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Saturday, 4 October 2014 00:10 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Events by Shero delivers custom-made events that are nothing short of exceptional

Shero Meezan, a mother of three, has always loved organising birthday parties for her children and every year she would plan out their parties according to the ‘orders’ that they placed. They inform her months ahead of the particular theme that they want and she takes months to plan out the perfect party for each child.

She soon started getting compliments from her guests and then later requests started coming in to do her friends’ kids’ parties. She never thought that this would be the start of a beautiful business in event planning that she is now running successfully and passionately. Founded in Bangladesh in February last year under the name ‘Partylicious,’ her event planning organisation gained much popularity there and after her return to Sri Lanka this year, she commenced operations here in August. Recently rebranded as ‘Events by Shero,’ her work is gaining just as much popularity here as it did in Bangladesh. In an interview with the Weekend FT, Events by Shero Founder and CEO Shero Meezan shared her story.

How it all started

CIMA-qualified Shero used to work in the marketing field but after marriage she stopped working, opting to be a housewife, raising her three children. “I have three boys and I’ve always thought that I should give them the childhood that they deserve. I always do their parties – I organise theme parties for them. They choose their own themes and inform me well ahead of their birthdays! When doing their birthday parties, I plan for months and months,” she said. Then people started suggesting that she take this up professionally but she didn’t take it seriously. Her first request soon came up: “The mother of one of my oldest son’s friends came up to me and told me I should plan her daughter’s birthday party; I thought she was just joking; after a while I thought – why not? Through word of mouth, news of my work spread and after three or four parties I realised I could really make something out of it while still staying at home and looking after the kids – so that’s how it happened.”

Events

So far she has done three events this year; another two are coming up in October, one with a ‘Bollywood’ theme for an 18-year-old. “Before I used to do kids parties only, but now I do all sorts of events. I have done an engagement and in Bangladesh I have done two corporate events for a European buyer. There is one corporate event coming up here in Sri Lanka and there is a wedding coming up in December,” she said. “It is something I never knew I had in me, to be honest. Party after party I kept doing it and I’m totally into it now. You get addicted to it – it is an addiction, actually! I kept exploring and exploring. So kids’ parties turned into teen parties and then after that there was an engagement and now corporate events,” she added. Asked what it was like organising corporate events, as they are a big switch from children’s parties, she said: “They are the more formal events. I would have to get involved with a lot of work, from hiring the compere, to the sounds and lights. I also concentrate on the decor part like the centrepiece and the stage.”

What goes into the preparation?

“First I try to get to know the clients – what kind of people they are; some people want very elegant parties and some want very flashy ones. So it’s very important that I get to know them and understand what kind of event it’s going to be. It’s all custom-made. I always try to accommodate what the clients need – the cake, layout, backdrop, etc.” “I get very personal with the clients,” she added. “It’s very casual. Some of them have become my good friends and many are return clients.” Another issue she has to discuss with the clients is the budget and she tries to fit everything into that budget. She then discusses the preparation with her staff. She has a group of talented people working for her who put a lot of effort into the preparation. “My staff and I understand each other very well. Most of the staffers are women and my friends. My graphics designer lives in Australia. She has her own kids’ clothing line; professionally she is a fashion designer and she’s my childhood friend so I know how good she is with graphics. All our meetings and discussions are conducted via Skype,” she said. The rest of the staff also do a lot of groundwork and get back to her in the same way. “So it all happens on Skype!” she said.

Theme

To present a theme, Shero actually creates a scene from the movie. For example, if the client requests a theme based on the movie ‘Frozen’, she creates a scene from Frozen for the photo booth, with snow, where people actually get on the stage with the Frozen characters. “Details matter a lot to me,” she said. “From A-Z, everything is completely themed. There’s nothing left without the theme.” Although the food is provided by the hotel, she organises the desserts from outside and even the desserts are themed!

Not just any party

“People are still getting used to themed parties. Once I quote a price, they say ‘Oh God! Why so much for just a kids’ party?’ But what they don’t understand is when they come to me, I’m working exclusively for them. I don’t just display a cut-out. I pay attention to every detail,” she said. “Anyone can organise a birthday party at home, but this is not an ordinary party; a lot of work and detail is put into it to suit the wishes of each client. It’s quite challenging; sometimes at 3 a.m. we are still up. Sometimes there’s so much I want to do but then the budget is limited so there is only so much I can do with the set budget,” she explained. With her creativity and exceptional talents, Shero hopes to organise more and more events and judging from the response from clients, it doesn’t look like she will have any trouble doing so.