Meet Claire Hoffman | Writer, Editor & Event Industry Consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Claire Hoffman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Claire, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Like most things worth doing, starting my own media business in 2022 was part practical decision, part leap of faith, and part late-night existential spiral fueled by too much coffee.

After 15 years in staff roles, I hit a point, especially during COVID, where I started rethinking what I wanted my day-to-day to look like. I wanted more creative freedom. I wanted to choose the clients and stories that energized me. And, at the same time, I was getting more and more inbound requests from various companies asking if I could help with their own content strategy on a freelance basis.

Eventually, it just made sense to make it official. So, Claire Hoffman Media LLC was born.

I really love the work I do. At my core, I’m a journalist who focuses on the event, meeting, experiential marketing, and hospitality industries. My readers are primarily event professionals themselves, and I regularly write in-depth case studies on everything from the Oscars to Coachella to Cannes Lions, along with tips-based pieces focused on event strategy, new technology, design trends, and much more.

But going freelance has allowed me to stretch into other lanes, too. Now, I’m also working with a variety of event production companies on everything from marketing blogs and white papers to employee spotlights, award submissions, and social media content. I ghostwrite for execs, moderate panels, and get to collaborate with some of the most creative teams in the business. It’s a mix of journalism, marketing, and events, and I love that every day is different.

Deciding to go freelance definitely wasn’t something I took lightly. The day I made the decision, I sat down and wrote my family a 1,500-word email laying out all the reasons why I was doing it. (They were immediately supportive. In hindsight, I think I was really trying to convince myself.)

I’ve dealt with imposter syndrome for most of my life, but watching my husband take the leap as a freelance comic book writer—and build something incredible from the ground up—really inspired me. Los Angeles is full of people I admire who are inventing their own paths and betting on themselves. Eventually, I realized: Why not me?

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I got my start in New York City as an editorial assistant at BizBash, a B2B trade publication focused on the event industry. At the time, it felt like hitting the journalism jackpot—even though my day-to-day mostly involved calling hundreds of hotels and restaurants to fact check how many people they could accommodate for private events. Not exactly hard-hitting journalism, but it was a foot in the door.

From there, I worked my way up the editorial ladder at BizBash, then made the leap to Redbook magazine as copy chief. Stepping into the world of glossy women’s magazines was a blast (and not just for the free beauty products!), but a couple years later, when BizBash asked me to return as managing editor, I couldn’t say no. I was in my mid-20s, suddenly helping lead a team and shape a brand I loved, and it felt like a huge (and slightly terrifying) opportunity.

During this second stint at BizBash, I stayed full-time for over a decade, eventually becoming executive editor. Even after moving to Los Angeles in 2016 for my husband’s job, I stayed on remotely and kept growing with the company. Now, after going freelance, I still write for BizBash regularly and work with the editorial team in a consulting capacity. They’ve truly been a constant in my career.

Now, I split my time between writing feature stories for outlets like BizBash and creating custom content for event production companies. On the journalism side, I spent my days interviewing event professionals and writing about gatherings of all types. My focus is primarily on highlighting the hard work behind the scenes, and giving event planners a little peek over the fence to find some practical takeaways.

On the marketing side, I ghostwrite blogs and newsletters, manage social channels, and help brands craft their voice. Honestly, I spent a long time turning my nose up at the world of content marketing. But in the last few years, I’ve discovered that journalism and marketing aren’t opposing forces—they’re complementary skill sets. The best marketers are natural storytellers, and the best journalists understand how to sell a story. I’m lucky that these days, my career lets me do both, and I think each side makes the other stronger.

I think what sets me apart, in every side of content creation, is that I listen and am genuinely curious about the answers. I’m not an event professional myself, and I never pretend to be—but I take the time to understand what planners are dealing with: tight budgets, tricky logistics, and the pressure to constantly be innovating. My job is to ask the right questions and tell their stories in a way that’s both inspiring and practical.

The biggest lessons I’ve learned?

1. Stay curious. Everyone has a story, and you get better at this work—and probably most work!—by staying genuinely interested in hearing it.

2. Don’t let ego get in the way. I’ve turned down bigger job titles that didn’t feel aligned with the life I wanted or the kind of work that excites me. Sometimes that has meant working for people younger and less experienced than me. That doesn’t mean they didn’t have anything to teach me.

3. Be open to opportunity, even when it doesn’t look the way you expected.

4. Never underestimate the power of relationships. They’ve shaped and sustained every part of my career.

5. And maybe most importantly: Don’t downplay your own work. I used to brush off what I do by saying, “Oh, I just write about parties.” My husband has (rightfully) banned that phrase from our home. Because the truth is, I write about an industry that builds communities, drives revenue, raises life-saving funds, and brings people together in creative, meaningful, and often life-changing ways. The work that event professionals do is smart, strategic, important, and wildly under-appreciated. I’m so honored to help tell their stories.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I actually got to live this scenario last year, when my husband and I got married here in Los Angeles. We had about 150 friends and family members fly in from all over the country—many of them visiting LA for the very first time. And as someone who spent her 20s in New York City (and definitely used to talk my fair share of trash about LA), planning a weekend full of events for our guests made me realize just how much this city has become home.

