Your Next Move - The Business of Bringing People Together

Episode Date: June 16, 2026

In this episode of Your Next Move, Inc., staff reporter Ali Donaldson sits down with Susan Sutherland, founder and CEO of Just Events Group, the parent company behind JustRight Destination Management and Just Marry, ranked No. 1,326 on the 2025 Inc. 5000. Susan reflects on leading an events company through the uncertainty of COVID, the explosive return of in-person experiences, and why human connection remains the foundation of her business. She shares lessons on building a people-first culture, maintaining transparency during difficult times, and creating career growth opportunities that keep employees engaged in a high-pressure industry. The conversation also explores the role of AI in event planning, the challenges of scaling a service-driven company, the realities of working alongside family members, and the trends shaping the future of events—from immersive experiences to changing food-and-beverage preferences among younger generations. Susan offers an honest look at leadership, overcoming imposter syndrome, and what it takes to sustain growth when success depends on both relationships and trust.

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Brackish customer. Because of the encouraging conversation with Alex, Jeff launched a woman's line scaling the brackish brand to the next level. Because at Capital One, it's not just business. It's relationships that help you do more business. Learn more at Capital One.com slash business cards. Hi, I'm Mike Hoffman, editor-in-chief of Inc. And you're listening to Your Next Move, Audio Edition, produced by Inc. and Capital One Business. In this season's audio edition, we're bringing you conversations from the Your Next Move pop-up studio at the Inc. 5,000 conference this past October in Phoenix, Arizona. You'll hear Inc. writers and editors interviewing the founders of some of the fastest-growing private companies in the country. In this episode, reporter Ali Donaldson sits down

with Susan Sutherland, the founder and CEO of Just Events Group, the parent company behind Just Right Destination Management, and Just Mary. Susan's company ranked number 13126 on this year's 5,000. And in their conversation, it begins with Susan reflecting on why people's desire to gather in person for corporate events or weddings and shared experiences has become the biggest growth driver for her business and how her team is thinking about sustaining that momentum into people-driven industry. I'm Susan Sutherland, founder and CEO of Just Events Group, which is the parent company for Just Right Destination Management and Just Mary. And what's your number on the 5,000? 1,326.

Okay, so you're here because you all have had incredible growth. When you look back over the past three years, what has been the single biggest growth driver for your business? And when you look forward over the next year to, what is the biggest growth driver that you really are committing to for the business? Wow, the growth driver, people want to get together, whether it's for a social occasion or a corporate education, people want to meet.

And, you know, that was a little scary during COVID. We're like, are we going to have jobs when this is over? Like, everyone's gotten so used to being online. But no, everyone wants that interaction. So that was the growth from then until now. And moving forward, I think people are going to continue to want to have experiences. And they're going to want to celebrate together, whether, again, it's for a big corporate event or something like a wedding. And, you know, events really came back with a bang, like you said.

And I'm sure you were all were overwhelmed with. And how do you think about maintaining that sort of growth? Because that's one of the hard things about growth is maintaining it. What are some of those tradeoffs when you think about, I want to keep this pace, this velocity? Yeah, it's the partnerships that we get to have. And it's amazing. Typically, when we work with an organization, we keep them forever. We have had some of our clients for decades. And when it comes to weddings, we have partnerships with key organizations, key hotels that are a constant source of revenue. So as long, As people are wanting to get together, we have this great pipeline of business that comes our way. Okay, Susan, imagine tomorrow suddenly your budget is cut by 30%. How do you look at that on the P&L? What has to stay? What is something you're like, I think we can live without that? Ooh, you know, we are so personnel driven, right?

It's our employees. And so the tricky thing would be having to figure out if we had to make such a significant cost cut, who would be that we would be able to live without. And that's a terrible thing to have to think about. That's something that would be very difficult to do. And is there anything other than thinking about layoffs of employees that you think you could have done to, like, cut cost in this hypothetical? Hmm, cut costs. I guess it would be software-driven or travel-driven. We do a lot of going from one place to another with our clients, so it might be looking for more local talent as opposed to having our team go with them.

But truly, that's the secret sauce, are people going with them. So I'd say that would be also a major culture shift for our clients to have to get used to. And Susan, if you had to have this horrible conversation with your team, how would you communicate that? And I imagine you probably had to do that really hard discussions during COVID

when suddenly there were no events. Yeah, I have to tell you, we have a phenomenal team, and it's always open communication and honesty, and they know what's going on. And when it came to COVID, everybody took a pay cut. We were all able to stay. we didn't have to let anybody go. And that was what our team was willing to do to stay together.

