Meet the 28-Year-Old Mastermind Behind Questlove's Epic Game Nights
I interviewed Cathy Rong, Questlove's chief of staff, for The Cut.
Questlove’s game nights — intimate, curated gatherings where celebrities cover their phone cameras and bond — have become one of the most coveted invitations in entertainment. They’re the “baby” of Cathy Rong, the Roots drummer’s 28-year-old chief of staff. But her job isn’t just making sure Taylor Swift has a great time playing Uno. There are also early-morning TV appearances, back-to-back red-eye flights and detailed planning involved in keeping Questlove’s (given name Ahmir Thompson’s) career running.
She’s now taking that expertise to her side hustle, Cat Darling Agency, a boutique firm she founded that recruits chiefs of staff, executive assistants, personal assistants, estate managers and day-to-day managers for luxury clients. She handles everything from verification to placement while also producing high-end events for select clientele. And she also created Assistants Anonymous, an exclusive community of assistants who share resources and navigate the isolating world of working as the unseen force behind public personas.
I interviewed her for The Cut. Here are some highlights from our conversation.
On her career path:
At NYU, I majored in education with a minor in child psychology, so it’s funny that I’m working in entertainment now. I started as an assistant at VaynerMedia and then went to Complex Networks because I wanted to work in entertainment. Eventually, I was running the office of the CEO at Complex, which meant I managed four C-suite executives. I was headhunted for Quest, but I had limited knowledge of him before I started working with him.
I started a month before he won his Oscar, so it was trial by fire. I completely blacked out. It was a roller coaster: Before that, I’d never even booked glam before.
On Questlove’s famous game nights:
He had game nights in his apartment before I joined the team in January 2022. It was after the height of COVID, and we were looking for a way to reconnect with his peers and the industry. As people came out of quarantine, the social skills were not all the way there. That’s something I saw, repackaged, and brought to Ahmir, and it snowballed from there.
I’m very protective of the vibe of the events. They’re different from what you usually see in the celebrity space. Ahmir loves to host and never had the organizational or logistical person to help him, and I love to plan. My team — which is just me and my assistant — spends anywhere from two to three months planning each game night.
We cover everyone’s phone cameras, and we have a photographer who shoots every game night. Because we have such a small team, it’s always less than 100 people.
We wanted to stay away from the award-circuit vibe where everyone kind of knows each other and takes a photo together, but they aren’t actually friends. Game nights create a space where people actually become friends. It’s a more curated kind of party.
Every game night is different. For the last event we had, before the Met Gala, Ghetto Gastro cooked, and the dress code was sweat suits. And for Halloween last year, we did a Clue-themed game night where everyone dressed as a Clue character. We host two to three a year in addition to other annual events.
I didn’t know it was going to become this big pop-culture moment.
Friends started sending me TikToks and conspiracy videos, and celebrities — previous guests — started talking about it on their talk shows and podcasts. It’s my baby, and I’m very proud of it.
+10000 for game nights in general and for spotlighting the geniuses running things behind the scenes. Loved hearing Cathy’s story!