My First Client

Chase Does Events. First one down.

My first official client for Chase Does Events was the 10th Birthday for Elevate Mentoring. 300 event industry professionals. My mentors, colleagues, and mentees all in one room. One of London's most iconic venues. No biggie.

Elevate Mentoring is the events industry's leading mentor service, the largest professional mentoring network globally. After 10 years of supporting thousands of event industry professionals, they wanted to honour the work that's been done and the people who made it possible.

With the birthday approaching, Pete called me for advice. Licensing restrictions meant no alcohol could be sold at the event, and I could sense he was overwhelmed with the food and bar setup.

To the hustler within me, it sounded like an opportunity.

I was so nervous to ask. Pete is one of the kindest, most encouraging people I know, and I was still scared. The perfectionist in me wanted to send a polished proposal deck to prove I was serious. But time was short. So I sent a text.

Then immediately archived the chat so I wouldn't see his response. I don't think I opened it that entire day.

Of course he said yes. Of course he was over the moon. Of course he understood the full-circle moment, me being a twice mentee of Elevate who over the last two cohorts had quietly been building up the courage to step out and do my own thing.

In the lead-up, I had ideas. Some landed. Some didn't. I floated a Kahoot game at one point, dead on arrival. A strong reminder to listen to what the client actually needs, not what you think would be fun to add.

Staffing was its own anxiety spiral. My first instinct was to use the agency from my last role, familiar, safe, easy. But when I actually thought about it, I know so many great front of house professionals directly. I wanted a team that was warm, engaging, memorable, and who cared about the event beyond it being just another shift. So I called them up.

Marion, Nathan, Saph, Medina, Maelle, Yolandi, thank you for being my first event dream team.

Sending that first invoice made me nervous in a way I hadn't expected.

Event Day

Elevate's birthday coincided with the NewGen launch, a new extension of Elevate with the aim of getting 50 young people from underrepresented backgrounds into the events industry. I'm working on a fuller write-up, but having those young people in the room was something else. Genuinely inspiring.

Doing something officially on your own for the first time, after years inside a company, felt surreal. The pressure felt next level.

Truthfully, I wasn't fully on my own. I was still texting Lili from marketing for support. Cam, our warehouse manager, was definitely rolling his eyes at my last-minute requests, but he answered every call and always came through. I'll always appreciate that.

If you work in events, you know how crucial a good team briefing is. I cringe thinking about the times I haven't delivered one properly. But my first briefing as Chase Does Events felt less like logistics and more like a manifestation. I told the team how much Elevate means to me, how meaningful NewGen is, and how grateful I was to have such a strong group of people behind me for my first one.

We sang my mentee Alvin happy birthday against his wishes, and then we were off.

I've been in this industry long enough to know what makes a good event. It's not complicated, but it is uncompromising. Engaged hosts who actually want to be there. Cold fizz, properly cold, from the moment doors open. Service that feels warm and attentive without being intrusive. These aren't luxuries. They're the baseline. The difference is that this time, it was my name on it. Literally. That changes things. I have never been more committed to making sure a glass was full, a guest was welcomed, a moment landed right. When it's your name on it, you feel every detail differently.

I'm a talker, but I don't always consider myself a great public speaker. In rehearsal I was stumbling, fidgeting, all over the place. But when it mattered, talking about something I care about to a room full of peers, colleagues, friends, and industry leaders, I was fine. I delivered, and I enjoyed it.

It's mad seeing your logo on the big screen.

After

The feedback was great. People came up to congratulate me, and my instinct was to deflect. I haven't made any real money yet, like that was the thing that would make it real.

But in the days since, I learned to reframe that. I learned to accept congratulations for taking a risk. For recognising potential in myself. For walking into a room full of people and saying, clearly and without apology: I'm here now. I'm trying.

It seems people want to help me. That means something.

The months since have been a strong redirection of what my offering actually is, what I'm building, and who I'm building it for. I'm learning to accept that too.

It's all very exciting.

If this resonated, share it with someone who needs the push. And if you've got an event that needs producing, well. You've found your person.