Like many of us, Summer has seen several Connected Women posts in her newsfeed. When she became a member of the community, she became an active member by liking and commenting on posts, attending her first meetup, and eventually co-hosting meetups in her city. This is her story.

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My name is Summer Santos. I’m a BS psychology graduate but I pursued the path of marketing. My marketing stint opened the door for me to tap into my inner potential in events. I started creating amazing events for my life’s big celebrations starting with my friends and the corporate events for different companies.

I’m so in love with events that I have spent two decades hustling in the industry. I have handled socials, launchings, conferences, boot camps with attendees as small as 30 to as many as 5,000 people. I’m also humbled to have been part of several international events as well as arranged and managed events wherein six presidents of the Philippines have attended.

After two years in consulting and freelancing, I have finally launched my own company called Summer Of Events. My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner.

In Events, There Is No Typical Day

There isn’t a typical day for me, but I love the variety that my schedule offers. Phone calls can come now and then so I expect to miss my quiet morning coffee breaks.

After checking my emails, Facebook and Instagram, I typically spend some time with my husband, after he comes back from bringing the boys to school. I do meditation and then start to attack my goals or to-do list for the day.

While at my home office, I spend time reading and replying to emails and voicemail messages. I reach out to vendors and venues, schedule meetings, create event timelines, edit vendor information, review the client’s budget, update client information, and address inquiries.

If I don’t have a lunch meeting scheduled, I usually have a late lunch. I check the latest trends in events and check happenings for the day. After a productive afternoon, I may run errands otherwise, I usually log on to my computer again to work more. After earning my TESDA Events Management National Certification III recently, my growing desire to share my knowledge in events has been fulfilled.

I have been coaching a few interested people in events. I have always wanted to share my experience in events and since I was challenged by a digital nomad, I will be offering online coaching on events management very soon.

Many days I have networking events, property tours, vendor meetings, or coffee dates. If I’m not careful, I can spend too many hours on Netflix watching all their new documentaries.

Thriving In The Events Business

I was doing events consulting and freelance event directing for two years until I was encouraged by friends to put up my own. So, in the midst of an international event, I was preparing to launch Summer of Events, and we did it just right on time.

The urge has always been there, but hesitations and fears were blocking me. Until my husband successfully changed my mindset. The opportunities are slowly coming in and the only thing to do is to kick start everything.

Managing events is such an overwhelming thing. The feeling of excitement and pressure pour out at the same time. The audience, elements of events, and expectations are the killers. It takes someone with a lot of patience, smarts, and real toughness to pull it off.

When you take full control of everything and implement according to the plan, you have already gained so much trust and impact on people.

Failures As Learnings

I’d like to refer it as learnings instead of failure. Through this learning, I have reinvented myself. I have discovered a myriad of things that can help me become a better version of myself, which includes the company and the whole team. Today, I would like to reach out to everyone who needs help in the areas I can be of help.

Learning Through Connecting

I have been scanning my news feed and have seen several Connected Women posts a few times but didn’t really bother to click on it. When I did, I took an active participation by hitting likes, commenting, attending my first meetup in Makati in June 2018, and co-hosting the Mandaluyong meet-ups after that.

I became a member of the Connected Women community so I can further learn digital marketing and branding. I want to enhance my knowledge so I can apply it in my daily client engagements. And during some of the Connected Women events, I learned from fellow members.

In terms of co-hosting the Mandaluyong meetups, I collaborate with Celia Jacob and the rest of the team. Apart from the official Connected Women meetups, they also come up with mini-meetups and invite speakers who can share their expertise and knowledge with a small group of people.

Whether you are an entrepreneur, a freelancer, or a professional seeking support from a group, I definitely recommend joining the Connected Women community.

 

Official global meetups happen every six weeks. Next run will be on November 7.
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