We had the good fortune of connecting with Helen Vonghack and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Helen, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I remember there were many times while working at corporate where we had to host these holidays, quarterly and launch events. Being the planner for those events showed me what I was truly passionate about. I always looked forward to the creative ways we put it together. I couldn’t wait until our teams came to the event to enjoy the full experience. That’s when I realized I had a different feeling, I was doing something I truly loved and cared about. Seeing the look on everyone’s face gave me a fulfilling feeling. When I decided to leave corporate to start my own business, it was a no brainer, I knew exactly what I would find myself happy doing. Creating memorable experiences for people.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am most proud of owning a business that allows me to be creative. I would say I am most excited about being able to grow my family while running my own brand. It was not easy starting a company. It still isn’t easy today. Because when you first start a company, your initial objectives are how do we brand ourselves? How do we show clients we are unique, sophisticated and different than other event planners? How do we show them we care and we will fulfill their needs. A few years later, now your new questions are how do we streamline communication on our team? How do we make every single client still feel and know they are getting our full attention? So everyday we are still learning. All we can do is improve our process and experience after every single event we complete so we can enhance for the future. I think my biggest lesson is you can never finish learning. Being able to adapt, staying open to new ideas, ways of doing things, styles, and changes help you grow your brand and more importantly yourself. I want everyone from our team, vendors, venues and clients to know that we value them, and being on the same team means being loyal to them and their values. We are here with solutions and protecting their values and events is always going to be in everyone’s best interest.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
This is always exciting to plan! I would say, lets start our mornings with a nice hike! You have to go hiking when you’re in Los Angeles. Then we would indulge in some coffee shops for brunch. One of my favorites is in South Pasadena. There is this place called “Lost Parrot”, they have amazing coffee and brunch options. For another. meal, I would tell them to go to San Gabriel Valley and try all the amazing asian foods. There is a hotspot in San Gabriel called “Newport Seafood”. Everyone definitely has to have tried it once in their life in LA! They serve Chinese Cambodian foods family style. Some great places to visits would be museums, beaches and definitely South Coast Plaza for shopping.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I will say I owe a lot of my success to my partner. My partner has shown me the hardest moments of owning a business is seeing everything through and believing in yourself. There was a time where I was overbooked in 2022 and another client had high interest in our company to help full plan their son’s Bar Mitzvah in less than seven weeks. During that time, I was reluctant to take this client, due to not wanting to disappoint given the short window and financial investment. But my partner had reminded me how great it is to have this as a problem. He reminded me that I can totally do this and take this on top of my workload because he has seen me do more. With someone like that constantly supporting and believing in you, it takes you far along the process. So yes! I would love to thank my partner.

Website: www.eighteenplacecards.com

Instagram: @eighteenplacecards

Other: Direct Line for inquiries: (626) 456-4274

Image Credits
Sebastien Bicard Meredith Gradishar Chad Saechao

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.