So could I get that lucky again? I don't know. I've got a pretty amazing crew, but it would be a terrible thing to have to experience over again. But it sounds like that sort of transparency really paid off. Yeah, because we want everyone to be aware of how things are going on and what we're doing. And I certainly never want anyone to think that I'm off, you know, eating bonbons, living in a castle while they're struggling and working hard.

So they know what's happening. And as just events has grown, how is the business evolved or change? Are there certain parts of the business that have become more important? Are the clients changing? How is the business evolving? Yeah, so the business is evolving by, I think some of our clients are getting bigger and bigger, you know, especially on the corporate side. We're getting much more involved with pharmaceutical companies and tech companies.

And so that's been exciting to see, you know, doing bigger and bigger events. And the way our team has evolved is we just have different tiers of leadership. So we are segmented. Way back in the beginning, I feel like everybody on the team did everything. And now we have people who specialize in certain areas. And that, I think, is really what allowed for growth. And is your team experimenting with AI right now? How are you using that in your own day to day?

Yeah, we're experimenting with AI. I don't know. It's interesting. I love AI for brainstorming. And I think a lot of our team does that. In my opinion right now, AI is like 75% good when I ask it to do something. So there's this giant gap between what it outputs. We're very careful.

But mostly I'd say it's brainstorming, calculations, and, you know, inspiration. And when you think about, you know, going from this early experimentation on brainstorming, are there any kind of goals for over the next year or two of where you'd want to implement it, like say, okay, we're doing this for the team or we're using this specific product? Oof, you know, I have a lot to learn about AI, and I'm excited about all the presentations here. to understand more, but I feel like it's productivity. We are so labor-driven. We spend countless hours with our clients.

We have used them to do renderings for the creative side of our business. So when a client comes to us and they say they have this image in mind for what the event's going to look like, and we've used AI to demonstrate that, being very careful to note that this is an AI rendering, and we may or may not be able to come up with what they're seeing, but yeah. That's cool. Yeah. And, you know, Susan, you mentioned that you're such a personnel-driven.

in business. As you all have grown, how have you approached hiring? Well, it's interesting. We have several different ways as far as where we find it. You know, we broadcast out an of our usual networks and try to find people, but we really look for people for attitude who's enthusiastic. You know, in our industry, while we are certainly all skilled professionals, it's not like we're hiring doctors or scientists. And so we want people who are eager to learn, who are extremely team-oriented. I think one of the biggest things we look for is not someone who's me, me, me, I, I, I, I, but who we really are going to be able to count on to be for the good of the team and for the good of our clients. And after going through COVID where you all had to take pay cuts,

but you were all in there together, how do you all approach, you know, you don't want your team to be overwhelmed or stretched too thin, but knowing that there could be a shock to the system and not wanting to overhire. Yeah, and that is always a danger because it was almost unsustainable. after COVID when we were all let loose again, it was like revenge travel and revenge meetings. And so we did have to hire a bunch, but we did have to be very careful. We really tried to track who has what on their plate and is this a good time to give them more. But we want a good work-life balance because the job is extremely stressful. But at the same time, we want to make sure we don't have so many people that, you know, it bankrupts the company.

And when you're thinking about, like, can we put something more on someone's plate, Are there certain types of jobs that you think are better in terms of someone can grow into this role? This is something we can hire for internally versus finding someone outside. Absolutely. We put together a good growth pattern because we find that our employees want to see that there's a place for them to go, right? When they start in one spot and work their way up, that there are different levels and different tiers that they can aspire to grow to. So that's an extremely important part of our company culture. Talk to me a little bit more about culture.

How have you maintained that as the company has grown? Because, you know, events is so fun. It's so personal. But at the same time, you know, you want to be professional. Yes, absolutely. You know, I started the company because I wasn't happy with the culture where I was. I didn't see a path forward. And I saw people in hospitality, you know, working a gazillion hours and not having any time for their family.

And that's not what I wanted. So I had a very clear vision of wanting to make sure that people were able to have that balance. And I feel very fortunate that so far with 25 full-time employees, we've been able to maintain it. And I think it's because I've taught that vision. And they all want to make sure that, you know, they take care of each other so that they'll step in if there's a family event or something that someone needs to do. They cover for each other. And I think that's one of the best parts about our company. And you talked to me a little bit more earlier about how you're moving into pharmaceutical and tech for events.

