Personalities Of The Event Industry: Meet Olawumi Heavens.

Consistency, professionalism and being good at what you do, would take you places in life. In this insightful interview with Mrs Olawumi Heavens, she tells us how she has built an excellent reputation in the event industry, the challenges of being an event planner and lot more. Relax and enjoy as you read along……

1. Kindly introduce yourself and give us a snap shot from the beginning of your career to date.

Olawumi: I am Olawumi Heavens. An luxury planner and media personality. My first event was in 2002 and it was a party, I had so much fun along the way and loads of partnerships, later it became more than a hobby, with Clientele base cutting across social and corporate spheres of the society.
2. What is the most memorable event you have worked on?
Olawumi: I have a long list to choose from because for me once my client is happy I am but I had to narrow it down, I would say a 3 day event I had for multinational company. It was very technical and had loads of components and at the end my Client had good things to say. I would choose it because I love a good challenge and having gone beyond the normal.
3. How have you built such an excellent reputation in the event industry?
Olawumi: I think consistency and professionalism is key. Been good in what I do, avoid cutting corners and constantly learning and re-learning. When people watch you for over 10years and you are yet to change, then they just know you are who you say you are.
4. Considering the vast amount of wedding you have managed, what has been the highlights?
Olawumi: The expression on the couple face when they walk into a venue and the hugs at the end when a bride tells me, my team made her dream come true.
5. What do you think is the event industry’s biggest problem?
Olawumi: I would say the surge of people that masquerade as Event Managers. It’s a growing industry, and there is room for lots of people, that’s good but a huge chunk still don’t understand that you don’t just wake up and become a planner, without any form of training whether formal or informal. Most especially now that the standard is high and clients expect to get an event with international standard.
6. What has been the challenges of been an event planner?
Olawumi: Venues for short notice events, especially weddings because the available once are booked back to back. Lagos traffic is also one of the challenges because the trip that would cost you 45 minutes on a normal day, might cost you 2 hours when the road is busy. You now what I meant na. (Lol)
7. If you woke up tomorrow at the beginning of your career, but with the knowledge you have now, what actions would you make a priority when starting again?
Olawumi: Branding my Company from day one and placing a premium on my services as opposed to treating it as a hobby.
8. What are the toughest decisions you’ve had to take in your career?
Olawumi: Moving to another state and taking a break from family and Ministry.
9. How has social media helped your business?
It’s amazing, people just call you up because of what they saw online somewhere. Most times not even put up by me or my team. I basically has bridged the gap for me. Reach people anywhere, anytime.
10. What advice would you give to aspiring event planner hoping to follow a similar path? 
Your passion and zeal would come in handy, be ready to learn constantly and remember that your clients satisfaction comes first
11. What are the personality traits that are required to succeed in the event industry?
Tenacity, you have to be bold and be able to relate with people and able to work well under pressure.
12. Where do you go for creative inspiration?
Diverse places, from the roadside, online, movies to what I call “Dream land” where the impossible is possible.
13. What is the craziest request you’ve ever had from your client? 
Not crazy but at the same time impossible, real Ice sculptures but we working on making it available in Nigeria as we speak.
14. What did you ‘learn the hard way’ on the job?
Having contracts even if it’s a free event. Africa is a relationship based society so you don’t want to push it at times but not having a contract cost me big and I learnt to have one regardless of who am dealing with.
15. How do you unwind after a big event?
Mostly sleep and watch movies, couch potatoes style.
16. Describe yourself in two words.
Passionate and Bold.
17. A lot of people make mistakes when starting off a business.. Kindly tell us the major steps to take when venturing into your kind of business in order to avoid these mistakes. 
Research and learn from someone that has been there. Taking up intern-ship is an easy way out.
19. How far do you go to please your clients?
As far as possible, as long as it doesn’t go beyond the boundaries of sanity and against my ethics.
20. Words to live by?
You never have a second chance to make a good first impression.