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This week’s guest, Julie Bianucci, was only 18 years old, far away from her hometown of Lake Tahoe, NV and fresh out of secretarial school when she went to interview for a job at a company she’d never heard of, MTS, Inc. For over 10 years Julie was Tony Valerie’s Executive Secretary. In addition to telling us about Tony Valerio as a boss and a person, she walks us through the Accounts Payable process for those who want to know.

Following Stan Goman’s initiative to get the Managers together every year, Julie took on the role of Travel and Meetings Department Manager where, with her team, she coordinated the yearly Tower Annual Conferences (TAC) as well as all corporate travel and planning.

At it’s height, a TAC involved making arrangements for over 800 attendees and over 20-25 bands and musical artists each year. Julie tells us about one memorable TAC where one beloved artist who was performing, asked specifically to meet another legendary artist who was famous for staying in their tour bus. Julie also tells us about an artist who threatened to walk because they didn’t like the way their equipment was being handled.

While overseeing TAC, Julie was met each morning by the Hotel’s security team who briefed her on the previous night’s shenanigans, often not giving Security the response they were anticipating or hoping for. Julie also reminds us that these events were held in the 90’s by revealing one of the largest expenses Tower had to pay out of pocket at each Conference.

“He spent his whole life working on staying young” is how she describes Tower Records founder Russ Solomon and fondly recalls her friendship and working relationship with the head of the company she’d never heard of.

Learn all about the behind the scenes logistics of working 19 hour days to make yearly TACs a time to remember.

Ep. 32 Julie Bianucci (Travel & Meetings Department Manager) 52:33 Share

2500 DelMonte Street: The Oral History of Tower Records

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Ep. 32 Julie Bianucci (Travel & Meetings Department Manager)