Meet Rosanna Machado, CEO of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant

In the days following the landmark event, Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant, Audley sat down with its CEO Rosanna Machado to discuss her experience of organising the ceremonial extravaganza.

What were your ambitions for the event?

Whilst our remit was to pull off a spectacular event to celebrate Her Majesty’s 70 years on the throne and thank the nation, for me it was always more than the event itself. It was about how we could leave communities in a better place than where we found them. 

When you bring people together for a landmark event, you have an amazing springboard to create a positive impact. I wanted to seize the opportunity, dedicating time to thinking about the ways that we could do good for others. For me, it was important that our creative projects lived on in the communities, that we gave opportunities to young people through Creative Access and offered our left over items to schools across the country. 

I hope that the reach of the pageant will be more than people who watched it on the day, that it will have a lasting impact on communities.

What was your greatest challenge? 

Hybrid working had its benefits, especially because we had team members located across the country. However, it did pose as one of the biggest challenges in regard to problem solving and creative sessions because being together, in-person, is vital. Although, this resolved itself during the last few months leading up to the event when were all working together in a big office.

Another challenge was being part of a big weekend and finding our place within the celebrations. Fortunately, each day was very different creatively and the benefit for us was that we were the most bonkers of them all, so we sat in our own place. 

What do you hope people felt and thought on the day?

I hope people felt joy, pure joy. We wanted to make people smile, to evoke that spine-tingling feeling. Whether people were watching it live, on the TV, or on their phones we wanted everyone to share in the spirit and aura of a collective experience.

What are your biggest takeaways from the event?

At this moment in time, it doesn’t feel real. In fact, it feels very surreal - it doesn’t quite feel like we have actually done it. I have lived and breathed this event for so long and now that it is suddenly done, I have been left with an odd feeling.  

The feeling that I took away with me was pride. The hours the team put in and their dedication and determination to make it the best it could be was inspiring and to see how it all ran on the day was amazing - I’m very proud of them. 

What would be your advice to people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?

My biggest advice is to be empathic and to listen to people. The more you can hone your listening skills to really understand other people and what is going on for them, the easier it will be to work collectively to find a solution that will lead to a better outcome. 

I believe that being a leader is about empowering, enabling, and supporting your colleagues to fly within a safe and supportive working environment. You have to give people the space and chance to be the best they can be, but for them to always know that you are there should they need it.