January Video From International President

 

Transcription of video above:

12 years ago, I left a steady job in the middle of the recession - and I took what I thought was my dream job, and I promptly left 3 weeks later. And being a wedding pro is always a big part of my identity, and so I was mortified. I had no job, not sure what I was doing.

And I'd literally just spent the last 3 weeks having all my vendor friends come in, take appointments with them, give them tours - and it all fell apart. And frankly, I just wanted to stay home. I did not want to go anywhere. I did not want to see anybody. And frankly, that's not like me.

But I was willing to talk to my friend Nina - who's an event veteran in town, who belongs to everything. And I lamented to her, and I said, "I just don't want to see anyone right now. I just - I'm just feeling very low about what's kind of going on in my career, and I'm not really sure what to do." And she prodded me, and she said, "How could you not in this time? How could you not turn to the community for support?"

And that was the push that I needed. I jumped back into it, even though I wasn't quite sure what I was doing. But I jumped right back in. Started networking, started meeting with people again. And from that point, I really understood the impact of community. For better, for worse, in good times and bad - in this crazy wedding industry that we're all a part of. And from that also drew, created for me this deep love and appreciation for associations - which has carried on, and carried me through to being your 2021 WIPA President.

Now, when I think about 2021, I keep thinking of the word, "fragile." Because the fact of the matter is, every chapter is going to be handling this differently. We're going to be impacted differently. But the fact is, we're all being impacted by it. And so my hope, during my Presidency this year - is to create a continued community for you. Whatever it is that you need. Whether it's the continued education. Whether it's the inspiration. Whether it's that support. I want everybody to feel welcomed.

On top of that, I want to honor the good work of the people who came before us. I could go on and on. There's so many amazing things that came out of crisis this year. Whether it was all of those webinars that were put on by international. Whether it was the DNI committee, which was created - and have done great work already with their action plan.

I think about the chapters as well, and there's too many great efforts to name. But I think about what the Utah-- And they brought together health departments from the area to really talk about tackling COVID. I think about WIPA SoCal, that partnered with The Black Table, and had a very candid conversation this summer about race. I also think about WIPA Las Vegas. They had a very cool social media campaign. Where they did one task every day - to get people inspired about things they can be doing during this time, to work on their business. And so on and so forth. Everybody rose to the occasion. And I want to honor that, while also bringing in fresh insight, new energy.

I'd be remiss in closing if I didn't thank all of those who served last year. What a year. None of us expected in January, what was going to come before us. But I'm so deeply appreciative. I want to welcome those who are stepping in to leadership positions at such a difficult time.

And in closing, I also want to thank Kevin Dennis, who was our fearless leader this year. Now he did tell me when I joined WIPA, and I joined the board - he told me, "Well, you just have to work on the newsletter, and that's it. You won't have to do anything else than that." And I think this is a good example of how plans have a way of changing. But that's certainly okay. I know that I have the very best team to work with alongside this year.

So my door is always open. Even if it's virtual for now, don't hesitate to reach out. And I wish you all the very, very best as we begin this year together.
 
     
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