Meet Cheyenne Lespinas | Event Planner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cheyenne Lespinas and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cheyenne, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I started my own business because the jobs that were available in my desired industry we’re not available or we’re only offered to people who have been in this industry for “10+ years”. I say “10+ years” like this because employers wanted people who where straight out of college with the knowledge of someone with experience and only pay the $30,000/salary. And as you may already know, events do not happen 9-5. They happen Saturday nights, Friday nights and Sundays. The planning happens during the week.

I also started my own business because I was tired of working for employers who acted as if they owned the company that they worked for and them treating me with no respect because I was a woman. I worked in sales for five years before transitioning over into my own company. My employers would praise me when their sales were going great and blame me when everything was going wrong. When I had my children, I was ridiculed and told “are you sure you wanna have kids?”. When it came time for me to live in certain areas with my family, I was told “are you sure you want to move there” and “are you sure you want to buy your home there” and “you should wait until the regional position opens up in order for you to buy your home”. I just wanted to be free.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Simply Elegant Events is very unique to all of the other event planning companies out there. We offer event solutions for our clients. We have two areas of our business; event planning and event designing. We will make sure our clients events are designed functionally and seamlessly executed. Our event ideation process is as follows:

* Consultation – To hear what the clients needs and vision for the event. This is also where we can decide whether our client needs only planning or designing or if they need both. We can help lead the conversation to make the client feel very comfortable with our services and what we can do for them.

* Ideation – Our designer will take the information that our clients has express during the consultation to create the blueprint of their event. This would include a description, mood board and pricing. The client gets to see exactly what the event planner has received from their conversation and what Simply Elegant Events can do for them.

* Execution – Once everything is agreed-upon, our team puts everything in place to make sure the vision is fulfilled within budget. We will have ongoing conversations with a client to give them a status report until the event is over.

Following this process has made my business so much easy to manage. It allowed me to stay on track and automatically know what the next step would be with a client. It also allowed me to handle multiple clients at once because I always had a reference point to go back to you. Everything goes on paper! However it doesn’t stop the challenge of finding the items, the people, and the things that are needed to bring that persons vision to life. That’s always the challenge of the job and I find it to be a fun challenge.

I have wanted to be event planner for the majority of my life and to finally see it happen, is like living in a dream. So when I gain a client, I put my all into each event. I make sure that the client has fun and that they are a guest at their own party. My slogan for my company is SEEing your Events come to Life because I realize a lot of us, in business and in our personal life, do not get a chance to see our visions before our eyes. My company is here to help share your visions with you.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love this question! I have already planned this. Here is what we did.

We booked an Airbnb that was close to the city.
I had arranged in home messages with the Midas Touch.
Arranged a cocktail hour and catered dinner at home for us with By your Sides Catering. Of course the menu was southern food.
We went white water rafting on the Chattooga river.
We went sky diving at the indoor skydiving park.
Play games and act like big kids at skyline Park.
Anytime between that was going shopping and dinner at various restaurants around us.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
First I have to think God for helping me through my journey and providing me the support that I need. To thank my husband, close friends, and family for helping me stay on course by believing in me with every step that I take. The support has been unreal and so powerful for me to stay in business. They see me In a way that I try to get a glimpse of every day for myself. You’re Support Circle is very key to your success when you have an awesome, small one.

Website: Www.Simplyeevents.com

Instagram: Www.Instagram.com/simplyeevents

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SimplyEEvents

Facebook: Www.Facebook.com/simplyeevents

Yelp: https://yelp.to/3lDOG2OFimb