Party On. From Stay-at-Home Mom to CEO of Multi-Million Dollar Events Company, Merryl Brown Gets a Third Act
Show Snapshot:
Ever think it’s too late to switch careers? Or that returning to work after a lengthy career break is impossible? This week's show features a woman who did both. Merryl Brown of Merryl Brown Events built a multi-million dollar event production company after years as a stay-at-home mom and a major pivot away from her early career as an international banker.
If you want proven advice on building a company from scratch, making a career switcheroo, or for throwing a memorable, celebratory bash, you don’t want to miss this show.
In This Episode We Cover:
How volunteering can open unexpected career doors.
Leveraging old career skills and strengths to carve a new career path.
How to learn to be an entrepreneur.
Why you should start planning now for your post-kids-at-home life.
Jettisoning mom guilt in favor of mom wholeness.
Why happiness is not something to postpone for the future.
Want to be an entrepreneur? Ask yourself this one question.
Struggling to figure out your next chapter? Give “try, fail, pivot, try again” a go.
The ingredients to a memorable celebration.
Life is like a party. Celebrate and choose joy.
Quotable:
I asked myself, ‘What do I want to do to make sure that when I get into my late forties, early fifties and my kids leave, that I have something that's going to be my thing?’ I just knew that I needed something that I could sink my teeth into.
I taught myself everything that I needed to know. I bought books, I read articles. I spoke to people who were entrepreneurs. I took nine months to figure it out before I hung my shingle.
Snackable Smarts:
Volunteering connects you to people, organizations and opportunities beyond being a mom. You may even discover a new career.
Look at the skills from your old career to see how they translate to the new opportunity. Skills from a banking career can make you a stand-out in the annual gala world. The ability to create good, solid budgets, execute on clear goal-setting, and deliver world-class operations are useful in any arena.
Focus on things that bring you joy outside of being mom.
If you don’t have an entrepreneurial background, teach yourself what you need to know. Buy books, read articles, speak to people who are entrepreneurs. Give yourself a crash course before hanging out your own shingle.
It takes 20 years to become an overnight success. All of the different streams in your career, education and life coalesce when the time is right for you. Turn them into scaffolding to build something new —a new career, company, a next chapter.
Do whatever you do really well. Avoid mediocrity. Even if its volunteerism, throw yourself in, in a big way.
Plan ahead. Many women look at the empty nest or face divorce and realize they have no idea what to do next. Plan ahead for this moment.
As a working mom, something's got to give. Life can't be exactly the same as it was before you were working and a parent. You can't do everything, be at every event.
If your business is not a high-priority, it’s going to fail.
There's going to be a measure of guilt that goes with being a working mom. But as your nest empties, you have to plan for what is going to make you feel that sense of wholeness.
Want to start your own business? Ask yourself if you are ready for the work. Running a business is A LOT of work. And if you're not a person who has it in you to do a lot of work, don't do it. Work for somebody else.
Looking for that next step? Research. Try different hats on. Volunteer with people who are running companies. Figure out what a day looks like.
Try something. If it doesn't work, move on. Pivot, pivot, pivot.
A winning recipe for a fabulous event begins with the end in mind. Sit down and think about what you want to achieve. Something fun? Something meaningful? Something that creates memories? Then come up with a budget.
The best parties mix high-brow and low-brow. Fun, glorious, beautiful and elegant, but you have to add a little twist to it, something cheeky. People love to let their hair down.
To make birthday parties memorable, especially milestone ones like a 50th or 60th, you want to really think about the details that people are going to remember. All of the beautiful little elements that are going to go into celebrating that particular person.
At the end of the day, parties are about creating beautiful memories and experiencing joy.
Don’t be afraid to throw your own party!
Celebrate one another, create joy.
Transcript
Katie Fogarty (00:05):
Welcome to A Certain Age, a show for women on life after 50, who are unafraid to age out loud. I'm your host, Katie Fogarty.
