The soaring demand to have personalized events that differentiate from the conventional has led to seeking event managers who deliver a genuine high-touch experience. To go above and beyond to curate an extravagant and memorable event, ensuring a seamless flow becomes essential. Thus, to make every corporate and luxury event a truly extraordinary experience, Jennifer Bassett implies her proficiency in creating sparkling initiatives for her clients.
As the CEO, Jennifer has dedicated two decades to running incredible successful event management, primarily working with premium brands and companies, creating unique and memorable events. Her expertise in the event management niche has inspired the upcoming leaders to dedicate themselves to the pursuit of achieving excellence.
Insights Success caught up with Jennifer and talked about her journey, understanding the perception behind her approach that makes her one of the inspiring women leaders worldwide.
Below are the highlights of the interview.
Brief our audience about your journey as a business leader until your current position at Bassett Events Inc. What challenges you had to overcome to reach where you are today?
I grew up in a very social environment with my parents often hosting parties and events, so naturally, my love for entertaining developed at a very early age. In 1999, I was working for a company as an event producer, and six months into my job, they decided to close their doors. At that time, I decided that I had enough contacts to be able to go out on my own, so one month after leaving that company, I started Bassett Events, and the rest, as they say, is history. Over the course of owning a business, there have been many challenges. Most recently, the global pandemic. Our company, like many others in the live entertainment business, had to pivot and remarket to a smaller event demographic. We started bare by Bassett, which offers full event planning for more intimate gatherings. As challenging as the past two years have been, they have also been rewarding in that we now have another branch of our business that we likely never would have had.
Enlighten us on how you have made an impact in the industry through your expertise in the market.
We are a boutique company which means when you hire Bassett Events; you have our attention to every aspect of the event. Our team is always 100% invested in each event, and that level of commitment is what sets us apart from the rest. We don’t view ourselves as a hired vendor. We are an extension of the organization that has hired us.
Describe in detail the values and the work culture that drives your organization.
We always strive to provide the best experience for our clients. Our team is incredibly creative and hands-on, and we are always looking for unique ways to make our events memorable. We select ‘best in class partners to work with to ensure that every aspect is managed by the very best and flawlessly executed.
Undeniably, technology is playing a significant role in almost every sector. How are you leveraging technological advancements to make your solutions resourceful?
We use a lot of event planning software to help keep us organized, whether it’s for registration or mass mailouts to guests. There have been some amazing advancements in event planning software over the last two years to help with the virtual side of event planning as well.
If given a chance, what change would you like to bring to the industry?
We’ve done it all! Small gatherings with upwards of 3000 attendees. We’ve had the honor the work with first-class, award-winning entertainment and clients. We’ve tackled both virtual and in-person. We hope to continue to bring back “fun” into our events. People are ready to party and entertain; we are all craving human contact. Bassett will be ready to make it happen!
What, according to you, could be the next big change in the industry? How is your company preparing to be a part of that change?
We have just seen a massive shift in how events are being executed due to the pandemic. Most of our business comes from working with non-for-profits and charitable organizations, producing high-end Galas. Because virtual and hybrid events are becoming more the norm, those organizations are able to tap into a much broader audience, which they normally wouldn’t have been able to reach. I believe we will be seeing more and more organizations incorporating virtual components into their events.
Where do you envision yourself to be in the long run, and what are your future goals for the company?
We hope to continue to grow and expand our international database. We are already looking ahead to a very promising 2022!
What would be your advice to budding women entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the industry?
Go for it! It’s an incredibly rewarding profession, and if you have a passion for it, you will love it. And when you love what you do, you will be successful.
