Learn more about Amy Zaroff

https://amyzaroff.com

Jasna Burza
I will I will forget. And then do you have I’m so curious, do you have a motto?

Amy Zaroff
Yes. All you have is your name.

Jasna Burza
Yeah, I read that on your website. Okay. I love that. So good. That’s why people I know I love Integris people. Because when you say that you really follow through.

Amy Zaroff
Thank you. Yeah. I’m saving my conversation back to you for our conversation right now. Because there’s a few things on your website that I want to talk about too. Or, yeah,

Jasna Burza
well, I am really, really, really, really excited. And now we’re alive on on Facebook as well. Amy, thank you so much for coming to talk to me.

Amy Zaroff
Thank you for having me. I’m so honored and excited to

Jasna Burza
save. What I love about these conversations that I have is that I get so excited all over again, about the love of business and people who are doing their business and their work with love. So we’re going to talk about, you know, your business and which is creating unbelievable worlds right now. And events. You’ve done some really why I’ve looked at some of the events you that are interactive events in in California and New York, and we’re going to talk about that. But first tell us who is Amy? And how did you get started in the events business in the first place?

Amy Zaroff
Well, first off, thank you so much, what you’re doing here is brilliant. And I love that you’re a big thinker, and that you believe in crazy big dreaming. And that is very exciting to me. Because for I wish I would have known you sooner because for much of my life, I’ve always been trying to get people to join me and thinking crazy big, you know, and

Jasna Burza
I will go for coffee later. Well, crazy.

Amy Zaroff
Yes, we will. And the reason I say it is because I don’t know if you found this too. But a lot of my career sometimes thinking big or even crazy big is misconstrued with thinking that you are better than someone else in their business. And so the reason why I felt that I needed to be an entrepreneur is because a I know I can’t work for anyone else. But I absolutely can work with everyone else. And so I think that changing the mindset of thinking big to be something that’s a collaborative process is so exciting. And that’s why I’m really happy about you doing this with people and, and letting people see what’s out there and who they can meet and participate with

Jasna Burza
what what I love that you’re living example of taking something and making a really big, this is something that these conversations affirm for me all the time is that when we have the deep desire inside of us, and we really believe that we can change the world that can affect others, it does just that which is remarkable and revolutionary. So how did you do that?

Amy Zaroff
Well, thank you for asking. So um, I went to college for television production. And I was going to school at a time where the news was still fairly unbiased. It wasn’t entertainment as what as much as it was, you know, really recording the news. And I’ve always had a curiosity for the why the who the how the what all the things that I’m sure you are, too. And so I wanted to be a storyteller. And along the way, my purse, my one of my broadcast professors said, Amy, you’ll never be in front of the camera because your hair is too big. You’ll have to be behind the camera producing. Well, just so you know, I still have a love for being in front of the camera. And I hope someday that that comes to fruition. But I decided to become a producer. And so I started off in television production. I worked for Hubbard broadcasting in Washington DC at a satellite news service called CONUS communications. I worked for the incredible Steve Edelman, who had good company for many years now its Twin Cities Live. That’s how people would know it. He had a production company that produced the first shows for Home and Garden Television, HGTV. So I became a producer on those shows. And then my husband said when we were 25 years old, let’s open a restaurant. He’s from New York. Why not? And we didn’t have kids yet. We were married pretty young. And so we opened a New York style delicatessen, and for seven and a half years, we did that I would do my day job and then go to the restaurant. Eventually I went fully to the restaurant. And during that those years, the combination of hospitality and production lent itself to the thought of event planning. So now fast forward to 2004 and the store Give my regards to which was an invitation Shouldn’t stationery and gift shop for like 30 years? The owner Susan gray called me one day and she said, Are you interested in buying my business? I’m getting ready to sell. And there are other people interested. And I thought, well, I don’t know anything about retail. And I certainly don’t know about, you know, invitations and stationery. However, I did know that the client base that she had was the same audience that I would love to plan events for, oh, I thought if I buy the business, if I take a risk and buy the business, I will have them come in for invitations, but I’ll convince them not only do you need the invites, you need me to plan the event.

Jasna Burza
All brilliant genius thinking.

Amy Zaroff
So that’s what I did. And it was thank goodness before 2008 Because now it’s 2008 and the economy tanks. And I think to myself, Okay, I cannot have a retail business during this economy during this recession. So I got rid of the storefront, the Grab and Go retail, I moved to an office space, I brought only two other employees with me at the time. And we started to rebuild as events first. Graphic Design seconds. So if you were coming to us for events, we would also do your invitations and such as ancillary income, but we would lead with our production value.

