Click here for Part I, Part II & Part III

Creating a rich, positive culture of entertainment for Baltimore’s brands and young professionals

Heidi Klotzman is the founder and CEO of HeidnSeek Entertainment. One of Baltimore’s premier event planning, hospitality, and brand promotion consulting companies, HeidnSeek provides entertainment, cultural programming, and marketing coordination for the city’s young professionals and emerging brands. The company has worked with numerous clients local and national, such as Johns Hopkins University, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Absolut Vodka, Uber, and United Way. Heidi is the daughter of Richard Klotzman, a legendary concert promoter who has worked with the likes of Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, the Jacksons, Madonna, Luther Vandross, Alice Cooper, and Diana Ross. Following in her father’s footsteps, Heidi has been recognized with various awards and honors, including listing as one of Baltimore’s “Most Influential Professionals” and a “Top Single” (Baltimore Magazine), “Queen of Clubs” (The Baltimore Sun), a “Top Professional Under 35” by (b newspaper and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation), a “Rising Star” (The Baltimore Business Journal and The Living Classrooms Foundation), and many more.

Heidi Klotzman spoke with citybizlist publisher Edwin Warfield for this interview.

EDWIN WARFIELD: Can you tell us about the book you’re currently working on, about your father’s life?

HEIDI KLOTZMAN: Oh boy. This book is a labor of love. I feel like I may be writing it forever, into my 90s. I’ve always wanted to write a book about my dad’s life because it is and was so profoundly interesting, exciting, meaningful, emotional, and dramatic in so many ways. I thought a lot of people could learn from his life, and what he did right and when he did wrong, and be inspired by what he achieved on his own and built himself into, and how he came back as a man after he went through his trials and tribulations, and how wonderful a father he is now—and always was—but you’re a better dad when you’ve grown from your mistakes.

So, I wanted to show the different levels within this book of the different angles, being the cultural context of the music industry throughout the decades, because that’s fascinating—throughout Civil Rights, the wars, and the gender issues and all of that stuff that encompasses. Also, the self-help aspect of what my dad went through as a kid: losing his father very young, and starting his company as a teenager, and excelling into a very acclaimed promoter. A lot of people I talk to call him a legend. So, I wanted to showcase that part.

Also the stories themselves of the artists—the ones we can tell. They’re just hilarious. They’re super funny. They’re everything you’d expect. You have some divas and you have some really sweet, kind eccentrics. You have some total nuts—we’re all nuts at some point, I’m sure—but these really take the cake. It’s cool. It’s cool because people love their artists. A huge part of their life are the artists that inspire them, so I think that will be the kicker for people to purchase the book in the future to learn about the stories.

But the cultural stuff, and the self-help, and the historical context of how promotion began and all of that—that’s good for academia, like Full Sail and the different colleges that are teaching the backside of the business. I has so many different dimensions. And also our relationship as a father-daughter relationship, and what I’ve learned, and his life lessons that he wants to share. It’s a tall order, and that’s why it’s taking me so long to even begin, because you want to get that perfect.

Q. Your mother is another member of your company. Do you two work together on a regular basis?

A. I love working with my mom. We’re not full-time partners. She does her own thing. She plans weddings and she plans different events. She’s freelance, but when we get to work together on projects like the EyeCon or a private client’s event, it’s really wonderful to see her in gear because she has such great experience with logistics and pleasing the client and making sure everything is smooth, and going out of her way.

Her work ethic is ridiculous. I mean, she’s planned events for Diana Ross; Luther Vandross; Earth, Wind & Fire when they were in town. When you can plan that caliber of events, you can plan them for anyone, anywhere. She has the utmost strength, for enduring a very tumultuous life with my dad over the years, personally and publicly. I just admire so much how she’s endured through that and has had many, many lives. So, it’s a total honor to be able to know her and be her daughter and work with her, when I can.

Connect with Heidi on LinkedIn

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ABOUT OFFIT KURMAN

Offit Kurman is one of the fastest-growing, full-service law firms in the Mid-Atlantic region. With over 120 attorneys offering a comprehensive range of services in virtually every legal category, the firm is well positioned to meet the needs of dynamic businesses and the people who own and operate them. Our eight offices serve individual and corporate clients in the Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and Northern Virginia markets, as well as the Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City metropolitan areas. At Offit Kurman, we are our clients’ most trusted legal advisors, professionals who help maximize and protect business value and personal wealth. In every interaction, we consistently maintain our clients’ confidence by remaining focused on furthering their objectives and achieving their goals in an efficient manner. Trust, knowledge, confidence—in a partner, that’s perfect.

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Edwin Warfield, CEO of citybizlist, conducts the CEO Interviews.

If you're interested in reaching CEOs, please contact edwin.warfield@citybuzz.co

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