Ari Rivera
Staff Writer
Event planning requires intricate attention to detail, well-versed communication skills, leadership qualities and a creative background.
This is something that not many people can say they possess at a young age. However, this rings true for Florida Southern’s very own Kamryn Potteiger.
Alongside being a Residential Advisor and the president of Studio Box, Potteiger has expanded her reach from campus to the Lakeland community.
This past summer, Potteiger was hired by “East of These,” a small fashion company based out of Catapult Lakeland. She started out doing a small marketing campaign for them that included accounting and scrapbooking with products.
As a business administration major, Potteiger utilized the skills that she has learned over the years to help with the success of the campaign.
“I would go out and collect little things that reminded me of the products, and we would lay them all out and make them cute to take pictures of them,” Potteiger said.
East of These sells their products in Unfiltered Lakeland, a coffee shop in the heart of downtown. This is where an idea clicked.
Knowing that the business was currently struggling with marketing and getting traffic through the door, Potteiger knew that there was something she could do about it.
“I offered to plan an event for different vendors at Unfiltered in an effort to draw traffic in,” Potteiger said. “I told them that it would be something I was interested in doing freelance and they agreed to let me help”.
Potteiger got to work reaching out to different vendors from the Lakeland Downtown Farmers Curb Market. Vendors included Knot Obsessed with Plants, Mua.h, Plum Boutique, Cori Rose Handmade, Holistic Intent Massage, Sorrenty’s, Shear Jewelry, Tallulah’s Table by the Sea, Always Rich Creations, Twin Moon Elements and East of These.
“Once my vendors were chosen, I went over to Unfiltered and started mapping out measurements as well as everything else that I thought needed to be done to make the event a success,” said Potteiger.
Finally, after months of preparation, the day of the event arrived. On Aug. 26, the mini-market came to fruition.
“The day of the event was so crazy,” Potteiger said. “Being that I was the person running it, I had to make sure all 12 vendors were in the right spot and that everything was running smoothly which was stressful.”
Despite the minor hiccups, the event was a huge success. There were a total of 150 people that showed up to support both Potteiger and the small businesses. Every vendor also sold at least one item.
“I saw that Kam was doing an event, so I decided to go out and support,” said FSC student Promise Davis. “The vendors were all really interesting and I loved the live music and how everything was set up. It was definitely a success.”
