Episode 42

full
Published on:

26th Dec 2023

Nirjary Desai | Eventful Entrepreneurship - Hustle, Heritage, and the Art of Event Planning

Welcome to the latest episode of "The Last 10%"! Today, we're joined by the dynamic Nirjary Desai, the founder of Kiss Cubed Events, as our special guest. Nirjary takes us on a journey through her multicultural upbringing and the valuable lessons she gained from her Indian immigrant parents. As an event planner and entrepreneur, she shares her insights on the blend of Eastern and Western cultures, the challenges of balancing entrepreneurship and motherhood, and the impact of COVID-19 on the events industry. With a focus on building connections and creating meaningful experiences, Nirjary's expertise shines through as she elaborates on transparency, authenticity, and impact in ways that ensure success. Join us as we delve into her story and gain invaluable wisdom that transcends the world of event management.

Nirjary's Company Website

https://www.kiscubedevents.com/

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/nirjarymdesai

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nirjarydesai

Mentioned in this episode:

1on1 App Information

https://www.thinkmovethrive.com/1on1-app/

Transcript
Dallas Burnett:

Hey, everybody.

Dallas Burnett:

We're talking to near jury today.

Dallas Burnett:

What an amazing woman.

Dallas Burnett:

She is the owner of kiss cubed events, has some incredible stories

Dallas Burnett:

about how to produce one of a kind event experiences for top brands,

Dallas Burnett:

celebrities, and personalities across the U S and even globally,

Dallas Burnett:

she's a great new friend of mine.

Dallas Burnett:

You don't want to miss this incredible conversation.

Dallas Burnett:

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

Dallas Burnett:

I am Dallas Burnett sitting in my 1905 Coke Brothers Barber

Dallas Burnett:

chair in Thrive Studios.

Dallas Burnett:

But more importantly, today we have a great guest.

Dallas Burnett:

She's an event planner, extraordinaire, a champion for women, diversity

Dallas Burnett:

and inclusion, understands business culture, competency, and

Dallas Burnett:

loves to share that with people.

Dallas Burnett:

And also someone who was born in Zambia.

Dallas Burnett:

Raised in South Carolina and educated in London.

Dallas Burnett:

Oh my goodness.

Dallas Burnett:

Welcome to the show.

Nirjary Desai:

Thank you so much, Dallas.

Nirjary Desai:

I'm super excited to be here.

Dallas Burnett:

Well, we were talking before the show and we're

Dallas Burnett:

here just having the best time.

Dallas Burnett:

We actually had to hit record because we were having so much.

Dallas Burnett:

Fun before the show.

Dallas Burnett:

Now, I'm so thankful to have near jury on the show because.

Dallas Burnett:

We found out we have some things in common.

Dallas Burnett:

We actually grew up not too far from each other in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Dallas Burnett:

How about that?

Nirjary Desai:

I know.

Nirjary Desai:

What are the odds, right?

Nirjary Desai:

What are the odds of this little Indian girl that's going to be on

Nirjary Desai:

your podcast that, you know, you meet, that grew up in South Carolina?

Dallas Burnett:

It's amazing.

Dallas Burnett:

So tell us a little bit about your story.

Dallas Burnett:

It is an amazing story.

Nirjary Desai:

So, I was born in Zambia.

Nirjary Desai:

My two Indian immigrant parents.

Nirjary Desai:

My parents left India, in the sixties, late sixties, early

Nirjary Desai:

seventies, and moved to Zambia.

Nirjary Desai:

that is where I was born.

Nirjary Desai:

My parents got married there.

Nirjary Desai:

and then we moved from Zambia to Botswana and Botswana to Joburg, then to London.

Nirjary Desai:

my father was a chemical engineer working for Unilever at that time, starting

Nirjary Desai:

different soap production plants.

Nirjary Desai:

South Central Africa.

Nirjary Desai:

My mom was a pathologist.

Nirjary Desai:

and like every Indian and South Asian, you know, they have.

Nirjary Desai:

The itch for the American dream.

Nirjary Desai:

And we immigrated to the United States where the first place

Nirjary Desai:

we landed was Philadelphia.

Nirjary Desai:

you know, my dad's sister lives there, in a town called Phoenixville.

Nirjary Desai:

Pretty much right by Valley Forge through Amish country.

Nirjary Desai:

And, and then, you know, my mom's cousin lived in Beaufort, South Carolina.

Nirjary Desai:

So we kind of went there.

Nirjary Desai:

my parents got into the motel business, like any stereotypical South Asian, in

Nirjary Desai:

America, got into the motel business.

Nirjary Desai:

And then they decided to move.

Nirjary Desai:

You know, my sister was born in Beaufort, South Carolina.

Nirjary Desai:

then they moved to, Spartanburg.

Nirjary Desai:

So I grew up in the upstate of South Carolina where, you know, I

Nirjary Desai:

grew up in this Indian immigrant household of my parents having

Nirjary Desai:

this like completely Eastern life at home, and here's me going to.

Nirjary Desai:

The schools and everything in this completely Western world in South

Nirjary Desai:

Carolina, where people didn't understand, you know, when it was

Nirjary Desai:

like back then, Oh, I'm from India.

Nirjary Desai:

What?

Nirjary Desai:

You're, what tribe are you from?

Nirjary Desai:

And I was like, no, I was like, no, I'm dot, not feather, dot, not feather.

Nirjary Desai:

No.

Nirjary Desai:

So it was just like,

Dallas Burnett:

That's so awesome.

Dallas Burnett:

I'm dot not feathered.

Dallas Burnett:

That's hilarious.

Nirjary Desai:

having to, Explain myself, you know, through this journey, has

Nirjary Desai:

always been really exciting and funny at the same time, for me, but, I went

Nirjary Desai:

to the university of South Carolina, you know, Gamecock over here and then,

Nirjary Desai:

moved to London for MBA school and then moved back to the States and started

Nirjary Desai:

my business back in the early 2000s.

Dallas Burnett:

Wow.

Dallas Burnett:

That's amazing.

Dallas Burnett:

When you came, I mean, going to, I can only imagine from, you know, the

Dallas Burnett:

South Asia to Buford, South Carolina, that, that had to be a culture shock.

Dallas Burnett:

And then even in, in Spartanburg and the upstate of South

Dallas Burnett:

Carolina, how was that for you?

Dallas Burnett:

How did you.

Dallas Burnett:

you seem like you adjusted.

Dallas Burnett:

I'm sure you made like friends very quickly because of your personality

Dallas Burnett:

and how, how well you speak to people.

Dallas Burnett:

But how was that for you to adjust?

Dallas Burnett:

Like, how did you adjust to that kind of culture shock for you?

Dallas Burnett:

How hard was that for you?

Nirjary Desai:

It's actually very hard.

Nirjary Desai:

the reason it was really hard was, you know, growing up in a traditional

Nirjary Desai:

Indian household in the United States, families, our parents and families who

Nirjary Desai:

immigrated at the time, like for example, when they left India, you know, in the

Nirjary Desai:

early sixties or late seventies or so on and so forth, they left with that

Nirjary Desai:

mentality of what India was then, right?

Nirjary Desai:

Where joint families, everything, you know, your community,

Nirjary Desai:

your culture, all of that.

Nirjary Desai:

So being transplanted from all of these different countries and, you

Nirjary Desai:

know, when you're Indian and you leave at that early stage in your life.

Nirjary Desai:

If you hold on to that, because that is my parents version of India, you know, that

Nirjary Desai:

is my parents version of their culture.

Nirjary Desai:

They took that to every country they went to and then they formed their own

Nirjary Desai:

communities and families there as well.

