Hailey Kowalski

Responsibilities

There are many responsibilities with Ash and Arrow. My job title was an event stylist and cotton candy twirler. My responsibilities included drive the company van all over Wisconsin to set up and take down events and prepare events at the warehouse and to double check in case anything is forgotten because driving can range from 3 hours to a couple minutes. I also was in charge of cleaning up the warehouse to prepare for the big weekend events and build strong connections with the clients to motivate them to ask us back. My hours can range from 30 minutes to 13 hours a day depending on how busy events can be.

Accomplishments

My greatest accomplishment during this experience was helping Ash and Arrow expand when they bought another company called Sugar Smith. Sugar Smith does balloon decor, bounce house, and cotton candy. I had to go to all the events that requested cotton candy and serve to the guests. It was very rewarding because I built strong connections with the families I worked for as well as received very generous tips.

Learning experience

My greatest lesson going through this internship process is to be patient and understanding. Clients put a lot of requests and expenses into their event so we have to be polite and do what they ask. Making sure it looks perfect for the guest can be a lot of work sometimes but it is very rewarding in the end. That goes along with having good connections with the staff that you're working with because the event set ups and take downs can get very long when working with the guests requests.

What advice would you give?

One piece of advice I would give to any student going through the event management path is don't settle for one specific career path. I have been all over the place figuring out what best fits me and my future. There is so much you can do in the event management industry, so play around with different career paths and event opportunities until you find what best fits you!