What do you want to be when you grow up?
“Happy” was probably what I really wanted to say. I’d throw out random answers—a coach, a dentist, whatever came to mind. The truth is, I had no idea what career I wanted. What I did know was how I wanted to feel… or maybe more importantly, how I wanted to make others feel…
As any child who had access to cable in the early 2000s, I spent my time surfing channels. I started watching Say Yes to the Dress, Four Weddings, 27 Dresses, Bride Wars, My Fair Wedding with David Tutera, and of course all of the televised celebrity weddings. I was entranced with all of the prep and planning that went into a wedding day. How there were “evil,” spotlight-stealing mothers-in-law and controlling bridezillas, but also magical first looks and true love. One of my first memories of a wedding was my cousin’s beautiful reception in the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. There were fireworks and Dippin’ Dots! Not long after, her sister got married and I offered to hold the door open for her exit from the church, which I felt was the most important job. I was so captivated by the wedding day.
Fast forward to 2019, I was living my best life, nannying, going to college, and playing lacrosse. The mom I was nannying for at the time asked if I had any interest in helping out at some weddings and engagement parties she had planned. I was so excited! I got to fully immerse in the behind-the-scenes of coordinating an event. It was so beautiful and I loved the feeling of being relied on to make those moments memorable. I thought I could really make this event thing a job but 2020 brought a worldwide lockdown and events were all virtual or nonexistent.
June 2021 rolls around and I’m in graduate school when BOTH of my sisters get engaged in the same week. So began the most chaotic and busy season I had ever had in my life. I was both of my sisters’ maid of honor and planned both of their weddings. My middle sister had an intimate rehearsal dinner in our childhood backyard and a Sunday evening ceremony in North Kansas City at a beautiful chapel and outdoor reception in October of 2021. I was wrapping up my master’s degree in May of 2022 when my mom’s good friend who lives in Vail, Colorado, mentioned she knew of a luxury wedding planner who might be a good connection for me to make post-grad. I remember emailing the planner, ironically with no plan at all. I just wanted to introduce myself and ask her what her job was like out in the mountains. I honestly can’t even remember what we spoke about but I do remember her asking if I would be interested in coming out to Colorado that summer and shadowing her at some weddings. I was like well, I don’t have a job and my sister and brother live out there—why not?!
I graduated May of 2022 and headed out to Colorado for a couple of weeks through July and August, staying at my sister’s house, my parents’ friend’s house, and Airbnbs. I literally met this random wedding planner in a parking lot at like 8:00 a.m., got in her car, and we drove straight up a mountain in Vail to Eaton Ranch. The rest of the summer was full of the most amazing and life-shifting memories. We transformed ballrooms, fields, and mountain resorts. I explored cities by myself, sat at random bars talking to strangers, and reignited a passion for events that I had once known before. I came home that August with a binder full of event planning knowledge and decided to dive headfirst into planning my oldest sister’s Colorado wedding that fall. Her wedding featured a large welcome party at a restaurant in downtown Golden, a sentimental ceremony, and an after-party featuring our brother and her husband’s band at their neighborhood dive bar. After the rush of the wedding was over, I started looking for full-time jobs. We had last-minute booked a photo booth for the wedding and my parents mentioned the idea of me starting a photo booth business. Yeah, right! I put the decision off for months. I was terrified to start an entire business! But, I decided to take the chance thanks to the amazing support of my parents. I had no end goal or concept of what a photo booth business would look like. One month after the launch of Photobooth by HK I accepted a full-time position at a nonprofit.
The past two years have been full of learning moments. I balanced working full time, starting a business, coaching high school sports, joining boards, and soooo many random things in between. But it has all brought me to where I am today. I still don’t have an end goal, but I think that’s the best strategy to have when running a business. Keep evolving and telling yourself you can do it. And soon you’ll find out—you can be whatever you want to be.
HK
