2021 – What a Year!
Here we are, feeling proud of another successful year! It has been one for the books, full of growth and development for the Toast of the Town (TOTT) team.
After 6 years of vision and leadership, we supported our Co-Founder Carrie Shephard as she made the difficult decision to transition out of her leadership role in order to focus on her family, and pursue other professional interests. She has always been a bright light and an exciting energy in our organization and will continue to share her radiance with the Alaskan Community. With that opening in our leadership, our Chief Operating Officer, Martha Keele, a born and raised Alaskan, was all too excited to have the opportunity to become part owner and we are thrilled to have her on board. Martha was plucked from her prominent role in Colorado where she was a Sr. Director of Events & Development and was responsible for raising over 3 million dollars annually through the events she produced. Her leadership has taken us to new heights!
Through our experience, strong vendor partnerships, the expansion of our team, and an amplified menu of products and skill sets that we now have at our fingertips, we have been better positioned than ever to serve our clients and our community by elevating Alaska’s events through new vision, design, and technology.
Our calendar of events has stayed strong. We are truly grateful for our success and are not ignorant to the fact that many others in our industry have struggled recently and in some cases have had to close their doors.
We can proudly say that to this day we have had no COVID-19 infection cases resulting from any of our events. That doesn’t mean we didn’t host any in-person events, it just means that the many we did host were given strict parameters to ensure the highest form of safety and precaution so that our presenters and our attendees could feel as comfortable as possible.
As we look to the future of Toast of the Town and our subdivision, Government Event Services, we are excited for the opportunity to expand our organization’s threshold and take on more than ever. Our Local Project Team will be focused on in-person events assisting organizations on everything from event design to comprehensive event planning & management. Our Virtual Project Team, with members scattered throughout the Pacific Northwest, will continue to deliver exemplary service to our US-based clients. The talent pool we have recruited is stronger and more diverse than ever before with backgrounds in non-profits, concerts, large sporting events, conferences, and destination travel.
The future of events is bright! We know everyone is eager to get back to ‘normal’, by gathering, meeting, sharing, networking, fundraising and more, and we are here to support! Our efforts are not slowing and are in fact continuing to accelerate, ensuring Toast of the Town remains a mainstay in the Alaska events industry for years to come. We are excited for the future, are ready to support your organization’s goals, and geared up to be able to take them to the next level!
In closing, we want to thank our amazing clients, our incredible team of vendors, and our talented and hard working staff for one heck of a year!
Cheers to a successful 2021!
