Heidi Hiller Of Innovative Party Planners: 5 Things We Must Do To Inspire The Next Generation About Sustainability And The Environment
An Interview With Martita Mestey
Be sure you have a compost bin in your backyard and teach your children to point out what can go in it after each meal.
As a part of our series about how companies are becoming more sustainable, we had the pleasure of interviewing Heidi Hiller.
Heidi Hiller is the Founder, CEO & Creative Director of Innovative Party Planners, a full-service event design and management firm that creates one-of-a-kind experiences and custom décor for non-profit events, corporate functions and life’s most important social celebrations throughout the mid-Atlantic. While overseeing a team of talented individuals with no limitations on creativity and fun, she works closely with each client to create a unique event experience that surpasses their expectations. In addition to having the U.S. Small Business Administration select her firm as a Maryland Woman-Owned Business of the Year finalist, Hiller has achieved such honors as being chosen for LASSO’s Top 50 and Top 100 Women in Events and the BizBash Top 1000 People in the U.S. Event Industry, and completing the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
After graduating from Washington University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Commercial and Advertising Art, I began a career in advertising, graphic design and environmental graphic design. Following the birth of our third child, I decided to take some time off to raise our kids. While they napped, I drew and painted and eventually created a line of artwork that I began selling at local craft fairs on the weekends. This was before Etsy.
At one such show, a woman asked if I could paint centerpieces for her son’s upcoming bar mitzvah. I asked a few friends who were working in events if they could help me. And that was the start of my entry into the world of events. As my children went to school, I began to grow an event business.
What is the mission of your company?
We help our clients experience one-of-a-kind events that their guests will never forget. Our event planners and event designers work together with customers to personally oversee the design, coordination, production and set up of the event; combining unique design, handmade decor elements and innovative graphic details with expert event planning. We ensure everything runs smoothly so our clients can have the exceptional experience they deserve.
Our goal is for our events to leave lasting memories, with minimal impact to the environment. Unfortunately, events can produce an overwhelming amount of waste because many objects are single use by design. It’s very likely that a party will require things like dishes, glassware and tablecloths. However, you can rent them just as easily and by doing so, nothing ends up in the landfill!
Can you tell our readers about the initiatives that you or your company are taking to address climate change or sustainability? Can you give an example for each?
We simply cannot expect to maintain our current quality of life, the widespread diversity of life on our planet and our planet’s ecosystems without specific efforts to embrace sustainability. Believing that the environmental impact of an event is our collective responsibility, we launched a rental division, DISCO To Go (Décor Inspiring Sustainable Celebrations and Occasions) “to save our planet, one event at a time.”
Created with both sustainability and affordability in mind, DISCO To Go makes it convenient and simple for clients to rent, style and return event essentials such as: centerpieces, curated décor, theme tabletop props, signs, easels, frames, candles, lamps, lanterns, LED lighting, vases and containers.
Our team has created eco-friendly centerpieces from reusable glassware including stunning candy displays, terrariums with air plants and rocks, beautiful vases with floating candles, plants that double as party favors like succulents and manzanita trees with sparkling crystals and votives. By swapping out the decals and décor in our glassware, we can create a new centerpiece for any event! We also utilize numerous large reusable props including a unique giant storybook and garden boxwood wall. We can quickly swap out décor and pages based on the event without needing to recreate a prop from scratch.
We also make every effort to provide our clients with top-notch, locally-sourced materials for events. We’ve planned and executed numerous events that use only local food, wine and flowers! For eco-friendly parties, we also urge our clients to think about how they can utilize reusable things and pass them onto their next destination. An example is using glasses and plates instead of plastic cups and paper plates. If they must use disposable tableware, then opt for bamboo plates over plastic ones. Even a change as small as using pitchers for drinks instead of soda cans and water bottles can make a tremendous impact on the environment.
We work with so many rental companies who deliver, pick up, clean, and reuse products just like DISCO To Go. For example, we partner with the Women’s Advocacy Coalition of Baltimore, which picks up candles after events to repurpose them into new candles to raise money for after school programs in Baltimore City.
To create sustainable events, we also advise our clients to select venues with LEED certifications. Buildings are such a drain on our environment and they contribute to our carbon output. Buildings with LEED certifications were built and operate with net zero metrics. If a venue is not yet certified, they could simply ask if the venues would adhere to a few sustainability requests of your choosing.
How would you articulate how a business can become more profitable by being more sustainable and more environmentally conscious? Can you share a story or example?
Begin by concentrating on areas where we can reduce waste. Eliminate single use plastic and printing all your documents.We recently did this by no longer having water bottles for our staff. We encourage everyone to have a ‘work’ water bottle or cup and have water in filtered water pitchers for everyone. The filters and pitchers cost us far less than the plastic water bottles and we aren’t tossing out or recycling empty water bottles.
The youth led climate strikes of September 2019 showed an impressive degree of activism and initiative by young people on behalf of climate change. This was great, and there is still plenty that needs to be done. In your opinion, what are a few things parents should do to inspire the next generation to become engaged in sustainability and the environmental movement?
1 . Practice recycling in your own home. Place recycling bins in their bedroom next to the trash can, in the kitchen and in their lounging room. Encourage your kids to make the recycling pile bigger than the trash pile.
2 . Encourage your children to turn off the lights when they exit a room. Create a play area in a brightly sunlit room and encourage no lights until it is dark outside.
3 . Walk or ride your bikes to neighborhood gatherings.
4 . Be sure you have a compost bin in your backyard and teach your children to point out what can go in it after each meal.
5 . Discuss water use. Encourage using personal water bottles. Encourage shorter showers.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I’ve devoted so much time to nurturing my business and could not have done any of that without my husband’s complete support and more than his fair share of raising our children. So much of the event work is done outside the normal 9 to 5 hours and he would come home from work and be there when I couldn’t on nights and weekends. As an attorney, he also has really helped me think through so many decisions that have needed to be made along the way. He continues to guide me as the business continues to grow.
You are a person of great influence and doing some great things for the world! If you could inspire a movement that would bring the greatest amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I would love for people to stop buying new things for their events (i.e. linens, glassware, candles, artificial flowers, frames) and, instead, look toward borrowing items or buying from resellers. There’s so much stuff out there that people buy, then attempt to resell and when they can’t, they have to discard the items. In doing so, they are creating excessive waste that ultimately is destroying our planet. To reinforce this, there should be a penalty tax for discarding items that could be repurposed.
Do you have a favorite life lesson quote? Can you tell us how that was relevant to you in your own life?
“While we can’t be together physically (during the height of the pandemic) we can be together emotionally.”
At the onset of the pandemic, with gathering restrictions enforced, I was determined to figure out a way to have events. I immediately signed up for a virtual meeting and events class and sought out the answer to how I could do that. Four weeks into the class, we begin to discuss the different types of events we can produce virtually. Our event institute instructor finished the list and I was dumbfounded. He never mentioned social events. SO I asked, “but what about a social event, a life cycle event? How can we do that virtually?”
That day, I realized I was likely attempting something very difficult. But it never stopped me. Within six weeks of ending that course, I had produced two non-profit galas, a bar mitzvah and a wedding. I was interviewed on Maryland Public Television about this and stated, “While we can’t be together physically I want to connect us emotionally.” That phrase stuck with me and I was often asked about it in interviews during the pandemic.
What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?
Visit our website, www.innovativepartyplanners.com, or our LinkedIn page, www.linkedin.com/company/innovative-party-planners-llc. Or follow @innovativepartyplanners on Facebook and @innovativeparty on Instagram.
This was so inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
