Amaris Taylor

I attribute my success to being honest and forthright, running my business with integrity. I may not know everything, but I'm not going to put on that I do. I won't take a job that I can't fulfill. When it comes to people I consider mentors in the industry, I will never be so over my head that I won't sit down and listen and ask questions. The same advice I give is the same advice that I take for myself - I will always sit down and listen to somebody that I consider to be a mentor, or somebody who might have a different perspective. I always listen to different angles and am honest about where I am in my business. That's super important.

The best career advice I've received is to always ask questions - never feel ashamed to ask questions. Always go with your gut. And don't be an ask hole - if you ask questions and the person giving you advice is someone you trust and can rely on for peace of mind, don't just take their time for advice and then not run with it. That's super important. And always, always continue training. Anytime you can jump on a training call or training class at all, do it, especially if they're free. All it costs is a little bit of time.

Stop asking to shadow. I know that may sound a little harsh, but this industry has a ton of turnover, and the way that we want to know if you really want to enter this industry or not is to actually work for someone. Don't just say you want to come and shadow for a few days and a few events, because we don't know if you're going to show up the next day or not. You might see two or three events and then not show up. Get involved with a planner that you want to work with and put in the work. Don't just say you're going to shadow because you don't have to pay me, because then there's no security for us either. If you're saying you're going to shadow, that's supposed to sound really good to us as planners - oh, you've got some free help - but in that same vein, you are not obligated because you're not an actual employee. There's nothing holding you to me, just like there's nothing holding me to you. I want people who want to be here, not somebody who just wants to come on board for a wedding or two to shadow me. Put in the time to work with a planner that you want to work with. More often than not, the shadowing never turns out to be an advantageous thing for both of us.

The biggest challenges are always employment and turnover. People will come to you and want to work, or they'll say they want to get in the events industry, and then they realize they don't really know what they want to do in the events industry. They think it's like the movie The Wedding Planner with Jennifer Lopez, and they think we run around in cute matching skirts and heels, and that's not a real thing. They think it's very pretty, but it's one of the most strenuous and dirty jobs you'll ever get into. Try to wash 20 linens after a big dinner event - it's crazy. Or picking them up with pieces of chicken and string beans on the table. People are like, who's picking that up? We are. This is what we do. The biggest challenge is finding people who really want to do the work, and not somebody who just wants to open their own company because they want to open their own company. As for opportunities, I want to expand and do more activations and other styles of events, not just socials but corporate stuff. I want to do way more corporate events, and that's what we're gearing ourselves up for in 2026. And hopefully, if our lead comes through, we'll be working on some Fashion Week stuff for fall of 2026 in New York City, so I'm really excited about that.

Integrity is super important, and transparency. In the Army, we had an acronym for leadership values, and integrity was one of the things I took from that. My parents instilled that in me - as long as you were honest and gave people the opportunity to make an educated decision about the path they wanted to go when it comes to their event, then you've done the right thing. If they weren't super familiar with something and they're making a decision, then you help them, but you don't keep things from clients that can be detrimental. To have integrity about how your business is run, it takes you far. It might be the slow way, but it'll take you a long way. And transparency - I'm probably one of the few planners out here that will broadcast my pricing. I don't need people falling in love with me and they can't afford the services, but I also remember once being a bride and not being able to budget myself right because I could not find pricing. I said to myself that once I went full-time, I would broadcast my pricing. I think you can at least share a baseline so that the person interested in hiring you will know whether they want to continue a conversation or not. It saves their time and my time. Transparency has always been a plus for my business. I always believe in trying to be flexible before saying no, and I think it's good to hear the client out - it might be something that might be advantageous to both of you.