From student leader to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, Nikki Sanz ’18 is changing the live event industry. After touring with music legends, she founded Giggs to modernize hiring for "gig" workers. Now an Elon Top 10 Under 10 award winner, Sanz is building a more inclusive professional community for the next generation.
As Nikki Sanz ’18 first stepped onto Elon’s campus, she found a stage. A student who succeeded on a busy schedule, Sanz spent her four years leaning into the culture of involvement that represents the Elon experience. She found that the university’s environment encouraged students to take initiative from the very start.
“Most Elon students just love to get involved,” Sanz said. “I was able to jump right into those opportunities starting in my freshman year”.
Today, that same spirit of initiative has led Sanz to the front of the music and tech world. As the founder and CEO of Giggs, a professional career platform designed specifically for the live event industry, she was recently recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for her work in turning the industry into a modernized community.
Majoring in sport and event management, along with a double minor in business administration and leadership studies, Sanz used Elon as a sandbox to test her ideas. The Isabella Cannon Leadership Fellow balanced academics with leadership roles in Alpha Xi Delta and the LEAD program, where she served as a tier captain mentoring new students.
Shaina Dabbs, associate professor of sport management, said that Sanz’s internal drive was evident early on.
“Nikki consistently showed a strong eagerness to be involved and fully engaged,” Dabbs said. “She brought a genuine passion for the details and the process, understanding that executing the small things well is what elevates the overall outcome. Her internal drive to excel set her apart, and she developed a system that allowed her to successfully manage multiple roles and responsibilities without compromising quality.”
Sanz credits the Elon environment for giving her the room to experiment and create. Whether she was working with Elonthon or performing her own music around town, she was building the foundation for her future career in event production.
“I brought music to Oak House,” Sanz said. “I asked Phil [the owner] if I could do an open mic one night… I did it about once a month, and then he got bands to come and play. And so, the fun fact is, I started music there.”
After graduation, Sanz’s career took her into the heart of the touring world, working with industry giants like Live Nation and the CMA Awards. She spent years on the road as a production professional for major artists, including Eric Church and George Strait. It was during these high-pressure tours that she noticed an opportunity, as there was no center for the thousands of “gig” workers who make live events possible.
“Sport and live events are becoming increasingly complex and commercialized, and relying on informal hiring practices is no longer sustainable,” Dabbs explained. “Platforms like Giggs help standardize the way talent is sourced, evaluated and deployed, much like analytics transformed player evaluation. When opportunities are only ‘word-of-mouth,’ they limit access and opportunity for highly qualified people who may not ‘know’ the right person.”
Sanz spoke very highly of her senior-year experience in Dabbs’ Event and Venue Management course, where students were tasked with running an event without a ‘how-to’ guide. According to Dabbs, this learning by doing model is intentional.
“The point is to place students in situations where there isn’t a script, because the live event and sport industry rarely provides one,” Dabbs said. “This experiential approach builds professional resilience and shifts students’ mindset to see challenges as opportunities to lead and create solutions. It equips them with the confidence, adaptability and problem-solving skills needed to navigate an industry that is constantly evolving, and to shape it, rather than simply react to it.”
Despite her success in Nashville and her global ambitions for Giggs, Sanz remains rooted in the lessons she learned as a student leader. Her advice for current Phoenix looking to break into the industry is to be open to the different paths the “gig” world offers.
“If you really want to work in sports or concerts, you can move,” she said, encouraging students to explore the various sectors of the industry to find where they fit best.
Reflecting on her own journey from Phoenix to tech founder, Sanz emphasizes that there is no single “right” way to enter the industry.
“The impact that I want this to have on the industry is that there’s a way in, there’s actually a path,” she said.
For Dabbs, Sanz’s trajectory serves as a blueprint for the next generation of sport management students.
“Nikki’s journey shows students that they do not have to accept the industry as it is. They can change it,” Dabbs said. “Her story highlights that leadership is about impact, not title, and that success comes from trusting yourself, building inclusive networks and being willing to act.”
This spirit of leadership earned her a spot among Elon’s Top 10 Under 10 Alumni Award winners. This award celebrates accomplished alumni from the last decade who not only excel in their careers but also actively contribute to their communities and serve as dedicated alumni role models.
Sanz encourages students to use their time at Elon to explore the size of the field, whether your interest is in concerts, TV or corporate trade shows; the goal is to find a professional community where you can truly thrive.
As she continues to change the traditional hiring process, her mission remains to head in the same direction of inclusivity she felt on her first day at Elon by ensuring every professional in the live event space has a way to be seen.
Do you know an alum who has an interesting story to tell, maybe even yourself? Please feel free to share your feedback or those stories online: http://www.elon.edu/u/advancement/alumni-in-action-feedback/.