Jasna Burza
Oh my god, that is that is just so beautiful. And a lesson in trusting your gut but also lesson in pivoting. Yeah, being open enough to to create an I really I love that. What what is it about event planning, because I asked myself every day, they want to know and what I have a sister who I go to her house and everything is impeccable. She is the hostess with the mostess everything is thought of and people come to my house. I’m like I have wine and I have cheese. Like that’s the extent of it right? What is it you know, in you about events? Because there you have to have a passion love affair with them? And what what makes a great event,

Amy Zaroff
though, those are such great questions. Why events events, because I love storytelling. And I believe that events are stories, they they have a distinct beginning, middle and end. And if you’ve done the event, right, you leave the guests or the audience or the clients or the donors wanting more. And so I believe that being a people person, I can pull out of whether it’s a social event, corporate, nonprofit experiential, I can pull out the meaning of the event, and make you feel as a guest at the event, like you’re moving through a scene in a show or a scene in a play. And you can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next. And so I love the element of surprise and delight. I love connecting good people with good people. I love being the master orchestrator that can bring together all these vendors who I call my creative partners. And I can help them and their businesses grow simply by saying you would be perfect to join me on this event. So it’s a lot of all the buckets that I like to fill. All in One, a beautiful conductor.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And you asked what makes a great event, I think what makes a great event is personalizing it in a way. Like I said earlier that you want your you leave your guests wanting more. So every detail is thought of ahead of time, I used to say to interns that wanted to work with us. Are you the kind of person that walks past a napkin on the floor? Or do you pick up the napkin on the floor. And I say this because even though the napkin on the floor may not directly affect you, in that moment when it was dropped, or it was garbage or whatever. But if you’re picking it up, you’re making the space a better space, you’re you’re thinking about cleaning for the next person that might be walking by, you’re being proactive instead of reactive. There’s all these things. Those are all the things that I live by. So, you know, I just tried to figure out a way that I could put into practice who I am as a person.

Jasna Burza
I love that. Well, I have an idea for an event. I have a book coming out next year and we’re going to talk Yes, I think you’re I think you’re my person. And I’ve never done a launch of any kind but we’ll we’ll talk we’ll talk well in research. You have done incredible range of events, so corporate events, private events, and some incredibly dynamic this these the new vendor interactive, right. You know, tell me, you know, tell us a little bit about those events and what what kind of people come to you what kind of positions do you work with?

Amy Zaroff
Sure, well, during COVID, I have to be honest with you, as an event planner, I truly thought that my career was over. And thanks to someone that everyone should know, in the Twin Cities, especially Allie Kaplan, who is the editor of Twin Cities business magazine, she was going to have a webinar about virtual events at the beginning of the pandemic, I see that she’s going to do that I call my audiovisual partner and I say, Look, we’re gonna sink, if we don’t come up with something, we need to figure out how to pull our resources and make really meaningful corporate and nonprofit events during the pandemic, virtually no, having the television production background, and my audio visual partners being able to help virtually, you know, live stream things or record and stream. We worked together, we did this webinar and eight new clients came to me and I knew that these clients, were going to be one and Dunn’s, right, because they already had their in person events. But what I knew was that this was how I was going to survive the pandemic, hopefully make some lasting relationships, which I did. And even if they didn’t need me past, you know, virtual events, there was still exposure there and relationships created. And so that was amazing. In 2010, target called and they said, we see that you’re a woman owned local business, do you do corporate events? And do you do national events? And also, would you be willing to become certified as a women? You know, we bank business as a certified women owned business? Yes, yes. And yes, I said yes, to all the things I had not done national, corporate, but I’ve done local, corporate, but I still said yes, and I figured I’m going to find the people who are going to help me, you know, do what I need to do to fill in the blanks. And we ended up getting some incredible work with target, which really gave us brand profitability, and the knowledge that you can be small but mighty. And that, if you will, it, it can happen if you surround yourself with the right people, so that that’s how we got those events. And then having that recognition and knowing that we could, you know, produce a Food and Wine Festival activation for 11,000 people, or we could launch Victoria Beckham’s clothing line in five cities all in one evening, you know, with our small group. That was pretty amazing. And so we are best suited for clients that really place a lot of trust in in their in the companies and agencies that they hire on, we are best suited for those that want us to become an extension of their team for a moment in time. Because we really immerse ourselves in the brands, and the organizations. And I think that why I can say that confidently, is because we don’t have many one hit wonder clients. Most of our clients are long term. And they know that what you see is what you get with us. I live by the mantra all you have is your name, use it wisely. And that means that wherever I am in the community, I’m an extension of my brand, and so are my team. And so what you see is what you get,

