Celebrated every March, Women’s History Month is an opportune time to celebrate the female achievers of the trade show and events industry. In this second in a series of exclusive interviews with several outstanding female industry professionals, we had the pleasure of speaking with Maverick Payments Creative Director Jessica Reinhardt, who will oversees exhibits at 10 events in 2024, to find out how her company is supporting women and what we as an industry can do to accelerate gender equity and inclusivity.

Jessica Reinhardt, Creative Director, Maverick Payments

Current role: Reinhardt is the creative director for Maverick Payments, a privately held, family-owned, payment processor and fintech company based in Calabasas, Calif. 

Backstory: Reinhardt has worked in marketing, communications and experiential spaces for the past 15 years across multiple industries. 

Giving back: She is active in the payments industry and her community, including serving on the Midwest Acquirers Association Advisory Board, volunteering with Paytech Women and sitting on her local City Planning Commission. 

Events in 2024: Maverick Payments will exhibit in about 10 events this year. The largest is Transact, which will be held April 17-19 at Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. The company has also previously exhibited at Money 20/20 in Las Vegas. 

Outside of work: In her spare time, you can catch her at a concert or in the garden. 

What do we as an industry need to do next to accelerate gender equity and inclusion?

The event, conference and experiential industries are comprised of a majority of women, and yet there are still significant gender, leadership and payment gaps. Is there a proliferation of silent, unpaid or underpaid labor among contract workers or lower-level project managers? Are we as an industry asking the right questions regarding wage and opportunity gaps? I think it’s important to acknowledge that inequity exists at all levels of event industries and ancillary organizations, and to take meaningful steps toward achieving a more equitable playing field — and that begins with having difficult conversations. More importantly, it involves listening to and empowering individuals via transparency — wage, education and creating/promoting long-term career paths. 

What are you most proud of in terms of how your organization supports women?

I wear a lot of hats at my organization — trade shows and event production are part of a larger communications strategy I shape and manage. The payments industry has historically been a male-dominated industry. When our VP of client services and I pointed this out to our COO and asked for our company to get involved in Paytech Women — a female-led organization that promotes women in the payments industry — he enthusiastically agreed. 

Since becoming involved with Paytech Women and other industry-wide efforts to promote equity and inclusion, our team has grown to include a near equal number of female employees, with a significant and still growing number in management or supervisory positions. Every year, we have expanded our involvement and make a conscious effort to promote, retain and recruit women within the payments industry. 

To celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day, we were proud to announce our largest cohort of new Paytech Women members. On a larger scale, this effort has opened us up to being more involved within the larger community of the payments industry and has garnered the attention of applicants as we build out our team. 

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