Name: Jennessa Durrani
Title: Director
Company: IFMA Boston
Location: Andover, Mass.
Place of birth: Alta, Iowa
Family: Married with a 9 and 5 year old boy
College: Fine arts degree in Interior Design from Iowa State University and MBA from Northeastern
First job unrelated to your current field: I was a corporate interior designer for GHK (now NELSON) for 10 years in Boston
First job in current field: I left GHK to start my own corporate event planning business—Celebrate in 2001.
What does your firm do now and its plans for the future? As the director of IFMA Boston, I direct a team of two to execute all the business functions of the chapter, i.e. finance, marketing, web development, event planning, strategic planning, committee organization, etc. Why IFMA: I have been affiliated with IFMA since I was a junior designer in the mid-90s. I volunteered on the IFMA Boston/IIDA Holiday Gala for years and when I left the industry to begin my own company I always stayed in touch. The majority of my clients are in the A/E/C community. When I started my business I just turned the tables and started to market to my peers/colleagues. So IFMA Boston hired me 12 years ago to implement their special events.
and over time I grew the account until I took over as their director and administrator 5 years ago.
Hobbies: Reading, road tripping with my family and writing my blog Just Jennessa
Favorite novel: Too tough to pick
Favorite film: "Terms of Endearment"
Keys to success: Never burning a bridge—cultivating your contacts and continually reinventing the process/yourself. Keep it fresh.
If you had to choose a different profession, what would it be? I think that being a teacher would be incredibly rewarding, but far too exhausting!