April Ymbert.

The story

First one in, last one out. Then she built the company.

April's career is a fifteen-year progression through hospitality, nightlife, live entertainment, festivals, food and beverage, experiential events and large-scale production.

She came up in rooms where you learn quickly how hospitality works under pressure. Field marketing for the 9:30 Club and Merriweather Post Pavilion. Day-of-show operations for a 3,000-capacity room at Echostage. Artist hospitality for Live Nation, filling riders for national acts and building the inventory systems behind them. Festival seasons spent on site operations, VIP programs, artist relations and concessions. Those years taught her both sides of the business: the guest-facing side, and the operational machinery behind it.

In 2017 she joined one of Miami's luxury catering and event design houses, where over five years she planned and executed more than one hundred events a year, ran food, beverage and event operations inside two of the city's most exclusive art venues, and managed projects with six and seven figure budgets from brief to execution. A season leading the South Florida region for a cocktail events company followed: a headquarters built out, forty people hired and trained.

Then came the biggest evolution: building her own companies. She founded Hospitality Queen in 2023 to bring together everything she had spent years working across, and created LuxeSip Co. in 2024 to go deeper into the glass. Together they have carried her into Formula 1 Miami, Art Basel, major spirits portfolios, luxury fashion and jewelry, cultural institutions, festivals and private events.

These days she splits her time between the floor and the blueprint: on site when it counts, and upstream of the event the rest of the time, where the decisions that make or break a night actually get made.

1. 2023 to present

   Founder + CEO

   Hospitality Queen + LuxeSip Co. / Miami

   Hospitality, event production and creative operations across F&B, guest experience, VIP hospitality, production, logistics, staffing and creative direction. LuxeSip Co. adds cocktail and zero-proof development, beverage programming, premium bar operations and spirit-brand activations. Consulting clients include a leading Miami culinary and event design house, where operational consulting grew into cross-functional work across Operations, Design, Sales, Kitchen and Warehouse.

2. 2023

   Food + Beverage Manager / Event Concierge

   MACRO Art Week Miami / a private Miami social club

   Ran daily food and beverage for an art-week season: kitchen and bar standards, ordering, budget and staff training. Built a new venue's sales and operations framework, from pricing strategy and sales materials to SOPs, a staff handbook and KPI reporting.

3. 2022 to 2023

   Regional Manager

   Cocktail Academy / Miami

   Managed sales, operations and on-site production for all South Florida events. Planned and executed the buildout of the Miami headquarters, warehouse protocol and inventory systems. Accountable for event budgets, P&L, permits and COIs. Recruited and trained forty team members.

4. 2017 to 2022

   Event Creator + Venue Manager

   Thierry Isambert Culinary + Event Design / Miami

   Planned and executed 100+ events a year across corporate, experiential, high-end social, luxury weddings and Art Basel, representing $10M in sales. Managed F&B and event operations at Superblue and The Bass, including thirteen events at The Bass during Art Basel 2018. Created menus, design proposals, venue decks, contracts, timelines, floor plans and SOPs.

5. 2010 to present

   Event Operations + Hospitality

   Festivals, venues and brands / Miami, Washington, D.C., Baltimore

   Independent work across Formula 1 Miami, Ultra Music Festival, Live Nation, MGM National Harbor, CID Entertainment, Firefly, Moonrise and Life In Color: on-site logistics, food and beverage, concessions, artist relations, VIP programs, transportation and conference management. Artist hospitality at The Fillmore Silver Spring.

6. 2013 to 2014

   Assistant General Manager

   Echostage / Washington, D.C.

   Day-of-show operations for a 3,000-capacity room, supporting the General Manager and VIP Manager. Grew revenue through VIP table sales and bottle service.

7. 2011 to 2016

   Field Marketing + Event Contracting

   9:30 Club / I.M.P. / Merriweather Post Pavilion / CWPR / Baltimore + D.C.

   Field marketing for 1,200 to 20,000 capacity concert venues with a 100-person street team across three states and 200+ events. Logistics and marketing plans for special events and festivals, and relationships with 400+ retailers.

8. 2010

   Bachelor of Arts, Communication

   McDaniel College / Maryland

   Followed by graduate coursework in music business at Berklee College of Music.