Most people think I am crazy. Like many college-aged people,
I have constantly been asked two questions:
What are you going to do when you
graduate?
What company are you going to
work for?
Let me tell you, up until about 6 months ago, I didn’t have
an answer to either of those questions. But when I really buckled down, started
praying for clarity about my future, and asking God for His guidance, I
realized that both of those questions were SO easy to answer.
What are you going to do when you graduate?
People who have known me for a long time would tell you that
I don’t take no for an answer, and when I get my mind set on something, you can
bet your bottom-dollar I’m going to find someway to complete it. (But really, I
ran a full marathon with only a month of training!) So when friends from home
and family from all over the country would ask me what I was going to do with
my life, I wasn’t really sure how to answer besides: I’m going to change hearts
all over the world.
My freshman year of college, I could have never imagined
that my life would look like it does now! I ended relationships that I was
convinced would never end, I started mentoring a small group of incredible high
school girls, and I even went on several occasions to serve on mission trips.
Every time I went to serve on the mission field, the mission families that I
was blessed enough to spend time working alongside changed me—the amount of
trust and love they have for the Lord was so radiant! I also got to experience
what it feels like for these families to fundraise for the opportunity to go
serve…let me tell you, that was humbling to say the least! These people have
devoted their whole lives to helping people, providing the people they serve
with access to better education, clean drinking water, business skills, and the
opportunity to discover a greater life than they could have ever imagined. But
they are completely at the mercy of other people’s generosity to somehow muster
up enough money to cover all their expenses to continue serving others!
This whole process sparked something in me. After I returned
from Guatemala last summer, I felt this overwhelming sense that I needed to
help families that were out in the world doing the work that I knew I wasn’t
called to specifically…But how?! I’m just a poor college student!!
What company are you going to work for?
Here’s where things get interesting! In May of 2015, I was
lucky enough to land a summer internship with Christine Alexander at Best Day
Ever Events. Let me tell you, I fell IN LOVE with weddings!! Every aspect of
planning a wedding, from finding décor that matched the brides taste, to going
to countless vendor meetings, to researching pinterest and etsy for H O U R S
on end to find the best deal, even to dealing with paperwork, wedding planning
and coordination absolutely stole my heart! When August rolled around, I
thought my time with BDE was coming to an end, but to my surprise, Christine
asked me to stay on as her assistant! (Did I say to my surprise? Oh, I mean, I
knew I would get it because I’m awesome…) I was then blessed enough to spend my
Fall semester continuing with BDE and getting more experience with weddings and
all they entail. Christine mentored me and taught me all the ins and outs of
weddings and even let me plan a styled shoot that got published by Wedding
Chicks! After two years of experience, dreams of working for Best Day Ever Events full time started to cross
my mind…but then, I got some news that would throw me for a loop. Christine and
her husband were moving back to California.
I got sad for a while…I felt like I was going to be just
like half of all college students who don’t get a job right after graduation.
But then, deep in my heart, God birthed the idea of creating an event company
that supports missionary families.
If I’m being completely honest, when that thought first
crossed my mind, I thought, “whoa that’s cool, maybe I can tell someone else
about it and they can do it!” But when I couldn’t think about anything BUT this
crazy idea, I knew that this wasn’t for some else, this was for me. I had to be
the one to do something about it!
Doubt and time-constraints and confused filled my mind—“Okay,
now what? I have this idea, how the heck am I going to finish school AND start
a company? That would be crazy!” Then I remembered a quote someone had shared
with me once, “the ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world
are the ones that do”.
Like I said earlier, most people think I am crazy. Who
starts a business…on their own…at age 20…when they still have 10 months of
college left? Oh, that’s right. THIS GIRL DOES!
