This week, we’re proud to feature Liana Burtsava, founder of TrendyLime, an international event planning company. With presence in over three continents, Liana has produced parties, corporate events and fundraisers in San Francisco, Sao Paolo, Barcelona and Vienna.

What types of events do you like to plan?

Our signature social networking events blend elements of fashion, music, travel, technology, and photography to create a unique and fabulous atmosphere where our guests can share ideas and have a good time. We’re also strong believers in giving back to the community and use our events to raise awareness and money for a number of good causes.

Our goal is to offer the most Sophisticated & Fun event experience for the diverse community of savvy, adventurous, and fashionable individuals. To our attendees we offer classy interactive events in the most chic venues. To businesses, we offer integrated marketing solutions that join social media presence with unique “offline” experience and allow to establish emotional connection with potential customers.

We fill a need in a community of highly educated and highly influential young professionals who crave intellectual communication, social networking opportunities, and a certain chic aesthetic. Our members are very educated — over half have a masters or doctorate degree and many work in the fields of high tech, finance, marketing, media and fashion. Our events have an extraordinarily international make-up — almost 40% of the Trendy Lime members surveyed speak 3 or more languages, and overwhelming, 80% speak two languages.

How long have you been in the event planning industry and how did you get started?

I’ve been passionate about building brands and connecting people, and used to organize events for friends. So after several years in Marketing and New Media I decided to combine my passions and started Trendy Lime in 2009 – to both connect people at the events and help brands connect with their customers in the highly interactive environment.

What are your Top 5 Tips for successful event planning

1. Have a check-list and follow it
2. Make sure to always innovate and involve the latest marketing tricks
3. Utilize the power of social media
4. Always have enough people to assist you during the event
5. Don’t hesitate to ask for advice from event planning veterans

What is your advice for anyone new entering the business?

Even planning is one of the most stressful jobs, ranked #6 after firefighters and soldiers. When starting your event planning business one should be fully aware that you will need to juggle many balls at once and often many things can go wrong. At the same time, this job requires outstanding ability to deal with people and can be very rewarding. Before deciding to plunge into event business, you should evaluate your skills in project management and people management.

For me personally, the hardest part of the job is to effectively monetize events. While I love the social aspect of the work, running a business is more than just socializing.

How can people find out more about TrendyLime?

For inquiries on partnerships, sponsorships and volunteer opportunities, they can email me at [email protected] or connect with us through our website,  Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or Google+.