Nirjary Desai:

And those individuals left probably earlier.

Nirjary Desai:

So they left with what their India was at that time, you know, and

Nirjary Desai:

then moving to a Western society like the United States where, you

Nirjary Desai:

know, it's this big dream to come.

Nirjary Desai:

Two for a lot of, immigrants from around the world is every day, you know, I

Nirjary Desai:

had to check into being Indian when I came home from school and, you know,

Nirjary Desai:

what was expected of me in my culture through my parents growing up and what

Nirjary Desai:

they were instilling in us to going to.

Nirjary Desai:

This, you know, predominantly American Caucasian school with

Nirjary Desai:

very limited diversity, living this Western life, you know, and not

Nirjary Desai:

just Western, Southern Western life.

Nirjary Desai:

You know, like you're,

Dallas Burnett:

Very

Nirjary Desai:

South Carolina is the deep South, so it's different.

Nirjary Desai:

I mean, you know what I mean, right?

Dallas Burnett:

Absolutely.

Nirjary Desai:

so it was an adjustment.

Nirjary Desai:

It was a big adjustment for me.

Nirjary Desai:

You know, I think it was very different for my sister growing up because

Nirjary Desai:

she was born and raised here, right?

Nirjary Desai:

So she never got to really experience that, the changes of environments,

Nirjary Desai:

you know, except for, Hey.

Nirjary Desai:

I was born American.

Nirjary Desai:

I am American.

Nirjary Desai:

Sure.

Nirjary Desai:

My parents are Indian.

Nirjary Desai:

I have this Indian, heritage and background, which, you know, we are

Nirjary Desai:

still very close to and all of that, but we've kind of formed our own culture

Nirjary Desai:

in that, you know, we, I think we take the good of both cultures and kind of

Nirjary Desai:

have formed it and made it our own.

Nirjary Desai:

I

Dallas Burnett:

I would love to hear your perspective on this because it's, it's

Dallas Burnett:

a very cultural question, but if you had one thing that you would say that you

Dallas Burnett:

wish Western culture would be able to.

Dallas Burnett:

Adapt to be more like Eastern culture.

Dallas Burnett:

What would that be for you?

Dallas Burnett:

I mean, that's the kind of a odd question, but if you could take it and say, I'm

Dallas Burnett:

going to meld this and kind of make it more this way, what would it be?

Dallas Burnett:

What would you change about Western culture?

Dallas Burnett:

Make it more Eastern.

Dallas Burnett:

Yes.

Nirjary Desai:

for example, like.

Nirjary Desai:

You know, my parents are in the service business.

Nirjary Desai:

They are in the liquor, beer, wine distribution, the gas station, the hotel,

Nirjary Desai:

hospitality business, the subway stores, like typical Indian, like, you know,

Nirjary Desai:

it's like an episode of the Simpsons.

Nirjary Desai:

Right.

Nirjary Desai:

It's like, these guys do it all.

Nirjary Desai:

Right.

Nirjary Desai:

But I think the biggest thing is patience.

Nirjary Desai:

I think patience, because, you know, when immigrants come to

Nirjary Desai:

this country, they conform to.

Nirjary Desai:

Being of service and being very patient with their bosses or the

Nirjary Desai:

environment in order to absorb it and take it all in and grow.

Nirjary Desai:

Right?

Nirjary Desai:

Whereas Western society doesn't have the patience because it's this

Nirjary Desai:

sense of entitlement of well, I grew up here, you're in my country,

Nirjary Desai:

so you need to just learn my ways.

Nirjary Desai:

I think that if we all took the time to actually Understand each other's

Nirjary Desai:

cultures and educate each other through culture, cultural competency and kindness.

Nirjary Desai:

And there's a lot that would come.

Nirjary Desai:

I think, you know, businesses would be thriving.

Nirjary Desai:

Communities would be thriving.

Nirjary Desai:

Internally within your businesses and your understanding culture competency and that

Nirjary Desai:

patience, you know, of everybody would really bring a different level of, you

Nirjary Desai:

know, growth, and perspective internally.

Nirjary Desai:

So I think patience is a big thing because we're so quick to lose our patience just

Nirjary Desai:

because we don't understand something versus asking the questions of, okay.

Nirjary Desai:

Explain to me why this is done, right?

Nirjary Desai:

Because, trust me, I work with people of so many diverse backgrounds and cultures.

Nirjary Desai:

You know, I never say religions because, you know, religion

Nirjary Desai:

is such a passed down thing.

Nirjary Desai:

I like to say culture.

Nirjary Desai:

And I think working with people of diverse cultures is so important for

Nirjary Desai:

me that I understand their culture.

Nirjary Desai:

And my biggest thing is, it's let's find a commonality in both of our cultures that

Nirjary Desai:

we can both laugh about and bond about.

Nirjary Desai:

Because That's what the true meaning of coming together and

Nirjary Desai:

celebrating each other is, you know?

Dallas Burnett:

yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

I love that.

Dallas Burnett:

And I think that's a very good perspective.

Dallas Burnett:

And I think that is true.

Dallas Burnett:

I think that you've really hit on something that.

Dallas Burnett:

You know, that would help everybody.

Dallas Burnett:

And that is that patience, that idea of patience, but also that idea of

Dallas Burnett:

engagement that we were not just in, it's not transactional it's more engaging

Dallas Burnett:

and when we can gauge with people from different cultures and backgrounds and

Dallas Burnett:

experiences, it just, it helps us grow.

Dallas Burnett:

It's like you said, it helps us grow.

Dallas Burnett:

So I love that.

Dallas Burnett:

That's really good.

Dallas Burnett:

So let's talk a little bit about, let's talk a little bit

Dallas Burnett:

about what it's like to be a.

Dallas Burnett:

Entrepreneur, a female entrepreneur, and running the show.

Dallas Burnett:

Let's talk about business a little bit.

Dallas Burnett:

Tell us about your business and kind of what you do.

Nirjary Desai:

So I'm a multicultural event producer.

Nirjary Desai:

We work with corporate clients, brands, and individuals, where we are traveling

Nirjary Desai:

the world, producing events for them and activations for them based on

Nirjary Desai:

their brand, whether it's a destination wedding to whether it's doing something

Nirjary Desai:

for Amazon audible or, you know, a tech company, so on and so forth.

Nirjary Desai:

So it's really conforming to What is their messaging?

Nirjary Desai:

What is their mission?

Nirjary Desai:

And we do a lot of amazing things for our clients, to not only celebrate

Nirjary Desai:

their brands, to celebrate their events, but to celebrate their people.

Nirjary Desai:

I think that's extremely important as well.

Nirjary Desai:

being a female entrepreneur, I can tell you is it's a lot of hard work,

Nirjary Desai:

you know, it didn't happen overnight.

Nirjary Desai:

Lots of experience, lots of adversity, lots of sleepless nights.

Nirjary Desai:

I think also it's just like conforming to understanding like, is this my why?

Nirjary Desai:

There's this lane for women.

Nirjary Desai:

You know, and I think like people always think that women just have

Nirjary Desai:

to drive in that lane and, you know, they can't switch lanes or they

Nirjary Desai:

can't explore and so on and so forth.

Nirjary Desai:

Or, you know, after she hits a certain age, you know, it's I think I heard.

Nirjary Desai:

CEO Indra Nooyi talk about like the biological clock and the career clock are

Nirjary Desai:

constantly fighting against each other.

Nirjary Desai:

And that's so true.

Nirjary Desai:

And even in entrepreneurship, you know, it is that, you know, I started my business

Nirjary Desai:

in like my twenties, you know, Who I am today at almost 43 with the amount of

Nirjary Desai:

experience I've had is very different.

