Meet Elizabeth Wexler

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elizabeth Wexler a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Elizabeth, 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 get my work ethic from my parents. Both are extremely hard working entrepeneurs that had to work for everything they have. They are first and second generation Americans, put themselves through a ton of education and showed me the value and results of hard work in real time. I also think I am naturally a hard worker, so it never feels like I have to work too hard or train myself to do something out of my norm.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I have two businesses. My first is Emlan Events. It is a wedding and event consulting company. We work on full service events planning anything and everything from our clients. Our events are quite complex and I love the challenge it provides me. Its a mix of fun, social and complex!

My second business was built because of my time in weddings. Spennie! Spennie is a wedding registry marketplace. We help small businesses with the technology to access wedding registries and in turn, we help couples register for unique products in the wedding registry process. We are a full gifting marketplace online. Our goal is to make gifting better, particularly in the wedding process.

Weddings is an age old industry and in both businesses, my approach is to maintain tradition in a modern way. I have been in the industry for 15 years in many different roles. I know it like the back of my hand and think its really important to help couples through many of the challenging decisions they must face in wedding planning.

If you are getting married, check out spennie! Sign up, add products to your registry and link your spennie registry to your wedding website!

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

One – Deep industry experience. I started in the industry as a cater waiter and intern at age 18 and worked my way up. I worked many years in the luxury catering world – working on large scale events with many different vendors. This was an amazing way to learn the ins and outs of the industry from many different angles. I then started my own planning company and have many years of experience working with couples, hearing their pain points, and working with vendors.

Two – Do whatever it takes attitude. In weddings, there’s an impending due date (the wedding) and so all projects must be perfect by that date. This attitude translates to the tech startup as well. Doing everything to completion is a key part of my identity. I do whatever it takes to finish projects, make my clients happy, support my team, and hit our goals. This is a skill not everyone has, and when bringing on new team members, I always like for this type of person.

Three – Being social. Whether its leading spennie’s tech team, engaging with advisors, speaking on a panel, or attending an industry party with friends, it is so important to be out of my comfort zone, ask questions, be social and utilize my community. I can’t stress this skill enough as a founder and planner.

This is why I always say wedding planners make for amazing startup founders!

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

Spennie is always looking to collaborate with folks! We have some goals:
1. Strategic partnerships. We are looking to attract engaged folks to our website. If you have a similar goal, let’s talk! Perhaps we can do so better, together!

2. Brand growth – if you provide a product and think you might be a good fit for our marketplace. send us an email! We have a one click integration with shopify we’ve built!

3. Investment – we take on strategic investment very cautiously – and usually with another angle of advisory or partnership in place. If you’re interested, give us a shout!

Contact Info:

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