On any given day, you can find Morgan Prewitt up with the sun, putting out fires.
As an events specialist, there’s always something to respond to, coordinate or double check, especially when you’re at the helm. Prewitt knows this firsthand, understandably since she’s the Senior Director of Event Management and Operations for the Democratic National Convention, one of the country’s biggest events of the year.
The convention is reportedly anticipated to be attended by between 5,000 and 7,000 delegates and alternate delegates.
Vice President Kamala Harris and her newly announced running mate, Gov. Tim Walz will likely take centerstage per reports. President Biden will likely be there as well. So how does one land a job that puts her at the helm of hosting at three of the most important people in the world? Prewitt can tell you: Black women.
“I attribute every single step in my career to all of my mentors, to all of the women of color, to all of the people that have come before me that have truly laid the groundwork, who have poured into me, who have answered my questions and heard my cries,” Prewitt tells ESSENCE. The Howard University graduate says the catalyst for her career was a flyer she saw in the hallway for an event put on by the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA).
According to Data USA, just 9% of meeting, convention, and event planners were Black in 2022. White people made up 74.3% of the workforce, with 78.9% of those being women and 21.1% men.
“There were these dynamic women of color talking about their lives as event planners and hearing that made me think I can do this. I do it already. And these women look like me.”
From the moment she saw that flyer, Prewitt hit the ground running. Not even 35 yet, Prewitt has held leadership positions at Amazon Web Services and the McCormick Place in Chicago, the country’s largest convention venue. Despite planning events that span from concerts for global superstars to business conferences, Prewitt says her training has led her to be prepared for anything, including an event that will be watched by world.
“Every event is different in its own right,” she tells ESSENCE. “There’s a different set of stakeholders, a different set of sponsors and different people that you tag in. But I think all events have that underlying passion {you tap into.} If you are made for it, if you want to do it, if you love what you do, you get excited every time. Whereas some people with any event, not just this one or not just other events at Amazon or McCormick Place, some people do get nervous, and it’s fine to have anxiety. But this is where I come alive. I am excited for the countdown.”