Nirjary Desai:

You know, do I regret my past?

Nirjary Desai:

No, I wish certain things in my past I could have probably handled differently

Nirjary Desai:

or the people I was working with, you know, could have handled it differently.

Nirjary Desai:

but the journey of entrepreneurship, no one can prep you for, it's

Nirjary Desai:

basically like having children.

Nirjary Desai:

You know, there isn't, there could be, you can read so many different books,

Nirjary Desai:

like self help books and all of that.

Nirjary Desai:

But the true meaning of entrepreneurship and success is not going to come until you

Nirjary Desai:

truly experience the highs and the lows of it and the failures and the wins of it.

Dallas Burnett:

I agree with that.

Dallas Burnett:

That's so true.

Dallas Burnett:

Very well said on that.

Dallas Burnett:

I want to know how you decided you, you went in, you studied in London

Dallas Burnett:

and then you came back to the States.

Dallas Burnett:

What was it that, did you already have entrepreneurship in your mind?

Dallas Burnett:

It's this is what I want to do.

Dallas Burnett:

And this is kind of the path I want to go.

Dallas Burnett:

And you're moving that direction.

Dallas Burnett:

Or was it something that was more organic?

Nirjary Desai:

So I'll tell you this, like any Indian person, you know, I

Nirjary Desai:

was down the path of becoming a doctor.

Nirjary Desai:

and.

Nirjary Desai:

That I was like, nope, this is not for me.

Nirjary Desai:

You know, I did research in a lab one summer, for pediatric cancer

Nirjary Desai:

research, and I was like, Oh, hell no.

Nirjary Desai:

This is.

Nirjary Desai:

I'm sorry, but I'm not rotting in this hell, you know, more power to

Nirjary Desai:

everyone that does it, but I was like, Oh, heck no, I, this is not for me.

Nirjary Desai:

And, you know, I think like the biggest thing was like, when I graduated

Nirjary Desai:

from undergrad, I was working for American Airlines at that time.

Nirjary Desai:

And so keep in mind, this was pre nine 11, I was working.

Nirjary Desai:

So I, I started working for American.

Nirjary Desai:

I got.

Nirjary Desai:

Basically, I got hired for my job the day after I graduated high school.

Nirjary Desai:

And this is a part time, this was supposed to be a part time job, right?

Nirjary Desai:

And so that was kind of like my first true taste of like corporate America, I

Nirjary Desai:

guess you would say, you know, I've worked for my father, like I've run his stores.

Nirjary Desai:

I've volunteered, I worked in retail and.

Nirjary Desai:

Everything.

Nirjary Desai:

I think like what a common teenager would normally do.

Nirjary Desai:

I've had those jobs in food service, retail, and I think that where it

Nirjary Desai:

truly came was like seeing my parents in this entrepreneurial journey, ever

Nirjary Desai:

since we've been in the United States.

Nirjary Desai:

I think it's like just.

Nirjary Desai:

it's that hustle.

Nirjary Desai:

It's you know, they hustled hard and I, those values never left me, you know?

Nirjary Desai:

So it's if they can dream this big for their family and

Nirjary Desai:

relocate them around the world.

Nirjary Desai:

I can dream for myself to create something for me, you know, and I think the other

Nirjary Desai:

thing too, was, my bosses at corporate would laugh because, you know, I was, I

Nirjary Desai:

was a great employee when I was there, you know, but school was also a focus for me,

Nirjary Desai:

you know, education was always instilled as a number one priority in our household.

Nirjary Desai:

and so, you know, I felt like I grew up so quickly because getting hired

Nirjary Desai:

for that job while my friends were partying in college and, you know, going

Nirjary Desai:

to football games consistently, I was driving from Columbia to Spartanburg

Nirjary Desai:

to go work at the airport, you know, and I think the biggest thing also that

Nirjary Desai:

kind of like where I am today was, you know, I worked for the airline industry

Nirjary Desai:

during nine 11 when that happened.

Nirjary Desai:

And.

Nirjary Desai:

Think about it like, again, being of any ethnic background in South

Nirjary Desai:

Carolina and you're at the airport after everything just happened and like

Nirjary Desai:

any, anyone that was Anglo chose not to speak to me because it was like,

Nirjary Desai:

Oh, it was like this whole thing.

Nirjary Desai:

So it was like, all of this was just kind of like, I was just soaking it all up.

Nirjary Desai:

And I was like, you know what?

Nirjary Desai:

I'm seeing my parents in this country build a name for themselves and not

Nirjary Desai:

even just, it wasn't even about a name.

Nirjary Desai:

It was building a life for themselves.

Nirjary Desai:

And they conformed to whatever, you know, they came here, they

Nirjary Desai:

ran a motel, then they, you know, then they ran a gas station.

Nirjary Desai:

Then they got into the subway sandwich store business.

Nirjary Desai:

And, you know, it's like you go from independent working under someone to

Nirjary Desai:

buying a business that was basically run to the ground and bringing it

Nirjary Desai:

back up while my father, you know, my mother ran the gas station and my

Nirjary Desai:

father was a car salesman for Subaru.

Nirjary Desai:

I remember this you know, and then.

Nirjary Desai:

He would get off of work, go relieve my mom and work and just seeing this cycle

Nirjary Desai:

of hustle through them, you know, it,

Dallas Burnett:

Yes.

Nirjary Desai:

it never left me.

Nirjary Desai:

And I think and I think me and my sister, like we truly thrive on that

Nirjary Desai:

because, you know, working hard, I don't know anything outside of working hard.

Nirjary Desai:

And so I think that's the biggest thing.

Nirjary Desai:

It's I think the story of being an immigrant American, you know, is that when

Nirjary Desai:

immigrants do come to this country, it's like, they're here to hustle hard and.

Nirjary Desai:

Send it home, you know, and there's always this like challenge.

Nirjary Desai:

And I think for me, it's I quickly realized that I was born to be a

Nirjary Desai:

leader, and I wanted to lead, but I wanted to lead on my own terms.

Nirjary Desai:

I also never want to ask for two weeks of vacation off when I can

Nirjary Desai:

go on vacation whenever I wanted.

Nirjary Desai:

Um, you know, so like it's very different.

Nirjary Desai:

I think the other thing too is opportunity comes in very different ways.

Nirjary Desai:

You know, and when you're an entrepreneur, you have to be

Nirjary Desai:

on, you have to be on 24 seven.

Nirjary Desai:

There is no this Oh, I've left work at work now, you know, and I

Nirjary Desai:

think even now, like when I see my parents in their late sixties, early

Nirjary Desai:

seventies, where they are, you know, they're still buying new businesses.

Nirjary Desai:

They're still hustling.

Nirjary Desai:

I'm like, dude, can you guys chill out?

Nirjary Desai:

And you know, and they even say to me, they're like, if we sit still and retire.

Nirjary Desai:

My, my mom literally, she's so funny, If I sit down, I will die.

Nirjary Desai:

And I was like, Oh, relax, lady.

Nirjary Desai:

I was like, you are so dramatic.

Nirjary Desai:

But, you know, that, that gives you this, that gives you this

Nirjary Desai:

mentality of like, I can't ever stop.

Dallas Burnett:

Yes, yes, no, as I agree, I've, we have very similar backgrounds as

Dallas Burnett:

it relates to, parents that hustle and are still hustling in their early seventies.

Dallas Burnett:

So I completely relate to that and I completely relate to what you said

Dallas Burnett:

about, that's all, you know, the hustle is what you were raised in.

Dallas Burnett:

And it's

Nirjary Desai:

it was, and it still

Dallas Burnett:

normal.