In your twenties, you want a real job. Your thirties and forties, a mortgage-paying job. But eventually, you want a dream job. A big fat, juicy job that ticks all the boxes. A job that taps into your strengths and your passions. A job that fuels you, that never feels like work.
My guest today, award-winning party planner, and event producer Merryl Brown has that dream job. Based in Santa Barbara, California, Merryl Brown Events produces parties and corporate events for clients across the globe. Her company mission statement? Celebrating the sweetness of life. I am thrilled she is here with us today to talk parties, celebrating milestone occasions, and to share the career path she walked to building her dream company. A path that included an early career as an international banker and then stay-at-home mom. If you want ideas for throwing a memorable birthday bash or smart, proven advice for building a company from scratch, you won't want to miss the show. Welcome, Merryl.
Merryl Brown (01:09):
Hello. Nice to speak with you.
Katie (01:12):
I'm so happy that you're with us today. You have been throwing blue-chip parties and corporate events for 20-plus years, but Marilyn Brown Events is actually your second career. Can you tell us more about your earlier job and how you transitioned from banking to launch your own company?
Merryl (01:27):
Yeah, sure. My early career was in New York City. I had graduated from Columbia University and was working in international banking, covering Brazil for a couple of different banks. And it was an amazing job, at that time. I traveled constantly, I was able to use my fluency in Spanish and Portuguese, I got to meet all kinds of wonderful people. It was really a great experience.
And then I got married and my husband said, “We can live anywhere in the world that you want to live, I just don't want to be in New York." And with that my international banking career came to a grinding halt. And I found myself in Montecito, California, where there was not a lot of career opportunity. And so, I had to reinvent myself and as a Type A, New Yorker, I needed something to do.
So, I got very busy volunteering at local nonprofits and within no time I was doing all of the major events in town, in a philanthropic and board member capacity. And during those years I had my kids and I was very involved locally in a lot of different things. And eventually, everyone wanted me to do their parties. All of the charities, all of my friends, everybody wanted a hand and all of a sudden a new career was born.
Katie (02:59):
It's so interesting how volunteering when you are a stay-at-home parent can open doors and leads to opportunities. I had a guest on an earlier show who was talking about how volunteering can be a great way to reignite your career. And you had exactly that experience. So tell us, how did the volunteering at the events eventually turn into this amazing company?
Merryl (03:25):
Well, I had a skill-set that a lot of people here didn't have. A lot of the people here, I think, were more focused on the social aspect of being part of an event or some people got very focused on the flowers, or the centerpieces. And I was more of a macro-thinker and really focused on making sure that we had good, solid budgets and that we understood what we were setting out to achieve. And that we were bringing in new friends to the organizations and raising money at the same time. And having a beautiful and fun event that was also fiscally responsible and bringing new people into the fold at these organizations.
So, I just had skills that I think that other people didn't have and I was able to use the skills that I had from my banking career and really transfer them easily over to this other type of work that I was doing. And I think volunteerism is a really great way to go when you're a young parent and you've got kids and that really is your priority. You want to make sure you're focused on your children and on their lives when they're young, while at the same time, fulfilling your needs as a person and being able to do things that bring you joy and outside of being mom.
Katie (04:47):
Right, that make an impact on your community and allow you to sort of build your network and make your own friends. It's such a wonderful way to meet so many of your different needs as a parent. So, I love career transitions. I love hearing how people got from A to Z. And you shared a little bit about the skills that you brought with you from your banking career, that were really like the scaffolding that allowed you to build this company. But what skills did you need to add as an entrepreneur? Because working for a very big bank, as you had done is so different from running your own company.
Merryl (05:20):
It really is. And I didn't have any entrepreneurial background. Nor did my parents. So, I didn't grow up in a family where that was imparted to me. I spent probably eight hours a day when I decided I was going to start my company, creating a binder of articles of research to help me understand how to transition this passion into something that was going to make sense for me financially.
So, I taught myself everything that I needed to know: I bought books, I read articles, I spoke to people who were entrepreneurs. I took nine months to figure it out before I hung my shingle as an event planner. I didn't want to be a wedding planner. It wasn't what I was interested in. I didn't want to do the same thing that everyone else was doing. I wanted to create something that was really unique and really stood apart from everyone else.
