We recently connected with Claudia Rollin and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Claudia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

If I could go back in time, I do not wish I had started Harlow & Dahlia Events earlier simply because I wouldn’t have had the right set of skills to undertake the many, many complex dealings that come with owning a business. I started the business in my early 30’s while I was a director of Marketing services and had accumulated a long range set of professional experiences under my belt. I had also woken with a large set of different personalities which will come in key later on for the business.
If I had started the business while I was younger, I simply would not have had the right understanding on where to focus my attention to expansion, growth and success.
If I could start the business sooner, the one thing I would have changed is I would have found a mentor in the business to guide me through the ebbs and flows of the events industry–and there are many!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I didn’t grow wanting to work in events, I always wanted to work in fashion. What I loved about fashion was the creativity, the color schemes, patterns, liveliness of color coordination. In college, I attended the University of Vermont and focused on a career in psychology studies and writing. I didn’t pursue psychology post-college and instead settled into a few marketing opportunities. I loved the social aspect of marketing, the power of sales and the creative nature of marketing campaigns. Through these roles in marketing, I learned to appreciate marketing events and how fun attending trade conferences, setting up booths, displays, etc were. Simultaneously, I had a few friends getting married that asked for my assistance planning the events so I began to dive into the wedding world of event planning. It was then that I realized how much I LOVE weddings in particular styling weddings which will become my company’s signature trademark. I began professionally planning events and moved forward with filing a business license. My business strives for stress free event planning for our clients tied in with our signature trademark of uniquely styled events. Weddings and events that are fun, beautiful and one of a kind.
We offer a variety of planning products with our most popular being full planning services where we plan our client’s events beginning to end and infuse the event with unique style touches particular to the clients themselves.

We like to think what sets us apart from our competition is that we don’t heavily rely on trends to design a wedding. I feel trends are fun however they are temporary, they don’t hold their importance in time. We like to think through how can a design be timeless in the next 50 years? Can our client’s grandchildren look through the wedding albums and be inspired by what they see?
This is one of the skills I feel most proud of we offer to our clients. Growing up I used to think creativity was a given but now I realize creativity is a gift. To visualize designs in our minds which comes so easy to me is something I am so grateful for. My mind is very visual and I love to unfold that trait onto all of our events.

I feel the one skill I am most proud of is getting to know our clients and what matters most to them. What about their wedding design and planning will transcend through their guests? I feel beauty and thoughtful details inspired everyone that sees it and we love to think all of our client’s guests will feel inspired by what they see during the wedding weekend and during the celebration of love of their family/friends.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson I had to unlearn is to rely on my team. As an entrepreneur I tend to be very self reliant and independent and it is helpful to understand that not all projects need to be completed by me, my amazing team can help to divide and conquer. The more the team grows, the more my understand of “it takes a village” also grows. Every member of my team brings a unique perspective to the growth we are achieving.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

When my business was “taking off” or really expanding, I had just had my son and at the same time my husband was laid off his job. It was a time of pure joy but also a lot of confusion and I had to carefully divide my time management into all the different categories of life while delivery excellent service to our clients which I did. To think back on this time and how this was “the boom” to my business becoming well established and thriving. It took a lot of willpower, Grace and resilience and I did it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.harlowdahliaevents.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/harlowdahliaevents
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/harlowdahliaevents
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/halowdahliaevents

Image Credits
First two images are Erin Mcginn Photography
Second Image is Shannon Grant Photography
Last is Rodeo & Co. Photo