“As a baby, my first words were ‘me do,’ so it was no surprise that I grew up to be a planner,” says Lavender. As the daughter of a lawyer, she was raised to pay attention to detail and ensure nothing gets overlooked. No wonder clients praise her for her contract work. Her inaugural position in the hospitality industry was as the first female banquet setup supervisor for a large Universal hotel, which quickly became a liaison position between planners and banquets. The next steppingstone: a job with a production company in Orlando, which taught her new aspects of the industry. That led to the DMC industry in South Florida, where she was hired as an assistant to learn the ins and outs. Within a few months, she moved up to account manager. From there, Lavender was recruited to represent CSI-Florida and open doors of its physical South Florida office as a senior account executive. And while she’s been educated in the hospitality industry for the last nine years, she says, “As a planner, some things are second nature and cannot be learned.”
