Hidden Gems: Meet Chanise Robinson of Out Of Office

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chanise Robinson.

Hi Chanise, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My name is Chanise Robinson. I was born and raised in Seattle and moved to LA for grad school at USC. Prior to grad school, I thought I wanted to be a therapist and quickly realized that path wasn’t for me, but by then I had already been accepted to my master’s program in social work. Too afraid to take a gap year and lose my educational momentum, I decided to go to USC for the MSW program since they had a concentration in business.

As soon as I started my course, my professors quickly referred me to take classes in the business school, which led me into a social entrepreneurship class. If I’m being honest, as a first-generation college student, that was my first time ever hearing the word “entrepreneur.” But immediately, the class spoke to me. I learned about different companies’ social impact initiatives and how they also created profitable businesses, which reassured me that I wanted to pursue a similar career path.

Funny enough, when I graduated college I was offered a job as a business development associate at a nonprofit dedicated to creating programming and job opportunities for military veterans. While I originally thought the role would be more business-development focused, it also led me down a recruiting-adjacent career path, which I was good at but didn’t necessarily want my entire career to be limited to.

Fast forward, during my time at the nonprofit I learned how to build out strategic corporate and community partnerships to create opportunities for veterans. After sitting in on a few of the half-day programs I would facilitate at company campuses, I realized how certain knowledge and information only comes from being exposed to and already included in those spaces. As a first-generation college student trying to explore my own career path and knowing other people were probably in the same boat, I decided to start my own event series designed to share knowledge and build organic community. At the time, I called my event series “Conversations With Chanise.”

At first, I was terrified of starting this event series and scared no one would show up. I used to write down a list of people I wanted to attend and send out individual texts and reminders inviting them, hoping they would come. At that time, I only averaged two events a year and had a lot of anxiety about making sure they went well, but they always exceeded my expectations.

By 2020, while I was still nervous about producing a good event because I cared so much and was still somewhat green to event planning, I had plans to be more consistent with how many engagements I produced each year. Around the same time, I was introduced to someone at the BuzzFeed campus who offered me an opportunity to host my event series there and sell tickets. I also met my now-good friend Charles, who was working at Airbnb at the time and offered to help sponsor the event and sit on the panel.

That conversation was titled “Diversity in Technology” and was a huge hit. We could only fit about 120 people in the space and it was completely packed out. Not only was it full, but the conversation and insight shared were very impactful and timely for where people were in their careers and for how the tech industry was starting to become more accessible to people who didn’t traditionally go to school for engineering or technical roles. That event led to a huge amount of interest from companies wanting to sponsor future Out Of Office events.

The only challenge was…the pandemic shutdown hit the very next week. Just like that, I felt like all the momentum and self-confidence I was building were halted. Nonetheless, while it slowed me down, I didn’t let it stop me from wanting to develop more impactful programming for the community. By this time, I was working at Snapchat and became more involved in leadership roles at work, including ERG programming and leading recruiting event partnerships for the company. That afforded me a few opportunities to lead programming with my company, including bringing Arlan Hamilton to speak virtually for a cultural tentpole moment and talk about building generational wealth.

By 2022, I made up my mind that regardless of whether or not the shutdown fully ended, I was going to find a way to bring back my event series and make it stronger than ever. That February, when I hosted my first post-pandemic event, I officially started calling the business “Out Of Office.” At the time, many of us were physically “out of office” from our jobs but still looking for ways to find and build community through experiences. Out Of Office has given me and others in my network—now over 13,000 people—an opportunity to do exactly that.

Welp, funny enough—be careful what you ask for… but we’ll get to that part later. Lol.

Fast forward, I was invited to a fundraising party by my old skip-level manager, which gave me the opportunity to meet various directors and executives from Snap. At the party, I met a man named Mike Su, who ran the business accelerator program at Snapchat called Yellow. Being the audacious person I am, I told Mike that no matter what, I wanted to bring my event series back that year and asked if there was a way we could partner with their accelerator team to make that happen.

A couple of weeks later, I met with him virtually and walked him through a whole pitch deck of what my company was doing and how we could collaborate. That led to him asking me to share the same pitch with his colleague, Alex, who he ran the program with. A few weeks later, Mike Slacked me and said they were so impressed by my pitch that they wanted me to come work for their team to help lead community for startups and founders—and they would teach me venture capital.

At the time, I remember being so conflicted about switching teams because I really loved the Snap DEI team (still do—some are at Uber and some are still at Snap). However, after connecting with my manager, Jess Harvie, she encouraged me to take a leap of faith and bet on myself. Little did I know, it would be the first of many bets to come. Lol.

