Meet Cara Neff

 

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Cara Neff. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Cara, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

I was raised by two very young and very hard working parents. My first job was at the age of 14, cleaning rooms at a hotel/resort. I road my bike to and from work every day, because my parents were working 6 days a week for most of my childhood. That work ethic carried me through all of the teenage years, on into college. When I was in college, during the summers I worked two jobs, a full time administrative job and then waitressed evening and weekend. After undergraduate school, I found a full time job in my field of study, and went to graduate school evenings and weekends for 3.5 years. My parents showed me that if you work hard, you can create the life that you truly want to have, but nothing will ever be just handed to you.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I always worked full time while raising my three children, mostly in the insurance industry. It was a wonderful career that provided work life balance and allowed me to be fully present as a mom. In 2023 I found myself on the edge of being an empty-nester with all three children soon to be in college. I realized my most important job had been raising my children and supporting their journey’s, much like my parents did for me. But now I was at a pivotal point in my life where I had the chance to press pause and reflect on my next and final chapter of my professional career. I knew it was time for a change, but I had no idea what I wanted to do professionally. It was quite overwhelming. So much of my identity was tied to being a mom and an insurance professional and all of that was about to change.

At the end of 2023 I left my career and took a much needed and much deserved (what I call, my) “Radical Sabbatical” I had no idea what the future would bring, I just knew I had to take a leap of faith, a long exhale, and find something new and exciting. About 4 months into my sabbatical and soul searching, still with no idea what my next chapter would look like. Wed Society literally found me. The Wed Society Network – founded 17 years ago in the mid-west – is a collection of trusted, community-focused wedding media brands. We focus on helping couples find wedding planning inspiration and simplify their search for the best wedding vendors by featuring beautiful local weddings and the talented vendors who bring them to life. We feature preferred vendors through an active online digital platform, a luxury annual print publication along with powerful social channels & in person events. They were looking for entrepreneurial minded, self driven professionals to help them grow nationally through a franchise model. In June 2024 I bought the Miami franchise and launched Wed Society Miami, along side my partner in life and now in business, Scott Sorochak. Scott and I are buildings something really beautiful for the wedding community here in Miami and its been so wonderful to do something new, learn a new industry, and meet new people while building our very own business together.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I truly believe that everything in life has a time, a place and a purpose. Looking back I sometimes don’t know how I did it all, but I’m so glad that I did. Certainly, I didn’t do it all perfectly, but I did everything for my children, with the intention to do the best that I could for that day. My journey as a working mother, required me to prioritize, be organized and to be resilient.

Each week I had to assess what was most important for the week, and what needed to prioritized. I couldn’t do it all, and that was okay. But I had to do what was most important for my children and my career. The need to be organized is an understatement. My calendar had to be detailed and color coded. Three children in three different sports, school activities, friend commitments, my work & travel schedule, my own social life, I had to make time for them all. The definition of resilience is the ability to be happy, successful, etc. again after something difficult or bad has happened. There were many difficult days, bad days are inevitable. But I chose to count my blessings each day, even during the hard ones because there were so many blessings. I knew that tomorrow was a new day and new opportunity to be a great mom and an excellent professional.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

As one chapter closes, another one opens. But the same skills and priority that I adopted back then, are cornerstone for Scott and I building Wed Society Miami today. The priorities of the week are focused right now on growing our brand awareness as a company that’s new to this region. We are both doing a lot of networked to introduce ourselves and Wed Society to the local wedding community. As publishers, we’re also focused on delivering high quality content to our audiences on our omni channel platforms. My calendar is still color coded and the need to be organized is just as important as a business owner as it was a Mom and career professional… perhaps even more so. Resilience… starting a business from the ground up is hard work, its a grind, and there are difficult days. But we are so centered in the confidence and the pride of what we’re creating for the beautiful wedding community here. We also have the benefit of a lot of life experience, both professionally and personally. As a couple, we’ve had to created a new kind of work life balance in this new chapter. The best part, we get to do it all right here in beautiful Miami Beach.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Kimberly Harrell Photography, Amanda Michelle Photo & Film, Sarah Marie Photography, Shaimaa Photography

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