|
South Miami resident Melissa Davis, after selling the
longstanding Sweet Treat Emporium and giving birth to twins, has
embarked upon a new career as an event planner.
Melissa Davis
"I coordinate the event, plan your party soup to
nuts," Davis said. "People make an incredible number of
mistakes when planning a party; financial mistakes. My business is my
resources, just as it was with Sweet Treat. I get to know a client, I
know where to take them for what they want, who they should hire as a
band, what kind of photographer they would like. It saves them a lot
of time.
"I'm basically the person who takes care of
everything," she continued. "I'm almost like the errand
runner. I just do it all so they don't have to be worried about
it."
Davis charges a flat rate fee of $4,200 for her
planning services, as opposed to the five to 10 percent of an event
budget that many other event planning companies command.
"I feel more comfortable with a flat fee,"
Davis said. "Because then I feel I am working in the best
interests of my client."
Davis, 35, is married and the mother of three-year-old
twins, a boy and a girl. She was born in Coral Gables and grew up in
Miami-Dade, attending attended Pinecrest Elementary School, Palmetto
Junior High and graduating Palmetto Senior High School. She went to
Drew University in New Jersey and took her degree in 1986, then moved
with her husband to Manhattan for four years where she worked in
broadcast production for an advertising agency. She soon became a
freelance producer for television commercials, working as a location
scout and a production coordinator.
"It was fun and completely insane," she
recalled. "My husband and I met in college and I followed him to
New York. When he got a job offer in Miami, I was ready to move back
down here."
Once back in Miami-Dade in 1990, Davis went to work
part time for her mother, who owned the successful, longtime South
Miami business Sweet Treat Emporium, the first gourmet gift basket
store in South Florida.
"Mother had done more in the party planning end
of the business," said Davis. "Baby showers, bar mitzvahs,
weddings and then we got into corporate gift baskets, where attorneys
would call and order 200 gift baskets."
Her mother, a widow, re-married and soon sold the
business to her daughter.
"So, I took it over and ran it for sever al
years," Davis said. "We were a very 'boutiquey,' very
high-end, New York-style gourmet gift basket business, with
hand-dipped chocolates and some party planning."
But, then she became pregnant with twins in 1997 and uncertain about
continuing in the business, with its long hours and mandatory work on
holidays. She decided she was ready to do something different and
spend some time being a mom.
"And, the Shops at Sunset was being built and I
thought, what's that going to do to my business?" she recalled.
In 1997 she sold the Sweet Treat Emporium to a woman
who promptly moved the business to a location near The Falls. After
less than a year off the work path, Davis became restless and took a
position with a florist. She soon landed the then Lipton Tennis
Tournament as her first big project, supplying the floral needs for
the event. The experience served to solidify her thoughts that she
enjoyed coordinating big events and she decided to strike out on her
own in that business direction.
"Because I grew up here, I know a lot of
people," she said. "It was sort of like a domino theory. I
told a couple of friends and I got an initial real strong reaction and
a couple of clients right away. I'm doing mostly social events like
weddings and bar mitzvahs."
In business for only a year, Davis claims 18 clients
and has planned several large gatherings, including an 825-person
corporate party for Hewlett-Packard. She recently got a call to plan a
wedding party for 1,500 people with entertainment to be provided by
Olivia Newton John and Rod Stewart."
"It has just escalated into something I never
imagined," she said.
For more information, please call 305-665-0087, or
contact Davis by email at MJDDesigns@aol.com.
|
