Today we’d like to introduce you to Cristy Duran.
Hi Cristy, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My path has been anything but linear, and for a long time I thought my life was supposed to follow a very specific plan.
I grew up in Miami, in the same home my mother was raised in, went to college, and eventually joined the U.S. Army, where I worked in counterintelligence. That experience shaped me in ways that still influence me today. It taught me discipline, discretion, attention to detail, how to solve problems under pressure, and, perhaps most importantly, how to keep moving when circumstances change.
After leaving the military, I took another major leap and pursued medicine. I invested years of my life into that goal — academically, professionally, and personally. I made it through medical school and was working toward the final stages of becoming a physician. Medicine was not something I casually pursued; it was a significant part of the future I had envisioned for myself.
Then my life changed in a way I never could have planned for.
I was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and it ultimately meant stepping away from the medical career I had spent years preparing for, just when I was at the threshold of residency.
Having something like that happen while you are in the middle of building a career is difficult enough, but for me, the timing was especially devastating because I was so close to the finish line. There is a particular kind of grief that comes with losing a future you have spent years working toward. It wasn’t simply changing jobs or deciding that medicine wasn’t for me. I had invested an enormous amount of time, energy, education, and sacrifice into getting there, and suddenly my health had made the path forward look completely different.
For a while, it felt like my life had been put on hold. There were practical consequences, too. Years of education meant student loans and financial obligations, while the career I had planned around those investments was no longer the career I could simply step into.
But eventually I had to make a choice: I could continue measuring my life against the plan I had lost, or I could start building a new one.
I chose the latter.
And that is what ultimately propelled me into the events and creative production world.
I had always been someone who loved both creativity and execution — the visual side of an event, but also the logistics behind it. I enjoy figuring out how to take an idea from a conversation or a sketch and turn it into something tangible, beautiful, and functional. I started taking on event work and gradually found myself doing much more than simply helping on-site. I was managing vendors, sourcing rentals and specialty services, working with budgets, negotiating, coordinating logistics, troubleshooting problems, and helping clients turn a vision into an actual experience.
It became a completely different career than the one I originally imagined, but many of the skills I developed along the way came with me. My military background taught me how to operate under pressure. Medicine taught me discipline and an incredible amount of persistence. And everything I went through taught me how to adapt.
One of the most important lessons for me has been learning that the time you have invested in something is not a reason to stay trapped by it. There is a tendency to think, “I’ve already spent so much time getting here, I have to keep going.” But sometimes life makes the decision for you. You have to acknowledge what is no longer possible and then have the courage to invest in something new.
I’m grateful — and I believe God was watching over me in ways I couldn’t fully understand at the time — that I was ultimately able to find a way forward. In many ways, it gave me a different appreciation for time itself. I don’t take getting another opportunity to build, create, work, travel, or simply experience life for granted. I want to live with a lot more intention.
Looking back, I would never have chosen the circumstances that forced me to change direction.
Today, I’m still building. I currently work independently as a consultant in events and creative production, supporting clients and teams with event planning, production coordination, vendor sourcing, venue scouting, logistics, and the execution of creative ideas. I’m also developing my own business, which I plan to formally launch as the next step in this chapter of my career.
And perhaps ironically, I think the parts of my life that once seemed completely unrelated have made me much better at what I do now.
My story isn’t really about abandoning one career and starting another. It’s about learning that sometimes the life you planned can be taken from you through circumstances completely outside your control, and you have to find the courage to build a life you didn’t plan for — and eventually realize that it can be a very good one, perhaps even a better one.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Smooth road? Yeah, right. Even my motorcycle days weren’t on a smooth road.
I’ve never really taken the conventional route, and I don’t think I’ve ever been particularly afraid of doing things that most people would consider difficult, intimidating, or even a little crazy. I’ve always been a risk taker. A lot of my life has been about testing myself and proving to myself that I could do things I wasn’t sure I could do.
