Meet Kathy, The Event Planner

Hello! My name is Kathy and I'm a junior majoring in communications with a concentration in corporate and public relations. I'm also pursuing my Master of Science in Communication, Culture, and Media through Drexel's accelerated degree program. I'm in the 5 year three co-op program.

Over the past three and a half years at Drexel University, I've come to realize my interest and passion for event planning.

In my first co-op, I worked at a PR and marketing firm in the Rittenhouse Square area. The agency mostly focuses on food and hospitality and I had the opportunity to work closely with a restaurant that specializes in sushi burritos. One good point about working in the food and hospitality industry is all the free food samples. Also, everyone you meet is an avid food lover. A pivotal moment in my six months was when I helped plan and organize my client's one-year anniversary. We gave away 400 sushi burritos to the first 200 customers at each location. This was my first taste of event planning and it was successful!

In my second co-op, I worked at a healthcare company in the creative services team. I worked closely on strategizing the blogging platform and social media. Although my position allowed limited opportunities to plan events, I had many opportunities to attend them. This was when I realized among all types of events, corporate events were my favorite to attend and plan.

In addition, I'm excited to have my third and last co-op in Hong Kong this upcoming spring and summer terms. I'll be working at a corporate event planning and marketing agency. I'm mostly excited to travel and explore the city of Hong Kong. It's been over 10 years since I visited Asia and I'm excited to go again, especially since I'll be traveling alone. I'm eager to try the food and to explore the city landmarks. Moreover, Hong Kong is in a central location in Asia, which makes it easier to travel to other countries. On my list, I want to go to Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand.

On campus, I also hold two executive board positions within the same organization. I'm the marketing director and conference chair for the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE) Chapter at Drexel. The upcoming SASE Northeast Regional Conference in February 2017 is a professional STEM leadership conference. This event is not only causing me sleepless nights and gray hairs, but it has also been adapted as my senior project. Even though this isn't my first event planning experience, I feel anxious and nervous.

This is me in a nutshell. I look forward to sharing my stories with you in the future!