Tash’s Article Series: What Have You Been Up To?

Tash Benjamin interviews MPIGNY Past President Suzanne Mulligan
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Tash:  What have you been up to since your tenure on the Board at MPI?

Suzanne:  Soon after my time in the Office of the President ended, I volunteered to be part of the MPI European Advisory Council.  I was excited to get to use my experience as part of a ‘Big 10’ chapter in the US to share what we learned with the European chapters. I remain part of the Council now and have applied for another term for 2022. I have also been a member of the MPI EMEA Foundation Task Force and am excited to be currently serving as Co-Chair for MPI’s EMEC event which will be held in my new home town of Brighton, England.

My IMEX journey has also continued, I've been working at IMEX Group for 11 years and am now the Senior Community Engagement Manager.  I get to focus my days on internal engagement – e.g. employee happiness and external engagement – social media, our promo videos and general content.

Personally, life has been busy.  I now have a 2-year-old son, Finn, and we are expecting another boy in April.

Tash:  Suzanne, you were heavily involved with the post-COVID return of IMEX America in Las Vegas this month after it was cancelled in 2020 and you were chosen to be the IMEX “BuzzHub” moderator for their 2-day global livestream.  How was that experience?

Suzanne:  I was lucky to get to host the Buzzhub LIVE from IMEX America at our first live event since September 2019!  It was thrilling to get to broadcast live from the show floor and to get way out of my comfort zone and try something new!

Tash:  Did COVID make you more grateful?  Name 2 things it made you grateful for.

Absolutely – early on in the pandemic I remember hearing the line ‘we’re all in the same storm but we’re in very different boats’ and it reminded me how lucky we were. I was actually on maternity leave when the pandemic hit.  My son, Finn, was 5 months old and I was getting ready to go back to work part time when things went into overdrive.  I was able to work part time, keeping our 60+ person team engaged, even though we were all working from home – as live event professionals that was tough at times!

The two things I was most grateful for (other than family and health!) were our community and tiny joys.

When things were very bad at the beginning of the pandemic we couldn’t find formula for our then 5 month old son.  We were spending hours driving from grocery store to grocery store only to come up empty handed as people were buying formula to use as a replacement for milk ( I can’t imagine that tasted good!).  As a last minute “hail mary,” we posted in the IMEX staff chat that, if anyone saw our brand of formula, to let us know so we could drive to the store to buy it.  Instead of just letting us know, our colleague, James, picked up boxes of formula and drove 30 minutes to our house with 3 boxes of formula which got us through that really tough first few weeks!

The other thing I'm grateful for are the tiny joys we found during the pandemic.  We live in a small village on the south coast of the UK and found so much joy in being able to visit our local shops for an almond croissant or a really good coffee. There was one local shop that was able to stay open when many had to close early in the pandemic.  You could pre-order pastries during the week and on Friday mornings you could pick them up.  It was such a tiny thing but I looked forward to it all week.  It was our only trip out all week so it was pretty special!

Tash:  Looking back over your career, is there anything that you were miffed about in the past that now you’re immensely grateful about?

Suzanne:  When I was younger, I struggled with patience.  I wanted the next promotion, the next role – and I wanted to fly through each step.  I learned to slow down, to listen, to focus on my building blocks – what I was really good at and what I really did need to learn.  It helped me to become more strategic and to see things from a wider angle.

Tash:  How do you show gratitude to your co-workers?

Suzanne:  At IMEX we have something called our ‘Wheel of Recognition.’  We implemented it a few years ago.  Each month, anyone in the company can send in a nomination for a colleague, detailing how that person went above and beyond, or just did something that was really helpful or appreciated.  On the last Friday of each month, I draw three names out of a hat and we spin our ‘Wheel of Recognition’ and read out the nominations.  Prizes range from Amazon gift certificates to breakfast hampers and more.  It's a really fun way to end the month and we get an average of 30 nominations each month. They are then shared with the wider company in our monthly internal newsletter.

Tash:  How do you show gratitude to yourself?

Suzanne:  Time off, great coffee, walks with friends. Since having Finn I have really tried to slow down and take things in the way he does; everything is new to him – from leaves to stars in the sky.  It’s pretty magic to take some time to yourself and see things the way a 2 year old does!

Tash:  Any closing thoughts or memories?

Suzanne:  One thing I’m eternally grateful for is my time as part of the Board of Directors for MPIGNY.  I remember when I went to my first event and met Patrick Colomer and Meghan Schilt (former President MPIGNY) – both welcomed me with open arms.  I called my mom and told her I had found “my people” and signed up to be a volunteer the next day.  Meghan helped guide me through my volunteer roles until I reached the Office of the President and I was insanely lucky to get to serve with Carvie Gillikin, Carly Roncaglio Marotta and Josh Novick.  My time on the Board and as a volunteer have really shaped me as a leader and given me so much confidence.