Dallas Burnett:

It

Nirjary Desai:

so normal.

Nirjary Desai:

It is so normal, you know, and it's so different because it's like, my

Nirjary Desai:

husband and I talk about this, you know, cause he, he has this entrepreneur

Nirjary Desai:

spirit as well, but he also has a.

Nirjary Desai:

A normal job and he's always like, Hey babe, can you sit down and chill out?

Nirjary Desai:

And I was like, I don't know what this means.

Nirjary Desai:

And you know, my son just recently, my, my son is like 16 months old.

Nirjary Desai:

He just started like an early childhood development Montessori program.

Nirjary Desai:

And you know, my dad's really funny.

Nirjary Desai:

He's like, why does he need to go to school right now?

Nirjary Desai:

There is no need, you know, and whatever.

Nirjary Desai:

And I was like, dude.

Nirjary Desai:

He needs to go learn.

Nirjary Desai:

And so, you know, I was talking to his teacher recently and this just makes

Nirjary Desai:

me laugh because I'm like, when I use that term, hustle is hard and real and

Nirjary Desai:

busy is I'm like, Oh, how's he doing?

Nirjary Desai:

Oh, he's busy.

Nirjary Desai:

He's always busy.

Nirjary Desai:

They're like, is he busy at home?

Nirjary Desai:

And then it's like my husband and I are observing and I was like, Oh my

Nirjary Desai:

God, he's totally picking up after us.

Nirjary Desai:

Cause we're just kind of busy.

Nirjary Desai:

Like we're doing things.

Nirjary Desai:

So you know, and it's like.

Nirjary Desai:

This quality or I don't even know if you want to call it a quality, this

Nirjary Desai:

lifestyle of, it's just constantly passed out, you know, you're in this

Nirjary Desai:

environment and it just happens and I think that's kind of why, you know, a

Nirjary Desai:

lot of people ask, Oh, why are Indians or South Asians so successful in America?

Nirjary Desai:

It's you know, like that.

Nirjary Desai:

Unity of family, you know, keeping family close, ask, having them as your

Nirjary Desai:

well wishers, you know, going to our temple is not for religious reasons,

Nirjary Desai:

it's for building community, it's for supporting each other, you know,

Nirjary Desai:

so I think that is really important, you know, for me, and I think that's

Nirjary Desai:

why I am who I am and where I'm at.

Nirjary Desai:

I

Dallas Burnett:

I think that's a neat, I think that's a neat balance.

Dallas Burnett:

And I think that sometimes we get lost, especially, I think Western culture

Dallas Burnett:

can get lost or tends to get lost in.

Dallas Burnett:

In it, if it keeps the hustle, but it loses the relational component.

Dallas Burnett:

Cause I love how you said we all are hustling, but we go

Dallas Burnett:

to temple for community and we go to have that connection.

Dallas Burnett:

And I think if you have the hustle without the connection, you're just a time bomb.

Dallas Burnett:

You're just, you're it's you can't handle the weight.

Dallas Burnett:

You can't, you're going to get out of balance in some aspect of your life.

Nirjary Desai:

think the other thing too is, I think the other thing too is you

Nirjary Desai:

know, you asked me, before we started recording, you asked me about balance,

Nirjary Desai:

you know, like entrepreneurship, being a mom and balancing, you know, it's

Nirjary Desai:

I have this conversation with someone else recently on a, another interview.

Nirjary Desai:

And I said, There isn't a balance, you know, it's like people, you

Nirjary Desai:

know, people are basing balance and all this stuff on what they see on

Nirjary Desai:

social media and so on and so forth.

Nirjary Desai:

I'm like, guys, like for lack of better words, the balance is called

Nirjary Desai:

the everyday shit show, you know?

Nirjary Desai:

And it's really, it's what you make of it, right?

Nirjary Desai:

I think it's also like with you and your spouse and your team, it's like

Nirjary Desai:

you come in and you're like, Hey guys.

Nirjary Desai:

I'm at 90 percent today, you know, so I need the rest of you to pick

Nirjary Desai:

up the 10 or I'm at 10%, I need the rest of you to pick up 90.

Nirjary Desai:

And that's the same kind of like ideology, even in a marriage,

Nirjary Desai:

in a business partnership, in entrepreneurship, you know, that happens.

Nirjary Desai:

And I think it's important to communicate that.

Nirjary Desai:

I think a lot of it is we all try to make it look easy, you know, but it's not,

Nirjary Desai:

you know, I always tell people, you know, some of you were like, well, you went back

Nirjary Desai:

to work so quickly after having a baby.

Nirjary Desai:

Yeah.

Nirjary Desai:

I went back two weeks later cause I work for myself, but you know what?

Nirjary Desai:

Like I almost died giving birth.

Nirjary Desai:

So my.

Nirjary Desai:

I woke up out of this whole experience very different.

Nirjary Desai:

you know, we, more women should talk about the birthing experience,

Nirjary Desai:

going through all of that.

Nirjary Desai:

You know, people are like, Oh, what's your birth plan?

Nirjary Desai:

I was like, I didn't have one.

Nirjary Desai:

Cause you know what?

Nirjary Desai:

I didn't know what the hell was going to

Dallas Burnett:

Ha

Nirjary Desai:

And that's the reality.

Nirjary Desai:

There is no plan.

Nirjary Desai:

it's more like get this child out of me.

Nirjary Desai:

It's time, you know, that is the plan.

Nirjary Desai:

And, you know, and in the process of you know, going

Nirjary Desai:

through 31 hours of labor from.

Nirjary Desai:

Pushing for hours and hours to trying to get my son out through a vacuum to

Nirjary Desai:

going through an emergency C section and hemorrhaging and all of this.

Nirjary Desai:

And

Dallas Burnett:

Oh

Nirjary Desai:

you know, your life is your life in this, in that moment is just

Nirjary Desai:

really going through your head and you're like I have to get to this light at the

Nirjary Desai:

end of the tunnel . So I tell everybody, I was like, there is no balance.

Nirjary Desai:

You choose what you want to balance.

Dallas Burnett:

yes,

Nirjary Desai:

in, in this moment, if you're like, okay, getting this project

Nirjary Desai:

done is important and sacrificing this outing with my family is not important,

Nirjary Desai:

then that's what you're choosing.

Nirjary Desai:

Or you're like, Hey, spending time with my family because, my parents are older, this

Nirjary Desai:

is happening and and we have such limited time here, so I want to maximize on this.

Nirjary Desai:

Then that's your priority.

Nirjary Desai:

And I think that's the biggest thing is like, what are you choosing

Nirjary Desai:

to prioritize because that is in entrepreneurship in business, in, you

Nirjary Desai:

know, in corporate America and all of that, there is different priorities.

Nirjary Desai:

And we all choose to prioritize and make important.

Nirjary Desai:

What makes sense in this moment?

Dallas Burnett:

I think that is so fantastic.

Dallas Burnett:

And I think that's great advice because I think balancing, when you hear people who

Dallas Burnett:

we've got to balance this and balance that it's almost like you're supposed to keep

Dallas Burnett:

everything at even keel and everything's in this perfect harmony all the time.

Dallas Burnett:

And that's just not real life.

Dallas Burnett:

That's social

Nirjary Desai:

No, you know, and the only other way to create balance too,

Nirjary Desai:

I think the other thing is I tell people, I was like, pay for help.

Dallas Burnett:

yes,

Nirjary Desai:

What do you work hard for?

Nirjary Desai:

When you die, this money's not going with you.

Nirjary Desai:

When you die, none of this goes with you.

Nirjary Desai:

We all came into this world the same way as we're going to leave.

Nirjary Desai:

If you're going to keep worrying about the dollar.

