“So who is the brain behind the blog?” you asked. Well allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Courtney Kinslow. I love to host events. Not only do I love to entertain, but I’m also a fanatic about organizational stuff. You can find me at office supply stores gawking over planners, calendars, and foo-foo filing containers. I even received senior superlative of “Most Organized” for goodness sake! (I was up against the valedictorian for “Most Likely to Succeed,” so I’ll take what I can get.)
I majored in Marketing in college and graduated in December 2001…right after 9/11. The economy was already volatile at the time that tragic day tipped it right over the edge. Of course, marketing is one of the most expensive departments in a company and usually one of the first divisions to be cut. After searching long and hard for a marketing job that was no where to be found, I knew one industry that was booming in the midst of a crisis and tragedy….healthcare.
After doing a processing job for a year and a half, I tried my hand at sales…which is usually a position of abundance and always clawing for marketing majors. I discovered that sales was too cut-throat for me since my integrity and ethics wouldn’t allow me to stoop to all time lows to make a buck. I went back to a processing job trying to wait out the recession until the marketing division could make a comeback. I have since realized that marketing positions are scarce in Nashville and I have no desire to move away from my loving family and support system. (I’m a “homegrown” Nashvillian. You are welcome to shake my hand if you meet me. :-))
My late grandfather was a very wise man with a 3rd grade education. He never worked for anyone in his adult life. I hear he was very stubborn and cheap. I’ve also heard that I’m just like him. 
He had a great saying, “If you can’t find a job…make a job.” So after waiting out the recession for 6 years, I decided to start my own company and combine some of my favorite activities: partying, promoting, and planning. From this recipe of activities, Crème de la Crème Events, LLC was born.
Are we a good fit?
It’s important to know the personality type you’re dealing with to determine if you can work with that person. My husband describes me as a drill sergeant. I’m extremely efficient and I want to get projects done in a timely manner to allow time for any tweaking, negotiating, and reduction or elimination of stress for the client and me. I do my best to be the motivator upfront to get as much accomplished as early as possible, but after a while, I can only work as hard as the client. If they aren’t meeting the deadlines to achieve certain goals and eliminate certain tasks to move forward, then they are choosing to take on a lot of unnecessary stress in the end.
I’m a BIG believer in the client having a clear vision of how they want their event to be. It bothers me when the financer of the event depends primarily on others to make decisions on the execution who AREN’T writing any checks to the production (mainly weddings). It’s important to realize that everyone has an opinion about something and if you’re not careful, you’ll end up paying for someone else’s vision to become reality. It’s okay to not have a complete vision from start to finish, but let’s work together to make it happen. Otherwise, we’re going to have a nice, intimate, loving conversation about focus, boundaries, and the best way to proceed forward successfully.
Now that you know a little about me, and if you feel we would have a great working relationship, drop me a line or give me a call! I look forward to making reality better than you envisioned.