I live in Mid-Wilshire, which I think is one of the best neighborhoods for a chill, artsy afternoon. We love walking through the park that wraps around LACMA and the La Brea Tar Pits. Even without buying museum tickets, it’s a beautiful place to sit outside for a while—and always has a dog for you to play with. Don’t miss the free jazz at LACMA on summer Fridays!

Of course, if you do want to go inside, there’s a reason those museums—along with the adjacent Academy Museum, and the Petersen Automotive Museum across the street—have such a stellar reputation.

For dinner, we’re regulars at El Coyote (a classic), and for fancier nights, we head to Mr. Shiloh’s steakhouse, which has a killer patio and a great kosher menu that keeps my husband and his family very happy. Lately, our favorite comfort spot is Rocco’s Neighborhood Pizza, a hole-in-the-wall that feels straight out of my New Jersey teenage years, complete with early-2000s pop playing from the speakers.

If we’re heading to the beach, the people-watching at Santa Monica and Venice is unmatched, but I’ll still always vouch for Redondo Beach, which is quieter, calmer, and just plain gorgeous. We lived there with family for a while when we first moved west, and watching sunsets from that beach on a nightly basis truly healed my NYC-grieving heart. Plus, the Redondo Pier has awesome seafood, cheesy souvenir shops, and—depending on who you’re with—a solid chance of an impromptu psychic reading. (RIP the perfectly retro Redondo Fun Factory arcade; I will mourn you forever.)

Some other favorite spots, in no particularly neighborhood and no particular order:

1. The Garland in North Hollywood – We got married here! It’s so charming and the perfect spot for a staycation. Our guests took over about a third of the rooms last Labor Day weekend, and seeing all our family and friends hanging by the pool with their boozy slushies and enjoying the nightly “dive-in” movies was a highlight of the whole weekend.

2. Hollywood Bowl – There’s nothing better than a summer concert here under the stars.

3. Largo at the Coronet – The lineups are often a surprise and always worth it.

4. Meet in Paris in Culver City – Great for splitting appetizers and catching up with a friend over a bottle of wine.

5. Griffith Observatory – Always one of the most iconic LA photo ops, and for good reason.

6. Universal Studios – Way better than Disneyland. I’d ride that Jurassic Park ride daily if I could.

7. The Den on Sunset – We hosted our wedding welcome party here. It’s cozy, stylish but unfussy, and perfect for groups.

8. One of LA’s many tiny, no-frills theaters – There’s something special about catching a show in a 40-seat black box. You never know what you’re going to get, but it’s always memorable.

9. Malibu Creek State Park – We did our engagement photos there last year. It’s peaceful, gorgeous, and feels like you’re a world away from the city. (I’m still grieving the loss of the Reel Inn seafood shack, which was the best place to stop before or after a day in the park.)

10. The Grove & Farmers Market – Grab dumplings or a slice of pizza before a movie. It’s touristy, but very “only-in-LA.”

11. Rooftop Cinema Club – Outdoor movies under the stars, with skyline views. What could be better?

12. Any branch of the Los Angeles Public Library – I teach an ESL class at the library every Monday afternoon, and I’ll shout out this system forever. The teams work tirelessly to offer so many important resources and programming options for the local community.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Oh, there are so many! One of the best parts of working in an editorial departmetn is the deep bonds you form, especially during those late-night brainstorms when you’re ordering takeout and having a heated debate about the perfect headline pun.

First up, I need to shout out my college journalism professors, like George Miller, Mark Bowden, Kevin Atticks, and the late Andrew Ciofalo. They saw something in me before I fully saw it in myself. I was a shy, self-deprecating kid who loved to write but wasn’t convinced I had the confidence or presence to be a journalist. They taught me the mechanics, but more importantly, they taught me how to trust my own voice.

Then there’s Megan Collins, my first boss, who plucked my resume out of a giant stack back in 2007, right before the financial crash. I sent out hundreds of applications and got exactly one call back—and it was from her. Megan took me under her wing, gave me my first real editorial job, and even brought me along when she got hired at Redbook magazine, which exposed me to a totally different and exciting side of the industry. It’s been over a decade since we last shared an office, but I still hear her lessons in my head on a regular basis.

BizBash founder David Adler and former editor-in-chief Anna Sekula were pivotal, too. David gave me a huge opportunity early in my career to step into a leadership role and help totally reshape the editorial department to match my vision. And Anna? We spent so many late nights in the New York office tweaking cover lines, brainstorming story packages, sketching out redesigns, and so much more. It was exhausting and exhilarating and exactly the kind of creative partnership and challenge I needed in my 20s.

And then there’s my husband, David Pepose. None of this happens without him. He believed in me when I didn’t, encouraged me to take the leap to freelancing, and modeled what it looks like to pursue a creative career with courage and integrity. Oh, and he’s also an award-winning comic book writer and the most wildly talented person I know. He’s my sounding board, my cheerleader, and my favorite brainstorming partner.

Website: https://www.clairehoffmanmedia.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/clairehoffman/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairehoffman/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clairehoffman/

Image Credits
Photo 1: Christie’s Photographic Solutions
Photo 2: Brian Kramer Photography
Photo 3: SPF Studios
Photo 4: Maya Myers Photography
Photo 5: David Mendoza III