Katie (06:19):
Thank you for sharing that. Thank you for saying, "It took me nine months." Because I think a lot of people just think that businesses happen. Projects take off and we don't often see the behind-the-scenes work, like all of the labor and love that needs to go into building something. And it's people get...I forget there's a famous quote about overnight successes. How does that go?
Merryl (06:45):
I can't remember exactly how it goes, but it's something like, "It takes 20 years to become an overnight success..."
Katie (06:51):
You were a nine months success. So, you had it beat.
Merryl (06:54):
You know, it seems like it, but it's not even really true. It really was a 20-year-journey for me. Because it was all of the stuff that I learned. Well, frankly, even longer. All of the stuff that I learned in college during those years when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and what made me tick and what made me happy. And then what I learned when I was in graduate school, and then all of the stuff that I had to figure out when I was a young banker in the Eighties when it wasn't so easy for women to be taken seriously, and in that realm. And then all of the stuff that I learned, trying to figure out how to do these major events in town, as a volunteer, how to be taken seriously, and not just as some dilettante that was helping with the parties.
Katie (07:42):
I love that you shared that all of these different streams in your career finally coalesced to allow you to build this company at this moment in time, right? Because sometimes we get to a certain age, you know, we're 50, we're 55, or 60. And we look around at our peers and think, you know, they've got it all going on and it's too late for me. "It's too late," is a refrain that I hear from a lot of women that call into the show or that I meet as clients or even friends and family, frankly. Maybe it's too late for me to become a novelist or it's too late for me to launch a company. And the reality is that you have lived a life that allows you to have skills and experiences that are a springboard for whenever you are ready.
Merryl (08:27):
It's true. It's absolutely right now. I will tell you that in those years when my kids were little and I was doing all the volunteer work and working really, really hard on these projects, it hadn't occurred to me that I was going to do this at that point. I was just wanting to be helpful, wanting to do a really good job. It was always important to me that whatever I did, I did really, really well. I have a fear of mediocrity. So, even in the volunteerism, I was throwing myself in, in a big way. But something happened along the way, where I had a lot of friends that were older than me, as well as my friends that were my age with young kids. And I was hearing this constant refrain of, "My kids have left for college. I have no idea what I'm going to do."
I also was seeing people getting divorced. And all of a sudden being at these crossroads where they didn't have something to fall back on. And not that that was a part of my experience, but it impacted me greatly. And I started thinking, "What do I want to do to make sure that when I get into my late forties, early fifties and my kids leave that I have, I have something that's going to be my thing that I can do?" It was really important to me. It's funny because I'm a myopic person. I tend to be very much in the present and I don't tend to focus super far in the future, but that scared me. For some reason, it really did scare me. And I thought I don't want that to be me. I need to figure out what I want to do. I want to have for myself.
And then I went on a trip around the world with my family and we traveled for a year and we homeschooled. Our kids had the most unbelievable experiences. And while I was traveling, this was starting to germinate. And when I came back, I became a master gardener, I’m one class shy of being a certified baker. I had all these things that I wanted to do. And I thought I'm just going to try all these things that I want to do while still doing all the volunteerism. And this thing is going to come to me. And then it came to me pretty strongly that nobody else did events like I did. I have my own particular brand of doing events, which is very kind of a wonderful blend of highbrow and lowbrow. I have, I can do.
Katie (11:03):
That's a good mix.
Merryl (11:03):
I love it. You know the elegance, but there's also this little kind of cheeky fun. And it just was something that worked and it was different. And people could look at that and say, that's a Merryl Brown event. And I started the company, but I started the company nine months before I actually told anyone I was starting the company. I did all the research, every single day. I sat at my desk and I had all my papers, and I had all my files, and I read everything. And I copied things in my binders. And I didn't launch this company until I had every "T" crossed. And every "I" dotted, including figuring out what my contracts needed to look like. And including…because you know, for some people, when you're young, you don't have a lot to lose. You're a young person. You don't have a lot of money in the bank and whatever. But at that point, I had a reputation in town that was important to me as being somebody who got things done and did things well. So, I didn't want to do a bad job.
