Meet MPI-CAC's WEC Scholarship Winners Lisa Iacozza, CMP, and Amanda Bridges
Print this Article | Send to Colleague
Lisa Iacozza, CMP, is an MPI veteran of more than 20 years and is currently a senior meeting planner with BCD M&E. She manages a range of event logistics ranging from contracting vendors to managing budgets and finances. She loves the event and meeting planning industry because of the variety.
"It's a great learning environment because you are always presented with new challenges that require creative solutions. I think that's true of the industry as a whole," says Lisa.
Lisa joined MPI in 1995, attending MPI Chicago Area Chapter events and, for a time, working on an MPI committee managing Chicago Chapter's annual conference.
"It's the most prominent voice for the industry," says Lisa when asked what she loves about MPI as an association. "It also offers opportunity for quality education and networking with peers."
Lisa graduated from Northwestern University with a BA in History and an MFA in English.
Amanda Bridges has been a member of MPI for a year now but has been involved with MPI for much longer. She was introduced to MPI years ago by working on MPI events through her employer, Brella, and then decided to join the association a year ago. Amanda says the main reason she loves MPI is the people involved, how lively the group is, and the professional and personal relationships that develop through the association.
Amanda went to Northwestern University in Illinois and graduated with BA in communication and media studies. "During college, I thought about event planning as a career. But in the end, it fell into my lap," says Amanda as she explains how she ended up in this industry we all know and love.
Amanda joined Brella; a company that creates custom experiences ranging from live events to mobile apps, to VR videos and more, as a temporary receptionist right after college and now, five and a half years later, is an event planner and project manager at the company.
The event planning seed that was planted in her mind during her college years took hold and grew as she worked for Brella. She quickly learned that she loved to create not just events but experiences.
"I love to truly create experiences for people. To create something and see it come to life," Amanda explained. Her favorite event she's worked on was an international meeting where she and her team were able to have the honor of coming up with the theme of the event and were able to completely weave that theme into all of the messaging at the event (banners, giveaways, etc.).
Amanda is diving headfirst into assisting with MPI events as a member as she is helping to plan the Holiday Party of 2017. We look forward to seeing her growth in MPI in the years to come.