I joined the military and spent time overseas in Iraq, Kuwait, and Qatar. I pursued medicine internationally and spent time in Dominica, which meant being in another country, away from home, navigating an entirely different environment while trying to accomplish something incredibly demanding. I was surrounded by other students who were going through the same experience, and we formed incredibly strong bonds. Many of those people went on to become physicians, and I’m genuinely proud of them. Even though I wasn’t ultimately able to complete that path myself, I’m grateful that many of those relationships have lasted. That means a lot to me.
And then there have been all the other things I’ve thrown myself into over the years — including horseback riding and jumping, motorcycles, travel, and constantly putting myself into unfamiliar situations. None of those things are particularly “smooth roads.” They require you to get comfortable with uncertainty, learn quickly, accept that you might fail, and get back up when you do.
Of course, there have been periods that were much harder than others. Losing the career I had spent years preparing for because of my brain tumor was probably the biggest unexpected detour of my life. There were financial consequences, emotional consequences, and the difficult process of figuring out who I was when the future I had planned was no longer available to me.
But I think one reason I was eventually able to move forward is that I had already spent most of my life learning how to adapt. I’m used to being uncomfortable. I’m used to walking into situations where I don’t know exactly what I’m doing yet and figuring it out. I’ve never needed everything to be perfectly safe or predictable before taking the next step.
If anything, the difficult parts of my life have reinforced something I already believed: I want to experience life fully. I don’t want fear to be the reason I don’t try something.
I’ve continued to do things that a lot of people might hesitate to do. Sometimes that has made my life harder than it needed to be, but it has also given me experiences, friendships, and opportunities I never would have had if I had always chosen the safest path.
So no, it hasn’t been a smooth road. But honestly, I’m not sure I would want it to be.
As you know, we’re big fans of About Face Events. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
About Face Events is a developing event planning and creative production venture growing out of my work as an independent event production consultant.
I currently work independently with clients and event teams, supporting event planning, creative development, production coordination, vendor sourcing, venue scouting, rentals, logistics, and the many details required to bring an event from concept to execution.
My approach is rooted in both creative vision and practical execution. I’m highly visual and design-driven, but I’m equally focused on budgets, vendor relationships, logistics, timelines, and problem-solving. I enjoy figuring out how to achieve the look and experience a client wants while making smart decisions about where to invest, where to find efficiencies, and what needs to happen behind the scenes to execute the vision properly.
My long-term goal is to grow this consulting work into About Face Events, a full-service event planning and creative production company known for thoughtful design, resourcefulness, strong vendor relationships, attention to detail, and finding creative solutions when a client has a big vision and a finite budget.
I’m particularly enthusiastic about the name and philosophy behind it. “About Face” is a military term for a complete change in direction, which has personal meaning for me. My own career took an unexpected turn, and I learned that changing direction doesn’t mean leaving your skills, discipline, or ambition behind. Sometimes, changing direction is simply how you move forward. That idea is at the heart of the brand.
Ultimately, I want About Face Events to be known for making ambitious ideas possible. Whether an event is large or intimate, highly produced or beautifully simple, my goal is to create experiences that feel intentional, polished, and memorable — while making the process behind them as seamless as possible.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I define success as feeling that your purpose in life is being fulfilled — or, at the very least, that you are moving in the direction of it.
I don’t think success is necessarily a title, a certain income, or reaching one specific destination. Those things can be meaningful, but they don’t mean much if you don’t feel connected to what you’re doing or the life you’re building.
For me, success means continuing to grow, creating something meaningful, being able to use my strengths, and knowing that the choices I’m making are moving me closer to the life I’m meant to live. Sometimes that means achieving a goal, and sometimes it means having the courage to recognize that the goal has changed.
After everything I’ve experienced, I have a much broader definition of success. I’m less concerned with whether my life looks exactly the way I once imagined it and more concerned with whether I’m living it intentionally and moving toward my purpose.
If I can look at my life and feel that I’m using my talents, continuing to learn, creating opportunities for myself and others, and becoming more of the person I’m meant to be, then I consider that success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Aboutface.events
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cristyd1984?stkn=MTByZ3lkbDBscDl3dA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristy-duran-793675279/
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/aboutface.events?stkn=MTg1bDZkcWFveHNuNg==