Katie (12:00):
How old were you when you launched the company?
Merryl (12:03):
I was 45. 45. And I also, you know, I kept thinking about that Jim Rohn quote, "Happiness is not something you postpone for the future. It's something you design for the present.” And I thought, Carpe Diem.
Katie (12:21):
Love it.
Merryl (12:22):
I am doing this. This is my thing. This is for me. My husband was incredibly supportive. The kids were a little like, "Where's Mom? Why are you always sitting in that office? When are you going to cook dinner?" And this is another thing I really want to say. Which is something's got to give. Life can't be exactly the same as it was before you were working. You can't do everything. You can't be at every single thing, every children's activity. And you can't make it to everything that you're invited to. If the business isn't a super high priority, it's not going to be successful. And for me, it was. I didn't want to do a so-so job. If I was going to do it, I wanted to be really good.
Katie (13:11):
Absolutely. And you know what? Even though you were saying that maybe you couldn't be at every kid's event. Or you couldn't maybe do everything with your friends, what you're adding to the mix for your children is showing mom in a new light. Showing them that they can do these types of jobs when they're older. That you can pick up new things, and try new things, and be successful. So, I think women tend to — and I am a victim of this myself — we worry about all the things we're not doing, instead of focusing on some of the things that we are doing so right and so well. Do you find that?
Merryl (13:45):
Yeah. The thing is, that there's going to be a measure of guilt that goes with it. When you work, you're going to feel a little bit guilty, like: I should be with them all the time and they're going to be gone, how am I going to feel when they leave for college? And I missed some of these really important things. But you know, I've got the friends who were at all those important things, and now the kids have gone and they've got nothing for themselves that they feel good about. They're feeling lost and concerned about the future. How am I going to spend my time? You can only go to pilates and get your nails done so much. And what are you going to do that's going to make you feel that sense of wholeness? And I think in our parents' era, it was different. Being a mom felt like enough. But in our era, the way those of us who are in our fifties, we grew up to know that we had to have our own thing too, and some of us more strongly than others. I grew up with a father who was a brain surgeon. And my mother was the Chief of Protocol of New York State for Mario Cuomo.
Katie (14:55):
So cool!
Merryl (14:55):
Right. They were people that were...
Katie (14:58):
New York strong. New York strong.
Merryl (15:01):
The New Yorker in me has never left. And that's the other thing too. Come out to California, as a New Yorker, you dominate. I just knew that I needed something for me that I could sink my teeth into. That was going to be mine, that I could really have fun with and be creative with. And I need that balance in my life, of the business side and the creative side. I'm one of those people that has both of those equally strongly. And I just had to have my thing.
Katie (15:33):
You built it, you created it. What would be your advice to women who are in your position right now? Or maybe a little bit younger who are looking down the road, seeing their children get older, go to high school, require less, know that college is around the corner. What would be your advice for returners who are looking to get back in?
Merryl (15:53):
Number one, listen to your podcast. You're talking to lots of us. I think it's good to get the experience of, benefit from the experience of people that are older than you, and who have gone through things. And learn from other people's successes. And learn from other people's mistakes. You have to know, this is something I always say to everybody who wants to start their own business. It's a lot of work. And if you're not a person who has it in you to do a lot of work, don't do it. Work for somebody else. You have to anticipate that it is.
My days are never eight hours. My days are always like 10, 12 hours. And when I'm in event mode, it can be 16, 18 hours. I mean, it's a lot of work and I've had incredible success. But it's a lot of work and you can't do all of the things. You have to choose the things that are your priorities and really throw yourself into those things. And so, what can you do when you are looking for that next step for yourself? Research. Try different hats on. Volunteer with people who are running companies and say, you know, "I'm trying to figure out what I want to do. Could I come and work with you for a little bit and just see what this looks like?" I've done that for so many women. And I think it helps because some of them say, "I love this. I don't want to do events, but I want to do something. And this really shows me what a day looks like."
