We recently connected with Jackie Fernandez and have shared our conversation below.

Jackie, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made?

The best investment Ive ever made as a business owner is investing in myself. I know. It sounds kind of corny but it’s the absolute truth and I didn’t even have to think much about my answer; it’s so true and real for me.

I had a successful business as an event planner and some would say I was amongst the top in my industry. I had so many amazing events and wonderful clients. I was very busy and in my world that is a good thing or so I though. However….I felt robotic. I would do so much every day in the business, with clients, meetings etc and I realized that I lost myself. I realized early on my son had special needs and I was relentless about finding him the best therapists and programs. In my amazing journey which was both very difficult and very rewarding I came across Julia Harper and her program Therapeeds. The first weeks was so hard I cried every day because I was so overwhelmed but I knew this program was going to be more than just for my sons advancement. One day at Therapeeds I was asked “What do you want”? But I was told to think long and hard about my answer so I did.

I was in tears. I wanted to be a present mom, wife, friend and business owner. I didnt want to do so much. I hated feeling robotic. I was missing out on so many memories with my family because of the amount of events I was doing and I hated that feeling. However, I love what I do. I love my clients and the relationships I have made throughout my career and I wasn’t ready to give that up because I knew there was a way to have it all. I just didnt see a clear path just yet. All I know is that I didnt recognize myself and I was defiantly not the best version of myself. I was getting by and I was really busy, but I was missing something I just wasn’t sure what.

I made the decision that day to invest in myself. Everything in my life began to get better. Even the things that were great to begin with – it was just even more great. My son began to soar even further in his advancements and it was all because “I had been found”. My business was doing great then… well now… its absolutely amazing! Every relationship in my life from personal to professional is just incredible. So authentic and real and just wonderful. I worked very hard on myself and I still do as there is always room for improvement.

I have learned to live in gratitude and catch myself when I see that there is something I need to pay more attention to within me. I am the best investment I have ever made in my business. I couldn’t have done it alone though; My husband is the best partner I could ever ask for. He is my soulmate and the most supportive and encouraging partner I could ever ask for. Julia gave me the tools I needed to see the real me and what I wanted in my life. And my son… he is my hero. He “saved” me. I continue to learn so much from him but he brought this gift to me. I am forever grateful for them and every single person that has helped me and continues to help me in this journey and continuing to invest in myself.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Jackie Fernandez and I am the owner of Jackie Ohh… Events. I am a full service wedding planner and designer and I specialize in complex and highly detailed events. Whether it be a wedding, social gathering or kids party every event that I do has an immense amount of detail from the invitation to the end of the event there are details everywhere. I curate my events so that throughout the time the guests are at the event they continuously see and discover new details. I absolutely love what I do.

What sets me apart from others – wow that’s a hard question because my colleagues are not only my friends but I look up to each and every one of them. I would say that I am known for being unique and creative. I focus on the event as a whole and push my limits even when I don’t know what else I can do. I constantly ask myself, what can I do to wow myself?

I am most proud of client and vendor relationships. I am been blessed to meet and work with the most amazing people from all walks of life. They have the most incredible stories and backgrounds. We become like family. My legacy clients and vendors are so special to me.

My brand is classic and timeless yet edgy and risk taking. I push my own limits and I push those working with us to think of things that we havent done before. Its my favorite thing about producing an event – coming up with ways with my team to set the bar higher and higher with every event we do.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I was growing as a business it first came slow, or at least slower than I was hoping. I stayed focused and patient, I knew that my time to shine was coming and whenever it did I would be ready for it. Well… after many times of taking four steps forward and two steps back it was finally time. I had gotten my first huge client. It was amazing for me not only because she allowed me to really shine thru all her events but our vendor team also got to push their limits as well. We all grew and quickly.

I had taken on some really big events and I realized that I didnt want to be overworked but at the same time I was so scared to turn business away. I had to make the hard decision to say “no”. I wasn’t able to take every event that came my way and that was so hard for me. For the simple reason that I wanted to do the event that the new clients were bringing to me because they really wanted me to do their event. I wanted to do there event as well but I just couldn’t. I was getting burnt out and I knew that it was going to be best for me take on less events.

I know have scaled the amount of events that I do by about a third since then but its because my events now are all very large and very complex. I also have the best job in the world, Im a mom, I love being a mom and one who is present for my kids, my husband and my family. I want to spend as much quality time with them as I can. I have been able to find my balance in work and life and Im so happy and full of joy.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Pushing my own limits and My client vendor relationships has helped build my reputation in the market. I spend countless hours researching and thinking about ideas to make our events unique and different. I research the event theme and then I break the event down and all the details I want to have represented in the event. I then work on each aspect until I am happy with the ideas.

I have an incredible vendor team; its huge actually. I have amazing relationships with so many vendors across the board. They know me. They know that I am loyal and honest. I will always have the best interest of my client in mind and Im a great teammate. I have traveled quite a lot for events in ad out of the US. I have met some amazing people and have collaborated with the best creatives. I am blessed to have them as friendors (vendors that our friends). My clients are so special. They are so trusting and open to all the ideas I bring to them. We all work together and we really do make magic.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jackieohh.com
• Instagram: @jackieohhevents

Image Credits
@Kgohhsnap