Her Story
About Christina
I started my career in the culinary arts after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, where I competed and earned scholarships. While I love cooking, I discovered that the events industry allows me to bring all my passions together - food, creativity, and bringing people together - and I see it as a way to serve others. What I love most about events is the sense of belonging it gives people, whether it's a wedding or a community event where complete strangers come together for one purpose. I entered the events industry through catering, and I realized I wasn't just limited to cooking and serving food - I could tap into everything and bring a vision to life. My most significant professional achievement was building an events department from the ground up for my last organization. I was hired for a very small position, and there wasn't supposed to be an events department or team, but within 8 months I became the programming and events manager. We went from 3-4 events a month to 300 events a year. Before I got there, the whole company had to stay for every single event, but within months I was the only person at the events because I established processes that allowed them to run themselves. I'm now starting my own event firm based on my proven strategies for efficiency and combating the burnout and stress that's notorious in the events industry.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Christina
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received was 'if everything is on fire, then nothing is an emergency.' When I first heard it, I didn't understand what it meant, but as I progressed as a professional and stepped into my leadership role, I realized how powerful it was. In the corporate world, everything is treated as an emergency and a priority, but you can't split yourself into five people. This advice taught me that even when all things are high priority, I still have to select one or two out of the five to focus on - it's a way to work efficiently. It's also a way to lower stress and limit stress, and I'm very anti-stress and anti-burnout. I don't feel like we should lower the quality of our life because of the work we do. I've shared this advice with the team I was leading, telling them that panicking does nothing and that we have to take things in chunks, piece by piece. This advice has altered the way I tackle projects and has made me want to work more efficiently - it has definitely changed the way I work.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say do not listen to negative people and do not absorb any negativity. Even constructive criticism, take it with a grain of salt. The moment you allow that seed of negativity to be sown in your mind, it can fester and change the way you look at yourself. Sometimes the negativity makes more sense than something great someone told you because it's a reflection of how you see yourself, but try not to absorb it. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't or you won't. Always find a way and be the person to try something and figure it out on your own. For anyone coming into the events industry specifically, I would advise them to be non-traditional. That's the only way the industry is going to change, improve, and grow. If you come in repeating what somebody did before, we're going to continue to have the same problems notorious to the events industry - burnout, stress, sleepless nights, last minute everything. Always find a way to be more efficient and to improve. It's not bad to come in with new ideas and test out new things. If you want to have some type of impact, you have to come in doing something different.
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