Your Story Blog Series: Brandi Carson

From a career in project management to interning at the White House, Brandi Carson has had her fair share of dynamic and challenging experiences. Today, Brandi is a successful business owner with a thriving wedding planning company.

Brandi started her career at Accenture as a Project Management and Communications Consultant for Government agencies. Despite how much she enjoyed her role, she knew it wasn’t going to help her achieve her true calling. Armed with her Master’s in Tourism Administration with a concentration in Event and Meeting Management, she decided to make a much-needed change.

“During my time at Accenture, I realized that as much as I loved my job, the position wasn’t helping me to fulfill my passion of working in events and I knew something had to change. I applied and was accepted into the White House Internship Program with the goal of working in the Social Office, which is the office where the majority of the events that take place on the grounds of the White House are planned.  This was the drastic and significant change I knew I had to make in order to land a position within the Events Industry.”

One of the biggest challenges Brandi had to face was gaining the confidence to apply to the White House. And when she didn’t get in the first time, pulling herself together and applying again.

Brandi shares, “In my heart, I knew this was going to be the life changing event that had the potential to catapult me from my Consulting position to my Event Industry future. The reason that was so important is because I felt (and feel) like Events are my true calling. The real challenge arose when I applied and was not accepted. Needless to say, this situation does not do anything to increase one’s confidence.  However, after a day or so of introspection and conversation, I pulled it together and said to myself ‘Brandi, put your big girl britches on and apply again.’ And that’s exactly what I did.. The time came, and I submitted my application, and lo and behold, I was accepted!”

Brandi has words of wisdom to share with others who may face or have faced the sting of rejection, “The biggest lesson I learned through this, is to simply persevere – through all the self-doubt, crying and stomach sickness, it was all absolutely worth every minute. Perseverance is a necessity in the new normal of entrepreneurship, and I’m so glad I learned that early on.”

There’s no doubt that Brandi’s fighting spirit and determination helped her get where she is today. Brandi shares, “One of the greatest successes of my career so far is the fact that my husband and I were able to start an Event Planning company together. From my perspective, entrepreneurship is the epitome of needing 100% confidence – all the time, every day. And because this was an area that I struggled with, it makes me so proud of myself that I have chosen to be part of something that makes me grow stronger in an area that used to cripple me.”

Her advice to her younger self? “Everyone doesn’t always know what they are doing 100% of the time.  In my professional career, I assumed that everyone had it figured out all the time and things were perfect on their end and I was only person who was ill-prepared and lacked knowledge,” Brandi continues, “However, then I realized everyone doesn’t know what their they’re doing all the time and if they don’t have an answer for something, they simply go do the research to figure out the solution. I wish I understood the principle early on and that it’s okay not to know the answer to something – just perform some research and develop a solution!”