Unexpected Connections
Unexpected Connections (UC) is a dynamic event series that brings together visionary thinkers, creators, and innovators across disciplines to spark transformative ideas. UC celebrates the power of creative collisions—where artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, and activists converge to share insights, challenge assumptions, and forge unexpected connections. More than a conference, it’s a curated space for radical cross-pollination, pairing global luminaries with emerging voices to explore how creativity drives progress.
Attendees—from cultural leaders to boundary-pushing makers—come together to dissect patterns, reimagine possibilities, and turn abstract connections into real-world impact. Whether through live discussions, spontaneous networking, or intimate dinners, the series reveals how the most groundbreaking ideas often emerge at the intersection of seemingly unrelated fields. Unexpected Connections doesn’t just inspire; it equips change-makers with fresh perspectives, unlikely allies, and the tools to turn "what if" into "what’s next."
Cassy has played a pivotal role in shaping Unexpected Connections across multiple editions:
In 2018, she served as Stage Manager, overseeing speaker coordination, A/V execution, and seamless presentation flow while designing the stage experience. Her back-of-house leadership ensured flawless timing and technical execution.
At the height of the pandemic in 2020, Cassy produced a groundbreaking virtual fundraiser, uniting speakers across three continents in a 7-hour livestream that raised $20K+ for creative initiatives and BLM relief efforts.
For the 2023 edition, she led end-to-end production an intimate thought-leader dinner and the planning of a full-scale conference, handling everything from venue design to speaker curation and experiential logistics.
Each iteration reflects Cassy's unique ability to adapt platforms (live/virtual/hybrid) while maintaining the event's core mission of forging unexpected creative collisions.
Unexpected Connections 2023
Catalyzing the Creative Economy
The 2023 Unexpected Connections conference united Long Beach's most innovative thinkers—urban planners, cultural leaders, and entrepreneurs—for a transformative exploration of creativity as economic engine. Emceed by Rolling Stone's Tim Chan and featuring speakers like Mayor Rex Richardson and Han Santana-Sayles, the event revealed how California's creative sector drives 14.9% of statewide GDP while spotlighting successful models from Meow Wolf, Shinola, and Smorgasburg LA. This gathering of placemakers and policymakers demonstrated how cultural investment fuels urban revitalization, charting Long Beach's course as a destination where art and enterprise thrive in symbiosis.
The Perfectly Imperfect Time to Start
Perfection is the enemy of progress. At our intimate 2023 Unexpected Connections Dinner, over 30 creators, entrepreneurs, and innovators gathered at Long Beach's Psychic Temple to celebrate the power of imperfect beginnings. Over Chef Anthony Wang’s curated menu, guests shared raw, intimate stories of their own false starts and leaps of faith—each conversation captured in one-on-one interviews that became artifacts of creative courage.
The evening's conversations revealed a universal truth: every guest's greatest work emerged not from perfect conditions, but from the courage to begin imperfectly. Through shared courses and raw storytelling, we dismantled the myth of "ready" – proving the most extraordinary connections happen when we start before we're prepared.
2020 Unexpected Connections
It All Adds Up
As the world grappled with isolation, Unexpected Connections redefined creative solidarity through a boundary-breaking virtual fundraiser that spanned six time zones. This seven-hour digital gathering brought together chefs, activists, writers and artists across continents, raising over $20,000 for COVID-19 relief and Black Lives Matter while proving that small actions collectively create seismic impact. The event thrived on spontaneous connections—Top Chef's Kristen Kish traded survival strategies with retailer James Whitner, while food writer Evan Kleiman and author Craig Mod uncovered surprising parallels between walking and cooking. Artist David Choe contributed a raw, pre-recorded meditation that became the emotional centerpiece, challenging viewers to examine their own journeys.
What began as an adaptation to lockdown became a masterclass in digital intimacy. Speakers from Hong Kong to London passed the virtual mic in real-time, their stories flowing seamlessly across time zones as the livestream chat evolved into its own collaborative artwork. Each donation triggered dynamic visualizations, transforming generosity into public spectacle. More than just a fundraiser, this global experiment demonstrated how technology could foster unexpected human connections when physical gatherings were impossible, leaving participants with a lasting blueprint for creative community-building in turbulent times.
2018 Unexpected Connections
Unlearning to Learn Again
The 2018 Unexpected Connections conference shattered creative conventions with its radical theme: Unlearning to Learn Again. In a defining moment, design legend John Maeda beamed in as a hologram for a transcendent dialogue with Intertrend CEO Julia Huang, their pixelated yet profound exchange embodying the event's spirit of disrupting norms. The day-long immersion united provocateurs like artist David Choe, Uniqlo’s John Jay, journalist Helen Zia, and Staple Design’s Jeff Staple to expose how their greatest breakthroughs came from unlearning—not mastery. Through fiery panels, 300+ attendees shed creative armor, discovering innovation begins with letting go. The hologram keynote wasn’t just tech spectacle; it was a metaphor for the event’s core truth: to create the future, we must first escape the frames of the past.
Featured in OC Weekly.
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