I am an award winning event planner and caterer and the creative director/managing partner at Alchemy-custom celebrations & cuisine (formally Festivities). For over 38 years, we have designed and produced memorable events in the private, corporate and non-profit sectors. We are now embarking on an exciting expansion of our services to include event planning and design locally, regionally and internationally. I have spent ten years living in the Middle East where I graduated from The American University of Beirut and then joined the English daily newspaper as the Features Editor. I believe this experience has colored my life in a distinctive way. The main value, no matter who I encountered, was family. With that, I realized the strength of the universality of people. This realization has created a drive in me to believe in empathic entertainment. I have strong entrepreneurship professional skilled in event planning and design and catering including food & beverage management. My strongest skills are interpersonal. I believe strongly in planning events that have "inclusion" as the main value - thinking through all the needs of the stakeholders of the event, ensuring that each are included and honored without imposing on the needs of the main stakeholders. This includes thinking through curated menus to ensure that all guests leave satisfied, no matter their food preferences.I was voted one the Top Five Women of Influence in the culinary industry in March 2020, just before the pandemic hit. When asked to give a few words of advice to those attending, I had one word of advice,"adjust". I believe that is what has has given our company longevity. I have founded The Festivities Foundation (now the Alchemy Giving Initiatives) with the mission of supporting safe and healthy homes, which we believe is the foundation of all celebrations. We have opened a store on our campus in Norwalk selling a curated collection of donated décor items from events with 100% of proceeds donated to agencies that support safe and healthy homes. For more information, please contact me at Roe@Festivitiesevents.comI look forward to hearing from you and to the opportunity to make magic together!