Today we’d like to introduce you to Courtney Church.
Courtney, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Like many kids, I had probably 4-5 potential majors while in college and landed on being a French major by default; running out of time and wanting to go abroad my junior year. What to do with that! My first real job out of college was at a financial firm as a sales assistant to 3 stockbrokers; this was 1989 and the hay day of Wall Street. I was quickly turned off by the chauvinistic environment and left after barely 10 months.
In doing some soul searching and with my parents living in Bermuda, I decided to enter the travel business in hopes of one day being able to somehow work in Bermuda or at least spend more time there. I was a travel agent for a Boston based agency for about 3 years before heading out on my own. In 1994, I started Courtney Church & Associates; I was the Northeast sales rep for 6 boutique Bermuda and Caribbean hotels. I traveled in my car, with my paper maps, all over the Northeast visiting travel agents and promoting these great hotels.
While I loved my hotel partners, I grew weary of the travel and thought about what I might sell more locally. Wine? I like wine! I quickly took a wine course to get some base knowledge then opened the yellow pages to search for wine wholesalers. Everywhere I turned, they said I needed retail experience so I landed a job at a wine store in downtown Boston where I worked for almost a year before the owner of the store, who also owned a wholesale wine distributor, asked if I wanted to hit to road and sell. That I did! My territory was the South Shore of Boston where I pounded the pavement and has some great successes so I was offered to sell in Boston; the big leagues! In wine sales, the coup is to get “restaurant placement” – meaning getting your wines on the wine list, especially the by-the-glass section. My highest moment was tasting wine with Todd English and his team when I was 8 months pregnant. I landed a great French Pinot Noir by the glass!
While on maternity leave I was introduced to a woman who owned a small Events and Destination Management Company in Boston; she had an opening that sounded intriguing. I took the job and this was the start of my career in events, almost 20 years ago.
In 2000, along with my two business partners Jill Tate and Mary Douglas, we started Corinthian Events. We are now one of the premier events and destination management companies in Boston with over 20 employees, designing and managing over 300 events each year.
My varied experience in all aspects of hospitality grounded my roots for success in the events industry. Hospitality, food & beverage, service, incredible detail and high expectations are in my DNA!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Finding great planners is always hard. While we are not rocket scientists, we are wired a bit differently than most. With the economic downturn in ’08/’09, we let go most of our staff and were down to 5 ppl in total. At 21 employees now, we have had our share of great hires but also our share of struggles. We always say it is hard to see the skills we need to be successful here “on paper”; it is not until you are in the seat for a few months can we truly tell if you “get it”. The hardest thing about being a small business owner is letting people go; very few people in life will ever be put in this position and it is really really hard.
Please tell us about Corinthian Events.
Our clients are primarily corporate; with a mix on any given year of about 50% inbound DMC clients and 40% local corporate clients. The other 10% is comprised of design and execution of about 7-10 non-profit galas per year and handle some social (50th birthdays, sweet 16s, weddings etc.). We also travel with several clients as full-service meeting planners.
We excel at budget management, creativity and providing clients with excellent detail. We listen carefully to what the client wants, what their goals are and deliver a product that both meets these needs and stays on budget.
As a company, we are most proud of the culture we have created. We feel we have created an environment that our employees love to come to every day. We sometimes work long hours but reward our employees well; massages, office lunches, amazing outings, etc.; we work hard and play just as hard!
What sets us apart is this culture but more importantly, we offer a fair product for the level of service you receive. While we are not the least expensive in town, our quality, service and detail are the best in town!
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Nothing! When we opened, people rolled their eyes and said “three partners…and three women….it will never work!” Now 17 years later, that fact along has been the true part of our success; the three of us offer different perspectives, have different strengths and really complement each other well. When decisions need to be made it is often two of us on opposing sides and a swing voter who must get swayed one way or the other – it works really well!
Contact Info:
- Address: 109 Kingston St, Boston MA 02111
- Website: www.corinthianevents.com
- Phone: 617-450-0600
- Email: courtney@corinthianevents.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corinthianevents/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CorinthianEvents
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/corinthianevent
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