Nirjary Desai:

Your mental health is going to suffer.

Nirjary Desai:

And that's the number one thing that you need to put forward.

Nirjary Desai:

If you don't put your mental health and yourself first, then there's no balance.

Nirjary Desai:

You can't even focus on creating that balance.

Dallas Burnett:

I agree with that.

Dallas Burnett:

And I think that you're speaking towards understanding your priorities and how

Dallas Burnett:

people's priorities are different.

Dallas Burnett:

And they're different at different stages in their life.

Dallas Burnett:

Obviously your priorities before children and after children is just different.

Dallas Burnett:

Like you just can't, you just said going through that experience is just different.

Dallas Burnett:

And so it's very hard to speak about balance when you don't

Dallas Burnett:

even know your life 10 years from now, it's not even look the same.

Dallas Burnett:

And so I love how you kind of shifted that too.

Dallas Burnett:

Know your priorities and then do what it takes to focus on those priorities

Dallas Burnett:

so that you're creating the kind of environment or the kind of life or

Dallas Burnett:

whatever that you're looking to create.

Dallas Burnett:

And it's just intentionality around priorities.

Dallas Burnett:

And I think that's, I think that's a fantastic point.

Dallas Burnett:

very good stuff.

Dallas Burnett:

So I want to talk a little bit about events and listen, by the way, if

Dallas Burnett:

you're listening to this, you need to check out our website because.

Dallas Burnett:

When she says she's an event plan, whatever you're

Dallas Burnett:

thinking, it's not big enough.

Dallas Burnett:

You're like some of the stuff I was like, Oh my goodness.

Dallas Burnett:

That's amazing.

Dallas Burnett:

So you're doing some amazing stuff, but I want to talk about that.

Dallas Burnett:

Cause we do, we produce leadership summits for some clients of ours.

Dallas Burnett:

Now they're not like the kind of events that you do.

Dallas Burnett:

These are just, they're leadership summits, but.

Nirjary Desai:

Well, we love leadership summits.

Dallas Burnett:

we love leadership summits and we have a lot of fun.

Dallas Burnett:

So I want to get to talk to you a little bit about events and

Dallas Burnett:

your, like how you approach.

Dallas Burnett:

I would love to hear how you approach when you have a new event,

Dallas Burnett:

come in, what's your approach?

Dallas Burnett:

Like from a, from an event planning perspective, what's your approach

Dallas Burnett:

to create this amazing experience?

Nirjary Desai:

So it's, you know, it's I recently talked about this.

Nirjary Desai:

I tell people, I said.

Nirjary Desai:

When your client comes to you or you're put in charge to create

Nirjary Desai:

this experience, number one, it's like lead with passion and purpose.

Nirjary Desai:

Understanding what the goal is of the event, what the mission is, number one,

Nirjary Desai:

what's the budget, you know, because we can dream up amazing things, right?

Nirjary Desai:

I think it's that.

Nirjary Desai:

The other thing is also transparency, authenticity and impact.

Nirjary Desai:

I think, you know, Be having transparent conversations with your consumer, having

Nirjary Desai:

transparent conversations with your team, your suppliers, the troops that it takes,

Nirjary Desai:

your army that it takes to produce this, you know, Authenticity I think is so

Nirjary Desai:

important because you know, like a lot of brands and a lot of corporate clients,

Nirjary Desai:

like even leadership summits and stuff, they are building their platforms and

Nirjary Desai:

their events on authenticity, you know?

Nirjary Desai:

And I think more so than ever, you know, for me, it's I've always been this way.

Nirjary Desai:

So like the fact that this term authenticity is being thrown around

Nirjary Desai:

everywhere, it's really interesting.

Nirjary Desai:

because I'm like, how do you not know how to be that?

Nirjary Desai:

You know, like, why

Dallas Burnett:

I am who I am, yeah, what is this a thing?

Nirjary Desai:

this used car salesman pitch is gone, you know?

Nirjary Desai:

there's none of that anymore.

Nirjary Desai:

I think it's just about what's right for you.

Nirjary Desai:

And I think impact is also you know, what's the impact you want to

Nirjary Desai:

leave on your client and what's the impact do they want to leave with

Nirjary Desai:

the guests and attendees from the event and the overall experience.

Nirjary Desai:

I think.

Nirjary Desai:

All of that has to do with it, you know, and the right strategy, you

Nirjary Desai:

know, you know, is it the right strategy that's going to help build

Nirjary Desai:

your audience to gain visibility.

Nirjary Desai:

So I think all of that really goes into producing the right events, you know,

Nirjary Desai:

when we work with our corporate clients, we have to completely shift of like

Nirjary Desai:

into their mentality, you know, when we work with our luxury destination.

Nirjary Desai:

Event clients or wedding clients, what's important to a father of the bride who

Nirjary Desai:

could be a CEO, of the corporate company.

Nirjary Desai:

We're producing a corporate client for, and what is his mission

Nirjary Desai:

for his company and his brand?

Nirjary Desai:

So it's like learning to balance the conversation, but both sides

Nirjary Desai:

and both types of clients need the transparency, authenticity and impact.

Dallas Burnett:

Ah, I love that.

Dallas Burnett:

I love that perspective.

Dallas Burnett:

And I love how you've just been able to distill it down because it just is

Dallas Burnett:

a great framework, a great scaffolding for approaching any type of event.

Dallas Burnett:

Now I also know, you know, we've talked a little bit about before the show that

Dallas Burnett:

you have been growing this company.

Dallas Burnett:

you've.

Dallas Burnett:

Just done some amazing events all over the world, but it's not come.

Dallas Burnett:

It's like you said earlier, it's not come without some bumps in the road.

Dallas Burnett:

You've had a couple of things that you've had big obstacles you've

Dallas Burnett:

had to deal with along the way.

Dallas Burnett:

Number one was the big elephant in the room is COVID 19.

Dallas Burnett:

You know,

Nirjary Desai:

Oh yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

was its own challenge, but then you've had some

Dallas Burnett:

other things internally, as you've gone through the entrepreneurship

Dallas Burnett:

as it relates to your partners.

Dallas Burnett:

Tell us about some of, tell us about some of the challenges that you've experienced

Dallas Burnett:

as you've gone through this journey.

Nirjary Desai:

Yeah.

Nirjary Desai:

Well, number one, I think with COVID let's start with that one, you

Nirjary Desai:

know, our whole industry shut down.

Dallas Burnett:

Hmm.

Nirjary Desai:

We could not have live events.

Nirjary Desai:

We couldn't engage, so I kind of made it my mission.

Nirjary Desai:

For the event industry to build content for individuals.

Nirjary Desai:

Because at this point, everyone went from being seen as different

Nirjary Desai:

tiers of suppliers and vendors and who you were in the industry to

Nirjary Desai:

playing on the same field, right?

Nirjary Desai:

That's what COVID did.

Nirjary Desai:

COVID basically shut everybody out and everybody realized, okay, now.

Nirjary Desai:

We're all starting back at ground zero, right?

Nirjary Desai:

So what I basically made it my goal, which was something that I've

Nirjary Desai:

been wanting to do for a long time was educating the event industry

Nirjary Desai:

on how to build a better business.

Nirjary Desai:

So I collaborated with an amazing media team.

Nirjary Desai:

and this was.

Nirjary Desai:

Towards the wedding industry.

Nirjary Desai:

But, we transitioned it also, it could, the content could have been

Nirjary Desai:

great for both, but I worked with a media partner called Mandala weddings.

