I founded Sapphire Events in 2011, after a year in the event industry working for a venue. I came into the event planning business as a result of unemployment – I had graduated from law school at Tulane and passed the bar in 2009, in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis (remember Bear Stearns?). It was a wild time, and I knew a lot about weddings having just planned my own. I decided to start an event planning company by building a brand that I could sell one day when law jobs picked back up. Luckily for me, I found that I had a real passion for running the business, and I was very good at it (and, perhaps most importantly, I realized I enjoyed my work much more than any of the law jobs I’d had before). My clients felt I had something to offer that other planners and coordinators they spoke with didn’t; I enjoyed connecting with people and using my skills to bring out the joy of life, celebrating important milestones.