Today we’d like to introduce you to Helna Correll.
Helna, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born and raised in Cebu City, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines. My childhood experience and how I was raised greatly influenced my business mentality. I was the fourth child of six siblings and my grandmother and mother taught me responsibilities at the very tender age of eight. Grandma was a great cook and an effective negotiator in the flea market. She always took me shopping at the flea market when I was a kid and I watched firsthand how she negotiated better pricing on fruits, vegetables, fish, chicken, etc. My mother began giving me responsibilities at home at the age of ten. I was in charge of all household chores, from cooking to cleaning, paying household bills, shopping at the flea market and of course, I applied what I learned from grandma – price negotiation. I’m excellent when it comes to negotiating better prices in all aspects of our business. I’m always looking for a way to get the client a better deal and ensuring that they are happy with the results. During my elementary years, I was already in business selling candies to my classmates at school and to our neighbors. My grade school teacher made these candies and offered if I’m interested in selling and make a little bit of money. For some reason, I always saw opportunities in our neighborhood to make a little bit of money. One of our neighbors owned a motorcycle shop and had a storefront to sell some snacks. I went to the owner and offered to display some of my snacks at her store and marked it up to sell. She agreed and at the end of the day, I would collect the sales and we shared the profit. Growing up as kid, I knew that I had this burning desire of running my own business someday. Even during playtime, I pretended to be selling goods to my childhood friends without realizing that I had the entrepreneurial spirit in me.
Following my graduation from St. Theresa’s College in Cebu, I began my career in the hotel industry in 1983. My first job was at the Hyatt Terraces Hotel in Baguio City, Philippines. Two years later, I went home to Cebu and bought a cafeteria serving snacks and lunch to our customers. I did all the shopping, food preparation, cooking, bookkeeping, marketing, etc. while tending the cafeteria. I was very fortunate to have my younger sister and brother, and a cousin around me as I was able to train and delegate most of the daily tasks of the business to them. While running the cafeteria, I was also working full time in a 3-star international hotel owned by an Australian company for three years while applying for any sales position at Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort, a 5-star luxury hotels and resort. Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts company is based in Hongkong and the property in Mactan was the first resort property built in the Philippines. As a pioneer employee, I saw the hotel built from the ground up while we’re being trained for six months prior to its first opening. I worked my way up towards a supervisory position in Sales. I’d been involved with planning and coordinating group accommodations, and worked with our catering team to ensure that our international groups visiting or attending conferences held at Shangri-La had the best memorable experience.
I believe my experience in the hotel industry led me to the event management industry as I see both as interrelated in producing successful events. The hotel industry has always been my passion after college and my experience has greatly assisted me in successfully running my business for thirteen years.
The single largest event that affected my career was my immigration to the United States in 1997. Upon arrival to the United States, there were a lot of things that I needed to accomplish in order to assimilate into the American culture. For example, polishing my spoken and written English language, learning how to drive, purchasing a car, and finding a job were all tasks I had to do. Finding a job was not the difficult part but rather working my way up from the bottom. I’ve worked very hard to prove that I’m capable of leading and managing people in various departments of the hotel industry.
In 2005, my husband Jon and I decided to start our own business and thus, San Diego Site Pros was established. The company has worked with various clients including non-profit organizations, associations, public and government agencies, and companies. Our team has helped us to present successful and professional-grade events by effective management of event resources. The company is passionate in helping customers achieve their goals and objectives, and return on events (ROE).
With over 44 years of combined hospitality experience in event and meeting management, hotel sales and operations, our team is equipped to handle events of all sizes. Since opening, San Diego Site Pros, Inc. has designed and executed hundreds of events from 25 to 1,500 guests.
San Diego Site Pros, Inc. orchestrates every element of the event, starting with venue search and selection, theme development, customized program, marketing and promotion, budget and venue/vendor coordination. The team has orchestrated events in San Diego and Costa Mesa, CA, and East Coast Region.
In 2011, San Diego Site Pros, Inc. created two divisions, Event Planning Pros specializing in event planning support and Hotel Site Pros specializing in providing hotel lodging for individuals and groups across the country.
Our professional team handles events such as conferences, expos, meetings, seminars, fundraising, appreciation parties, grand openings, awards, golf tournaments and more.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I know that there were going to be some challenges starting my own business and I have identified them at the onset as follows:
- Capital
The most difficult part of starting my business was finding the capital to do so. Not wanting to be in debt when beginning my business has been a goal so it slows down growth.
- Creating your own name or brand
When you start your own business, you have to develop new business relationships and nurture old ones, and letting them know who you are and what you can do to help them with their event needs.
- Finding your market niche
In the beginning, I didn’t have a market niche and it was not a good idea to take on projects that didn’t meet our goals,
We’d love to hear more about your business.
San Diego Site Pros, Inc. is a certified woman-owned and an award winning hospitality company providing full or a la carte event management, hotel lodging search and booking services. Our services were created based on our customer’s needs, as follows:
*Venue Search & Selection
*Online & Onsite Registration Management
*Event Budget & Expense Preparation
*Food & Beverage Planning & Banquet Staff Coordination
*Event Decor & Entertainment Search & Coordination
*Speaker Search & Coordination
*Audio Visual Search & Coordination
*Event Giveaways Search & Coordination
*Hotel/Venue Coordination
*Onsite Registration Staffing
*Onsite Event Staffing Support
*Volunteer Training & Management
*Hotel Group Room Rate Search & Negotiation
*And other event needs
What are you known for?
We are known for being highly-organized, detail-oriented, effective negotiators, honest, trustworthy, reliable, resourceful, honest, fair, fun, and respectful to our customers, employees and partners in the industry. We thrive in providing excellent customer service by being attentive to our customer’s needs in a timely manner and deliver what we’ve promised.
Proudest Moments:
Receiving awards and nominations is one of the proudest moments in my career. It’s very humbling and rewarding when you’re being recognized for your hard work. It motivates me to continue serving others and be the best in what I do.
*Game Changer Award Nominee of the Year 2017 (CWI)
*Trailblazer Award Nominee of the year 2015 (BRAVO! Awards)
*Woman Business Owner of the Year 2013 (BRAVO! Awards)
*Consultant of the Year Nominee 2009 (Public Agency Consortium-City of San Diego)
*Student Mentor Award 2014
What were you like growing up?
Personality wise
Independent, Resourceful, Honest, Strong, Self-Starter, Disciplined, Competitive, Protective, Kind-hearted, Genuine, Compassionate, and Loyal
Interest wise
Tennis, reading, painting, singing, playing the guitar, and collecting coins. Fascinated with martial arts and learning to play golf.
Contact Info:
- Address: 10509 San Diego Mission Rd., Suite R
- Website: http://www.sandiegositepros.com/
- Phone: (619) 584-4738
- Email: events@sandiegositepros.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SanDiegoSitePros?ref=hl
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SDeventplanner
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helnacorrell
Image Credit:
Gabriel Hernandez Photography and Cece Reed Photography
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