Long story short, I ended up accepting the role in May 2022. It was a great experience. However, by August 31, 2022, the stock market had crashed and our entire VC team, including the manager who brought me over, was laid off. While it was a tough pill to swallow (because I couldn’t help but think, “What if I didn’t transfer teams?”), I knew the decision wasn’t personal.

Fast forward, I reconnected with one of my old managers from Snap who had gone to DoorDash, and she referred me for a role there. I interviewed, did the take-home assignment, and ended up getting the offer within a month of being laid off. I immediately felt a sense of relief. Welp… not for long, because I started that role on November 7, 2022, and was notified that my role was being cut on November 30, 2022.

This time I panicked. I thought, “What in the heck did I do to be laid off with everyone else so quickly?” Now I know it wasn’t anything I did—it was all God’s plan.

Funny enough, right before I got laid off, someone from the DEI team had reached out to schedule a meeting and ask if I could help run one of the ERGs. Our meeting was scheduled for that Friday, and I was let go on Wednesday. Nonetheless, I told myself, “Now is the time to still reach out, connect with her, and see if there’s a way you can partner with DoorDash to create a summit.”

At the time, my vision was to create a cross-company ERG summit—something that had been on my mind since being at Snap but that I’d put to the side based on other business priorities. I ended up pitching the ERG summit idea, and the lead immediately responded, “We had a vision of doing something similar, but it was going to be internal. However, your vision is way bigger than ours, so we can sponsor yours and join in.” Just like that, I had my first title sponsor. That was December 2022.

By June 2023, I acquired my second title sponsor, Amazon, and they decided to host the summit on their campus. After that, Snap, Google, and YouTube also came onboard as sponsors. By September 2023, we hosted our first summit and featured Ms. Tina Knowles as our fireside guest speaker, along with Eric Bellinger for the after-party concert.

After the summit, I continued to do my own OOO events and also freelance for Essence, but I was still on the fence about committing to being a full-time entrepreneur and nervous about how the economy was shaping up because by then, over 60 percent of people had been or were getting laid off. Ultimately, I ended up accepting a role at Expedia by March 2024.

During that time, my business really started to boom and I was doing more year-round programming on a consistent basis. However, I found raising sponsorship money a bit more difficult than what I experienced when I raised money for the first summit. That pushed me into trying to multitask—working my full-time job while also building OOO.

By February 2025, my team and I hosted our second annual summit, this time in NYC. It was our first time ever having a physical presence there, but the turnout and demand were huge. We had 1,600 RSVPs but could only accept 450 people due to venue limitations and capacity. During the summit, we had the pleasure of hosting people such as Alphonso David, who worked on the Fearless Fund litigation; Obinna Keke, Chief Brand Officer of Shea Moisture; Earn Your Leisure; and Miles “Deuce” McBride from the New York Knicks. For the after-party, we had a live performance by Jim Jones, during which we welcomed everyone from the waitlist who couldn’t attend the summit. That resulted in over 1,000 people showing up in the snow.

After the summit, I started thinking about how I wanted to grow and scale OOO, but I knew my days of working full time and trying to grow the business as fast and as big as my heart desired were limited. Fast forward to June 2025, I was laid off for the third time. However, this time my attitude was different. I told God, “I’m not going to apply for roles between now and the end of December 2025. If it’s meant for me to pursue OOO, show me in that timeframe. If not, we’ll reassess at the top of January 2026.”

Crazy enough, the next day after my layoff, one of my corporate clients reached out and offered me a $90K contract to help them produce an event. That was the first of many things that worked in my favor. Then I was accepted into the Black in Business accelerator program by Goldman Sachs and NYU—a program I absolutely wouldn’t have been able to complete with a full-time job due to the set schedule and demanding workload. Then I was offered a few more contracts by repeat customers I had worked with in the past.

Fast forward to now… I am a full-time entrepreneur and embracing it. Some days that looks like paying unexpected legal bills or figuring out how to build my business in a more efficient way using AI tools. But I am constantly learning.

Right now, I’m in the process of planning our third annual OOO Connect Summit in NYC on April 17th and evolving our focus. Traditionally, OOO Connect has been about bringing together ERGs. Now we’re expanding into being a culture, strategy, and business implementation summit where we move beyond inspiration and provide attendees with actual playbooks, tools, and strategies on how they can build their business, excel in their careers, or monetize their creator platforms.

In addition, we’re building out more programming throughout the United States and exploring ways we can scale internationally, including London and Brazil. Lastly, I’m hyper-focused on being an agency that drives real business ROI. We’re currently exploring how to embed data insights into everything we do and deliver those metrics to our partners to make an immediate impact and deepen trust.

And while I won’t lie,some days I am scared. However, I’ve realized that if I’m not at least a little scared, I’m probably not stretching myself enough. So I do it anyway.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely not a smooth road. I always joke that my story is a series of “plot twists” and bets on myself.

