Feature: QNA With Queer Event Production Mastermind Yinka Freeman
Having the ability to create a career you love is inspiring and San Diego based event producer Yinka Freeman is the queen of her industry to say the least! Producing events for major corporations as well as impactful LGBTQ+ entities like San Diego Black Pride and Know Other Festival, Yinka has mastered the art of creating spaces that are fun, inclusive, and thoughtfully curated.
Earlier this year we had the opportunity to sit down with Yinka to discuss how she discovered her love for event production, what her proudest career moment has been so far, and what life is like being a femme identified woman. We’re excoted to finally share our interview with all of you!
Check out our QNA below and follow Yinka on Instagram!
TFF MAG: Tell us about your background and how you came to be an event producer?
Yinka: I’ve been in the event industry for over 20 years and I really mean every corner of it. I started in hospitality, working my way up as a Senior Catering Manager and Groups Manager in hotels. From there, I pivoted into large-scale live event production. I’ve done everything from galas to endurance races to virtual summits. Producing events was never just a job for me, it was a calling. I’m someone who believes in the magic of people coming together. I love logistics, but what drives me is creating space where people can feel seen, heard, and held.
You also happen to be a queer woman. Give us the rundown on some of the events you’ve created within the LGBTQ+ space.
Yes! As a queer African woman, producing events that center our community is personal and powerful. I’m the Executive Producer of Know Other Festival, a queer camping and wellness festival rooted in healing and chosen family. I also produce San Diego Black Pride and have worked with national orgs like The Victory Fund, the National LGBTQ Task Force, and San Diego Pride. Whether it’s wellness activations, fundraisers, or festivals, I create spaces that honor the fullness of queer life.
When did you decide to build your own business and what has the journey been like?
I launched Triple Pocket Events when I realized I wanted more creative freedom and deeper purpose in my work. I had spent years producing for other companies, and while I gained a lot of experience, I knew I could do more if I called the shots. The journey has been wild, full of late nights, incredible wins, hard lessons, and a whole lot of joy. I built TPE to be the go-to production company for large-scale, high-end queer events. I want us to be known for care, excellence, and culture.
What’s been the proudest moment in your career so far and why?
The proudest moment for me is always when I look around an event I’ve produced and see people fully being themselves. One that stands out was Know Other Festival, watching people walk around barefoot, hugging strangers, dancing under the stars, and literally crying in joy. It hit me that we had created something sacred. In a world that often asks queer folks to shrink, I’m proud to build spaces where we can expand.
Okay, so as you may or may not know, TFF MAG is all about creating visibility for Femme identified women. We have a running joke about having to come out all the time as a Femme because people typically assume you’re straight. Has this been your experience and if so, how often do you have to come out?
Oh absolutely. The number of times I’ve had to “re-introduce” my queerness is wild. Being femme, Black, and an immigrant means I’m constantly navigating assumptions. I’ve had to get comfortable taking up space and asserting who I am, especially in professional settings. It’s exhausting sometimes, but I see it as a form of quiet resistance. Every time I take up space as a femme queer woman, I open a little more room for someone else.
Speaking of coming out, what was that experience like for you? When did you know you were queer?
Coming out wasn’t easy, in fact, it came at a real cost. When I came out, my family disowned me. That moment shaped everything about how I move through the world as an adult. It forced me to redefine what “home” means. It taught me how to build chosen family, how to find kinship in unlikely places, and how to create the kind of love and safety I didn’t have in my 20’s. That’s also why I do the work I do, producing events that center community, care, and visibility. Because I know what it feels like to be pushed out. So now, I dedicate my life to building spaces people can belong to, even if they’ve had to leave everything behind just to be who they are.
You’re very involved within the LGBTQ+ community in San Diego. Tell us about some of the impactful groups you’re a part of and why being active in the community is important to you.
Community is everything to me. I serve on the board for San Diego Black Pride, the San Diego Equality Business Association, and the Pride Point Network, alongside collaborations with other queer-led organizations and national movements. But to be clear, my work is about more than producing events. It’s about building systems of care. Being active keeps me grounded, connected, and accountable to a vision that’s bigger than me. So I show up, not just during Pride season, but year-round, because I believe in creating spaces that don’t just entertain us, but sustain us. That means mentoring other queer folks, advocating for economic equity in our spaces, and making sure Black and Brown queer people are centered, not tokenized.
Last question. How do you celebrate your queerness on a day-to-day basis?
I celebrate my queerness by making it a part of everything, not just the big moments, but the everyday choices. It’s in the way I lead with heart, the way I create space for others, and the way I design events that feel like home for people who’ve been pushed to the margins.
I’ve lived through the loss and rejection that can come with queerness, and I’ve learned that joy is a radical act. So I build joy into my daily life. I build it through community dinners, spontaneous dance breaks, affirming conversations, and choosing love, over and over again.
Celebrating my queerness means honoring my wholeness. It means being loud when the world tells me to be quiet, and loving myself fiercely even when it’s hard. That, to me, is the real celebration.
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