Katie (17:18):
I love that advice. I love that advice. Because I recently read a very wonderful book by two Stanford professors. It's called, Designing Your Life. And I'll put that into the show notes. But one of their pieces of advice is to kind of fail early and often. It's that whole Silicon Valley idea of: try something, if it doesn't work, move on. Try something, if it doesn't work, move on. Don't spend four years studying a major in college that you don't really like. You know, if you learn on month two that you made a mistake, switch majors. You know, try a job for six months a year. If you don't like it, move on. And this is the only way that you're really going to figure out where you fit, where you succeed, what you love, what you don't love. And it sounds like you did a lot of that with your volunteering work. And you're trying on different, areas of interest like baking and gardening.
Merryl (18:10):
100%. I'm all about the pivot. Pivot, pivot, pivot. If it doesn't work, pivot. Just figure out that next thing. It's that Winston Churchill quote. "If you're going through hell, keep going."
Katie (18:23):
The way out is through. The way out is through. Merryl, I want to switch gears for a minute and dive into some of the fun stuff. All of your expertise, which is parties. You know, I know people love attending them for the most part. But not everyone loves throwing them. People get nervous. They worry about logistics, RSVPs. You're a party-throwing pro. What's your winning recipe for a fabulous event?
Merryl (18:49):
Begin with the end in mind. That's my best advice. You sit down and think about, "Okay, what is it that I want to achieve?" And once you really have a sense of what that is, “I want to have something that's fun, that's meaningful, that creates memories, that creates something that's lasting and wonderful.” You figure out what that thing is. And then you figure out and you go back, you go to the beginning, "What are the things that I need to do? What do I need to figure out?"
I usually start with a budget. How much have I got to spend? And how am I going to allocate that finite amount that I have to spend? And who needs to be there? And just think through all of those things: who do I want to invite, what do I want people to experience, what date is going to work? And are there any other things happening on that date? Is it a Jewish high holiday that I wasn't even remembering? Things like that, where it's like people forget to look and see what else. Somebody planned a wedding and asked me to do it. And they had already booked the venue and they had gotten all these things dialed in. And it was the New York City Marathon. We're in New York City, doing this wedding, trying to set up during the marathon...
Katie (20:05):
I am laughing because I got married in New York City when Pope John Paul came to visit and it was chaos. My husband could not find a taxi. I was like in a limo trying to get up to the wedding reception site. And my husband was literally on a subway with his best man, his brother, in their tuxedos. They got off at 86th and Lex and walked over towards the Met and a bunch of other cater-waiters was like, "Were's the entrance to go into the museum?" And my husband's like, "I'm not a caterer. I'm a groom. Where's my wife?"
Merryl (20:38):
You've got to pay attention to everything around you. Who, what, where, when, why, and how? You've got to look at all of the different things. You need to create timelines, you need to create. You know, so the budget's important, the timeline's important, the guest list is important. You need to look at all of the different things. And you need to figure out how am I going to combine all of these things to get to this end goal that I have of having this wonderful, happy, beautiful event? And not going over budget and not running into restrictions, like right now is a crazy time. You know, people are calling me and asking me to do 30-person parties, which isn't normally a big deal, but during COVID, it is. And it's very hard. It's a very hard thing to navigate because then of course I want to work, but I don't want to go against the laws that we have in place right now to keep people healthy. And I don't want to be Typhoid Mary in my little town.
Katie (21:32):
Yes. This is a tough time for event planners. And people who want to celebrate milestone occasions, which I know that you do so well. You do weddings. You do celebrations. You do a lot of corporate events, but you also do smaller intimate events. So, one of your calling cards is your inventive parties. What are some kind of themed highlights or career highlights that you would love to share?
