Making sure what reaches the stage is right.

I'm Waldo Tejada — a creative director and live-show director based in Brooklyn, with 25+ years directing live experiences: stadium conventions, conferences, trade shows, and immersive worlds. I take each one from the first idea to a show that's ready to run.

From theater to the stadium

I trained in painting and theater, earned a BFA in film, photography, and graphic design from Cooper Union, and spent the first half of my career as a creative director in advertising — at Leo Burnett, then at my own agency, A+E, for brands like Philip Morris, P&G, and Miller. Along the way I directed fashion shows for Miguel Adrover at New York Fashion Week and led marketing across real estate and culture. Live events are where it all converges — the theatrical eye, the camera's sense of composition, and an ad director's instinct for what a brand needs from a room.

The director's chair

I work from the one seat where every decision lands in real time. It taught me what much of this industry learns too late: the idea is the cheap part. What makes it survive an audience is planning, lead time, and the honest decisions made upstream, before a single vendor is booked. I've watched the same show get better with more runway and come apart with less. So I come in early, to set the creative architecture that keeps a production honest, on budget, and on time.

How I work

I lead as a player-coach — art-directing the moments that matter while directing teams, union crews, and vendors — and I work fluently in today's toolkit: LED and projection, 3D environments, streaming, and AI-assisted animation. I'm not a producer. I create the events and the experience, and hand the production team a show that's ready to run.

Beyond the work

I've spent over a decade as an Advisor to the Board of Directors of the DREAM Project, and I've served on boards and in advisory roles with NAHREP Upper Manhattan and Dancers Unlimited. Earlier, I founded the Dominican Republic's first cultural-tourism brand and worked on heritage and sustainability initiatives with partners including USAID and JICA.