Desk Tour: Ashleigh Tucker Pollock
Name Ashleigh Tucker Pollock
Position Special Events Manager & Rental Coordinator
Time at The Music Hall 3.5 years
Kait Smith: Tell me about your desk? What is/ are your favorite thing(s) on your desk.
Ashleigh Tucker Pollock: Having a simple and uncluttered desk is very important to me. It helps me stay better focused on my work and tasks for the day and keeps me organized. I have a pretty extensive to-do list that I update constantly. My favorite things on my desk are my plants, a Prayer plant and a succulent. I also have a little statue of a zebra that I consider my good luck charm. For the 50th Anniversary screening of “Endless Summer” I was gifted a wooden show poster autographed by Robert August that leans against the wall. A big stack of the Kitchen Tour Cookbook also sits on my desk waiting for someone to purchase them. On my cork board, I hung a wooden bookmark with a Pollock fish on it that my husband and I handed out at our wedding. I guess that makes me a fish now too.
KS: What do you think your desk says about your personality?
ATP: Hopefully it shows that I am as organized as I think I am!
I considered my personality to be a simple combination of structured chaos and an animated light heartedness. I make a point to not take myself seriously but am constantly organizing thoughts in my head or on my desk.
KS: What do you think people would be most surprised to learn about The Music Hall?
ATP: I think one of the most peculiar things that happens at The Music Hall is bright and early on Monday mornings. All staff meets for about 15-min and we talk about the shows that happened over the weekend as well as what we have in the week coming up. I think the origin of this meeting style might be borrowed from a Japanese practice..? Anyway, when we started these weekly meetings, we were all wondering what to call it. A staff member blurted out,”Chaka Khan!”, and to this day, once a week we all meet for Chaka Khan, or “Chaka”. If only the real Chaka Khan knew.
KS: As Special Events Manager & Rental Coordinator, you are the driving force behind the Kitchen Tour that inspired these desk tours. What has been your favorite, memory, design element, aspect of the tour?
ATP: For this year’s tour, my favorite aspect is seeing how Portsmouth homes from the 1800s are standing up to the modern designs seen in downtown’s newest condo buildings. Trends will always go in and out of style however the combination of the style and history of some of Portsmouth’s oldest standing homes and the contrast to the more linear and contemporary look of our newer buildings is what gives Portsmouth its clever and ever evolving charm. With this being my third Kitchen Tour, it’s amazing how much there is to learn about design features, architecture, color, lighting, and varying stones and metals. I can now say I know what Pietra Cardosa schist granite looks like and how it differs from soapstone or stained concrete.
KS: What would you consider to be your spirit animal?
ATP: Ever since I was a kid, I’ve had an obsession with zebras.
KS: What is your most used emoji?
ATP: The emoji I use the most is the “thumbs up”. I’m a traditionalist. Second place, the lady dancing in the red dress. She looks like she is having fun.