We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Brianna Macri a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Brianna , we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I found my purpose in life while attending college at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania. It was my sophomore year and other students were complaining that there was nothing to do on campus. I remember thinking to myself that I could either sit and complain with them or be a part of the solution to the problem. It was then that I chose to be a part of the solution. I found my passion for event planning when I joined the Student Activities Council (SAC) on campus and became an Event Programmer. There was a need for more social events on campus for students to be able to engage with each other and I wanted to be able to create the space for students to gather, connect, and establish new friendships. The first event that I ever planned was a carnival on campus during the fall. I contracted with all of the vendors, coordinated the set up, and oversaw all of the details during the event. I even ran to the store during the carnival to pick up more apples for the caramel apple station. During the carnival, I realized how much I love the high energy and fast pace environment of events. When I arrived back on campus from the store, I remember taking a step back to see all of the students on campus enjoying themselves and I knew that I had found my purpose in life. It was the most fulfilling moment for me to witness students being happy and having an amazing time at an event that I planned and executed. The greatest skill that I learned from my experience in college was the ability to identify a need and/or problem and find a solution. I also had an incredible opportunity to expand my communication, time management, and organizational skills through my experience as an Event Programmer, which are skills that are essential in my career today.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am the owner of Cuse Events by Bri LLC, a wedding and event planning company based in Syracuse, New York. I started my company in an effort to create beautiful, fun, and inspiring environments to bring people together and to celebrate our clients’ most important life moments. We strive to provide the utmost customer service, advice, and guidance to our clients throughout the event planning process to make their vision a reality. We offer Day of Coordination, Partial Planning, and Full Service to clients in Upstate New York and beyond. Our focus is on creating events that are functional, effective, and that make a long lasting impact on guests and/or attendees. The most exciting part about what we do is being able to be a part of all of the intricacies of a clients’ special day whether it be a wedding, birthday party, graduation party, etc. It’s being able to fluff a bride’s train seconds before walking down the isle, hearing heartfelt toasts from close family and friends, and feeling the love and warmth of a room full of guests celebrating our clients’ accomplishments and milestones. We appreciate the finest details that go in to planning an event. Our clients happiness is always our number one priority. There is nothing more exciting than seeing our clients enjoy themselves at their event and knowing that we made an impact on them, their guests, and the community at the end of the event.
In addition to owning my business, I also work in county government as an Administrative Officer for Onondaga County in Syracuse, New York. In my role as Administrative Officer, I assist the senior management team in the County Executive’s Office. My duties include scheduling, ordering, payroll, coordinating volunteers for projects, and ensuring that the overall flow of the office runs smoothly on a day to day basis. I thoroughly enjoy being a public servant and assisting other county team members and residents of Onondaga County.
I am also very involved in the arts and began dancing when I was three years old. I studied ballet, jazz, modern, tap, and partnering at Dance Centre North in Mattydale, New York. I later went on to study Dance in college at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania where I graduated with a bachelor degree in Hospitality Management with a concentration in Event Management and a Minor in Dance. I joined Speak Dance CNY, a professional modern dance company in 2022 and have thoroughly enjoyed having the opportunity to dance, choreograph, and perform at local venues in Syracuse, New York and the surrounding areas. Sharing my love and passion for dance with the community is one of the greatest gifts and I am very thankful for the opportunity to be able to dance in my adulthood.
My hope is to be able to grow both professionally and personally through my career in leadership and management. I also plan to expand and grow my business within the next few years. I would like to focus on rebranding, creating brand awareness, and begin to host public events in the community. My dream is to own my own wedding and event venue and provide Central New York with an elegant, fun, and inviting space to host private and public events.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The three skills that were the most impactful on my journey so far are adaptability, communication, and prioritization. Being flexible and able to adapt in your professional and personal life is so important. During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, I was working as a Wedding and Event Coordinator at a local venue in Syracuse, New York. It was then that I learned that I needed to be ready to make changes in order to comply with local and state covid-19 guidelines. I found ways to implement the guidelines and worked with my clients to ensure that their event was covid-19 compliant once we were able to host events again. In addition, since working with several different clients over the years, I found that it’s important to be flexible to their requests and to take in to consideration that their vision might change over time. As an event planner, we have to adapt to what our clients want and envision and it takes patience and persistence to be able to meet their needs during the event planning process. Next, communication is one of the most important skills that I have learned so far in my career. As a former Restaurant Supervisor and Event Manager, it’s so crucial to have strong communication skills in order to lead teams and exceed guests expectations. Excellent communication skills can either make or break an event, therefore it’s important to have clear and concise communication. Lastly, prioritization is a very critical skill to have in your personal and professional life. It’s always been important for me to focus on tasks that need to be done today or this week rather than getting caught up in things that might come up during the day that could potentially slow down my productivity. Being able to prioritize ensures that projects stay on task and get completed on time. As my roles have become extremely fast paced and task oriented, having strong prioritization skills has really helped me to stay on task and be successful.
My advice for folks that are early on in their journey that would like to expand on their adaptability, communication, and prioritization skills is to never stay in the same company or job for too long. I believe that it’s very important for folks to hold several different jobs and work at various companies throughout their career which allows an individual to learn different processes and skills on their journey. When there is a meeting regarding changes or new processes at work, it’s important to study the information, take notes, and ask questions. When honing in on communication skills, it’s important to get to know your co-workers and/or team members. Everyone communicates differently and it’s really crucial to focus on how you communicate with others. I also believe that it’s important to share knowledge and information with your co-workers or team members. Organizations runs smoothly when employees and team members are all on the same page and know the same information. Finally, to improve prioritization skills, it’s essential to know what your expectations are from your boss or supervisor. It’s imperative to pay close attention to deadlines and make sure to give yourself enough time to meet them. I like to make a list of all of the tasks that I need to accomplish and then I star or circling the tasks that are a priority. I always start with the most important tasks first and leave the less important tasks for the afternoon or the next day. Overall, it’s important to practice improving your adaptability, communication, and prioritization skills on a daily basis in order to succeed and become the best version of yourself.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
Yes, I am looking for folks to collaborate with. I would like to collaborate with other event planners, event coordinators, and professionals in the wedding and event industry. Ideally, I would love to connect with vendors in the event industry such as venues, caterers, bands, DJ’s, florists, bakers, calligraphers, event rental companies, event lighting companies, photographers, videographers, content creators, bridal shops, tuxedo shops, and entertainers. I am also looking to collaborate with individuals in the arts such as dancers, choreographers, artists, musicians, graphic designers, illustrators, and hair and makeup artists. I can be reached via email at [email protected].
Contact Info:
- Website: https://syracuseweddingsandevents.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cuseeventsbybri/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cuseeventsbybri
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianna-macri-44187633a
Image Credits
Headshot credit – Kerri Lynne Cole of Kerri Lynne Photography
Candlelit Ballroom credit – Joelle Rotella
Sweetheart table with place cards and guest tables with coral napkins credit – Matt Lim of Matt Lim Photography
All other photos – Bridget Belluci of By Bridge Photo
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
