Women in Hospitality Leadership: Master of None to Industry Leader
By Emily Dawson, Owner of All Grand Events + Floral
All Grand Events (AGE) was founded in 1992. I, Emily Dawson, and current owner purchased the business in January of 2013. To say that I had a clear vision for what AGE would become, and the path we would take would be a lie. To say that I had confidence and clarity in my decision making abilities and leadership is something I would hang my hat on and bet on myself in the subsequent years.
Being a female leader in our community has been something I’m both proud of and also find to have no burden. I think the events industry is uniquely kind and welcoming to women as leaders, and the lack of resistance is certainly a contributor to success.
When I took over the helm of All Grand Events in 2013, it was very different than its current form. Looking back, and in the moment, I often described it as a jack of all trades, master of none. Quickly realizing managing small quantities of hodgepodge rental items while simultaneously executing beautiful floral adorned events, did not make sense as a business plan. I hated the feeling of leaving a floral design session to drop off 30 folding chairs to a residence for pennies on the dollar. So, I made a decision to say no to rentals. I promptly worked to sell all of our traditional rental company inventory and only offer event and floral design services exclusively. This opened up hours in the day, and days of the week to focus on what we did best and become a big fish in a small pond of the floral and event design world instead of a small fish in the big pond of the rental world.
Being a female leader in our community has been something I’m both proud of and also find to have no burden. I think the events industry is uniquely kind and welcoming to women as leaders, and the lack of resistance is certainly a contributor to success.
When I took over the helm of All Grand Events in 2013, it was very different than its current form. Looking back, and in the moment, I often described it as a jack of all trades, master of none. Quickly realizing managing small quantities of hodgepodge rental items while simultaneously executing beautiful floral adorned events, did not make sense as a business plan. I hated the feeling of leaving a floral design session to drop off 30 folding chairs to a residence for pennies on the dollar. So, I made a decision to say no to rentals. I promptly worked to sell all of our traditional rental company inventory and only offer event and floral design services exclusively. This opened up hours in the day, and days of the week to focus on what we did best and become a big fish in a small pond of the floral and event design world instead of a small fish in the big pond of the rental world.
Making decisions from a place of fear is a reason businesses fail. Yes, I was choosing to say no to a source of income, which should have been scary. Instead, I looked at it as an opportunity to become more profitable in the areas we actually excelled in. And it worked.
From there we had to take a look at our branding. We went through a few iterations of our branding before settling on our current modern, leafy green logo. We needed to get away from the rental company aspect, and show that we were major players in the design and floral field. We made AGE our own. We added the “+ Floral” to our public name and in 2019 expanded our team by adding one of the top wedding and event planners in the state, Lynette Ulman.
Jumping on opportunities when they slap you in the face is something from which we’ve been fortunate to benefit. Building a team you can rely on to grow alongside you is an absolute benchmark to success.
Lastly, as a small, woman-owned business, I think it’s incredibly important to run your business from a personal perspective, while also being cognizant that you are, in fact, a business. Not everyone is going to like you, but you need to show some of your authentic behind-the-scenes self. People buy from people, and when you have a product or service they want, it’s an ideal match.
To learn more leadership insights from Emily Dawson, join the MRLA’s Women in Hospitality Leadership (WIHL) Webinar Series: There’s Glass Everywhere on Tuesday, June 8 at 10:00a.m. Register to attend at mrla.org/wihlevents.
From there we had to take a look at our branding. We went through a few iterations of our branding before settling on our current modern, leafy green logo. We needed to get away from the rental company aspect, and show that we were major players in the design and floral field. We made AGE our own. We added the “+ Floral” to our public name and in 2019 expanded our team by adding one of the top wedding and event planners in the state, Lynette Ulman.
Jumping on opportunities when they slap you in the face is something from which we’ve been fortunate to benefit. Building a team you can rely on to grow alongside you is an absolute benchmark to success.
Lastly, as a small, woman-owned business, I think it’s incredibly important to run your business from a personal perspective, while also being cognizant that you are, in fact, a business. Not everyone is going to like you, but you need to show some of your authentic behind-the-scenes self. People buy from people, and when you have a product or service they want, it’s an ideal match.
To learn more leadership insights from Emily Dawson, join the MRLA’s Women in Hospitality Leadership (WIHL) Webinar Series: There’s Glass Everywhere on Tuesday, June 8 at 10:00a.m. Register to attend at mrla.org/wihlevents.
