We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kim Goff Meren Dehaze a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kim Goff, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
We came from different parts of the hospitality industry in wine country, California but had a mutual contact who was running a successful business of her own. Kim’s background was in winery events where guests were always asking her to help expand their visit in wine country beyond the winery Kim worked. Meren was a local wedding planner and all her clients would ask for recommendations or help planning ancillary events or activities outside the wedding day. One day in 2016, we both separately, but simultaneously came to our mutual contact with an idea, the idea of offering personalized concierge services in wine country. Here the idea of K Concierge (a branch of the then, The K Group) was born. Through some trials and tribulations with the team, in the end we branched off into The K Group and now Elevated Experiences, Travel Planning & Concierge.
Kim Goff, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Elevated Experiences Travel Planning & Concierge is a full-service, luxury concierge company located in the beautiful Northern California Wine Country. From everyday requests to extraordinary desires, we strive to personally assist in fulfilling needs and exceeding expectations. Our clients range from corporations seeking help with planning their next retreat, to couples & event planners looking for assistance with room blocks, transportation and venue scouting. Whatever or wherever your needs may be, let Elevated Experiences help you create a unique and memorable adventure!
Elevated Experiences is made up of two hard working ladies, Kim Goff & Meren Dehaze.
Kim Goff, our amazing “boots on the ground”, sales lady extraordinaire, networking ninja, the girl who knows everyone in town! Kim was born and raised in Sonoma County. Before EE, Kim worked for multiple wineries running tasting rooms, Wine Club sales as well as events & management. Outside of planning amazing experiences for our clients, Kim teaches spin classes in Healdsburg, coaches’ high school & travel volleyball. She likes golfing, camping and hiking with her family (firefighter husband and 3 kids). After a long day, you can find Kim enjoying a homemade cheese board with her favorite glass of wine.
Fun Facts About Kim:
✈️Favorite Travel Destination – Any beach that allows her to relax!
💙Favorite Color – Blue
📺Shows she could watch over and over- Sex and the City, Law & Order SVU, Greys Anatomy and Vikings.
🍝Favorite Food – Cheese or Italian
🎶Go To Music Genre – 90’s hip hop or Country
🍷Favorite Red Wine Varietal – Any and all, she has three kids!
Meren Dehaze, our gal behind the scenes. She is our organization wizard, timeline queen, our “check it off the list” mindset and do everything with a smile girl. Prior to EE, Meren was planning & executing beautiful weddings in wine country, California and in Scottsdale, Arizona. When she is not organizing unique experiences for our clients, you can find Meren wine tasting with her friends, sweating in a Pure Barre class, hiking with family, screaming at a concert or hanging out with her husband and their 16yr old cat, Monkey.
Fun Facts About Meren:
✈️Favorite Travel Destination – Maui, Hawaii and Healdsburg, CA!
💜Favorite Color – Purple
📺Shows she could watch over & over- Greys Anatomy, The Office, Beat Bobby Flay & New Girl.
🍟Favorite Food – Deli Sandwiches and French Fries
🎶Go To Music Genre – HipHop & Pop Punk
🍷Favorite Red Wine Varietal – Syrah
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
As Bay Area natives, each of us has immersed ourselves in the community both professionally and personally. This has helped us build strong relationships with local businesses, both those well-known and off the beaten path. We are a female-owned and operated, travel agent certified (IATA) business and we know Wine Country!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Every business face high and low, especially when they are starting out and Elevated Experiences was no exception. We started out excited, optimistic and eager as most do when getting to do what you love, but this was semi-short lived when the devastating fires in wine country began in 2017. The K Concierge branch had only been in motion for almost a year when wild fires broke through Sonoma County and beyond, This greatly affected our business in multiple ways – of course profits or the option of sending guests to wineries, but also internally with our business, with one of our owners losing their home & all their belongings in the wildfire. There were many months of rebuilding what we had just started and then another year of fires hit in Sonoma & Napa counties. More devastation, more guests not coming into wine country more rebuilding. After these fires, we were even more driven to build our business and bring people back to wine country to show them what a special place it is and how resilient the residents were. Every year our business grew with more clients, more unique experiences and more amazing local connections. Then COVID hit. This halted all events and travel, the two things our business was built around. Of course, COVID affected everyone all over the world, shattering families, businesses and life plans, but we were determined not to fail during these tough times. We postponed and canceled over 100 events and clients in the first few months of the pandemic and continued to do so over the next few years. As time went on, we really had to make a decision, give up and close our “doors” or push through and hold on until we could do what we loved again. We decided to hold strong and what blossomed from this experience was a true love and passion for our team, what we do, who we do it for and wine country! We believe this is what makes us so successful, we love what we do and the passion shows.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.eetravelplanning.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elevated_experiences/
Image Credits
One Love Photography