.... but professionally - speaking...

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Founder and Principal Consultant of Engaging Inspiration Kerry Lee (née Dickey) Doehr is also the CEO & Founder of one of Santa Barbara's most well-established, reputable hospitality and event planning businesses, Santa Barbara Wine Country Events​.  Her first name is a family last name, and she started her role in the hospitality industry at the tender age of 3 when she helped seat guests in one of her family’s four Santa Barbara restaurants.   To this day, the Kerry family name continues a legacy in Santa Barbara.   As a third-generation Santa Barbaran, Kerry Lee has continued to make a name for herself in her local events community that has also spanned nationally. 

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Kerry Lee's specialty is inspiring a legacy aligned with a company's core values, fostering imagination, and rocketing innovation and inspiration by providing custom solutions for leadership, customer experience, communications & education excellence that engage staff and encourage customer loyalty.

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.....the foundation...

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Kerry Lee got her start professionally with legendary customer service leader Nordstrom in their public relations and special events department after her graduation from college. She later went on to become a Director of Catering and Special Events for the hospitality industry before starting her own company.

 

Over the last 20 years, she has planned over 900 weddings, 1,200 corporate events, and trained and certified event professionals from all over the world including individuals from  Hyatt,  Sheraton,  Ritz Carlton and more in a special event certification training program she co-wrote and co-founded serving on retainer as the Vice President of Education for the Academy of Special Event Professionals (ASEP) through Beverly Clark Enterprises, LLC.

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.....other career highlights...

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• ​Featured speaker for entities including ILEA, NACE, HSMAI, to smaller, more local groups, to the annual 14,000 person international ARA Conference in Las Vegas, as well as addressing a Crowne Plaza General Manager's Retreat. 

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• Exclusive on-retainer corporate event manager to the original "horse whisperer" himself, Monty Roberts, handling his corporate event program and upscale destination international corporate clientele including executives from Mercedes Benz, Verizon, and more at his Flag is Up Farms ranch for five years.  

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• Regularly featured weddings, events, and articles in leading industry publications- digital and print. 

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• Regularly-featured author for Special Events Magazine, where many of her articles reach the top 4 of Google News

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.....innovations...

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• In 2004, she created, produced and copyrighted an industry ground-breaking type of event: The Mobile Bridal Faire (Mobile Wedding Planning Experience) which earned her an exclusive category in the prestigious Grace Ormonde Wedding Style Magazine , media features, television interview, as well as the attention of the Texas Board of Tourism, who was interested in pursuing Kerry Lee's concept to further their destination wedding stream for their state.

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• Created "Wine With a Wedding Planner", a complimentary mobile wedding planning consultation held at various venues & wineries open to the public where the  location was announced via Twitter -- a "pop up wedding planning service"

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• Founded & developed the Fireside Series- a "Chat Workshop Experience" for special event & hospitality professionals to come together, receive valuable interactive educational experiences, mentorship, collaboration with others, build community and network over fire and wine (and always non-alcoholic options, too).

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• Established the first ever Santa Barbara Event Industry Summit "Define. Design. Evolve."

 

Throughout the years, Kerry Lee has continued to blaze new trails in the special event and hospitality industry and has become a trusted resource known for her professionalism, integrity, advocacy of community involvement and servant leadership style.

 

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.....continued higher learning & education....

 

Kerry Lee holds a B.A. in Mass Communication, regularly keeps up to date on leadership practices & trends, customer experience standards, as well as event & communication strategy trends.  All of her training and speaking engagement sessions are based on her own 20 year executive leadership experience as a CEO, plus business, service and marketing concepts inspired The Disney Institute , Nordstrom, Four Seasons,  Disney U, master classes with Qualtrics XM and Harvard Business School.   She was recently accepted into Stanford University's Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program and now integrates newly-learned concepts from this into every project.

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.....clientele....

 

Kerry Lee's consultancy for the special event & hospitality industry (Engaging Inspiration) serves start-ups, independent contractors, as well as companies such as a Ty Warner-owned property, Santa Barbara wine country's only Four Diamond inn, resorts, award-winning caterers, international chocolatiers, even a national fitness brand and an I.T. company, and the services she has provided for each of these range greatly.  

 

Kerry Lee's event clientele is varied, including a California State Senator, as well as clients involving The Secret Service, and a Disney CEO.  

 

She recently completed an almost one-year-long experiential "internship" with The Walt Disney Company at its (currently) number one resort in the world: Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa at Disneyland Resort and is now Disney and Forbes-trained. 

 

You can follow "KLD" as she is known to family and friends and her new Disney journey on her Instagram.

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.....personal trivia...

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Because it's so much more fun to get to know someone beyond their professional accomplishments... click here for some fun conversation starters with Kerry Lee the next time you run into her... plus it will let her know someone is actually reading her Website. 

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