Her Story
About Elaine
I work as a Sales Manager and Events Manager at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, a beautiful nonprofit venue where I've been for a year, though I bring 10 years of experience in the events industry and sales. My typical day involves receiving emails from clients, and when the weather is nice, I sit outside in our beautiful garden to answer questions and connect with clients while working on my computer. I handle both corporate events and weddings, which require completely different approaches. With corporate clients, I focus on providing all the information they need about event capacity, regulations, pricing, and services so they can make informed decisions. With brides, it's about selling them the dream and the experience, because it's their special day that will hopefully happen just once in their life, so I take care of all their details and make them feel comfortable working with us. What I love most about my work is that I don't feel like I'm actually working - I'm coming to this beautiful botanical garden to talk with people and have a good time while getting paid. I make sure every client feels that their event is different and not cookie-cutter, and I bring my 10 years of experience to share what works and what doesn't work during events. I'm very attentive to detail, which comes from my early days when I loved creating themed events like Alice in Wonderland, where I would watch the movie and see how to bring every detail to life in the real event decoration. I started this career because I always loved decorations and was very crafty, doing decorations for my family and friends for every activity, designing tables and menus even for Thanksgiving dinners. I studied psychology at Havana University in Cuba, graduating in 2014, and even though it's a completely different background, it has helped me tremendously because I studied marketing and how psychology impacts client decisions and effective communication. I never thought when I came from Cuba and started working in a very small venue that one day I would be the sales manager at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, which is a very important venue in the area where we do big events. I also have a unique background in that I was Miss Grand Cuba 2019 and did modeling from 2019 to 2021 before focusing fully on events and sales.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Elaine
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to always paying attention and trying to learn more from the very beginning. When I started in this industry, I was very little in my position, but because I was so in love with what I was doing, I always tried to make it good and learn from the people who had been in the industry longer than I was. That's the most important part - it doesn't matter how leader you are in your position right now, you need to learn from others, from your coworkers, from your boss. If you pay attention to what they do and you show interest, you can get better opportunities in the future. I never thought when I came from Cuba and started working in a very small venue doing crafts and decorations that one day I was going to be the sales manager at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, which is a very important venue here in the area where we do big events. But I think one thing that was important for me was that at the beginning, I always paid attention, I was always trying to learn more, and I was very ambitious in that part. I also really love what I do, which makes all the difference.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say try to look for the excellence of what you do. It doesn't matter how leader you are in your position right now, learn from the others, learn from your coworkers, from your boss. If you pay attention to what they do and you pay interest, you can get better opportunities in the future. I started very little in the industry, and because I was so in love with what I was doing, and I always tried to make it good and to learn from the people that were in the industry for more time than I was, that's the most important part. I never thought when I came from Cuba and started working in a very small venue that one day I was going to be the sales manager at the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, which is a very important venue here in the area where we do big events. But because at the beginning I always paid attention and I was always trying to learn more, and I was very ambitious in that part, I was able to grow. So stay in love with what you're doing, always try to make it good, and learn from those around you.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The most important values to me are caring about the client and how they feel. I'm not this cold person trying to sell something - I try to connect with the client in every aspect to make them feel that every event is different, not like a cookie cutter that you apply for everybody. I take my time to make the client feel that I can take care of every detail that they need, so I make them feel comfortable and I take my time to be with them. Another important value is bringing my experience to the table. Since I bring 10 years of experience in the field, I feel confident whenever I am explaining things because I can share my experience with them, share what normally works during events and what doesn't work that well, so they feel that they are talking to a person that knows about events. And finally, I'm very attentive to detail. Since I started doing events and sales because I liked creating things and being very specific, I always make sure to see every detail and how I can bring this to life in the real event decoration. I always do the extra detail to make it different for them. So I would say those three things - that I can connect with the client, I bring the experience to the table, and I pay attention to every detail.
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