When Shacole Hamlett talks about planning, she’s not speaking in theory; she’s speaking from experience. Before she founded PlanBrite, an automated project management platform, she built her foundation working behind the scenes on some of the world’s biggest stages.

“My entire career in events has basically been a pressure cooker,” Hamlett tells RoyalTee. “I’ve worked in experiential production, live events, and large-scale activations where timelines are extreme, budgets are tight, and mistakes are hard to come back from.”

Prior to launching PlanBrite, Hamlett managed high-stakes brand activations at global events like the Super Bowl and Coachella. These were productions with seven-figure budgets, immovable deadlines, and zero margin for error. Yet behind the glitz, the planning process itself was anything but seamless.

“That environment trained me to lead calmly in messy situations, make decisions without all the information, and take responsibility when things go wrong,” she recalls. “Leadership, for me, has always meant being the person who looks for solutions instead of sitting and stewing in the problem.”

Then came a turning point that reshaped everything. Hamlett became one of more than 300,000 Black women impacted by recent workforce layoffs.

“Right before I was laid off, I had three other friends who happened to be Black women also laid off,” says Hamlett. ” I remember thinking, this is crazy. I am so blessed to still have a job. Then I got the call.”

She added, ” For some reason, even though I should have probably freaked out, I had a huge sense of possibility stir in me. Instead of asking why did this happen to me? I asked, why is this happening FOR me? What does my life look like when my livelihood isn’t in the hands of someone else? What work can I do now that I could be proud of? I felt deeply that this was a moment of opportunity, and I didn’t have fear around it for some reason.”

She watched her friends apply for hundreds of jobs with no callbacks.

“Applying for jobs right now is a full-time, unpaid job,” she says. “So I figured the odds of me using this time to build something of my own were just as high as me getting someone to call me back from being 1 of 100,000,000 applicants. It forced me to confront whether I wanted to keep optimizing for safety or finally bet on myself. I decided to bet on myself.”

She founded PlanBrite in 2025, an AI-powered pre-production planning platform that allows users to organize budgets, timelines, and core planning documents in one intuitive workspace.

Hamlett said she built PlanBrite from the pain points she experienced and the systems she wished existed from managing massive budgets and impossible deadlines to chaotic spreadsheets and email threads.

“Seeing producers use it and say, ‘This finally makes sense,’ or ‘This saved me hours,” feels deeply validating,” she says about the feedback she’s received from clients. “Event planning used to run me into the ground, but I believe it is such beautiful work, and we need community builders. I am proud that I can provide a tool that gives time back to those working the hardest in these spaces.”

As for location, Hamlett’s decision to build her company in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was ideal and intentional. The city is rapidly becoming known as a tech and aerospace hub with initiatives such as Tulsa Innovation Labs and Tulsa Tech. At the same time, there is a Black tech renaissance happening in the city.

Known as Black Tech Street, it’s an ode to Black innovation and entrepreneurship (Black Wall Street) that existed before and reclaiming that legacy.

“Tulsa represents both legacy and possibility,” says Hamlett. “Black Wall Street is a reminder that Black innovation and economic power have always existed, even when erased or attacked.”

Hamlett applied to accelerator programs with Build in Tulsa and Visible Hands. She credits those programs for helping her build PlanBrite. “The city showed me and my business love and provided the resources and funding for me to launch.”

Moving forward, Hamlett plans to scale with integrity. ” I want PlanBrite to become essential infrastructure for creative producers globally—doing events, film, and art projects,” she says. “I want it to continue to reduce burnout, increase clarity, and professionalize an industry that’s been held together by duct tape and spreadsheets for too long.”

Reflecting on her journey from unemployment to ownership, she encourages people, specifically Black women, to give themselves time to rest and grieve, but not to let the urgency to get something new force them into the wrong step

“You’re allowed to imagine something better than survival. We all have to find creative ways to support each other now more than ever,” she says.

Hamlett’s journey is proof that some of the most impactful innovation is born not from theory, but from lived experience.

“This journey has reminded me that disruption doesn’t always look loud, sometimes it looks like choosing yourself quietly, building patiently, and refusing to believe that the way things have always been is the way they must remain,” says Hamlett. “I’m not just building a company; I’m building proof for myself and my community.