Nirjary Desai:

we produced it, with them and we interviewed people from all different

Nirjary Desai:

walks of business, whether it was press and media to philanthropy, to, you know,

Nirjary Desai:

building connection, to building the right brand, how to market yourself,

Nirjary Desai:

how to, what you're doing internally in your business from a standpoint of,

Nirjary Desai:

growing or just changing your processes.

Nirjary Desai:

During COVID since.

Nirjary Desai:

Work was stagnant, that's what we did.

Nirjary Desai:

we didn't let any of our clients also in the process lose any money.

Nirjary Desai:

we made sure we maintain the relationships wherever in the

Nirjary Desai:

world we were supposed to work.

Nirjary Desai:

Cause during COVID we were supposed to work, in London and Paris and

Nirjary Desai:

Morocco and different parts of the world that we were producing events in.

Nirjary Desai:

And then now having to figure out like plan B, plan C and

Nirjary Desai:

I think the other part of it too you were asking about I've had multiple

Nirjary Desai:

business partners before, and I think as an entrepreneur, you always want to

Nirjary Desai:

bring and collaborate with people or.

Nirjary Desai:

It's with the mindset of growth, and for me, those partnerships didn't work out,

Nirjary Desai:

or those collaborations didn't work out.

Nirjary Desai:

They don't work out because, you know, our visions were very different.

Nirjary Desai:

we.

Nirjary Desai:

We're very transparent at different levels.

Nirjary Desai:

We were very authentic at different levels and the impact we wanted to

Nirjary Desai:

create was very different as well.

Nirjary Desai:

You know?

Nirjary Desai:

so I think the challenges of partnerships also is always going to be there, right?

Nirjary Desai:

Do I want to, will I ever say I won't have another business partner again?

Nirjary Desai:

Oh, cause you never know, you never know the

Dallas Burnett:

never know.

Nirjary Desai:

That'll land your way.

Nirjary Desai:

I think the biggest thing is learning from it.

Dallas Burnett:

If you were to look back, if you were to look back on

Dallas Burnett:

those instances with the business partners and some of the things you

Dallas Burnett:

said, you're just out of alignment on several different levels.

Dallas Burnett:

If you were to think about going back and re the redo of those again, and

Dallas Burnett:

instead of talking about your situation, giving advice to young entrepreneurs.

Dallas Burnett:

Maybe that's going into or looking at valuating a partnership.

Dallas Burnett:

What would you either do different or advise either young entrepreneurs

Dallas Burnett:

or young female entrepreneurs as it relates to going into partnerships?

Nirjary Desai:

I think the biggest thing I would advise is like finding a co

Nirjary Desai:

founder or a founder with you that again, has the same hustle as you, a business

Nirjary Desai:

partnership is like a marriage, right?

Nirjary Desai:

everyone was.

Nirjary Desai:

Educated differently, brought up differently.

Nirjary Desai:

Their experiences were very different.

Nirjary Desai:

So if you take two people that were business, got into a partnership

Nirjary Desai:

and one was a stellar, a student and was very driven and was wanting to

Nirjary Desai:

maintain a certain level of excellence.

Nirjary Desai:

And one was did whatever to get by.

Nirjary Desai:

Then they may not be the best business partners.

Nirjary Desai:

Right.

Nirjary Desai:

But if you have two people that have that same level of elevated

Nirjary Desai:

excellence and bring that to their partnership, then thriving and

Nirjary Desai:

growth are, you never know, you,

Dallas Burnett:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

What's the,

Nirjary Desai:

there.

Nirjary Desai:

So I think, I think the biggest thing is understanding when you

Nirjary Desai:

go into business with somebody,

Nirjary Desai:

It's not just about their strengths and their weaknesses.

Nirjary Desai:

It's truly more about, are you guys on the same page when it comes to hustling?

Nirjary Desai:

Are you guys on the same page about, liability?

Nirjary Desai:

Are you guys on the same page about who's bringing the money

Nirjary Desai:

or are you raising capital?

Nirjary Desai:

The other part of it also is, are we both going to be the face of the brand and the

Nirjary Desai:

company, or is it really going to be one of us or how are we going to handle this?

Nirjary Desai:

And.

Nirjary Desai:

what happens if one partnership dies or one person wants to get

Nirjary Desai:

out of it, you know The other thing is be fair to each other.

Nirjary Desai:

Depending on what industry your business is in and like in my

Nirjary Desai:

industry a lot of people want to get into it because it's so glamorous

Nirjary Desai:

and It's far from glamorous, right?

Nirjary Desai:

Like we, I always tell people in the event world, we do such thankless work, but

Nirjary Desai:

such behind the scenes, impactful work.

Nirjary Desai:

And we are constantly managing emotions and budgets.

Nirjary Desai:

Really?

Nirjary Desai:

that's what it is and experiences.

Nirjary Desai:

And I think like for young entrepreneurs that are wanting to get into any

Nirjary Desai:

business, Make sure you guys truly sit down and understand authenticity.

Nirjary Desai:

The other thing is go out and get experience first before

Nirjary Desai:

you start your business.

Nirjary Desai:

You know, for me, like I got experience in the hospitality industry, not only

Nirjary Desai:

working for an airline, then working for a major corporation like Starwood hotels

Nirjary Desai:

and resorts, I worked in the business.

Nirjary Desai:

Of when I wanted and how I wanted to start my business, right?

Nirjary Desai:

Cause my business then became a filter into these industries, right?

Nirjary Desai:

Where I could feed into them.

Nirjary Desai:

that's the other part of it.

Nirjary Desai:

Make sure your partner has the same level of experience or the same years

Nirjary Desai:

of experience in the field learning.

Nirjary Desai:

waking up one day and just saying, I'm going to start a business and

Nirjary Desai:

this is going to be my partner.

Nirjary Desai:

And neither one of you have experience.

Nirjary Desai:

And when I say experience, not just industry experience, life

Nirjary Desai:

experience, that's important.

Dallas Burnett:

Enthusiasm tends to, and tends to disappear very

Dallas Burnett:

quickly in a partnership without all those other characteristics

Dallas Burnett:

that you've, you've laid out.

Dallas Burnett:

Cause you can be really excited about it and whether you've got a friend or

Dallas Burnett:

whether you've got somebody that you've met and they're, you're just really

Dallas Burnett:

enthusiastic if you don't check some of those boxes off and really understand not

Dallas Burnett:

only the other person, like you said, but it really takes understanding yourself.

Dallas Burnett:

What is your hustle?

Dallas Burnett:

what is your experience?

Dallas Burnett:

What are you bringing to the table and understanding how that fits together.

Dallas Burnett:

It's a very complicated thing.

Dallas Burnett:

And I think people sometimes will go into it without putting the

Dallas Burnett:

weight of some of answering some of those questions on the table.

Dallas Burnett:

And I think that's

Nirjary Desai:

And it's like you said, enthusiasm, but enthusiasm wears off.

Nirjary Desai:

Eventually it comes down to economics, dollars

Dallas Burnett:

really, it

Nirjary Desai:

end of the day, two people are getting into

Nirjary Desai:

business or multiple people.

Nirjary Desai:

You guys are all getting into business to make a profit, And to make a living.

Nirjary Desai:

And at the end of the day, everyone should win.

Nirjary Desai:

And I think that's the other part of it, right?

Nirjary Desai:

Don't go into a partnership where, you know, It becomes this

Nirjary Desai:

competition between the partners.

Nirjary Desai:

It's more about There's room for all of you to win.

Nirjary Desai:

And when you go into it with that mentality, that's going

Nirjary Desai:

to be also very different.

Nirjary Desai:

You know, the end results are going to be very different as well.

Dallas Burnett:

hundred percent.

Dallas Burnett:

I love that.

Dallas Burnett:

That's great advice.

