Last month, Stas, Rebecca and myself were sat in the airport excited to be flying to Florence for two back to back days of venue visits with a long-standing client for their daughter’s wedding. It was the perfect opportunity for us to reflect on the past 10 years.
Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves to realise how lucky we are to travel the world creating beautiful memories for our clients to treasure forever. It is the power of these emotions that strengthens our relationships. When we come together with our clients, we become a unit, a solid team, all working together to collectively achieve the end vision. We appreciate hugely when client’s return to us for future celebrations. We often joke that at the end of the planning process when the event or celebration is over, it feels like a separation. We are lucky that we stay in touch with many – we observe milestones of anniversaries, and new lives being brought into the world!
They say that you have to believe in and love what you do to get out of bed each day.
Which is why, 15 years ago, I decided to leave my senior management role in warehousing and logistics and pursue my passion of DJ’ing and events. Stas on other hand was always determined to enter the events world having studied TV set design. Fast forward 6 years, when we met at a prominent events agency in London, the rest, as they say, is History.
Stas commented “When I first met Laurie we instantly clicked. Together we shared a similar passion, creativity, drive and an obsession for fine detail. When we joined forces the possibilities were endless and I also knew we’d have some fun doing it. Ten years have flown by and when I look back at the incredible events, the venues we’ve transformed and the reaction that we’ve received from our clients, I am so proud of what we have achieved and excited about what we can create in the next ten years.”
After a jam-packed 4 years of working together, we decided it was time for the two of us to start our own agency. The first two years flew by, the support and loyalty we received from employees and clients was overwhelming and we were able to carve our place in this ever expanding and creative industry.
As the company started to grow we were lucky enough to meet Rebecca who had recently graduated with a 1st class BA Honours in International Events Management and was brimming with exciting ideas. The three of us clicked straight away. Rebecca’s calm authority and inspiration has been a great constant between myself and Stas ever since.
Rebecca commented “I wasn’t quite sure what I was walking into back in 2013, fresh out of university and eager to kickstart my career. I met Laurie and Stas after a friend of mine passed me their details and after the first meet I immediately got the sense that this would be a fantastic opportunity for me to grow. From the early days as an event assistant to my current role as a senior event producer there have been many career highlights that have shaped who I am today. From transforming Claridge’s into a big top, fit for La Soirée, to really testing my endurance, drive and problem solving during an 8 day cruise event where the ship caught fire a few days prior to our booking. One thing remains very clear in my mind though, and that is the importance of team work. Having strong, reliable connections and great relationships really does lead to incredible things. It is so important to champion those around you who are operating on every level to help you achieve an end goal. I am so proud to have been part of JustSeventy’s journey for 8 out of the 10 years and we are still here in a post-Covid environment ready to fire up our imaginations once again.”
JustSeventy grew bigger and bigger each year, with some breath-taking events being created along the way. None of which would have been possible without the superb event partners we work with who always go above and beyond for us and our clients every week. Some of these relationships have become so strong they are like an extended family to us. Not to mention past and present team members who also remain an extension of the JustSeventy family.
It hasn’t always been plain sailing and we’ve had to learn and grow from tricky situations over the years, whether it’s a logistical issue on an event or running our business operations with the inevitable day to day growing pains. But this shapes us, it makes us better team players, better leaders, better managers, better creatives and better people. Having had this reset of the pandemic it has certainly tested us as a company and individually, like many others in our industry and around the world. However, it has highlighted to us that we love what we do and we are most certainly relishing the opportunity to be busy again, using our creative minds to achieve our clients’ dreams.
And so here we are, celebrating 10 years together. We had so much to say and so many people to thank, we thought the best way was to get a handful of our loyal clients and event partners down to a studio to reminisce. Sadly, we couldn’t fit everybody into the video with the time we had. But we appreciate everyone whom we have had the pleasure of collaborating with over the last 10 years and we hope many of you will be part of the next 10 with us.
Watch our 10 year movie here.
Contact us at events@justseventy.com or call us on 020 7060 7170.
