• Columnists

Roxanne Rukowicz Ladd, Behind the Scenes Events

COLUMN = EVENTS

Ranked one of Washington, DC’s top meeting and event planners since 2009 by the Washington Business Journal, Roxanne Rukowicz Ladd’s Behind the Scenes Events, opened its doors in July of 2008 with a single concept in mind: to offer organizations access to an affordable, full-service meeting-and-event-planning solution.

Having worked in the Washington, DC, meeting and event industry for over a decade, Roxanne started her career at the Greater Washington Board of Trade in 1999. Her experience with this influential regional network of business leaders allowed her hands-on training from the start. What began as a mere temporary work assignment later progressed into a position as general manager as she excelled at each advanced meeting-and-event-planning position she held.

Her extensive association and nonprofit planning skills are accented by experience working in the social and entertainment markets. Positions with The Walt Disney Companies and as a freelance wedding and special-event coordinator have featured opportunities with A-list celebrity clients and top-ranking government officials.

With a commitment to excellence and a focus on the customer experience, Roxanne and her Behind the Scenes Events team create and produce exemplary meetings and events that drive an organization’s mission and goals.

For more information, visit www.behindthescenesdc.com and check out Roxanne’s highly helpful events-planning blog, http://btsevents.blogspot.com/.

Anything not worth doing well is not worth doing.”

– Warren Buffett

It is possible to fail in many ways…while to succeed is possible only in one way.”

– Aristotle

If people like you they’ll listen to you; if they trust you, they’ll do business with you.”

– Zig Ziglar

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.”

– Mark Twain

You don’t go into a field that requires cracking people’s heads open or operating on something as delicate as the spinal cord unless you are comfortable with taking risks.”

– Dr. Ben Carson

Challenge is a dragon with a gift in its mouth. Tame the dragon and the gift is yours.”

– Noela Evans

As your desire is, so is your will. As your will is, so is your deed. As your deed is, so is your destiny.”

– Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

Always look at what you have left. Never look at what you have lost.”

– Robert H. Schuller

My goal was to tell the life side of the story. We have become a nation of voyeurs that expect sensationalism, and that offends me.”

– Kathleen Jo Ryan

Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, ‘What’s in it for me?’”

– Brian Tracy

Friendship is the only cement that will hold the world together.”

– Woodrow Wilson

If you would create something,
 you must be something.”

– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

That man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.”

– Henry David Thoreau

The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something.”

– Nolan Bushnell, founder, Chuck E. Cheese's

Don’t follow your dreams. Chase them.”

– Richard Dumb

Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.”

– E.B. White

If you do not tell the truth about yourself
, you cannot tell it about other people.”

– Virginia Woolf

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly,
 what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Part of your destiny is to live in the zone of maximum satisfaction.”

– Martha Beck

There is only one success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.”

– Christopher Morley

I may not be able to change what takes place, but I can always choose to change my thinking.”

– Michelle Sedas

If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it, I know I can achieve it.”

– Jesse Jackson

The man who acquires the ability to take full possession of his own mind may take possession of anything else to which he is justly entitled.”

– Andrew Carnegie

Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. 
Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.”

– Mary Jean Irion

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.”

– President Calvin Coolidge

But all the while I was alone, the past was close behind, I seen a lot of women, but she never escaped my mind, and I just grew, tangled up in blue.”

– Bob Dylan

Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”

– Christopher Robin to Pooh

I don’t do very well without fear. There needs to be a part of me saying, ‘That’s going to fail,’ so I can prove myself wrong.”

– Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe

To find what you seek in the road of life, leave no stone unturned.”

– Edward Bulwer Lytton

Who cares if my glass is half empty or half full; I still have something to drink.”

– Optimism rules

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.”

– Carl Rogers

Once you find something you love to do, be the best at doing it.”

– Debbi Fields, Mrs. Fields Cookies

Destiny is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.”

– William Jennings Bryan

Entrepreneurs willingly assume responsibility for the success or failure of a venture and are answerable for all its facets.”

– Victor Kiam

I can’t go back to yesterday—because I was a different person then.”

– Lewis Carroll

You’ve got to be willing to crash and burn. If you’re afraid of failing, you won’t get very far.”

– Steve Jobs

The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.”

– Carl Rogers

Treat the attainment of happiness in the same way an entrepreneur would approach building a business — with a vision, plan, goals, and a systematic approach.”

– Ted Leonsis

Some things are destined to be—it just takes us a couple of tries
to get there.”

– J.R. Ward, Lover Mine

Look at everything as though you were
seeing it either for the first or last time.
Then your time on earth will be filled with glory.”

– Betty Smith

Many people prefer to play it safe when it comes to business matters. Are you willing to take risks in the pursuit of entrepreneurial success?”

– Steven Schussler

A diamond is a lump of coal that stuck with it.”

– Norwegian proverb

If it isn’t good, let it die. If it doesn’t die, make it good.”

– Ajahn Chah

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”

– Albert Einstein

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

– John Quincy Adams

We never know how high we are
 till we are called to rise;
 And then, if we are true to plan,
 Our statures touch the skies.”

– Emily Dickinson

4oz tequila + 1oz TripleSec + 2oz lime juice + 1oz simple syrup (sugar=water), 1 cup crushed ice. Shake + dance around the kitchen.

– Avenida Margarita

Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value.”

– Albert Einstein

A man who strikes first admits that his ideas have given out.”

– Chinese Proverb

When I dare to be powerful—to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”

– Audre Lorde