Sarah Varley, Contributing Editor, Special Events

A natural in her vocation as an event marketing and strategic communications manager, at the Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson, Sarah managed the successful title sponsorship program for the Ericsson World Cup of Freestyle and the company’s involvement in the inaugural Trader’s Challenge, a stock market charity fundraiser. Her efforts managing trade shows also paid off in 1999 when she received the Best Exhibit award at the Canadian Wireless Show.

In 2001, as part of Ericsson’s global Entertainment Marketing strategy, Sarah planned and executed 12 premiere screenings of the movie Tomb Raider across North and Latin America. Her event marketing skills also made her the obvious choice to address the 2001 Corporate Sponsorship & Strategic Marketing Conference in Toronto, and host a round table on Maximizing Opportunities in Entertainment at the 2001 IEG Sponsorship Conference in Chicago.

As a volunteer, her 15-year unstoppable passion with tennis and her outstanding organizational skills has taken her from ballperson through a number of increasingly responsible positions with the Canadian Open Tennis Championships. In her current role, Sarah is responsible for Player Hospitality and in 2002 she was honoured among hundreds as the Volunteer of the Year.

Inspired by the power of Experience Marketing to influence an audience and the notion that society could be different if people had a greater sense of self-worth, Sarah Varley left Ericsson in 2001 and formed The Esteem Dream and Esteemed Events with Jennifer Hilborn. Esteemed Events' clients include Canadian FundRaiser, PROFIT Magazine - a division of Rogers Media, eservus, The Canadian Freestyle Ski Team and The Anemia Institute. At the same time, Varley and Hilborn have built the first project of The Esteem Dream, their esteem-building event series, The Girl Event, scheduled to launch in Toronto Fall 2003.