Today we’d like to introduce you to Anya Gonzalez.
Hi Anya, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My story starts begins at the Belarusian State Economic University, more specifically the international business communications faculty. Here I learned a wide variety of cultures and communication styles, and also about different businesses and industries. This is what made me realize that Event Management is what I want to do for a living, so it’s safe to say it is a career by choice. I have always been a “people person”, I enjoy working with people and creating experiences for them, I enjoy educating them as well, helping them and also sharing my creativity and vision throughout the process. After graduation, I moved to Austin, TX and started my first internship with an event planning company. This became a turning moment in my life. I got hands-on experience working in the events industry and it was confirmation that I was on a right path. It has been a long learning process, and even now, having my own business, I learn every day. It’s always a continuing education – books, online courses, conferences and conventions – the industry always moves forward and I move forward with it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Having my own business means challenging myself to be better every day, stay on top of everything and move on, develop and never stop. But sometimes we all need a break, working with people is as much challenging as it is enjoyable. I have an amazing partner, Jonathan Gonzalez, whose support helps me to overcome and all obstacles I come across. I love what we do, love seeing our clients happy, relaxed and stress-free. I love my job for the real emotions it gives us. It always makes me happy to see that at the end of the day people appreciate what we do, how much work is put into the preparation and planning process, and during the execution process too.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Velvet Arrow Events is an event planning company, we do organization, planning and coordination of all sorts of events from weddings, corporate events to birthday parties and more. We offer an all-inclusive deal starting with finding an idea and overall theme to managing full organization and event execution – our clients can just relax and enjoy the process! As I mentioned before, there’s a lot of work needs to be done in order to create a beautiful and flawless event. From developing the idea and overall theme to finding a venue, vendors, signing the contracts, creating and running a timeline (sometimes multiply timelines!), to helping with setting up the decor and even assisting photographers to get a great shot by throwing the wedding dress train in the air! Sometimes we talk to our clients every day and become friends after the event is over. My partner, Jonathan Gonzalez, is a photographer, so our services include a full event coverage and soon enough, we will introduce videography to our clients as well. We also do customized decor, using a laser machine, to bring some crazy ideas to life for our clients, but that is a business we can discuss another day.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
During Covid-19 crisis, I learned that we have to stay creative and positive, find a solution even if it seems to be a dead end. We did everything from wedding drive-through ceremonies to online events to make sure events are happening. Another big lesson is self-discipline – staying at home, I was doing online courses, watching educational videos, reading industry-related resources, doing as much as I could to keep preparing myself, to stay ahead of the game and to not waste any time. We always have to think about the future, all that knowledge I accumulated during the quarantine is very useful now. And of course, support is very important – supporting each other, other small businesses and individuals, no matter how hard times are, together we can do it all.
Contact Info:
- Email: anya@velvetarrowevents.com
- Website: https://www.velvetarrowevents.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/velvetarrowevents/
Image Credits:
Jonathan Gonzalez Chris x Jess Photo & Film Toan Photography