Jasna Burza
I love it. I love the fire. I love the integrity, I love the passion. I love the enthusiasm. I like I love all of it. Oh, we really have to do that coffee, we will learn more. But really quickly, when people hear event planning a lot of the people that are in my circle, or people may have one or two team members, and the money is tight. They may have 100,000 or 200,000 in profits. Do they even they’re hiring event planner? Is this something really you know, when I hear things like Target, I get scared. I’m like, Oh, I don’t even want to ask because I don’t want to I don’t want to hear the cost.

Amy Zaroff
Yes. Well, here’s what I’ll say. There is an event planner and event producer and an event designer for all budgets, while one size does not fit all. So it may not be me or it may we never know, right? But in my toolbox, I’ve got lots of people to refer people to. So you know, I started my career in weddings and Bar and Bat Mitzvahs and things like that, and then moved into corporate and nonprofit. And sometimes people will still call for a wedding. And I’ll say, You know what, I don’t know that I’m the right fit right now. But here are all of the people that are and I tried to spend the time connecting the right organizations, the right clients with the right people, that’s as much to me a win as signing a contract with a new client. Because you’re you’re paying it forward to some other you know, company, and I gotta be honest with you. I mean, I’m not retiring anytime soon. I need to work I want to work, but I am a little tired.

Jasna Burza
So honest, and so well said and I think that that is I would venture to say One of the secrets of your success success because you’re so intentional about supporting others, and you’re willing to do that. And very rarely that doesn’t happen in the industry is which is unfortunate, which is why I’m having these conversations because we have to, to survive, understand that kind of like trees, trees have this incredible system, right? That is they talk to each other. So when one catches a disease, that communicate that with all the other trees, they create antibodies that are shared with the younguns. So they they’re able to fight it off, which is I think, traditionally what we came here to do what, traditionally we have intrinsically known but have forgotten.

Amy Zaroff
Anyway, I agree with you. I do I do agree. And I think if there’s anything that we can learn from the pandemic, and having a little bit of downtime, and all of that, it’s that people crave connection, right? So even if it’s you and I, virtually, hopefully in person, I want to always be sure that there’s that human touch that human connection, whether it be like I said, a virtual event in person, whatever, and you really want whoever you partner with, as an event producer really does need to understand the message that you want to exude and the the feeling that you want people to walk away with. And so like I said, there’s someone for everyone there’s someone for every budget, and if not me, I can tell you who

Jasna Burza
Oh, I just love you and I love that that is remarkable on that note where can people find you and learn more about you? Is it social media is a site I spend some time on tell us all

Amy Zaroff
all the things if you go to Amy’s hair off.com That is my website, I will tell you that all of my social media is me as a person and me as a business owner. So I intentionally on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook. I’m showing you the real me because if you don’t want to, you know get to know me the person I’m probably not the right my company is not the right fit. So Twitter, Instagram, Facebook all at a Mazar off. And you know what I’m I am on tick tock, but I haven’t done anything on tick tock. I know. I know what is up,

Jasna Burza
find me find me. New obsession. Janna got me on Tik Tok. And I said, as long as you don’t make me dance in front of that thing I would do I would do that. Oh, my God is. First of all, my intention is always in the spotlight. It’s called a Business Spotlight incredible individuals doing incredible things. But just your personnel like you this has just brought brought so much joy into my day. Thank you so much for that.

Amy Zaroff
Thank you. I feel the same. I’ve been looking forward to this for a couple of weeks now. And so it was just great. And Jenna, shout out to Jenna. She’s a guru and what she does,

Jasna Burza
she sure is huge, huge shout out to our marketing director Jenna Redfield, who is one of the most well connected humans that I know well. Folks, if you’re watching this or listening in later on, if you ever think event planning, I want to plant the seed in your subconscious, you think Amy’s error off and that’s who you reached out, because if she’s not your person, she’s gonna find someone who is. But be working with people who are Integris who really believe in doing the right thing. And we have the level of love and enthusiasm for the people. I mean, what else can we ask for? Thank you so much. I want to give you a hug. More we’ll do that coffee. But thank you so much for showing up and I look forward to following your journey and supporting you in any way that I can.

Amy Zaroff
Ditto. Thank you so much. By me, bye bye