By: Yashita Arora

It’s the morning of my birthday—August 21, 2023. An email pops into my inbox:

“Good morning Yashita, I was really impressed by you during our chat on Friday and appreciate the energy you bring to the conversation. I think you would be a great addition to our team and would like to offer you the internship!”

Excited, emotional, and enthusiastic, I (without thinking twice) replied to Loren that she was giving me the best birthday gift. And, that’s how the journey started!

Oh, I forgot to introduce myself.

Hi! I am Yashita (she/her), a business and marketing graduate who landed in Canada from the heart of India: New Delhi. As the youngest one in the family, I’m pampered but not spoiled and the life of every party (at least that’s what my friends and family say)!

After trying out a few careers, I think I finally have found my soulmate: marketing in the event industry. And now, after two fun months, we are happily living together.

While I always attended school events, I was usually on stage as a performer, and never got a chance to be a part of the organizing team. They always looked so active and energetic during events and were always seen celebrating after. Later on, my curiosity brought me an opportunity to work as a wedding planner in the Indian market. As much as I loved it, COVID redirected my path with a focus on marketing. Long story short, LOMA Agency provided me with a marketing role in an event agency. What else could I ask for!?

As I opened the door on my first day at the LOMA office, a cute little Morkie (our Chief Cuddle Officer), Biggie, came jumping and running towards the stairs in excitement, and welcomed me with so many kisses. Honestly, that already had made my day, but little did I know there was a lot more to come. As I walked in, Loren gave me a hug and the whole team looked so excited to welcome me. It already felt like I was surrounded by people I had known for a long time. My desk was set with a welcome card, a team lunch was arranged, my whole week was planned out, and one-on-one coffee dates were scheduled with the team, which helped me get comfortable and integrated so quickly.

LOMA was founded by Loren Maisels, and one thing about Loren I strongly admire is how much a person can give to build a business like this. She is such a hardworking, beautiful human being; so busy and yet will make time for anyone as and when we need her. I feel a passion to do my best for her. She has inspired me to become an entrepreneur one day in the future.

What I’ve Learned (and am Learning)

Now, to talk about what I have learned in these first 60 days…the list is quite long.

This is my first corporate job in the Canadian market, so it is really teaching me a lot of new lessons along the way. I am mainly responsible for managing LOMA’s social accounts, but I also get to help on some event projects.

Some of my tasks include:

• Market analysis
• Building a social media marketing plan
• Campaign strategizing
• Creative design (like thumbnails, mock-ups, etc.)
• Copywriting
• Shooting and editing video
• Insight tracking

Apart from these responsibilities, one major skill I am developing here is time management. Major credit for that goes to Yana who is such an organized person herself and deals patiently with my cluttered files and tight deadlines for reviews (guilty). I am trying to improve every day.

And my favourite part? I finally got a chance to enter the event world.

My first project was sourcing a photobooth vendor for the Canadian Nurses Foundation Miami-themed event, “The Night Shift”. From vendor emails back and forth, to conceptualizing designs around the brand and theme, to creating photo strip mock-ups, to getting everything approved, and then finally managing the whole execution onsite, I was really proud of what I accomplished.

The idea of travelling to various cities while working always fascinated me and because of LOMA, I finally got to live the dream. The whole trip for the Canadian Nurses Foundation event was such a great experience and honestly, didn’t even feel like work!

Currently, I’m working with another client on their 2023 holiday party. I’ve been exploring a lot of new projects, from designing theme mood boards to sourcing décor and furniture vendors while accommodating a small budget—it is quite a task. Thankfully, I have Angelica guiding me along, or I don’t think I would have gotten this far. I am sure this event will be a hit too!

Apart from that, I get to keep learning by just being involved in different project meetings. For example, for an upcoming conference, Mari is making sure I learn about the whole swag sourcing process from scratch by involving me in all client and vendor calls. I am learning so much from just listening in on the progress!

In Summary

We at LOMA Agency believe in a divide-and-conquer approach, and form teams to work on separate events. For any newbie in this industry, it’s a great way to get familiarized with different corporate businesses out there, what they do, their values, and their way of doing things.

Sometimes, things can get overwhelming for me, but the whole team is always so supportive, sharing ideas for different projects and checking to see if I need any assistance. Amy even finds and sends me links to vendors right away when she knows I’m looking for something, which otherwise could have taken me hours.

I love the fact that everyone on this team is so different from each other (one can tell that by just looking at our food choices) yet we blend so well together.

A huge shoutout to Loren and Yana for creating such a beautiful space in the office that feels like home and selectively bringing together such humble and creative humans who feel like family. LOMA will always have a special place in my heart, even after my internship is over.

With all that in just two months, I can only imagine the adventures and learnings coming ahead in the next two, and am super excited to witness it.

In the end, I would say stay tuned on our socials as myself and the LOMA team will keep generating the best content for you there.

Cheers!

Yashita