When I was about 12 years old, my friend and I started a “business” (our only real customers were our parents) called “Party Pizzazz”. We would beg our parents to have their friends over and let us be in charge of planning their get-togethers. At that time, I didn’t really think of event planning as a career, but as something that I enjoyed doing. I loved creating the invitations for holiday parties, keeping track of the RSVPs, planning the food, and decorating. Fast forward seven years during the summer before I went to college. One day I was thinking about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I knew I was going to major in something related to communication, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do with the degree and then it hit me: I wanted to plan events for a living.

I love the idea that as an event planner, I can help create a happy, memorable experience for a company, organization, or person. I love that I can help plan an event that people could be talking about years after it happened. I love that I can help design an event that could take a person’s mind off of stress and other problems. I love that I can create a space that even for just one night seems like the perfect place to be.

I’m probably not going to change the world with my career and that’s okay. As an event planner, I can turn a hobby into a career while bringing people joy and happiness with a fun and enjoyable atmosphere. So I may not be changing the world as an event planner, but I like to think I could impact at least one person with an event that I plan.