Building a Resilient Business with David Tutera

<p>We know that certain industries thrived during COVID—home renovations and online shopping, anyone?—but there’s no denying that some sectors took a major hit. We got a call from Eve, an event planner wondering how she can move forward post-pandemic. Well, we brought in the capital-E expert to answer Eve’s question. </p><p><a href="https://davidtutera.com/" target="_blank">David Tutera</a> is best known as an event planner for the stars and reality TV show host. His full business is much more diverse, including industry training events, a <a href="https://www.macys.com/shop/featured/david-tutera" target="_blank">partnership with Macy’s</a>, a <a href="https://davidtuteraatelier.com/" target="_blank">bridal boutique</a>, and more. David’s work focuses on “the art of celebrations. Any celebration should be about joy, and that’s how I make a living.”</p><p>David is the grandchild of an Italian immigrant, an entrepreneurial flower shop owner who taught David some of the basics of running a business. At the age of thirteen, David worked the phones at the shop, listening in as his grandfather ran the show. “He was giving me these nuggets of information” about the importance of respecting staff, profitability, and paying attention to details. His grandfather also invited David to watch the floral designers at work, sparking his interest in creative industries. </p><p>After a brief foray into law school, David took an unexpected detour into singing telegrams (!!), where he decided, “If I was going to leave school, I knew I needed to make money.” Dressed in anything from a gorilla suit to a barbershop quartet, he wrote and performed ditties for clients. When the telegram business owner decided to sell, David was first in line with an investment from his grandfather. </p><p>His first event-planning client was a woman who had passed his office window display—very silver lame and ostrich feathers—and asked him to “do” her son’s bar mitzvah. Despite not being 100% sure what a bar mitzvah <i>was</i>, he said sure, a moment he