Dallas Burnett:

I hope all the listeners of the show had their pens out and we're taking notes or

Dallas Burnett:

we're just record the episode and let's do it again later, because that was awesome.

Dallas Burnett:

That was really awesome.

Dallas Burnett:

Well, I want to give you a chance because, you're obviously very passionate.

Dallas Burnett:

You're very skilled at the work that you do in, in, in all these events

Dallas Burnett:

all over the world, which is just.

Dallas Burnett:

And I'm telling you guys, you got to check out our website because

Dallas Burnett:

these are crazy, good stuff.

Dallas Burnett:

Crazy good events.

Dallas Burnett:

I want to get to what your, why is, why do you feel so passionate

Dallas Burnett:

and passion driven towards events?

Dallas Burnett:

what is it that it gives to you?

Nirjary Desai:

So for me, my why is truly championing

Nirjary Desai:

change and women entrepreneurs.

Nirjary Desai:

you know, we've formed a, A new company also called leave her mark.

Nirjary Desai:

And it's for anyone and everyone who identifies as being a woman.

Nirjary Desai:

And what that, what my goal is I want to help fuel tomorrow's women

Nirjary Desai:

entrepreneurs with the tools they need to be successful, right?

Nirjary Desai:

Because 20 years ago or so, when I started my business, these

Nirjary Desai:

tools were not there, right?

Nirjary Desai:

And for me, it's really important that I want to.

Nirjary Desai:

Give back in that capacity.

Nirjary Desai:

And I think my biggest thing is, event wise, I'm only as good as my last event.

Nirjary Desai:

But for me, I've been part of this hospitality event

Nirjary Desai:

industry for a very long time.

Nirjary Desai:

And what I want to see, Now that I have a little human that I'm also

Nirjary Desai:

responsible for, I want to help shape a business world, whether

Nirjary Desai:

it's in hospitality, whether it's in construction, whether it's in the

Nirjary Desai:

airlines, whether it's in food service, so on and so forth, medicine or whatnot.

Nirjary Desai:

the meaning of being of service doesn't go away.

Nirjary Desai:

And for me, it's about leaving an impact, in my industry.

Nirjary Desai:

For the better, right?

Nirjary Desai:

I think the biggest thing I love to educate people on is culture, cuisine

Nirjary Desai:

and celebrations because we all live such diverse cultures in our homes,

Nirjary Desai:

in our communities and how we were brought up and so on and so forth.

Nirjary Desai:

Cuisine is what bonds us.

Nirjary Desai:

we can all get a seat at the table and dine over amazing food and talk about our

Nirjary Desai:

experiences and celebration is how do we choose to come together to celebrate each

Nirjary Desai:

other's successes and wins, And I think overall, like that is extremely important.

Dallas Burnett:

I think is so important and I think that what you're doing is a

Dallas Burnett:

fantastic way, not only to share culture, but strengthen and create culture in

Dallas Burnett:

organizations because we talk a lot about in the book lift we had just come out.

Dallas Burnett:

We talk a lot about rituals being one of the ways that you strengthen

Dallas Burnett:

culture and that people in business don't think that way, but it's a shared

Dallas Burnett:

experience and it's also a celebration.

Dallas Burnett:

And so these events that you can do and put on, it's so much more than

Dallas Burnett:

just an event, it's events that are bringing people together, giving

Dallas Burnett:

people the opportunity to share experiences so that they can go and

Dallas Burnett:

relate better at the office on Monday?

Nirjary Desai:

I think the other big thing, Dallas, that really is when I work

Nirjary Desai:

with my corporate clients, I think when we are going into either on set, we work

Nirjary Desai:

a lot with the film industry as well.

Nirjary Desai:

we're either going on set and creating like staff appreciation type events, or

Nirjary Desai:

we're going into, different tech companies or hospitality companies or whatever

Nirjary Desai:

doing training or so on and so forth.

Nirjary Desai:

I think the biggest thing and one of the feedbacks I get the most, from,

Nirjary Desai:

Individuals that are attending the events or, are part of the staff or whatever is

Nirjary Desai:

them feeling seen right when you as an organization, when you as an organization

Nirjary Desai:

choose to celebrate global cultures internally in your organization, and you

Nirjary Desai:

have a staff globally, but that are, let's just take Delta Airlines for an example,

Nirjary Desai:

If you're gonna you have staff globally, your staff, Is of so many different

Nirjary Desai:

ethnic backgrounds and cultures.

Nirjary Desai:

If you were to take, think about all the different holidays and celebrations

Nirjary Desai:

that every culture globally has from, you've got lunar New Year to

Nirjary Desai:

Diwali, to Christmas, to Hanukkah,

Nirjary Desai:

. If you as an organization take those.

Nirjary Desai:

Holidays.

Nirjary Desai:

And I wouldn't even call it holidays because these are

Nirjary Desai:

community celebrations, right?

Nirjary Desai:

They're not just holidays.

Nirjary Desai:

They're community celebrations, right?

Nirjary Desai:

If you were to take a little bit of each of those and create these activations

Nirjary Desai:

in your organization revolving around culture with Your staff of different

Nirjary Desai:

ethnic backgrounds cuisine and so on and so forth and making them feel seen and

Nirjary Desai:

celebrated at that table What a great way for them to feel like that This

Nirjary Desai:

organization has created space for me,

Dallas Burnett:

I love that.

Dallas Burnett:

And I think that you're positioned so well to educate the, your clients, it's almost

Dallas Burnett:

like you could give them an educational culture, not just event planning, right?

Dallas Burnett:

Because you've had such a breadth of events all over the world.

Dallas Burnett:

It's like when you engage with one of your clients, you're bringing all that.

Dallas Burnett:

Information with you.

Dallas Burnett:

And I'm sure they appreciate you for that.

Dallas Burnett:

It's one of the reasons why you're one of the best, absolutely.

Dallas Burnett:

It's why you're on the last 10%.

Dallas Burnett:

So, I would love to give our listeners just a quick kind of idea of some

Dallas Burnett:

rookie mistakes that people make when they're setting up and going to plan

Dallas Burnett:

an event or party in this season.

Nirjary Desai:

I think the number one rookie mistake people me make

Nirjary Desai:

is They don't hire the right team.

Nirjary Desai:

I think that a lot of organizations want to cut costs because they're like,

Nirjary Desai:

Oh, internally, this person can plan it But internally, they're so focused

Nirjary Desai:

on your business and your industry.

Nirjary Desai:

They don't understand the event execution side, planning an event.

Nirjary Desai:

Isn't just Calling up a caterer and saying, Oh, come

Nirjary Desai:

drop some food off, right?

Nirjary Desai:

If you're, whether you're planning a internal employee celebration or a

Nirjary Desai:

client appreciation, or you're planning a kick ass holiday party, because

Nirjary Desai:

that's what you want to do, right?

Nirjary Desai:

I think, again, it comes down to, the transparency, the authenticity and

Nirjary Desai:

impact, and planning, planning it with.

Nirjary Desai:

passion and purpose, right?

Nirjary Desai:

What is your mission with this?

Nirjary Desai:

Is your holiday event going to be something that later you're going to

Nirjary Desai:

donate to charity or, or are you doing some sort of community outreach and impact

Nirjary Desai:

that's going to help people around you?

Nirjary Desai:

, I think that's the biggest thing I can tell you.

Nirjary Desai:

It's we see it all the time and then we get last minute calls

Nirjary Desai:

to like do damage control.

Nirjary Desai:

Oh, this person didn't do this.

Nirjary Desai:

They dropped the ball.

Nirjary Desai:

The other thing too, is I've been in business for 20 years.

