It’s Friday night, and while most college kids are seeking out a party worth the cover, theater senior Sherard Briscoe is busy hyping up his friends and fellow students to head to the Republic New Orleans. The bigger the crowd, the bigger the paycheck.
Many would find Briscoe’s Job a dream job. He makes his money partying with friends. Balancing partying and school is a must for Briscoe. However, since most of his events are held on weekends, his work does not affect his ability to keep up with school and stay involved.
Briscoe unintentionally landed his job as a promoter after throwing a successful 18th birthday party at Café Prytania.
When his friend and fellow promoter saw that he could bring a crowd of 150 people to the cafe on a Wednesday night, he wanted to see what Briscoe could do with Friday Throwback nights at the Republic.
“I’ve been working there a little bit over a year now. I just started promoting for it, and it’s fun. I get paid to go out and party,” Briscoe said.
According to Briscoe, the Republic averages 700 people every Friday night. This insures Briscoe a set amount of income every night he promotes, whether his efforts are successful
or not.
When he first started promoting, Briscoe would make sure that he was present for every one of his events throughout the entire night. The consistency of his late nights out worried his parents at first.
“When I first started, my mom was like ‘I don’t know about this.’ I used to stay out till 4 a.m. because the Republic doesn’t close ‘til then.” Briscoe said.
As time passed, however, his parents slowly began to accept the hours that came with the job.
“It took a while; it’s over a year now. Every time I walk out the door at midnight, they see me with my Throwback wristband and everything. Sometimes they say, ‘Why don’t you just stay in,’ because they know I don’t have to physically be there,” Briscoe said.
Although it is not required of him, Briscoe makes an appearance at almost all the events that he advertises.
“You would expect me to be there because I’m the one talking about, ‘Hey, come party with me,’ or ‘Hey, I’ll buy you a drink.’ I make sure people come out. It would be kind of strange if I promoted a party and I’m not there.”
The job comes with perks that any nightclub goer would enjoy, including access to VIP, drink specials and the ability to keep his friends from waiting in long lines. However, Briscoe’s job does not always keep his friends too happy.
“People complain about my Twitter account, how I have over like 20,000 tweets,” Briscoe said.
As a promoter, Briscoe’s job depends on the preparation he does before the date of the event. In order to spread the word about upcoming events, he makes use of every social media site available to him. Briscoe makes sure to create Facebook events, tweet and text his friends. While social media helps him to increase his income, he is forced to sacrifice some things with it.
Due to his heavy use of social media, Briscoe has become associated with his Twitter username @flybro. People look to @flybro for the hottest clubs, free drink cards at the door and other specials.
In an attempt to boost his success rate, Briscoe had to remove any exclusion to his Facebook and Twitter.
In order to have the ability to reach a larger crowd, he has adapted to accepting anyone as his Facebook friend and leaves all other social sites open to the public eye.
Briscoe’s social network sites no longer serve as a form of personal enjoyment where he can keep up with his friends. With hundreds of followers and Facebook friends he doesn’t personally know, social networks have become just another way to get work done.
“I’m always Facebooking about them [events], always tweeting about it and just making sure I’m inviting people to Facebook events, and making sure people are coming to the venue,” Briscoe said. “Make sure you say ‘Flybro’ at the door and bring some friends.”
