Brittany Cooke
Director, Entertainment and Concert Production | Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo
RodeoHouston is an entertainment juggernaut in Space City, with 20 back-to-back days of livestock shows, exhibitions, a carnival and high-stakes rodeo followed by multi-genre, A-lister concerts at NRG Stadium attracting 2.4 million attendees each March.
That many shows in a year would be impressive, but compressed into a single month is herculean and as the director of entertainment and concert production, Brittany Cooke does a lot of the heavy lifting.
Cooke’s responsibilities include signing musical talent across multiple stages culminating with nightly concerts during the massive rodeo. She stepped into the stadium spotlight this year following the retirement of her predecessor and mentor, Jason Kane.
“When I started working with Jason, he took me under his wing in such a way that over the past 10 years, Jason has treated me like a partner and not just an employee, which in turn gave me the confidence to really step into the entertainment industry and to understand how that works,” Cooke explained.
Prior to joining RodeoHouston in 2013, Cooke was event manager for what was then SMG-Reliant Park, which opened in 2002 with a capacity of more than 72,000. Leah Mastaglio (assistant general manger of what is now known as NRG Park) hired Cooke after she graduated from Sam Houston State University.
“Leah took a chance on me and gave me my first job out of college,” Cooke said. “She introduced me to the operational side of the live entertainment world, how it works and all the ins and outs.”
The nightly concerts are a huge draw, but for Cooke, the RodeoHouston mission is her driving force.
“In 2023 we were able to commit $27 million to Texas youth and education,” she said. “In total, we have given over $600 million and this is at the core of our mission. Many of these scholarship recipients are the first in their families to go to college. This is the whole reason we do what we do.”
Country music dominates the schedule, but inclusivity and diversity are a focus for Cooke as she develops the next generation of RodeoHouston performers.
“I feel the ‘Golden Age’ is going to be around for a little while longer,” she said. “It is very millennial/Gen Z driven and they are all about experiences, which live music provides.”
She is also inspired by the role of women in the live industry. “I think we are seeing more and more women present in the live music business who have earned their spot,” Cooke said. “As an industry we are moving forward in the right direction, and I hope things continue that way.”