In college I was a French major and had no idea what I wanted to do professionally. My junior year, I was in charge of a fundraiser that happened to be a beauty pageant for men on campus. I really enjoyed the process of working with a team of people to launch a fun event for a good cause. I was good at logistics and coordinating all of the various behind-the-scenes aspects of being a meeting professional. I realized that it was a profession I could pursue when I graduated.
Growing my team at Cvent from five people when I started to 75 people in the U.S., Canada, Europe, India and Australia has been a highlight of my career. I don’t know if I’ll ever work again with such a hardworking, inspiring and collaborative group of people. I’m also proud of the work I’ve done with Cvent’s Women in Leadership program, which focuses on networking, skill development and ultimately promoting more women within the company.
I’m celebrating a milestone birthday this year and am giving a lot of thought to what I want to accomplish both personally and professionally. Finding meaning in my work is becoming more and more important as I get older. Eventually I’d like to pivot to nonprofit or community-based work.
I’m fortunate to have an incredible support system both personally and professionally, but my family has made the biggest impact. My dad is the hardest-working person I know, my mom has an incredibly adventurous spirit, my brother has always been my biggest influence, my stepparents have been in my life for 35 years and always treated me like their own daughter, my husband has an unwavering belief in my abilities and I married into a family with many of these same traits.
After finishing graduate school in 2008 I decided to join MPI and got involved with the Potomac Chapter. I volunteered to attend a committee meeting and the chair immediately reached out to offer to drive me to the meeting. The entire group was so welcoming and encouraging that I knew I had found the right place for my industry participation. I eventually became a committee co-chair, then board director and now serve on councils at the international level. MPI has helped me to build my network, provided opportunities for skill development and allowed me to give back to the industry that has provided so much to me. My chapter does a phenomenal job building community and encouraging people to get involved.
When I first started in the industry, we were still faxing RFPs and BEOs. It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come with technological advances. And while technology has played an important role in advancing the profession, other technological advances are just amazing. When I started my career 18 years ago, I never imagined that we would have holograms of celebrities on stage with keynote speakers.
For an industry that is majority women, we’re still not equally represented at the highest levels of our organizations. That has to change. I’m passionate about understanding why there’s still a gap and being part of the solution.
I am determined to run a sub four-hour marathon and finish an ultramarathon—2019 is my year!
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Watch an MPItv video in our digital edition to learn more about Kerry Lambert.
