Fiss Director 2011 Destanni Triplett
Age: 20
Major: Elementary Education
ATG: Hello, how are you? I am sure you must be happy now that you are free.
Destanni: Fine. And yes I am. I finally go to bed at 3am and woke up at 6:30am had some more Fiss work to finish off and now im just relaxing.
ATG: So FISS was pretty long, I am imagining?
Destanni: What do you mean?!? The process to get there or FISS in general
ATG: Getting there.
Destanni: Oh yes, extremely long.
ATG: How long have you been working on this show?
Destanni: Since May
ATG: Hmm sounds like a pretty long time. Whoooo. And how do you think your event turned out.
Destanni: I think it turned out really well. Just going off of twitter and facebook statuses and seeing the overall responses about the show. I even saw a few seniors say this was the best FISS of their college career.
ATG: And how much sleep did you lose planning FISS or how much sleep did you actually get? (insert laughs)
Destanni: About six hours max. I spent my days planning FISS and doing school work.
ATG: What made you want to take the task of being director?
Destanni: After having conversations with Tiffany (2010 Past director) and Aushawntai (2010 Assistant Director) and others on staff they were very encouraging about me director and after last years show I just wanted to bring FISS back to what it should be.
ATG: And you got 8 teams!!
Destanni: Yeah, I know the hospitality committee did their best to make sure we got those eight teams.
ATG: How much money goes into planning FISS?
Destanni: 60-75,000 dollars.
ATG: (inserts Laughter) Dang. And that’s SG Sponsored?
Destanni: Not at all. This is actually all outside revenue, ticket sales and sponsorships.
ATG: So you guys had to make that all happen? What would you say the downfalls of the past years were?
Destanni: The downfall of the past years have been the budget and honestly I want to thank our Mcdonalds sponsor because we could not have put on FISS without them.
ATG: That’s whats up. How did you guys get Mcdonalds on board?
Destanni: They said they did FISS in the past and Stephanie Allen PR agent for Mcdonalds really had a great deal in making this all happen.
ATG: Well that’s awesome. Im really happy that FISS turned out to be a success. Because last year was pretty rough.
Destanni: (insert laughter) My goal was to make sure that the people that were there (at FISS) had a great time so that the buzz for next year would be bigger.
ATG: They will have some pretty big shoes to fill (or high heels) would you agree?
Destanni: Yeah, my staff has already been saying “how are we gonna do this next year?” and my father had this quote saying that “When its time to prepare, prepare, because when its time to produce, you wont have time to prepare.” And my mom texted me before the show and reminded me of this quote and I was mellow from that point on. A few of my staff members saw me at the Fashion Show the day before and said, “Wow, you look so mellow.” And I just repeated to them that I wasn’t stressed.
ATG: That’s a powerful quote. Was your Dad a great factor behind your mental stability behind this event?
Destanni: Honestly, it was my close friends Natasha and Ciara. But, one of the things that kept me smiling is that my Dad always reminded me that the “cream always rises to the top.” It was my motivating factor behind me in this event and making sure I put on a great event.
ATG: and how did your friends keep you stable or sane?
Destanni: Just picking up the slack. Just picking up the slack. It was many nights that my roommate Natasha cooked for me, and Ciara would keep me on track with my homework and assignments so that I could fully focus on the show.
ATG: That’s dope. What would you say was the most rewarding thing about FISS and your experience would be?
Destanni: Before the show even happened whether it be greeks or non-greeks they were telling me “we know its going to be a great show” and this was before the show even happened. And the most rewarding part of the event happened last week when I was checking ticket numbers and saw that we had more pre-sale tickets than last year.
ATG: Cool Cool. That’s whats up. I almost wanna cry for you!
Destanni: Why? (laughter)
ATG: More so, because of all the time spent and how much effort you put into the event. Its really awesome how you managed to do it all. You’re like a superwoman!
Destanni: I did everything that I could have done for this event. I practically lived on the 3rd floor and in the BSU office. And I underestimated the magnitude of the event and by 5pm when everything was set up the day of FISS I was like “Wow.”
ATG: You also made Teach for America right? Congrats on that!
Destanni: Yes.
ATG: I mean how did you do it all because I couldn’t have been mad at you if you just focused on TFA.
Destanni: It was a little hectic but the time of Teach for America interviews were a little before the deep planning of FISS. There was one incident where it got a little hectic but that was it. Getting that teach for America position just put me at ease because I knew I had a job for when I graduated in May.
ATG: Did anyone you couldn’t do all of this? Telling you that this is too much for you or something that you can’t handle?
Destanni: Not really, I stopped working in the summer so all I had on my plate was school and FISS.
ATG: You did not stop working because of FISS did you?
Destanni: Yeah, I knew it was going to be too much and my daddy told me I didn’t have to.
ATG: Everybody aint Able! Speaking of Abel? The tribute was pretty dope. Did you know lamar at all?
Destanni: I knew of him but we never had a personal conversation. Putting the tribute in the show was one of the first ideas that came to my mind. I figured since it would be the biggest greek event on campus that it would be the perfect place for the tribute. Also, there was a full-color ad for him in the programs for FISS.
ATG: Nice. I thought the tribute was great as well. Definitely, an awesome guy. It was a nice touch to it all.
Destanni: I was happy to see it all happen and Nia Phillips helped on the editing for the video.
ATG: Cool. Cool. What do you wanna see happen next year?
Destanni: Maybe, better efforts for transportation and getting teams from point A to point B. Being that we are college students we had to do most of the pick ups and drop offs ourselves.
ATG: So that’s an internal improvement. What would you want to see on a grand scale of things?
Destanni: Definitely all Nine teams performing. I feel the show will be a lot better next year because the current staff will have a lot more experience with the next upcoming show. (Yawns)
ATG: Still tired I see.
Destanni: Oh yes still tired. But in regards to next year I hope more efforts can go into exploring different options for a host. And I appreciate Bow Wow for coming out despite the fact that it was All-Star weekend.
ATG: Yeah, there is something happening every year I see.
Destanni: Yeah, last year was the sprite step off and this year was the All-Star game.
ATG: Who would you have wanted to host if you had the choice?
Destanni: Rickey Smiley.
ATG: Why? (laughter)
Destanni: He’s a clean funny and he loves Jesus.
(both laugh)
ATG: Aight. Any last words to the world before you officially end your reign as director?
Destanni: Thank you guys for all your support. Thanks to my staff. Thanks to my father, my mother, my friends. Thanks to Shontae and Tanya Dawson for all their help with this event I really could not do it without them. Last but not least, God. I had ten people pray for me yesterday. I did a lot of praying within these past couple months. So thank you Lord for getting me through.
ATG: Well folks there you have it. I want to thank you for doing this interview with me despite the fact that you were yawning throughout.
(both laugh)
ATG: Go get some sleep! Signing out young world. Until next year!
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