President's Corner - May 2025

I’ve been pretty open in the last few months about calling myself a poster child for high-functioning anxiety. You know what’s super peaceful? Being part of a profession that’sranked as the third most stressful job in the world.

You did read that with the note of sarcasm I intended, right?

Seriously, though. My mental health has been one of the driving factors in all the changes I’ve made in my personal and professional lives over the last year. Since May is Mental Health Awareness Month, I thought I would talk a little more about my journey.

Growing up in a conservative family in a small town in the 1980s, we didn’t talk about mental health. I was well into adulthood when my daughter had the courage to point out my anxiety.

Fast forward a few years. We’re living a post-COVID world, and meeting planning is more difficult than ever. Negotiating with venues is extremely difficult so planners are not able to deliver the “deals” that we were a few years ago. With nearly every detail of every event from proposal to execution, we’re having to explain to bosses or clients why we can’t do things the way they expect – or if we are, why they’re paying so much more for it than they used to.

That wears on the most mentally healthy of us, and when you know you already struggle with anxiety? It froze me. I was mostly able to perform at work, though between workload and my mental health I started struggling with deadlines. I would barely move from my brown recliner on nights and weekends at home just trying to get my brain to settle down enough so I could do it all again on Monday.

That’s not sustainable.

I would love to see us all have an open, honest conversation about what we’re facing at work. I would love to hear from all sides of this wonderful industry about what their realities are like now. Let’s have a high-level conversation about how those realities affect meeting planners and how we can come together to make the meetings and hospitality industry a strong, unified, connected world.

If we communicate and understand each other as friendly colleagues, our work world will become more peaceful. We can communicate about market realities to bosses and clients knowing that everyone is working for the same outcome – a successful event that meets its objectives.

When our work lives are more peaceful, our quality of life and our mental health will improve. #winning

Reach out if you’d like to continue this conversation!