The people + history behind the night
The Pinnacle story.
Meet Kristi, our inaugural Queen, and the rooms that started it all. The room is full for our next chapter on November 12.
Explore the sold-out Prom05 Why this room
There’s a reason
people come back.
You get time to actually talk. Introductions with a reason behind them. People who listen, contribute, and follow through. The Prom adds room to celebrate, loosen up, dance, and leave with new people to be glad you know.
100% opted into the private relationship directory across completed participant records from ArtPop and the Founders Soirée.
Created and hosted by
Kristi Straw, MBA
Founder of Lighthouse Leadership Consultants™, creator of The Pinnacle Dinner™, and the market maker behind the Rare Room™ methodology.
03 The Queen who started it
Inaugural Queen of Connection™ · 2025
Marie Kelly
She saw the room before it existed.
Marie is a brand marketing leader and fractional Chief Growth Officer with nearly 20 years of experience spanning integrated marketing, experiential design, and high-impact partnerships. Her career includes leadership roles at Grey Advertising and Jack Morton, as well as serving as Head of Marketing and Strategic Partnerships at the Sloomoo Institute.
She has led multi-million-dollar programs for Google, LVMH, NBC, and P&G and shaped experiences at the Oscars, the Cannes Film Festival, SXSW, and CES. Vibrant, exacting, and visionary, Marie sits at the intersection of culture, community, and cause.
She was also the first person to call Kristi a creative. The first to say, “You can do this.” When Kristi began imagining a different kind of gathering, Marie put The Art of Gathering in her hands. A beautiful room mattered most when people left it changed.
Across her work, Marie has used influence to make room for others, from #TimesUp advocacy to elevating conversations around mental health and neurodiversity. At Pinnacle, she notices who should know each other, makes the introduction, and keeps the door open behind her. It’s why she became the inaugural Queen of Connection™.
On November 12, she returns to pass the crown.
04 How we got here
A note from Kristi Straw
I built the room I knew could exist.
I’d spent years watching accomplished people pass within inches of one another, trading cards and credentials while the more interesting conversation waited underneath.
I began with one intentional table. Every seat had a reason. Phones went down. People spoke honestly, made real asks, and stayed long enough to help one another follow through.
Then the room began to move things: clients, jobs, capital, partnerships, sponsorships, speaking invitations, and the kind of trust no algorithm can manufacture. More than $5 million in documented business movement has been connected to the broader Lighthouse ecosystem in 16 months.
The Pinnacle Prom™ grew from that work. It’s our largest, most playful cultural expression yet: a modern high-society salon with a crown, professional photos, dinner, a DJ-led After Prom, and a guest list curated to let Charlotte’s worlds collide.
“I’m a market maker for expertise. I make valuable people easier to understand, place, trust, and buy, and I build the rooms where that recognition can happen.”
Kristi Straw, MBAFounder, Lighthouse Leadership Consultants™ · Creator, The Pinnacle Dinner™ and Rare Room™
Scenes from rooms we’ve already made
This world has a history.
Artists, makers, musicians, founders, and Charlotte originals have helped turn Pinnacle rooms into something guests can feel and remember.
The archive also holds Tatiana Berdo’s photography, live music, Lacey M. Johnson and LM Creative, ArtPop Street Gallery, Charlotte Is Creative, and the people who keep making the room more interesting.
Your next reason to get dressed.
November 12 · 6:30–9:30 PM · The Hamilton · Charlotte