An interview with Natalia, Golborne's co-founder and Event Director
Tell us about a typical day in your role?
A typical day is busy, we never stop! No day is the same which I love. I genuinely love my role and I am hugely passionate about what I do. I know I am very lucky not to suffer from Sunday blues.
If we’re not in the thick of planning and delivering a live project I’ll be doing anything from entertaining clients, catching up with supplier teams, visiting new venues, responding to new enquiries, brainstorming marketing ideas with the team, training the team and looking after the finances for our company. Plus of course sending a million voice notes bouncing ideas around with my dream business partner Sarah Kay. The ideas never stop!
Sum up the Golborne style in 3 words
For me, Golborne represents bringing people together in an elegant way so I’ll go with ‘Elevating life’s moments’
Your love of hospitality dates back to childhood where you grew up in a boutique hotel, what do you think constitutes excellent service and hospitality these days?
Excellent service starts with a welcoming smile and I do think that comes from having to open our front door and welcome guests into our home from a very young age – my mum taught me that. I deeply care about how our clients and their guests feel and ensuring the occasions we create and the journey to getting to those special moments are what people remember. We are there for our clients at every step of the planning process, nothing is too much trouble and at those pivotal moments of planning an event we will always be at the end of the phone. Yes, you have to sometimes put boundaries in place but I believe if you are in a service role then your mobile number should always be on your email signature!! Our role is ultimately to make lives easier for our clients, take the pressure off, and ensure they enjoy the journey of planning a meaningful occasion that they will remember forever.
What are the best and worst parts of events?
Best parts are the experiences you share with your clients and the people you work with and meet along the way. I get a genuine buzz from supporting and helping people. Worst parts – there aren’t many but it can be hard to accept that sometimes things will happen that are completely out of your control and can impact your event in a negative way. Even if you have planned everything to the second you can’t predict incidents such as how a guest might behave on the night or extremely hot or cold weather. These can throw all your hard work and everything you have planned for sometimes more than a year, up in the air, whilst you pivot with a solution.
Tell us about your favourite event, within the last 5 years?
There are so many! The favourites are when you are pushed creatively and the brief is a challenge but you have a special bond with a client and they are so receptive to evolving the project as it goes. A recent event we produced at the Tate Modern, one of our biggest ever installs has to be up there.
What’s the most stressful thing that’s happened on an event and how did you resolve it?
I ran a big event for 1000 in the middle of Winter and for the first time we went to a marquee location but the heating broke! It was freezing and was really hard to manage but we got through - with lots of extra red wine, a LOT of extra heaters and the patience of the guests who understood it was not part of the plan!
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced during your career?
Covid, without a doubt. It has to be everyone’s biggest challenge who ran a business at this time. I’ll never forget the day the phone started ringing and day by day clients were just pulling the plug on our whole 2 year pipeline of events. It was absolutely devastating and I was on maternity leave at the time with a 3 month old baby. Having to navigate both our clients and teams through that was incredibly challenging, we lost everything. The partnership that came out of that and the comeback has been worth it and I am so grateful for where we are today because of it. I learnt a lot going through that experience and will never forget it.
What is your top tip to someone wanting to get into events?
You need to be determined and willing to sacrifice your social life at times, especially when starting out. Be prepared to work hard and put the extra hours in. It’s an amazing industry to be a part of but a very competitive one and it can be all consuming when you are in the thick of a live project (in a good way). It's not for the faint hearted and I think you need to have grit and a strong work ethic and be very flexible. No role is set! Get hands-on experience and learn to network from the beginning, grow your contacts and if you can, start in a small company as I think that gives you lots of exposure to different roles and experiences.
What are your pet hates when it comes to events?
Badges – I know its hard on larger events for hosts to know all their guests, but take the time to get to know your guest list, do you really need to ask guests to wear badges? I worked on the client corporate side for many years so probably been scarred from too much badge making in my early career!
Finally, what would be your key points for creating a successful event?
Curate the best team of suppliers for your client, I love putting that initial team together and thinking about what talent we need and which suppliers suit the client, scope of work and budget. Trust your supplier team and work in partnership with them to ensure together you achieve the best results for your client. Also when you are planning the event keep asking yourself how will that impact the guest, how will the guest feel in that moment, will that be smooth for the guest journey? Always have them at the forefront of your mind - if your guests are having an amazing time, your client (the host) will too!
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