Merryl (22:03):
Many years ago, I took a tour through this incredible garden called Lotus Land, which is here in Montecito where I live. And I was just so enamored of this place. I'd never seen anything like it. I mean, it's one of the great botanic gardens of the world. And I said, after my tour, I said to the development director, “If you ever need somebody to do a party here, call me I'll volunteer.” And this was before I was doing this professionally. And a couple of months later, I got a phone call and they said, “We're actually thinking of having our first ever party.” And I couldn't stop thinking about it. And I said, put me on the committee. I'm happy to help in any way. And one thing that I love to do is meditate. And while I'm meditating, a lot of things come to me.
And the thing that kept sort of flickering through my mind as I was trying to let go of everything was the magic of this garden. And that night, when I was about to fall asleep, this whole idea came to me to create this party called Lotus Land Celebrates. And every year have this wonderful theme. As people walk through this, I think it's like a 34-acre garden as they walk through these incredible areas of this garden. And they end up on this great lawn for this incredible event under these majestic trees.
Anyhow, we had our first meeting and it was probably 20 ladies. And everybody sort of looked around at each other, like, what should we do? And I thought, well, I was just in my, maybe I was 29 at that point. And I didn't want to overstep because it was a lot of the grand dames of our town, but nobody said anything. And then I said, “Well, actually I have an idea.” And I laid the entire party out and we did that exact party. And this year, I think was the 27th year of this event that I dreamed up and it continues to be unbelievably successful. And I didn't do it all of this year. So, I did it the first few years. And then I moved on to other things. I was a trustee of the organization, but I had little babies at that point. And so, I wasn't doing the party anymore. I passed it along to someone else. But the idea, the concept of this amazing party in this garden that celebrated all of the different unique spaces and the unique things that this garden brings to the world is still, it's still an existence today.
Katie (24:34):
A garden party is always in style. I absolutely love that. So, are there things that are timeless, like garden parties, but things that are trendy that people want to be doing now? What's sort of the top ask that you get from your clients for celebrations?
Merryl (24:50):
You know what's funny, the trendy stuff, people don't tend to ask me for that. It's not what I do. People usually come to me when they want that out-of-the-box, different thing. What tends to be trendy are definitely the things that you see the Kardashians doing. You see, people are looking on Pinterest and they're seeing the stuff with the Pampas grass. And there are all these things that people find on Pinterest that have been recycled for years.
Katie (25:18):
Your hallmark is more old-world glamour.
Merryl (25:21):
Old-world glamour mixed with a little cheeky. I do the big Pride event here in town.
Katie (25:26):
What's cheeky? Define cheeky. I'm into cheeky.
Merryl (25:28):
I like things that are just a little, like I said, high brow, low brow. I like things that have a little bit of fun and a little bit of naughty to them, while still being very elegant. Like one of the great events that it created is called the Pacific Pride Foundation Royal Ball. And it is so much fun. And it's this LGBTQ plus event where everybody dresses to the nines and it's this unbelievable dance party. And, you know, we do it in this incredibly glamorous hotel, but then I've got the Go-Go boys and I've got every kind of person you can imagine in the most fabulous outfits, dressed to the nines or undressed to the nines. The Go-Go Boys, undressed within inches of their lives. And it's fun because everyone can be together, and it's glorious and beautiful and elegant, but it's got a little, got a little twist to it.
Katie (26:23):
It's got a little something-something.
Merryl (26:24):
A little something-something. And people love that because everyone can let their hair down.
Katie (26:29):
Absolutely.
Merryl (26:30):
I do that with the small parties too.
Katie (26:33):
I want to actually… let's just take a little twist here and focus a minute on the small party before we have to let you go and do your magic party planning. What I'd love to know is that you create huge, wonderful events for corporate sponsors for gardens and for big establishments. But you also do smaller events. And most of us, even if we don't think of ourselves as party planners really, we do throw DIY parties all the time. We do holidays. We do birthday parties. What would your advice be for making birthday parties memorable, especially milestone ones like your 50th or 60th?
