Aint No Mountain High Enough…meet Project Coordinator Rebekah

Her keen eye for detail and ability to sniff out the next biggest trend means that she is always first with recommendations for the latest office must-trys and keen to come up with fresh, relevant ideas to keep our events ahead of the game.

A keen hiker, Rebekah finds peace and creativity in the great outdoors; so we grabbed a flask and pulled up a camping chair to find out how she scaled her career ladder, what most surprised her most about joining the industry and who her dream client would be (spoiler: we’re going to need our wellies for this one).

Our team has a varied career background – what did your career look like before you joined us?

I studied Surface Design for Fashion and Interiors at the University of Huddersfield and then went on to a Masters in Fashion Textile Practice. My Surface Design degree had a real focus on the whole process, from a creative idea to seeing a product in store, including everything from visual research, material exploration, business management and an understanding of final production – I loved the research and discovering what was shaping our collective consciousness, which led me to work as a Freelance Print Designer for Acorn Conceptual Textiles, a highly successful Textile Design Studio, and an internship with Joanna Feeley and the team at TrendBible. After my internship I stayed at TrendBible for almost 6 years, working my way up to Trend Consultant, where I predominately worked across Homes and Interiors and the Baby & Kids markets, working with clients across the globe. I love seeing a project come together from first concept to finished product and it came to the point in my career when I was ready for a new and exciting challenge, which is when I found my role at BeaconHouse Events.

What first drew you to a career in event management?

When I thought it was time for the next step I started to think about my skills and where I could apply them, and I kept coming back to 3 main things – detail orientated, super organised, and personable– three key skills I would say every event planner needs! Outside of work, I’m the planner in my friendship group, I love to plan trips, seek out the news hotspots for cafes, restaurants and design hubs and I love to see people having a good time. I thought that if I could be a part of creating experiences that make people feel happy, empowered, inspired, and catered for then that would be a good day at work for me.

I also thrive in busyness, thinking on your feet and meeting new people. The fast-paced nature of working in events really excited me, I love being hands on and getting stuck in so the onsite days are something I knew I would really enjoy. From my experience of attending events, whether that’s been a conference / tradeshow for work or a festival, I really felt the power they have to bring people together and a fun way to drive positive change. Events are a great way of getting people together to do some good and I wanted to be part of that.

What skills do you think you need to be a great project coordinator?

You have to be highly organised, have excellent attention to detail and the ability to time manage effectively and multi-task as there are always a lot of different project plates spinning and the odd curve-ball to content with. Events are often a time of high pressure for our clients and one of the key skills has to be strong communication along with the ability to shape and maintain robust relationships built on trust and transparency.

Tell me what a typical day looks like for you

At the moment I am still finding my feet in the business, but I’m so pleased to already be working across a wide range of events and clients. My day-to-day is mostly juggling lots of different tasks, which makes every day different! This could include communicating with vendors, booking travel, report writing, researching into venues or activities, website content, managing supplier and client relationships, client calls, site visits, or a really yummy one and my personal favourite, food tasting. I’m also very proud to be a part of the BeaconHouse marketing and sustainability teams so my internal role consists of supporting and contributing to our planning meetings, helping with strategies and tasks to grow and drive change from within the business.

BeaconHouse offers the opportunity to get involved in ‘Wellbeing Days’, where we can volunteer with causes we care about, and I’m looking forward to getting involved with giving back. The events sector has a reputation for being high-pressure and I’m passionate about starting positive conversations about mental health; I would love to volunteer and offer support to some of the local organisations doing fantastic work in this area and I have plans to become a mental-health first-aider in the future.

What surprised you most when you joined the events sector?

What surprised me the most was how much of the role is office based! A lot of what people associate event planning with is being present at parties or conferences or being out and about meeting venues, but actually that is just the end result of months of hard work behind the scenes.

Seeing months of hard work finally come to life in a really visual way is definitely one of the things that I find most rewarding about the job – and getting to be a part of that experience is even better.

Where can we find you outside of the office?

I love being outside so you can usually find me exploring the North East countryside with my cockapoo Olly. We are incredibly lucky to have so much natural beauty in the region and I love seeking out spaces that are untouched, have good views and where you can hear a pin drop. To me there’s no better feeling of climbing a mountain, no matter how tough it was and seeing the view at the top – just like planning an event really!

What would be a dream client to work with?

It would have to be the National Trust. It would be a dream to create an event that helps to protect our natural environments and to educate people of the benefits of nature for our physical and mental health would be very rewarding. It could include a sponsored walk, talks from organisations and charities such as Mind, Mind over Mountains, or Adventure Therapy and it would have to take place in a gorgeous, natural outdoor setting – though we would have to have a good think about how we got a good wifi connection…