Today we’d like to introduce you to Penny Baird.
Hi Penny, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I worked in the corporate and non-profit world most of my life. While every career I had was rewarding, I always knew that God had another path for me. The last two years of my non-profit life I had been pulled away from work more than I felt like I was there, so the tugging me away feeling was very heavy.
I happened to be at a couple’s 50th-anniversary party and sat back and watched as the host and hostess were constantly working, making sure things were running smoothly, making sure champagne got poured, making sure that the videos played, etc. I realized at that moment what my calling was. As an event planner, that was my job to ensure that everything ran smoothly, all the timelines were worked out, all the boxes were checked and every host or hostess never worried about their event, they sat back and enjoyed every moment.
From that moment, I founded Blessed Magnolia and created a company where we handle the details and you enjoy the moment. I left the comfort of a 12-year career that I truly loved and honestly have never looked back. I started full-time with my company in July 2019 and then of course the world stopped in March 2020. Events stopped, weddings stopped, the world was truly a different place. However, God continued to open doors that led me to Blessed Magnolia Creative Management.
I am very skilled in administrative work and found that many wedding professionals needed someone in the background to help set up their CRM platforms, handle their back-end work, and handle their social media. So out of a time when the world stopped, God shined a light on my other talents and I have now had the opportunity to work with wedding professionals all over the country with their administrative tasks.
All this growth of course was hard for one person so I found myself in a position to grow my team and now have two planners that work with me on the Blessed Magnolia side of things coordinating weddings and events. I also have three administrative team members that help wedding pros on the Blessed Magnolia Creative Management side of things.
I could have never imagined that I would be able to own my own business, much less have the success that I have seen so quickly in just two years, all while the world stopped!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The struggles for me were of course COVID. I was truly worried about what we would do when the world stopped and there were many days that I would sit in front of my computer and wonder what I was going to do. ‘
Learning how to build a team once the business really started growing faster than I could handle. That was a struggle, but with some good coaching and wonderful mentors, I was able to get my team growing.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a full-service wedding and event planner. I think I am most known for my ability to have a calming voice in what sometimes is a very stressful situation. Most of my couples have commented on how my ability to remain calm and have a calming voice helped everyone during the planning period just know that everything was ok.
What sets me apart from other planners would be my ability to create moments for my couples. During our conversations many couples will say something or make a comment about something that really sticks and I like to use those items to create moments for our couples. You know those unexpected things your clients do not see coming but are so grateful when they happen.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
The biggest risk I have taken was leaving my non-profit events career to open my own event business. I was comfortable and honestly with only about 15 years left to work, thought for sure I would retire there.
However, there was a different plan set in place and on the brink of 50, I opened my own event planning company. I truly have never looked back since my last day. I truly feel God had my back and opened the door for a reason and the success my company has had is very rewarding to the risk I took in leaving.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@blessedmagnolia.com
- Website: https://www.blessedmagnolia.com/
- Instagram: @blessedmagnolia
- Facebook: @blessedmagnoliaevents
Image Credits
KT Crab Photo, Eighteenth Hour Photography, and Katelyn Virginia Photography
