Her Story
About Laura
I started my career in front of house hospitality back in 2019, working in a fine dining restaurant. I quickly moved up from being a frontline hostess to becoming a manager of the restaurant, which was a pretty large facility that also hosted smaller-scale events for 200 to 400 people. I fell in love with the hospitality industry there and had the opportunity to do organizational development work, including writing a 5-year plan for the improvement of HR systems that is still being implemented today. I also developed training systems that they still use. From there, I moved to Aerotech, an industrial recruiting firm where I recruited for industrial facilities mainly in the St. Louis area for about a year. Then I had the opportunity to enter business development via a local AV company in St. Louis, where I started selling AV technology to event planners. That's how I really got reconnected with the hospitality industry from a sales perspective. As I developed those relationships and made more connections in the events industry, I became connected with InEvent as they were growing their business development team. That's where I made the change from selling AV technology to selling event software, which is what I currently do. After graduating from my undergrad in 2023, I applied for Harvard Extension School in the field of industrial organizational psychology, and I've been studying with them for the past 3 years while working full-time.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Laura
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
When I was considering applying for master's programs, I started to get imposter syndrome about the different programs I was interested in. I remember saying to my professor, who was the head of my psychology department, that Harvard has the number one program in IO psychology, so obviously that would be my dream school, but I didn't think I was going to apply to them. I thought I would apply to all these other schools instead. He immediately challenged me on that and asked, 'Why would you do that? Why would you discount your ability to get into Harvard in the program that you really want to do?' I realized that I had this fallacy and this sense of imposter syndrome, and assumed that either I would not be capable of getting into the program, or I wouldn't have the resources to accomplish completing a degree with Harvard. That challenge was really integral in my decision to apply and pursue the degree, which I am now pursuing.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would recommend that she get in touch with herself first and understand what things are important to her as it relates to her career. Not as a warning, but as a sense of encouragement. The hospitality industry is a large machine, and it's a beautiful industry filled with some of the best people I've ever met, but it's also a very powerful machine, and it requires one to be in touch with herself in order to know when to say no, when to establish boundaries, what those boundaries should look like, and how to continue being a kind person while becoming a skilled, savvy professional. That goes especially for those in the events industry. Events are a highly detailed, highly competitive environment, and they are exciting and filled with people who are incredibly kind to each other. But they also require a lot of time commitment, a lot of attention, a lot of detail orientation, so it's always important to get in touch with yourself and understand what you want from a role before engaging and pursuing that career.
Keep Exploring
More Influential Women · Missouri
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.