Joanne Khawaja
Jo brings more than 21 years’ experience in the Australian food and lifestyle events sector. Her career commenced in the publishing industry, curating and producing food and lifestyle events for leading titles such as “Good Taste”, “Inside Out”, “Taste”, “delicious”, “Vogue Living” “Vogue Australia” “GQ” to name a few. Jo has managed and consulted on the community and lifestyle elements of multiple major event series across the country.
They include:
For NewsCorp: A continuing seven-year engagement managing over 100 events to date across the country for Australia’s leading premium, mass food and travel brands – “Escape”, “delicious” and “Donna Hay”, taste.com.au; with family-friendly events such as the live theatre activation within the Good Food and Wine Show attracting 30,000 attendees over a three-day long weekend.
For American Express: Launching and delivering the American Express “delicious Month Out” program in 2020 and 2021. Held in three capital cities, the program involves over 15 events and 300 retailer offers to help increase foot traffic and spend within the hospitality industry.
For the Noosa Eat & Drink Festival: Managing all aspects of Olsson’s Salt activation as well as “delicious” and “Taste” activations, with those events helping attract around 20,000 people to the four-day festival. Within the Olsson’s Salt activation award-winning pastry chef, Anna Polyviou, was engaged to curate a mix of masterclasses with family-friendly recipes.
For the Western Sydney Parklands Trust: Curating a “50 years in the Making” program to celebrate the 50-year vision for the Parklands in 2018. The program was a showcase of special events and offers, highlighting its recreation areas and the businesses that operate within the Parklands. The program commenced with a “Welcome to Country” ceremony and was filled with family-friendly educational workshops and activities hosted by engaging experts. They included bird watching, star gazing, mountain bike and BMX riding classes, dog grooming and handling, to name a few. Local business offers were created for visitors such as 15% discount at Tree Tops, Wet n Wild, Skyline drive outdoor cinema, Eastern Creek raceway and Western Sydney Zoo.
For the Sutherland Shire Council and Sold Out, The Cronulla Spring Festival: Managing all aspects of the two-day event’s food and beverage offering including: the choice and placing of 10 iconic food trucks and the creation of a Craft Beer and Wine Experience to showcase the vibrant local craft beer industry. Around 60,000 people attended the 2019 event.
For Bridge Climb: Working with the Bridge Climb team to create bespoke visitor experiences inside the Sydney Harbour Bridge Pylon. This evolved into developing a visitor offering of lunch/dinner experiences with celebrated chef, Luke Mangan, creating the food and beverage offering for visitors to enjoy.
They include:
For NewsCorp: A continuing seven-year engagement managing over 100 events to date across the country for Australia’s leading premium, mass food and travel brands – “Escape”, “delicious” and “Donna Hay”, taste.com.au; with family-friendly events such as the live theatre activation within the Good Food and Wine Show attracting 30,000 attendees over a three-day long weekend.
For American Express: Launching and delivering the American Express “delicious Month Out” program in 2020 and 2021. Held in three capital cities, the program involves over 15 events and 300 retailer offers to help increase foot traffic and spend within the hospitality industry.
For the Noosa Eat & Drink Festival: Managing all aspects of Olsson’s Salt activation as well as “delicious” and “Taste” activations, with those events helping attract around 20,000 people to the four-day festival. Within the Olsson’s Salt activation award-winning pastry chef, Anna Polyviou, was engaged to curate a mix of masterclasses with family-friendly recipes.
For the Western Sydney Parklands Trust: Curating a “50 years in the Making” program to celebrate the 50-year vision for the Parklands in 2018. The program was a showcase of special events and offers, highlighting its recreation areas and the businesses that operate within the Parklands. The program commenced with a “Welcome to Country” ceremony and was filled with family-friendly educational workshops and activities hosted by engaging experts. They included bird watching, star gazing, mountain bike and BMX riding classes, dog grooming and handling, to name a few. Local business offers were created for visitors such as 15% discount at Tree Tops, Wet n Wild, Skyline drive outdoor cinema, Eastern Creek raceway and Western Sydney Zoo.
For the Sutherland Shire Council and Sold Out, The Cronulla Spring Festival: Managing all aspects of the two-day event’s food and beverage offering including: the choice and placing of 10 iconic food trucks and the creation of a Craft Beer and Wine Experience to showcase the vibrant local craft beer industry. Around 60,000 people attended the 2019 event.
For Bridge Climb: Working with the Bridge Climb team to create bespoke visitor experiences inside the Sydney Harbour Bridge Pylon. This evolved into developing a visitor offering of lunch/dinner experiences with celebrated chef, Luke Mangan, creating the food and beverage offering for visitors to enjoy.
