By Stacy Carmichael-James
Joy Agness is not just a wedding and event planner, but she is also a destination wedding specialist and a professor at two Miami Colleges teaching wedding and event planning and English to her Spanish-Speaking students.
She noted that regardless of the naysayers and roadblocks in the industry persons need to persevere because the end result would be gratifying, as she has come to realize. Personality also plays a key role in how successful one will become in this line of work, she said.
Born to James and Hyacinth Hamer, Joy was one of six siblings and education was not a problem since it was a top priority for her parents, hence she always encourage persons in similar fields to ensure they are academically qualified.
In 1978, a professional teacher, Joy left local shores and migrated to Canada, then later moved to the United States where her life catapulted. It was there as a registered nurse her talent for decorating, blending colours and the likes was recognized and her life changed forever. ” So eventually one of my Jewish said you should turn this into a business well back then, to me that was not a business, this is my hobby, this is what I like to do,” she related to News Room. And that was when she earned her first $500 US dollars from doing what she loved and she has never stopped since.
She explained that it is imperative that persons in the Event Planning business pay attention to branding, more so building a unique brand. This, Joy noted is important in this line of business since the entrepreneur would want people to gravitate to them and the more people are aware of the brand the better off the individual would be.
Returning home for the 50th Anniversary, Joy said there were a few things that caught her attention which she felt needed to be improved and this prompted her to return this April, bringing her Love and Sunshine Conference to local shores, “I’m gonna see if I can infuse some of my knowledge for the thirsty people who want to learn.”
Guyana is always in her thoughts and Joy boasted of the great talent and creativity that resides here and with the right opportunities, the wedding and event planning industry can become very viable.
Joy is also hoping for collaboration with the relevant Government Ministries and is already in the process of creating the necessary links to make Guyana’s wedding and event planning industry one to be revered throughout the Caribbean and internationally.
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