstances. Success in Los Angeles depends on people's willingness to go outside their comfort zones.

Walton's culture shock during the transition from West Lafayette to Los Angeles was minimized because she traveled nationally and internationally with her family, but she still had to adjust to the California lifestyle.

"I just dealt with it because I knew there was no turning back, and if I was going to pursue my new life in L.A., I had to deal with it," Walton said.