Before Mary came to Los Angeles to attend college in the 1970’s, she had a five-year career as a flight attendant based out of Miami. She grew up in a warm-hearted Italian family and came away with deeply engraved memories of important family meals, kinship with her siblings and friends. That background shaped how she expresses life and now makes a living. They say that the world’s most successful people follow their hearts and this couldn’t be truer for this authentic and talented woman.
Mary went to school to pursue a career in marketing, and imagined that she would “land up in the entertainment industry in some way.” The industrious young gal worked her way through school as a waitress at Los Angeles eateries frequented by the rich and famous. While waiting on tables and wishing she could be a bartender instead, she danced her way into her patron’s hearts. “The first celebrity I remember getting to know was Neil Diamond and his wife Marsha,” she fondly remembers. “Eventually I met the wives of some major power brokers…” Names like Ovitz and Eisner. Never one to allow herself to be marginalized, after graduating with honors, Micucci took the opportunity to create an all-girl bartending service at a time when women weren’t the ones serving up Cuba Libras and Piña Coladas.
Micucci claims that cooking is not her forte. This is confirmed with a framed apron on her kitchen wall with the cartoon character “Cathy” exclaiming: “I don’t cook meals, I create legends!” And, so she does. The development of her company, Along Came Mary, was the result of a wealthy woman’s invitation to “do” a dinner party. The first person she hired was a chef so that she could focus on the overall ambiance, menu design and look of an event and a company was born.
That was 1975 and today, her company not only has set the pace for an industry, but is still the most hired event production company on the West Coast. Mary is frequently credited as having set the standard for the modern movie premiere. In 1980, when she produced her first premiere party for Paramount’s “Popeye,” Mary didn’t realize she’d be setting a precedent for a $20 billion-a-year “party planning” industry. Today, ACM's influence on event planners worldwide is seen by incorporating gourmet cuisine with sights, sounds and textures into a feast for the senses.
Unlike the ego-driven "party planner" personas that Hollywood produces for our entertainment, Mary is a breath of fresh air and a grounded, normal business woman. She is a stickler for details and has a gift for surrounding herself with talented people that make her shine.
Mary's philosophy for her company has always been integrity and ethics. In addition to being heavily involved in all ACM events, Mary likes to take an active role in her community. Her generosity can be witnessed in the countless pounds of food ACM donates each year to Angel's Harvest or in the hours of time she and her employees spent adopting a local school and helping to raise funds for a much-needed library. Other charities near and dear to her heart include Good Shepherd and House of Ruth, focusing on the needs of women and children. Mary donates her time and money producing events for a variety of charities including Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, the Neil Bogart Foundation, National Resource Defense Council, UCLA School of Medicine and many others. She is an active voice in the Human Rights Watch and the BizBash Event advisory panel.
For a woman who is a powerful force, one would not imagine that she collects dainty early American tea cups, lovely Depression glass, a vast collection of antique silver and, interestingly enough, owns an impressive collection of crystal and silver rimmed match strikers. She also has a particular passion for all types of glassware that fill her beautiful cabinetry in her Hancock Park home. Her interior designer laments that she has "too many photographs" in her home, but it's just this that so delightfully expresses Mary's warmth and love of family. Mary subscribes to publications such as Martha Stewart Living, Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Entertainment Weekly, the Los Angeles Times and keeps up on "the industry" by reading The Hollywood Reporter and Variety which pile up in the reception space in her Los Angeles office headquarters.
Mary lives with her daughter Jenna in Los Angeles, California.