Merryl (27:10):
When you do smaller, milestone parties, you want to really think about the details that people are going to remember. All of the beautiful little elements are going to go into celebrating that person. I did a 60th birthday party in Mexico, for instance, for a client who wanted to celebrate with his really close family and friends. And we thought about every single meal and what the flowers looked like and what people would be seeing and all of the different activities that they would do. And every aspect of it from the menu cards, and the invitations and the bags that people arrived, the bags that people received when they arrived. Every single element was thought through with great care so that it really made people feel welcomed and thought about.
Katie (28:00):
That is such a key element. I think is really making people feel welcome at a party. You know, not being the person that's still in the kitchen, making the drinks or setting up, but really making your guests feel welcome. I think that is such a key element to a successful party.
Merryl (28:17):
It really is. And if the host is stressed and rattled, it ruins the whole tone of the party. If it's too much for you, when you're throwing a party to be the person that's doing the organizing, bring someone else in to do it. I think that's very important. People want to just, they want to be together and they want to have fun. It's an opportunity to enjoy life and community.
Katie (28:43):
Did you do anything special for your 50th?
Merryl (28:45):
The most special.
Katie (28:46):
Be honest.
Merryl (28:49):
In Italy and I invited 12 friends to fly to Pietrasanta and I created a most unbelievable party for myself there. And it was like the one I just told you in Mexico. It was dinners and tours of artists' homes and going into the Carrara mountainside into a cathedral built into the marble in the mountainside. And dinners and beautiful Italian singers, divine from the courtyard and everything was…it was three days of just magic.
Katie (29:25):
Merryl. I think you hit on a key ingredient for birthday parties, throw your own. And I say that because I threw my own 50th. I had a clear vision for what I wanted. I wanted to have a luncheon with all of the women in my life that are so dear to me. I invited 50 friends. I had 42 come, it was my sister, my mother, my girlfriends from college, from high school, my neighborhood, the people that I played tennis with. And I had 42 women that I loved. We had beautiful backyard tables, chairs, flowers, rose. And I gave the toast. I stood up and said, everyone’s here because you're so special to me. And I went around and I very quickly introduced everybody by saying, you know, 60 seconds on each person and explaining why I love them, why they're so important to me. And it was such a fabulous day. It was exactly how I wanted it to be. It was my like reverse toast to the women that give so much sparkle to my life. And it literally was the day that I wanted because I planned it. So, I love that you planned your own 50th trip to Italy. That's my advice, throw your own party.
Merryl (30:34):
It's just got to be authentic. It's got to feel authentic to you. There's nobody that you need to impress. You have to do the thing. That's going to be meaningful because we don't know, especially right now, who's going to be here tomorrow. And who's not. It's about just being together and being authentic. And it's funny probably to hear an event planner say, "Throw your own party, do your own thing." But I think if you have the skillset to be able to do it, and you have the comfort level in entertaining and making all of the pieces flow together, do it. Do your thing, just be together and celebrate life together. Because ultimately that's what it's about for me. I can tell you it's never been about the money. Yes, of course. It's wonderful to be compensated for what you do well and what you love to do. But at the end of the day, for me, it's about creating beautiful memories and about seeing people experiencing incredible joy at something that I created.
Katie (31:36):
I love that we're ending on that note. Celebrate one another, create joy. That is amazing advice for parties and for life, Merryl. Thank you so much for being with us today, sharing your career journey, talking with us about building a business from scratch, and sharing wonderful insight on party planning. Where can our listeners find more about Merryl Brown Events?
Merryl (32:00):
You can go online and look at my website, merrylbrownevents.com and that's M-E-R-R-Y-L. And I'm pretty active on Instagram. That's probably the best place to see my most current work. And that's at @MerrylBrownEvents.
Katie (32:16):
Merryl. Thank you so much. This wraps A Certain Age, a show for women over 50, who are aging without apology. Thanks for listening. And if you enjoyed the show, please spread the word. You can help us grow by heading to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your podcasts to subscribe, rate, and leave a review and visit us at acertainagepod.com for show notes and bonus content. Special thanks to Michael Mancini Productions who composed and produced our theme song. See you next time. And until then: age boldly, beauties.