Nirjary Desai:

I have a set Rolodex of.

Nirjary Desai:

Who we work with because we know the quality, we know the level of excellence.

Nirjary Desai:

We know the professionalism, right?

Nirjary Desai:

if you are today's consumer, that's solely just focused on price and not focused on

Nirjary Desai:

the overall execution, the logistics, the labor, all of that, then we're going to

Nirjary Desai:

have a hard time working together because,

Nirjary Desai:

I can't sit here and teach you why the rental company needs two days to load

Nirjary Desai:

in and so on and so forth and the labor in there or why the balloon artist is

Nirjary Desai:

charging, so much money because you want an entire ceiling of your event

Nirjary Desai:

covered, because the material cost might be low, but the labor, the talent.

Nirjary Desai:

All the time and hours that takes to blow up 10, 000 balloons to

Nirjary Desai:

create a ceiling is very different.

Nirjary Desai:

It's, and I think like that's the other thing is, when people are planning

Nirjary Desai:

events, it's like they don't understand.

Nirjary Desai:

the production value and the behind the scenes that goes into really

Nirjary Desai:

making it happen, because as an industry, we post beautiful images.

Nirjary Desai:

I try to post a lot of tips in my images, on our social media and

Nirjary Desai:

everything, because to me it's important.

Nirjary Desai:

I want an informed consumer, to come to me.

Nirjary Desai:

But I think that's the biggest thing.

Nirjary Desai:

It's call the right people, internally at your organization and at your business.

Nirjary Desai:

Focus on creating the meaningful impact so that you want to, and that doesn't

Nirjary Desai:

happen by removing, adding on this.

Nirjary Desai:

Burden, because a lot of times when we deal with some of the internal team and

Nirjary Desai:

planning events, they are so stressed out, because they know that if they do

Nirjary Desai:

a good job on this, it's their promotion or their raise or so on and so forth,

Dallas Burnett:

Yes.

Nirjary Desai:

a lot of pressure to put on an employee, you know.

Nirjary Desai:

That this is the, and when that's not their expertise, right?

Nirjary Desai:

so I think the biggest thing too, is it's we always go into it or we

Nirjary Desai:

tell our client, if we're dealing with someone internally, we're like,

Nirjary Desai:

listen, we want to make you look good.

Nirjary Desai:

So just be straight up with us.

Nirjary Desai:

Cause

Dallas Burnett:

Yes.

Nirjary Desai:

you're telling me, you're telling me what's online for you,

Nirjary Desai:

I'm letting you know what's possible in the short amount of time that

Nirjary Desai:

you're giving me a phone call.

Nirjary Desai:

And

Dallas Burnett:

Well, I think that's fantastic advice and it's, it is true.

Dallas Burnett:

There's so much, there's so many layers to that.

Dallas Burnett:

There's so many different situations.

Dallas Burnett:

And the last thing you want to do is as, as a company to get

Dallas Burnett:

the call at the last minute.

Dallas Burnett:

Like we didn't do enough.

Dallas Burnett:

We didn't spend enough.

Dallas Burnett:

We didn't have the expertise enough.

Dallas Burnett:

And now we need you to bail us out because it's just

Nirjary Desai:

The best analogy I can use and my husband laughs because he's

Nirjary Desai:

a GC and I always tell people, I said, planning an event is like building

Nirjary Desai:

a home, building a hotel, right?

Nirjary Desai:

Think about it.

Nirjary Desai:

You need someone to come clear your land.

Nirjary Desai:

And select your venue for your home, right?

Nirjary Desai:

Then you need someone to lay down the foundation and all of that, which is

Nirjary Desai:

give you what the vision could be.

Nirjary Desai:

Then you need someone to start with the framing and so on and so forth, your

Nirjary Desai:

sheetrock and building it all up, your pipes, your electrical, all of that.

Nirjary Desai:

You're not going to hire, if your company budget is, A half a million dollars

Nirjary Desai:

or a million dollars or whatever it is for the type of event and the summit

Nirjary Desai:

that you're trying to plan, you're not going to hire someone that only knows

Nirjary Desai:

how to build a house that's 50, 000.

Nirjary Desai:

You know, because that's, there's a lot of that.

Nirjary Desai:

So I think keep in mind that's how producing an event is.

Nirjary Desai:

it's like building a home.

Nirjary Desai:

There's a lot of layers that go into it before we can even start designing

Nirjary Desai:

an experience and executing it.

Nirjary Desai:

Yeah.

Dallas Burnett:

I think that's awesome.

Dallas Burnett:

It's very, it's a complicated process and you need help.

Dallas Burnett:

You need help.

Dallas Burnett:

So, all right, we are so thankful that you were able to be on the show today.

Dallas Burnett:

and I always ask guests as we get to the end of the show, who they would

Dallas Burnett:

like to hear or see on the last 10%.

Dallas Burnett:

and so I would love to know who is it that you would like to see on the show?

Nirjary Desai:

Um, think you would have a great episode.

Nirjary Desai:

you should interview my father.

Nirjary Desai:

I think, I think that would be quite entertaining for you.

Nirjary Desai:

I think, you know what?

Nirjary Desai:

I would love to see my sister on this podcast for you.

Nirjary Desai:

she's a She is an airline executive, for American airlines now, we, I left

Nirjary Desai:

and got her hired and here we are, referred her to my old boss and he

Nirjary Desai:

hired her and, now the rest is history,

Dallas Burnett:

that's awesome.

Dallas Burnett:

I love your suggestions and we'll definitely, we'll have to

Dallas Burnett:

talk after the show about that, cause that sounds like fun.

Dallas Burnett:

we'll definitely get in touch and see about that.

Dallas Burnett:

Cause that'd be fun.

Dallas Burnett:

We'll tell people, near jury.

Dallas Burnett:

how can people get in touch with you?

Dallas Burnett:

Find out more about your work.

Dallas Burnett:

If they're interested in events, how do they find you?

Nirjary Desai:

they can find us through our website.

Nirjary Desai:

It's www.

Nirjary Desai:

kiscubedevents.

Nirjary Desai:

com or if you want to personally reach me for any sort of training

Nirjary Desai:

or cultural competency things, you can go to, Neerjari, N I R

Nirjary Desai:

J A R Y D E S A I dot R O C K.

Nirjary Desai:

You can find me on Instagram, on Facebook, and even on LinkedIn.

Dallas Burnett:

Awesome.

Dallas Burnett:

She's everywhere.

Dallas Burnett:

So you have no excuse.

Dallas Burnett:

You've got to find her near jury.

Dallas Burnett:

Thank you for being on the last 10%.

Dallas Burnett:

We're so thankful for the wisdom and the insight that you shared and for

Dallas Burnett:

all the work that you do, that's great.

Dallas Burnett:

Thank you for being on the show.

Nirjary Desai:

I appreciate it.

Nirjary Desai:

Thank you so much, Dallas.

Nirjary Desai:

And it was a pleasure to speak to another South Carolinian.

Dallas Burnett:

That's right.

Dallas Burnett:

That's right.

Dallas Burnett:

Well, thank you again.

Nirjary Desai:

Thank you.

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About the Podcast

The Last 10%
Inspiring People, Coaching Teams, and Improving Cultures
Join The Last 10% for incredible conversations that help uncover the secrets of what it takes to finish well and finish strong. Our guests share their journeys, hardships, and valuable advice. We release new episodes every other Tuesday. If you are a leader, a coach, a business owner, or someone looking to level up, you are in the right place!

You can give 90% effort and make it a long way. But it’s the finding out how to unlock the last 10% that makes all the difference in your life, your relationships, and your work.

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Dallas Burnett