Julie Girgenti is a highly imaginative and creative event planner who set up her company, Exceptional Events so she could help make people’s dreams come true.
Exceptional Events offers personal bespoke luxury events of the highest quality exclusively for those who are after a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience to define their most special and important occasions, both private and corporate.
Tell us a bit about yourself, background and your current role
I am a luxury wedding and events planner with a background and Master’s Degree in dance and choreography. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the USA, I have been a British citizen for several years and live with my husband and two cats in Blackheath in South East London. I have about two decades’ worth of professional experience in a variety of roles, each one contributing to my business acumen and my skills as a professional event designer, planner and manager. I have worked in both the not-for profit sector as well as the corporate world and am extremely proud that I am now able to offer a far more personal, bespoke and luxury service to a significantly wider audience than ever before.
Did you ever sit down and plan your career?
I’m sure I did… probably in high school or at some early stage when I took a series of those tests that are meant to help people determine what they’re meant to do professionally based on their psychological profile. I believe that, at the time, it said I was meant to be an actor or a tv presenter or something along those lines, as I have always had quite a theatrical personality. However, as I was a dancer from the age of 3 and teaching and choreographing professionally from a very young age, I thought my destiny was to have my own modern dance company with whom I would tour the world and teach dance at a university part-time. Of course, that dream had faded by the time I’d finally completed my Masters in Fine Arts Degree in Choreography and it took me several years to figure out what I was really “meant to do” with my life after that. However, it wasn’t until I had a real “light bulb” moment a few years ago that suddenly, I knew exactly what I was meant to do and exactly how I wanted to do it. There was no sitting down and planning it out, really…. Which is funny to say as a professional planner! But sometimes in life, you just know what you’re meant to do and when that feeling hits you, you need to take a chance and make a go of it.
Have you faced any particular challenges along the way and if so, how did you deal with them?
Of course! Every new endeavour has challenges associated with it…. that’s just part of life! It’s how we deal with and approach the challenges we are faced with that makes them easier to manage. Personally, I am a big believer in talking through the challenges that I find are too big to conquer on my own. Often I’ll find a solution to a problem, set in place a plan of action and follow that through until the problem is solved. However, if the plan doesn’t work out quite as I’d hoped, or presents a new or unforeseen challenge along the way, I find comfort and inspiration simply by talking about the problem with a third party. Not just any party mind you; I have a wonderful, tight-knit support system between my family and friends who I know I can go to at any time… not only for their external perspective which more often than not is tremendously helpful but because I also know that whatever their advice may be, they will always have my best interest at heart. Whereas, I may happily decide to throw myself over a cliff to save a project or to make someone else happy, my nearest and dearest will be there to stop me in my tracks. I can rely on them to will help me to come up with a far safer and usually better option that will keep me out of physical, emotional and financial danger. I can honestly say that surrounding myself with positive, thoughtful and loving individuals has made a huge difference to my career.
If you could change one thing for women in the workplace, what would it be?
That is a great question. I have been in workplaces where the male managers would promote men rather than me despite the obvious difference in our work ethic, skills and talent. That just drove me crazy! But I have also been in workplaces where I had female managers who, to put it mildly, were just incredibly difficult nuts to crack! One had to work tremendously hard to earn their approval but then, publicly, it never seemed to make a difference. It seemed to me that my female managers always acted as though they had something to prove to someone else and were, subsequently, a lot tougher on the other women who worked below them. I understand wanting to prove yourself to others… but to put other women down, or even just the people who work beneath you in general, to raise yourself up isn’t the way to do it. It may get you attention but it’s the wrong kind of attention. (Let’s be honest – NO ONE admires a total b****!) Having been a choreographer and subsequently a manager I have never seen the value in putting anyone else down or tearing them down emotionally. I believe that if you help others to reach their full potential, you yourself will reach yours in the process. There is nothing more admirable than inspiring and elevating others to new heights. Those who understand this have to be the greatest assets to any workplace. I think women, at all levels, need to bear this in mind as, in my experience, by following this ethos it makes the office a far nicer place for everyone to work in.
How do you feel about mentoring? Have you mentored anyone or are you someone’s mentee?
I think mentoring can be an extremely useful form of education. A mentor has a significant responsibility to their mentee, not only to offer sage advice but also to show their mentee exactly how and what they’ve done to become successful at their profession as well as being instructive.
Being a mentor is very different from being a coach or a therapist. I find some people tend to blend the roles however they see fit. To be or, to have a mentor, requires a willingness to learn and be taught something new by another individual. You need an openness of mind and heart. A mentor will inspire and make a significant impression on another person’s life. Currently I am not mentoring anyone, nor am I being mentored. My first and last mentor was one of the most thoughtful, intelligent and inspirational women I have ever met in my life. She was, and still is, the Director of Dance at Muhlenberg College, Karen Dearborn. If I felt I could mentor another person half as inspirationally as Karen mentored me, I might consider it.
What has been your biggest achievement to date?
I’ve taken a lot of risks in my life including when I moved to a new country with only my boyfriend (now husband) beside me. Another was when I left my last paid job to start my own company without so much as a client or business plan in place. I would say my biggest achievement in life is not down to any one event or any one success story. I believe that my biggest achievement to date is having found myself again after several years of wandering around in the dark. When I was young, I was very confident. I wouldn’t say cocky, but I had an innate sense that I was good at anything and everything I put my mind to. I walked and spoke confidently, never questioning my skills or talents in the areas I knew I excelled at. But then, something changed… and for a very long time, I’d lost that piece of me that made me feel self-assured and that I was living my life to my fullest potential. I started having little panic attacks when I had to speak in public (which had never been something I’d felt fearful of previously), I started seeking control in my life in ways that were actually quite detrimental to both my physical and mental health… and it took me several years to find my confidence again. I couldn’t have found it on my own though as I’m still not entirely sure why it left me in the first place. I am grateful every day for my friends, my family and my company, Exceptional Events, for giving me back the confidence to not only live my life as I was meant to, but to help others live the life of their dreams as well.
What is your next challenge and what are you hoping to achieve in the future?
I’m currently considering expanding my business into a Knightsbridge based boutique in collaboration with a fabulous florist whom I have work with previously. It would help increase the visibility of my company and all we can offer whilst becoming an integral part of a luxury lifestyle retail community. My main aim is to design, plan and manage the most incredible personal, bespoke, luxury event experiences all over the world for as many people as possible. And who knows, maybe this collaboration is what’s meant to come next for me and my company?
