Talia Kornfeld

Hometown: Scarsdale, NY

Current Location: New York, NY

Why did you choose SHA?
I chose to study at SHA as a university and major transfer my sophomore year. I honestly hadn’t been well enough informed that Hospitality was an option and was thrilled to make the switch from Communications at another university.

What are some of your favorite BU memories?
I was really active in BU acapella and had a blast singing with Aural Fixation. I also got to TA the cooking classes at SHA and I’ll never forget everything I learned.

What was your first full-time job? How did you end up in your current position?
My first full time job was working at a 3rd party event planning company, specializing in non-profit events. I started at the company September 2008, the same week Lehman collapsed. It was an interesting time to be in the non-profit sector. I found the job through word of mouth, and stayed for 14 months before being laid off due to the economic crisis. 8 months later I landed on my feet at BlackRock on the Global Event Management team and I was lucky enough to find the job on Indeed.

Please describe your current role. How did your SHA education impact your career?
I am currently the Director of Events at Palmer Advanced Media. At PAM I specialize in large-scale conferences, tradeshows, executive experiences and hospitality events in the technology and finance industries. I love how diverse my work is and that it’s always a moving target. With every event I feel like I’m learning a new piece of information, honing a skill, or building my network–all are essential! I apply Professor Szende’s formula for alcoholic drinks on a daily basis, and appreciate my knowledge of accounting when speaking with a vendor/venue. It matters!

Any advice for current and prospective students?
Since graduating, I’m on my 4th job and have gotten to experience many specialties of Event Planning. I’ve worked in non-profit galas/walks, at a finance giant planning conferences, executive events, and client entertainment events, a boutique financial advisory firm planning monster conferences, and now planning tradeshows and executive experiences. When I started at SHA, I was going to be a Pastry Chef. You just never know where life will take you, and that’s ok.