About – Celebrity Events Network
About CEN
Lilana Novakovich was the first person who recognized the business potential of Daytime Drama stars in Canada while she was Advertising and Publicity Director at Prentice Hall Publishing in 1980. She brought author and actress Ruth Warrick, “Phoebe Tyler on All My Children” to Toronto for a publicity and book signing tour. Ruth encouraged her to start her own business representing soap opera stars as their Canadian agent.
The rest is history. Lilana exclusively represented the most popular stars on the soaps and continues to work with them as her business expanded and evolved. Lilana’s column, Lilana’s Diary in StarWeek Magazine (Toronto Star television guide) had over 800,000 weekly readers for over 15 years. Her nationally syndicated column Soap Suds was equally as successful in many major markets from Vancouver to Halifax. She was a regular guest on many Canadian news magazine shows including E-Talk and Global Noon News over the span of 20 years. She even had a weekly 2-hour open line show on CFRB Radio on the Soaps.
Soap Opera stars were the focus of her talent agency until she saw another opportunity when Life Network was launched in Canada in the late 1990’s. She began representing Canada’s first lifestyle television stars, culinary experts Ken Kostick and Mary Jo Eustace who hosted What’s For Dinner?
The genre developed into more networks (HGTV, Food Network), shows and clients. She was the first agent to develop and brand talent from lifestyle programming.
Designer Guys, Steven Sabados and the late Christopher Hyndman, contractor Mike Holmes, designer Sarah Richardson were Lilana’s first HGTV clients. She continues to represent them and several others.
CEN Staff
Colette Pryslak joined Celebrity Events Network in 1997 as Lilana’s assistant and now oversees logistics for client events.
Our administrative staff has been with Celebrity Events Network for over a decade. Our boutique agency has remained small for a reason. We know our clients well and can recommend them without hesitation for endorsements and events that will be a huge success. All our clients are exclusive to Celebrity Events Network.
Lilana Novakovich
president
What They’re Saying About Us
For 18 years, Canadian Home Builders’ Association – Calgary Region has worked with Lilana Novakovich and the fine talent Celebrity Event Network represents. As producers of a public home building and renovation trade exposition, we were thrilled to be able to rely upon Lilana and team to bring us notable, engaging and entertaining public figures for presentations and personal appearances. Their list of clients is impressive and to our benefit, CEN represents some of the most recognized names in home and décor themed television.
Time after time, our guests were rewarded with polished presentations and memorable takeaway. Our reward as producers was a worry-free contract, valuable pre-promotional assistance, a happy audience and spinning turnstiles at the gate.
David Bears,
Executive Producer
Calgary Home Builders’ Association
Lilana’s incredible relationships with both her clients and the companies and brands she works with makes the partnerships and collaborations we have done together seamless. The ability to buffer her clients from the details of brand demands and understanding and pre-empting their wants and needs is a rare skill. Lilana is one of a kind. She is professional, sincere and wants the best for everyone she works with.
Katherine Hamilton
Devon Consulting
The National Women’s Show has been working with Lilana and her team at Celebrity Events since the Show’s inception in 2001. Lilana is smart and intuitive and knows just the right celebrities to suggest to help us attract the most attendees. Celebrity Events is reliable and work with talent who are easy to deal with and fabulous with the audience.
Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal