“Seek The Influencers” 5 Leadership Lessons with Sandy Hammer, Co-founder, AllSeated
Thank you so much for doing this with us! What is your “backstory”?
I was a corporate planner for 15 years in the high-tech space and I always found myself expressing my frustration over the fact that I just knew we could digitize our industry and build it into something amazing. So once Uber digitized the taxi industry, that was officially it for me. I knew then and there that it was time to make a change for the better in the event industry, so I found myself an incredibly technology partner and off we went. The rest, as they say, is history.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
I travel a great deal so I encounter many amusing situations along the way, but this one is my favorite.
Uber was an early influencer for me at the start of AllSeated and as I traveled more, I began to read about how Uber was really changing the world. I myself became a huge Uber user, having experienced hundreds of rides in my travel.
As we all know, they are waiting for you right in front of the address from which you ordered, and one day, I was busy on my phone texting when I get into the black town car I had ordered. I close the car door and the drive is on the phone talking as we take off. Within 5 seconds, he looks in the rear mirror and says, “Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my car?”
I introduce myself and he quickly hits the brakes, pulls over and exclaims, “I’m not an Uber driver- get out of my car!”
On that note, I always remember to ask the driver if the car is, in fact, for me.
