Cristina Lowenfeld, CMP, CMM

I attribute my success to my positivity - I am an eternal optimist. You'll never see me without a smile on my face. I tend to be cool and calm under pressure, which is critical in this job all of the time. So I would say that my personality and just my disposition has been a huge attribute to my success. On top of that, it's surrounding myself with the right people. I know that I don't know everything, but if I surround myself with people that know things, we can create a really great outcome in the end. So I would say that collaborative spirit, and making sure that you have people that are going to support you and work well together, has been essential.

The best career advice I've ever received is to go into a position or put yourself in a place where you're uncomfortable. It will help you grow, it will help you learn something new, you'll meet new people. You might find out it's something you don't want to do, but then again, you might find out it's something that you really enjoy. Situations where you feel uncomfortable are often a sign of growth, and you should really take those experiences in. The other piece of advice is to live each day as it is its own. Sometimes you have a really bad day, and if you dwell on it, it's going to make more bad days. Just take it as it is and move on to the next day, making sure that you're living each day to its fullest.

My advice would be to network. Talk to people, put yourself out there, even in those slightly uncomfortable positions - it will help you grow and you'll learn from it. My biggest piece is to network. Oftentimes, and sometimes it's cliche to say, but it's not necessarily just the book knowledge that you have, it's the people you know. But oftentimes it's a combination of both. So the more people you know, the bigger you build your network, the more support that you have. Build your support group. I highly recommend it. I am a mentor to 3 to 4 mentees, and they've had some great success by just going out and networking, whether it's digitally or attending events. Network and build your support group.

I would say the biggest challenge in the event industry is managing expectations with stakeholders. A lot of times in our industry, we are strapped with a lot of constraints - it could be anywhere from time to location, to political or economic stances that are happening in the region that you're in or maybe the company that you're with, or it could be down to pennies and dollars when you're strapped on cash. All of that can be mitigated as long as you're setting expectations with your stakeholders in the right way. Communication is a huge piece of what we do. If you don't have those skills, that could definitely hold you back in the field. Bottom line is managing expectations of your stakeholders. If you level set with people at the onset and communicate any changes during the process, you will make sure that everybody is set up for success in the end and they're happy with the outcomes. I am a huge proponent of communication and really level setting and setting those expectations, good or bad, and making them sound good with the stakeholders that you're working with.

I would say truth and trust are my most important values. I am very keen on somebody that is truthful with you, that doesn't hide from things, that can tell you if you did a good job but can also tell you that you sucked for the day and give you some good constructive criticism. I would say trust and truth are probably my biggest values that I both always try to exemplify myself, and that I really seek out in others. The second value is teamwork, and that sounds kind of elementary or fundamental, but I enjoy working with others, and I think we can all get more done and support each other when we work together. So teamwork, whether it's a direct project or just kind of being a cheerleader on the sidelines for somebody, I think is very important, and it's definitely a value that I cherish in some of my colleagues and my leaders alike.