Student Experience: Rami Coppock

“Growing up, I was always involved in planning parties and really loved that. I was working as an administrative assistant at Essilor when they had a national sales meeting for about 650 people and needed some additional hands. I helped with registration on that event, and they started pulling me into events planning. 

“I told the vice president of marketing that I was interested in moving up into events planning, and they were interested in me advancing in the company. They paid for my schooling at Richland, and now I have a new role in corporate events! 

“I love the chaotic aspect of what I do; I’m never bored and there’s never a dull moment! I really like making people happy. I don’t like a perfect event – when something goes wrong, I like to fix it so that nobody ever knows it was a problem. I don’t need praise; I just like to see smiles and that’s enough for me. 

“My advice to someone entering this industry? Absorb it all and don’t give up. If you need to take just a class or two at a time because you’re also working, do it. I have three sons and it took me four semesters to earn my certificate. 

“My HEEM courses gave me knowledge that I really needed, including ethics and communication skills for the industry. That training helps me to be more successful at my job and in my own business.” 

Rami Coppock was already working in events planning for Essilor of America, an optical company, when she earned the Meetings and Events Management continuing education certificate. She helps plan corporate events and sales meetings for her company, which participates in about 100 trade shows a year and attends advisory panel meetings. In her own event planning company, she helps to plan special events such as weddings and charity and sports events.

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