Today we’d like to introduce you to Joy Lainez.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Joy. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I was born and raised in south Florida, Boca Raton has been my home my entire life. I feel blessed to live in Florida and feel we are living in paradise. I went to school in Boca Raton, graduated with a business degree from College of Boca Raton and FAU.
My career started in the retail world. I spent almost 10 years with Florida-based department store Burdines and almost 24 years with Target. I joined them while stores started opening in Florida. I was an executive with them for many years and worked my way up to being the District Team Leader over stores in North Broward County.
I loved my career, developing people, driving sales and creating the best team. In 2014, after many years in position I decided to make a change, try something new that I was passionate about and I wanted to spend more time living and less time working.
As a district manager, I was often planning meetings and events – group sales meetings, holiday kick off events, stock holder meetings, team buildings just to name a few. I was always good at really running with a theme and executing great detail. I loved it, loved using my creative side and surprising and pleasing others.
When I made the decision to leave Target, it was all about me having more time and more balance for myself and my family. A friend of mine who had also left Target asked me to plan his daughter’s wedding. He said that watching me plan events for Target all those years, he knew how organized, creative and detailed I was. He felt that the planners he spoke to had a cookie cutter approach, he did not feel passion or creativity.
That was the start of Joyful Times Events – I had so much fun planning her wedding – I went right into building a website, setting up Facebook and it was a go.
My mom and I do all the events together, she is such a blessing. She is so creative, I could not do this without her. We have so much fun!
We have enjoyed it so much, watching people be surprised on their special day, adding touches and special things to please them – feeling so blessed that they trust me and choose me to be with them on their special day.
We just love how an engagement party leads to a bridal shower which leads to a wedding, then a baby shower and a first birthday party- that’s super special.
I think what makes me special as a planner, I am easy going and fun to work with. A lot of times you meet 2 types of planners – one who is super organized (Cookie cutter) most events look and feel the same or you meet the other type which is super creative but lacks in the details and organization. I am one of the few that is strong at both. I give you that creative, unique approach with details, timelines, follow up and amazing organization.
I run a small business which ensures that you get amazing service. I enjoy what I do day in and day out. I balance my workload so that I can give full attention to every event. I strive to make others happy!!!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
For me, the transition has been very smooth – since I am semi-retired, I do not have the pressure of heavy goals, I can really pick and choose what events we want to do and make special.
I have a lot of experience, developing people, assessing talent, communicating clearly – so working with clients and vendors was easy for me.
I guess the most challenging part was learning new things – I was use to knowing everything you need to know about Target – you could ask me everything and I was the Guru.
Starting Joyful Times Events, I had to learn all kinds of things like table linen sizes, flowers by season, etc. I spent a lot of time learning on the computer, I also reached out to others to learn.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Joyful Times Events is a planning service. We are hands on planners who do the planning and execution from start to finish. We bring your vision to life. We negotiate for you with vendors to ensure you have the right vendors who are insured and top quality. We create the timeline, we communicate and follow up and day of we are there start to finish the bring your vision to life so that you can enjoy the day with your family and friends.
What were you like growing up?
I was always a happy kid and enjoyed making other happy. I wanted to be a professional clown at one point. I started working young and always enjoyed being with people and always enjoyed making things special.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.joyfultimesevents.com/
- Phone: 561 235 6213
- Email: joy@joyfultimesevents.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Joyfultimesevents/
Image Credit:
Joyful Times Events
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