Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sherie Howell. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Sherie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Who is your hero and why? What lessons have you learned from them and how have they influenced your journey?

My hero is Keith D. Harrell. He was a dynamic life coach and motivational speaker. He was known as “Dr. Attitude” or “Mr. Superfantastic”. As a child he overcame stuttering to become one of the most sought-after Motivational Speakers in the Nation.

I met him in 1992 where he spoke at a local meeting in Kansas City that I attended. I was only a year or two in my career as a meeting & event planner and he touched me like no one ever has. We spoke for an hour, maybe more and became life-long friends and acquaintances. The words that Keith said to me that day is something that I have lived by in my career and even my personal life for 30 years……”All You Have to Do Is Ask”. So simple yet so powerful. Just ASK!

I have been able to negotiate with vendors and save my clients thousands of dollars by asking for discounts or additional items. I have been able to get and do things in my career that I never thought possible. I just asked. Sometimes I heard “No”, but most of the time I received a “Yes”. Just ASK…..

Keith and I stayed in close touch over the years, and luckily, I was able to hire him several times for client’s conferences. His positive attitude and love for life was contagious and I vowed to be a positive, compassionate and understanding human being because of his influence. His book “Attitude Is Everything for Success…Say It, Believe It, Receive It” is always close by. This book is a powerful reminder of Keith, his passion for life and the lessons he taught.

In May of 2010, Keith underwent heart surgery and was then diagnosed with spinal cancer. Keith lived by his words: he maintained a positive and proactive attitude throughout his battle. We lost him that October.

Keith lives with me, guides me and helps me maintain a positive and loving life to this day. He will never be forgotten. (Yes, I cried while typing this.)

Sherie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I grew up in a tennis playing family who moved several times before 6th grade. My mother was a Smith and married a Smith. My father was the Merchandising Manager for the Six Flags Parks throughout the United States and he assisted Lamar Hunt opening Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun in Kansas City.

I went to Emporia State University in Emporia Kansas where I played on the tennis team and studied Business. I did my internship at Worlds of Fun where I managed a Florida based shell-jewelry line maintaining inventory, ordering and re-ordering, etc. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business with a major in Marketing and Management and a minor in Psychology and was hired by K-Mart Apparel as a Merchandising Assistant. After working several years in a very male dominant company that wasn’t going to allow an ambitious young lady to advance and grow, I was hired by House of Lloyd as an assistant buyer.

House of Lloyd was an incredible company to work for. I managed several of their party planning lines, ordering, working in the warehouse, doing photo shoots for the magazines and booklets that items were ordered from during the in-house parties and more. I really wanted to be a buyer, but those positions were already secured. Then I heard about an incentive travel, meeting planner position in their Travel department. I applied and suddenly was working on African Safari’s, trips to Hawaii, Caribbean cruises, trips to Russia, Spain and more. The manager of the department, Jeanette Gentry believed in me and helped me learn the business quickly and efficiently. She was/is a “no nonsense” person and manager and gave me industry knowledge, “lessons learned” and helped develop my confidence as I began my professional journey into meeting planning, incentive travel and the hospitality industry.

Since then, I have worked at meeting planning firms, associations, corporations to include Sprint and Intertec Publishing. I even worked for myself as an Independent Meeting Planner or Third-Party Contractor. (Boy was that hard.) I felt like I had to take every “gig” that came my way. Luckily a company called A-S-K Associates, Inc. was looking for a meeting planner and reached out to me. After a couple of interviews, I was hired and worked for them for almost 20 years. What an amazing and fabulous experience it was working and learning all aspects of a small business during that time.

June 1, 2021, A-S-K Associates, Inc. was purchased by SnapIT Solutions, LLC. Our entire conference management team was placed into this very innovating and entrepreneurial IT company as our own division. We were able to keep all of our clients and it was business as usual without a hitch. Well, I had a few trying to learn how to submit timesheets through QuickBooks, finding my paycheck stub in the Paylocity app, navigating through online expense forms – you get the picture.

Throughout my career I have been very involved with MPI (Meeting Professionals International) and PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association) and won 14 awards, even a national one called the “Rising Star” award. I have been on several advisory boards, ALHI and Dallas. I worked hard to get several industry designations to include CMP (Certified Meeting Professional), CMM (Certified Meeting Manager) and CGMP (Certified Government Meeting Professional). These designations are placed after my name which shows that I am an expert in my field.

This is a profession where you like it or you don’t, you are good at it, or you are not. There is no in-between which is perfect for me. I am very transparent as a person and professional businesswoman.

Throughout my career I have become adept at managing both employees and vendors; have proven the ability to handle a budget to impact financial performance; am an excellent negotiator; became skilled in multi-tasking and am self-motivated, creative, and detail oriented.

On a personal note, my hobbies include photography, gardening, bird watching, maintaining my own homestead with ducks, chickens and dogs and cooking. I have been to culinary school through a local business that has taught me the many ways of navigating through a kitchen. There really are certain ways to cut an onion or pepper, who knew! I have gotten in to canning and my family and friends will randomly get eggs from me when we have too many. I live on 8 acres with my husband Bill, and we enjoy the wildlife and navigating through the beauty of the land. I am very blessed to have two stepchildren who are very successful in their professions, and I recently became a grandma to a precious baby girl.

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

Customer service is the real reason we have been able to retain clients for so many years. I value the work that I do and appreciate the opportunity to connect with clients and vendors as we partner together with each and every program, meeting, conference or event. Developing trust is hard to do but when it happens it really shows how invested we are in making their event successful, profitable and within budget. I appreciate the opportunity to be creative and develop the “vibe” of the event based on the client’s vision. You really become a “family” and that is beautiful and heart warming to me.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Customer service and “Word of Mouth” has always been our best source of obtaining new clients. Developing those relationships and obtaining clients for many years helps show strength and security in what we do as meeting and event professionals. We strive for “excellence” in all we do from budgeting to vendor selection to executing the event. With these great results our existing clients have provided leads or have promoted our company through surveys or letters of recommendation.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://snapit.solutions
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/snapitsolutions/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SnapITSolutionsLLC/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/snapitsolutions/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherie-howell-cmp-cmm-cgmp-3397358/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/SnapitSolution
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXHFls2wzthZWNK5eVqHhjA

Image Credits
Sherie Howell CREW Network