Nicole is the woman to go to if you want to talk about
events. With over 5 solid years working on events and festivals across the city
before setting up her own business, Zest, she knows her stuff when it comes to putting
on fantastic events.
Nicole says; ‘My
background is project management and Zest is an events consultancy business. I
provide a raft of services ranging from giving advice over managing projects to
the actual delivery of events; whatever level of support you are looking for,
really!’ Among Zest’s core values are opening good communication channels
and allowing her clients to be as little or as much involved as they want. As
Nicole knows well; ‘You might have
organised a fabulous event but won’t be able to enjoy it fully because you
always need to have your eye on the ball. I have the expertise to take the
effort and stress off the client so they can sit back and enjoy their own
event.’
Prior to setting up Zest in April 2014, Nicole worked for
Orb Events managing a range of interesting projects. She was part of the team
who organised Liverpool Pride in 2010, her first event: ‘Seeing the work of the past months come to fruition and thousands of
happy people celebrating as a result was an incredible feeling and I never
looked back.’ Current clients include The Liverpool Mental Health
Consortium and the British Association of Hand Therapists.
Over the last few years, Nicole has worked as a project
manager for local events, different companies and community arts charities.
Thus, she formed relationships with numerous organisations, building a great
network which supported her when she launched Zest last year. One of these
organisations was ourselves: Nicole had known about The Women’s Organisation
for a few years, having attended our events including our launch of our
building of 54 St James Street.
Nicole says; ‘When I
started up Zest, I was looking for expert advice and contacted The Women’s
Organisation. I was put in touch with one of the Senior Business Advisers, John
Jones. One of the great things about working with John is that he asks me
strategic questions about my business, which make me stop and think. Once you
sit back and talk to someone, you can look at your business from the outside,
which has been really useful!’
With experience in business development when she was setting
up Zest, Nicole runs her business herself with an accountant on “stand-by” for
tricky questions and the annual return. She has been building on her skills
steadily, but says ‘I don’t think I would
have got my head around setting up the business without the help I’ve
received.’ Now that her business is up and running and she is working on
her social media skills and her website, she says; ‘I’m quite proud of this and I’m still learning every day, which is
great.’
Listening is key to Zest’s core values: ‘Listening to clients and making sure their visions and objectives are
being realised is extremely important.’ And the business is now at an
exciting stage of growing: with the ground work being done, Nicole is keen to
meet new clients, expand her business and continue to put on fantastic events
across the city. ‘My objectives are to do
a great job every time and to grow my portfolio and client base. I am looking
to expand the network of organisations and people that I work with, as
feedback, input and mutual support improve work in every respect.’
If you would like to find out more about Nicole and Zest, or
if you are putting on an event and would like to see how Nicole can help you
with this, then don’t hesitate to get in touch with her using the contact
details below!
As well as running and planning events, Nicole is teaching a new course at 54 St James Street to share her knowledge about events! You can contact her for more information using the details below or register for a place on the course on September 24th here!
As well as running and planning events, Nicole is teaching a new course at 54 St James Street to share her knowledge about events! You can contact her for more information using the details below or register for a place on the course on September 24th here!
Nicole Konigs Balfry – Zest
