Community Highlights: Meet Kailey McCann of Bash Boulevard

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kailey McCann.

Hi Kailey, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story? 
My love for Events started as early as high school, where I was involved in student council from sophomore year to senior year. In high school, I enjoyed helping to plan homecoming, spirit week events, prom and even ran for junior class president. My hospitality industry journey started five years ago, and since then, I have held multiple positions at the restaurant and hotel level. My very first hospitality position was a hostess at a sports bar and Grill in North Scottsdale. This position helped me learn more about the industry itself, which furthered my interest for the hospitality industry.

From there, I applied to work at the Scottsdale Fairmont Princess for a seasonal position of a Christmas at the Princess Ambassador. This role inspired me to pursue an open position at the Princess, especially on the sales and events team, to plan these kinds of events for local and out-of-state guests. After Christmas at the Princess season had ended, I joined the Princess team as a Kids Club Counselor in their trailblazer’s activity center. Shortly thereafter, Covid struck the world, and I was told not to return to work. Over the summer, I started to look for other positions at nearby hotels to further propel my career. I got a call from HR at the Princess, and they were interested in having me become a hostess for one of the restaurants, so I took on the position later that summer. Once Christmas at the Princess had started up the hiring process, I expressed my interest in a restaurant reservations position. I was offered the position and began to assist with taking restaurant reservations, In Room Dining orders, and answering any questions about Christmas at the Princess.

After the Christmas at the Princess season had concluded, I decided to take a break from the seasonal position and focus on the semester ahead. Once the semester had concluded, I applied to become a Front Desk agent at the Royal Palms. I got the position and worked for a few months and expressed an interest in moving to the sales and events team, if there was going to be a position opening up. That same December, the Event Coordinator position opened up, I applied, and I got the position. The next 18 months were a whirlwind for me, I gained lots of event, knowledge, and experience by shadowing events, detailed events, and discussed with clients what their vision was for their event. This experience led me to applying to the Private Dining Coordinator position, and this was the last position I held at the resort level.

The reason why I started Bash Boulevard is because I had made a goal for myself to have either started my own event business or be in a manager position by age 25. Well, I decided to start my event business early because I knew that by 25, I wanted to have a successful business in place by servicing beautiful weddings and social events. I started Bash in February of this year, and I have already served two day of wedding coordination clients, one month of wedding coordination client, a few picnics, and a baby shower client, while also managing Bash’s clients for next year.

I did not expect to be where I am today after only operating my business for ten months. I am very excited to see what the future brings.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Operating a business while working full-time had not exactly been a smooth road. I had to sacrifice time away from my friends and family to work on the business. I have also had to work super late nights and super early mornings. However, I am looking forward to seeing my business grow which means I will continue to have obstacles and challenges, but I will welcome them with open arms.

We’ve been impressed with Bash Boulevard LLC, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Bash Boulevard is an event planning and design company based in Cave Creek, Arizona. Bash Boulevard mission and primary goal is to allow the client to attend and enjoy their event as a guest.

The types of events that we assist with are: social events, weddings, and picnics. We offer full-service, partial, month of, and day-of-event and wedding packages. I definitely have a special spot in my heart for weddings specifically.

What sets me apart from other event planning businesses is the fact that I’ve worked at the venue and restaurant level producing events for all kinds of clientele. Having this background gives me an advantage when a client is picking out a venue to host their event at, knowing what questions to ask, and where to read and maneuver within the fine print.

Before Bash Boulevard was formally Bash Boulevard, I had prematurely began working on the first version of my business. I had to shift gears due to some bumps in the road with getting the LLC and making sure I wasn’t infringing on any trademarks. Therefore, what I’m the proudest about brand-wise is reinventing my image from the ground up, redesigning my whole website and social media pages, all in order to launch within one weeks’ time of Bash Boulevard becoming an LLC. For this reason, I believe I am a very resilient business owner and individual. I’m not going to let anyone stop me from going after my dreams, even if it means that I need to select a new business name in the process.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
A few characteristics that I feel are most important to my success as a business owner are creativity, adaptability, and customer satisfaction. For my partial and full-service planning clients, I need to be creative in a multitude of ways. Before or during an event, I need to be able to adopt and be flexible to a lot of different situations and possible scenarios that can occur on event day – ex. Rain and the event is outdoors with no weather backup. Lastly, customer satisfaction; at the end of the day, if my clients aren’t happy, that’s a reflection on my business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bashblvd.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/bashboulevard?igshid=MTNiYzNiMzkwZA==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090381636543&mibextid=ViGcVu

Image Credits
Kaylie Miller Photography