On paper, it can look like everything has been on an upward trajectory, but behind the scenes it’s been a mix of layoffs, pivots, and a lot of nights questioning if I’m doing the right thing.

While I am encouraged about going all in as a full-time entrepreneur and giving OOO everything I have, I’d be lying if I said there aren’t days I miss the consistency of a steady check. However, I realize I’ve been fortunate not to feel the absence of money (because while my checks don’t come every two weeks, they come in lump sums that cover my expenses and give me a decent runway). What I realized I missed was the illusion of security—the security of thinking I had something steady to rely on. One day my friend told me, “Chanise, you’re chasing consistency, but the most inconsistent things have been these corporate jobs.” That statement motivates me to continue to bet on myself, even when I get tired (this is the series of betting on myself I mentioned earlier. Lol).

There have also been real business challenges. Raising sponsorship in this economy is not the same as it was when I did my first summit. Companies are more cautious, budgets are tighter, and I’ve had to learn how to speak the language of ROI in a much deeper way. I’ve had events nearly stall because one partner took too long to sign; I’ve fronted costs and prayed invoices would clear in time; I’ve had to learn contracts, legal, pricing, hiring, and operations—often in real time.

Even now, the road isn’t “smooth.” There are unexpected legal bills, tools I’m still figuring out, and days where things feel unclear. But I’ve learned to see the bumps as part of the process. Every layoff pushed me closer to my purpose. Every “no” forced me to refine the vision. And every scary decision has stretched my faith and my capacity.

So no, it hasn’t been smooth—but it’s been worth it.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Out Of Office (OOO) started as a small event series where I just wanted people to feel seen, heard and suppported in their careers. While that core sentiment remains the same, we have now evolved into a cultural intelligence and experiential agency that bridges the gap between culture and corporations for professionals, founders, and creators. We create experiences where brands can show up in a way that feels human, intentional, and not performative.

Our full cultural intelligence services include:

Flagship Experiences & Summits:
Our biggest example is the OOO Connect Summit, which brings together ERGs, operators, executives, founders, and creatives for a day that feels like a mashup between a business conference, a family reunion, and a live show. We’re now planning our third annual Summit in NYC.

White-Labeled & Branded Events:
A big part of our business is producing events for companies that want high-impact, culture-forward experiences without needing to build it all in-house. We white-label summits, mixers, offsites, and tentpole moments, so the experience feels native to their brand while we handle the strategy, curation, and production behind the scenes.

Culture, Community & Talent Strategy:
We advise companies (and their ERGs, talent teams, and brand teams) on how to build programming that actually resonates with underrepresented talent and modern professionals—beyond just “heritage month” checkboxes.

Data & Insights-Driven Experiences:
We’re very focused on ROI. That means integrating data capture, feedback, and sometimes even AI-powered attendee matching into our experiences so partners aren’t just getting vibes—they’re getting measurable outcomes and insights they can act on.

What sets us apart is how we blend all of this. A lot of events are either really fun but not strategic, or really “corporate” but not human. We’re known for creating rooms where you can meet a VP, a founder, a creative, and an investor in one conversation… and then later that night, be at an after-hours mixer with a live performance—all still under the same intentional umbrella.

Brand-wise, I’m most proud that Out Of Office is more than a name—it’s a feeling. The name officially came to life in February 2022 when I did my first post-pandemic event. So many of us were still physically “out of office” from our jobs but craving connection, possibility, and spaces that felt like us. OOO became that space. Since then, the business has grown into a network of over 13,000 people who tap into our events, content, and community to build careers, deals, and relationships.

If you’re a company, we’re the partner you call when you don’t just want to “do an event,” you want to create a moment—with intention, cultural fluency, and clear ROI. If you’re a professional, founder, or creator, OOO is for you if you’ve ever felt like you were doing everything “right” on paper but still didn’t see yourself reflected in the rooms you were in.

We build the rooms we wish existed—and then we invite everyone else in.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
To trust myself, have faith and do the work. Eventually the resources and help will come if it’s aligned with God’s will for my life.

Pricing:

• Summit VIP Tickets: https://buy.stripe.com/bJe6oHadj2Ib33CeCu0co0d
• Summit + Afterparty VIP: https://buy.stripe.com/00w8wP4SZ1E7eMk9ia0co0e
• Afterparty GA: https://buy.stripe.com/3cI9AT85b82vdIgeCu0co0f
• Afterparty VIP: https://buy.stripe.com/7sY6oHdpvaaD6fO0LE0co0g

Contact Info:

• Website: https://outofoffice.events/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/outofofficetour/?hl=en
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ooocommunity/?viewAsMember=true
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@outofofficetour?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc