achieve & succeed Porter worked for Manulife Financial for 29 years, with 20 of those years in the role of meeting and event planner. Having planned hundreds of international and domestic incentives, conferences and roadshows, Porter opened her own meeting and event planning fi rm, Oasis Events by Porter, in January 2020. COVID consequence: Just as she was starting to work on a few programs with clients, the world shut down, and she was left with no job and no work. She continues to keep engaged in the business event industry as a member of CanSPEP (Canadian Society of Professional Event Planners) and is focusing some time on learning new skills and new technology platforms. Her side hustle: After departing from Manulife, Porter started to crochet blankets for patients at the dialysis department at Grand River Hospital in the Waterloo Region, where Porter’s mom spent a signifi cant amount of time during her 18 months of treatment. Until COVID is over, the hospital is unable to accept blankets, so Porter decided to launch Crochet Me A Garden, an online boutique where she showcases and sells all her Jaehn-Kreibaum kicked off her career in the meeting and event industry six years ago after graduating from George Brown College with a degree in event management. Since graduating, she has been building her career, most recently with BMO Financial Group, where she plans and executes corporate events from roadshows to conferences and most recently, virtual events. COVID consequence: When COVID hit, Jaehn-Kreibaum was thrown into a whirlwind of re-booking and canceling event contracts. Like most planners, she quickly adapted to the world of virtual meetings and events, where she was learning and testing out new platforms to fi nd a perfect fi t to meet each event objective. A huge part of her role became convincing clients to continue executing their events—even if they took on a new spin by being virtual. handmade products. Porter is having fun fl exing her creative muscles and she hopes others enjoy her creations as much as she enjoys making them. What she’s learned: “Social media marketing is incredibly important as well as word of mouth by your friends and family. The making is only a small part of the battle. Make sure you tell as many people as you can about your small business and ask your network to spread the word as well.” Her advice: “Check with your city or region to see if they run a Small Business Centre. The Waterloo Region Small Business Centre was so helpful as they ran courses on what to know about starting up your small business, marketing and the best thing was a two-night bootcamp on digital marketing. Most of the courses were free or for nominal costs. They are also there all the time if I have questions or need help.” crochetmeagarden.com Her side hustle: With way more time at home, Jaehn-Kreibaum re-ignited her joy of painting and launched a creative side hustle, in which she produces hand-painted watercolour notecards. Her designs are simple, yet colourful and playful, and are all inspired by her global travels, food, nature and dance. What she’s learned: “It’s hard promoting yourself and your work (which is often very personal). However, it can also be so rewarding. This experience has forced me to focus more of my downtime on creating, rather than just watching another Netfl ix show.” Her advice: “Here’s the advice I was given over and over by everyone around me (and also ignored for YEARS): just START. Your work or products won’t appeal to everyone, but those that it does, makes the journey all worthwhile. Eventually, you will fi nd that niche market.” To order, contact Jaehn-Kreibaum directly through Facebook Messenger or email her at [email protected]. Read more about these and other Raindrops on Roses spotlights—and how to get featured yourself—by visiting Raindrops on Roses on either Facebook or Instagram. Kelly Porter, CMP Kate Jaehn-Kreibaum 30 | Ignitemag.ca | February 2021
