Lily Hansen

Major: Journalism (emphasis in Strategic Communications) & Environmental Studies

Certificate: Digital Studies

Graduation Date: May 2017

How did you end up starting HappiLily Events?

Growing up, I always loved coordinating parties & events! I first began “professional” or large-scale event planning in college at UW-Madison. I joined the Wisconsin Union Directorate, which if you aren’t familiar with WUD, is a group of student-run committees focused on creating social and educational opportunities for the campus. I was the event coordinator for WUD Publications (we published magazines like EMMIE and MODA) and in my senior year, I was elected one of the VPs at the Union. I loved each of those experiences and realized my hobby for creating amazing events & bringing people together is something I am also good at — meaning, career potential!

I became passionate about wedding planning specifically while interning at the Madison Public Library. Unexpected, right? I thought I was going to be organizing book fairs, kid’s activities, and author signings. Excitingly, the job also included wedding planning! The library has a beautiful 3rd floor space and in my first season, I helped book, coordinate, and manage 22 weddings! I loved how fast-paced it all was. Managing all the moving parts and sorting the details is exciting, and feeling the rush on wedding day when you see everything come together is so satisfying.

However, after college, I actually ended up at an ad agency for 3 years. My degree is in journalism & communications and everyone always tells you “use your degree” (and admittedly, a career in advertising or editorial writing was my plan when I started college). Ad agency life was fun but not my calling. When an opportunity popped up to jump back into event planning, I immediately knew that was what I wanted to do. I was hired as the Director of Event Sales & Operations at a Minneapolis favorite hotel, restaurant, and venue. I was in charge of organizing restaurant events, booking and coordinating private parties & weddings, and was also managing a team of servers and event staff. All of that was definitely challenging and equally exciting. The position made me love events even more!

Experiencing the venue management side of the industry taught me so many things and I loved coordinating event details, but eventually I realized I cared most about making our clients happy. I didn’t love having to focus on sales and profit. My passion is advocating for the couple, so what better way to serve people than by opening my own event planning company! Now, my job is my passion – getting to help each couple navigate the planning process so they can have the very best day!

What does a typical day in the office look like for you?

I like to start my day combing through emails – responding to inquiries, sharing details back and forth with vendors, and following up with clients. Then, I’ll hop into project work, which is usually something like updating timelines and floor plans, researching vendors for a couple, or vision planning and sourcing rentals.

I also usually have 1 or 2 meetings, which could be inquiry consults, planning meetings with couples, or logistical meetings with vendors. My favorite meetings are when we do in-person visits to venues and rental showrooms! My least favorite task each day is having to organize content, post on social media and spend time trying to build engagement with other accounts; it’s so time consuming!

How has Digital Studies influenced your career path?

Learning how to create an attractive & easy-to-navigate website and to successfully use blogging & social media to connect to an audience has been really helpful for building my brand and attracting my ideal client. Social media management and knowing how to effectively sell my services is also something that I think I have a competitive edge in from my Digital Studies courses. Website management specifically is something that I’m so glad I have a background in. Everything from visual aspects of how people scan a website and where to put CTA buttons, to organizing pages & navigation bars in an intuitive way, and how to effectively use SEO! This has helped so much for improving my rankings on Google.

I also realized the effectiveness of blogging, which I honestly didn’t think much of or value before learning how much it grows your website visits. I’m proud of how I built a pretty good looking & functional website myself vs paying thousands of dollars to have a company set that up for me (as a start-up business, I couldn’t afford to invest in that!).

Did you have a favorite Digital Studies class or professor when you were a student?

Media Fluency in the Digital Age with Molly Steenson! It was a great course about podcasting & blogging that I took my freshman year.

Do you have any advice for current students?

Attend the free events WUD organizes!

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career thus far?

Starting my business! I never expected to be an entrepreneur and to run my own company. When things started to change at the venue I was managing, it wasn’t a place I wanted to work anymore so I decided to quit and pursue other venue opportunities. What pushed me to open my own business was actually when a client at said venue learned I was leaving, and she asked me if I would plan her wedding — it was the most flattering and unexpected thing!

I asked for the day to think about it, and seriously I cannot believe myself, but I almost said no. As nervous as I was about not having enough experience and worried I might “ruin” her wedding, I called her up the next day and said LET’S GET PLANNING! Before I even had a business name, I helped that couple book their vendors, create a cohesive wedding design, and organize all of the details. Their wedding day was perfect and so much fun, and I 100% knew I wanted to pursue wedding planning on my own.