Journey To My Dream – Part 1
So many of you have asked how I became a wedding planner, but I’m not going to bore you with the all the tiny minute details of how I found my dream job planning weddings. Trust me, we would be here forever because your girl LOVES to talk. It wasn’t as straightforward of a journey as you might think. I’m going to do my best to give you the short and sweet version of how Simply Loved came to be making sure you get all the good details!
Meet The Real Charissa
Do you remember when you were little and everybody would always ask you what you wanted to be when you grew up? Well, let’s just say that Wedding and Event planning was not mine! I may or may not have told people my dream job was to be “Princess of the World”… That’s Right, this girl had HUGE aspirations and wanted to conquer the world – cue some girl boss Beyonce music!
Did You Say Barbie Princess?
Like most kids, Princess of the World was my future for a few years before continuously switching between a NASCAR driver, a teacher, and a few other random professions in-between. Can you say slightly indecisive? Fast forward to my freshman year of college when I thought I FINALLY had my future figured out. I was going to study Political Science at Iona College! I was going to discuss the merits of government and the importance of democracy! Maybe even trade the title princess for President! … that was until I wasn’t. Let’s just say this declaration of a major lasted halfway into a class my first semester of Poli-Sci 101. After that first semester, I took some time to figure out what exactly I did want to study.
#COLLEGE
I had gotten this idea stuck in my head that I needed a job that would make me a lot of money and make me super cool (it was Freshman year! Everyone wants to be cool Freshman year!). It took all of Christmas break, most of which I spent lying in bed sick (note to future college students, if one person on the floor is sick you all get sick #NoBoundries), for me to realize that my dream job the one I secretly wanted deep down was a cool job! I had been worried that people would see my job as less-than. I didn’t want to be seen as a failure or an underachiever. So I came up with a plan. Knowing I went to one of the country’s top 50 business schools I returned to my second semester with a fresh perspective and a new goal. I declared myself as a Business Management major and hit the ground running towards my dream of kicking a$$ in the event world!
I-O-N-A IONA
I had secretly wanted to be an event/wedding coordinator since I was little. My mom always had a knack for things like that and she seemed to have passed on that talent to me! I can’t begin to tell you how exciting it was to plan my birthday party every year, not to mention whenever my mom made me her little helper for any events she helped organized. Penny auctions, golf tournaments, and any other charity event were my thing! Not only was I naturally good at running events, it was something that made me happy.
