FlowJam: Behind the Experience

I sat down with Laurie Kirby, the founder and producer of FestForums - the conference where I first met her, andwhere I got to sit on my very first panel about scaling an event from nothing. Laurie spent 20 years as a lawyerbefore landing on the board of a film festival in Newport, Rhode Island, and that detour led her to build agathering place for an industry that, in her words, used to work in silos.
• She walked me through her two non-negotiables - budget and mission. She uses her budget as herroadmap, has been debt-free since her second year, and warns against the "mission creep" that shows upwith every shiny object.
• One of my favorite lines from her - "Festival producers see a field and they see a festival. I look at a fieldand I see a lawsuit." Her first question for anyone who wants to start a festival is simply: why?
• She got real about her hardest early lesson - not trusting herself enough at the start, and slowly learningthat she "really did have the goods to do it." It's why she leads her team with kindness: be kind, be nice,be helpful.
• What stuck with me most - when I asked how live events have changed the way she sees herself, she saidshe can finally say she's proud of who she is, and that the skill that matters most to her is kindnesstowards others.
Laurie also shared where she sees events heading in the next 5 to 10 years, from data and safety to niche festivalsand the rise of sober experiences. FestForums celebrates its 10th anniversary February 3-5, 2027 in Santa Barbara.If you've ever looked at a field and pictured a festival - this one's for you.LinksLaurie Kirby / FestForums
• Website: https://festforums.com/• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/festforums• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/festforums/
 
Meredith Walsh / FlowJam
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowjamfestival/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindyourintuition/• Website: https://mindyourintuition.com/• FlowJam Festival tickets: https://flowjamfestival.com/
 

I sat down with Melissa McKinney, our Flow Jam 2025 Saturday night headliner - singer-songwriter, educator, event curator, and dog mom to the scene-stealing Aioli. Melissa's path into event curation started almost the same way Flow Jam did: as a fundraiser born out of love for someone in trouble.
- Her first big event was a fundraiser in her 20s for Madison, a seven-year-old in her community fighting cancer - the moment she realized music could rally a whole community
- From there: founding WTF (Women to the Front Music Festival), organizing for LEAF Festival, running her own music school in West Virginia for almost 20 years, and working AVL Sounds Fest
- A confidence journey four decades in the making, and her whirlwind next chapter: she just sold her business, quit her job, and is throwing her first Asheville into her singing career
I asked Melissa the question I ask everyone: tell me about a live event that changed the way you see yourself. Her answer stuck with me. Listen to find out more. 
Melissa McKinney
Website: https://melissamckinneymusic.com/
Meredith Walsh / FlowJamInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowjamfestival/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindyourintuition/Website: https://mindyourintuition.com/Tickets: https://flowjamfestival.com/

Answering my signature question posed to each of my guests:
How has a live event changed the way you see yourself?

I sat down with Shawn Verbrugghe, co-owner of Wunderland Resort, right after we wrapped Wonder Weekend, our 4th of July event at his property in Old Fort. Shawn's built a lot of things in his life - a pub cycle, an escape room speakeasy, and now this eco-adventure resort - but what struck me most was hearing how he got here.
 
He shares how a World Bank career that looked good on paper started feeling hollow, and the moment he knew he had to leave it behind
A memory of walking around during Flow Jam and watching someone's whole body shift - shoulders back, eyes lighting up like a kid seeing something new
He talks about saying yes to hosting us and feeling "alive again" - like a part of him woke back up after years of doing the same thing
We land on why smaller, more intimate gatherings (he's thinking 150 people, max) create a different kind of magic than bigger festivals ever could
 
I asked Shawn the question I ask everyone: how has a live event changed the way you see yourself? His answer wasn't tidy, and I loved that about it.
What's an experience that changed how you see yourself, even if you can't quite explain how?
 
Links
Shawn Verbrugghe
Wunderland Resort: https://www.wunderlandresort.com/
Wunderland on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wunderlandresort/
 
Meredith Walsh / FlowJam
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowjamfestival/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindyourintuition/
Website: https://mindyourintuition.com/
FlowJam Festival tickets: https://flowjamfestival.com/

I sat down with Jennifer Pickering right as she was looking back on 30 years of building LEAF (Lake Eden Arts Festival) - and honestly, this conversation left me full. Jennifer founded LEAF in 1995 after the folks running the old Black Mountain Festival essentially told her "you're going to buy my festival," and from there she built something that brought over 600,000 people through Lake Eden.
 
She walked me through the "LEAF formula" - baking healing arts and poetry into a festival at a time when almost nobody was doing that, and building something intergenerational from day one (babies to grandmas, just like she pictured).
One of my favorite stories - the longtime "leafer" named Charlie who turned out to be an international mall developer named Charles the rest of the year, and who told her Lake Eden was the one place he got to be whoever he wanted to be.
She got quiet talking about the friends and elders she's said goodbye to just this past week, and how that grief keeps reminding her how precious it is that we still get to gather, sing, and drum together.
What stuck with me most - a boy named Hope, from one of LEAF's international culture programs, telling her "I didn't know myself until I learned my traditions." That's the whole thing, isn't it.
 
LEAF is transforming into the Lake Eden Reunion this October, and Jennifer's book, Live Life Like a Festival, launches there too. If you've ever built something for decades, then had to ask what it becomes next - this one's for you.
What have you built that's ready to become something new?
 
Links
Jennifer Pickering
Website: https://www.jenniferpickering.com/
Lake Eden Reunion (book launch event): https://lakeedenretreat.com/reunion/
LEAF Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leafglobalarts/
 
Meredith Walsh / FlowJam
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowjamfestival/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindyourintuition/
Website: https://mindyourintuition.com/
FlowJam Festival tickets: https://flowjamfestival.com/

Erin Haag has sold two companies, written a bestselling book on pricing, and hosted retreats everywhere from Tanzania to a 24-bedroom chateau in France - and she still remembers what it felt like to undercut her own prices out of fear. This one is part masterclass, part permission slip for anyone who's ever felt guilty about charging for their work.
 
Erin breaks down the three types of buyers (low, mid, and high ticket) and why the middle is actually the hardest place to sell from
She opens up about landing in the hospital from overworking her underpriced Pilates studio, and the pricing overhaul that led to a 40x sale
Meredith shares the moment a $25 donation-turned-$60-ticket got her called a "sellout," and how that criticism has followed every price change since
Erin gets emotional describing her first trip to Tanzania, the "is this real?" moment with her daughter in the Serengeti, and how she still channels that trip whenever fear creeps back in
The two land on a simple truth: impact and income aren't opposites - they're correlated
 
If you've ever quietly resented an event you poured everything into because the math never worked out, this conversation might change how you think about your next one.
 
Links
Erin Haag
Website: https://pricingoverhaul.com/
Book, Give Yourself a Raise: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C1NPNCR6
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pricingoverhaul/
 
Meredith Walsh / FlowJam
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowjamfestival/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mindyourintuition/
Website: https://mindyourintuition.com/
FlowJam Festival tickets: https://flowjamfestival.com/