When you think a year, two years from now, how is your customer, based changing and who's going to be really important in that client base? I think it's going to continue to be the same. I think the large events, you know, we do some sporting events as well. I think it's going to be more, more of the industries that we've been working with now. As you expand into new industries, is there anything about your events, the product you provide or prices that you have to change? Our pricing is based on the event.

So it's truly, it comes down to percentages. So if a person comes to us with a smaller budget, the fee that we charge is commiserate with what they're spending. So it's very flexible in that regard. And Susan, tell me about a recent mistake you made. A recent mistake I made. Oh, my gosh. I'm trying to think, well, I can tell you, I don't know how much of a mistake it is, but it was unfortunate. We just did an event this past weekend, and we had to do a very early morning rain call.

And it looked like it was going to be a beautiful, spectacular day. and we had everything beautifully set up and this wild windstorm, wind, rain, everything came along, and everything got washed away like 30, 35 minutes into the event. Everything had to be moved inside. So while I have not yet learned

how to control the weather, I guess one could concede that we should have just had the event inside. You know, you've gone through so much with COVID in events. Is there anything on the horizon you see that could be another external shock to the business?

Absolutely. the economy. I mean, all of the industries we work with, you know, our pharmaceutical companies, our clients, if a medication goes off of patent or if something doesn't get approved, that affects their budgets. You know, on the social side of our business, if, you know, people are insecure about their income, they're not going to be spending as much on their wedding. So, you know, the economy is a huge factor in what we're going through. And how are you feeling about that right now? Right now, things seem to be holding steady. And I can't say that it doesn't give me some sleepless nights. But right now, everybody we talk to, we're feeling pretty good.

It does feel like everyone's a little edge of their seats. Yes, I think so. But, you know, so it's interesting, we get a lot of last minute events. And so whereas we would sometimes have a six-month, eight-month runway, sometimes it's like a month out. They're like, hey, we have 3,000 people. We need to pull this together. Can you help us out? And, of course, everyone jumps and it's all hands on deck. And that in itself is interesting to manage. After the break, Allie asked Susan what adjustments her company can make to keep scaling the business. Starting a business comes with a share of ups and downs, which is why staying true to your vision is essential.

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Learn more at Capital One.com slash business cards. Susan, talk to about how you approach leadership for your team. Are there any sort of traits that you aspire to in leadership and are there any sort of kind of habits you're trying to kick? Ooh, aspire to. I like to set a good example. I like to be very open and have everybody able to communicate. I don't really believe in top-down communication.

I like lateral and helping, you know, the business grow that way. So that's something I aspire to. I don't know. Something I would like to kick. I can't believe after all these years I can still say this, but I would say it's sort of imposter syndrome. Like sometimes looking around and going, how am I qualified to make these decisions

and how can I be in this room? And I don't know. I don't know if I can ever kick that if it's something that's just with you forever or... And how have you tried? tried to, because that's sort of a hard thing you can't really, like, go to your employees. Is there anyone you go to your own life or help for that? Do you have a group text of other founders?

Yes, I have text with other founders. I have an amazing COO who's like, are you kidding me? Do you realize where you started and where you are? I mean, even just coming to an event like this, I was like, oh, my gosh, I'm on the leadership council for Inc. And, you know, the people who are in that room are incredible. And I'm thinking, why am I in the middle of all this? And my team reminds me that I've earned this spot.

And you mentioned Susan liking having, you know, really lateral culture, making sure communication is even across the company. Does anyone at the company have permission to kind of call you out on anything? And if so, what's the process that they should do that? Everybody has permission to call me out. I have learned incredible things from someone who's been there for a few weeks to people have been with me for years. And there doesn't even have to be any special forum.

I accept emails. We have weekly phone calls. We have daily stand-ups, you know. In that regard, I'm not going to say that I'm always going to agree with them or do what it is they say. But if they're thinking it, I want to know about it. And when you look at the growth that you all have had for the past three years, is there anything that you think now is no longer going to work that works those past three years? You're telling your team, we've got to change that.

I think that we are going to have to start being a little bit more aggressive with sales. I think that it's not going to be as easy anymore. Like I said, there was more work than anybody knew what did. do with. We all said it was like drinking out of a fire hose. And I think that's going to calm down. It's going to level off. And I think there's lots of competition out there. And I think we're going to have to keep that in mind and really make sure when it comes to closing sales, we're concentrating on that and making sure it gets done. And how are you approaching that and being more aggressive with sales? How do new clients typically find you? How are you finding them in pitching?

Yeah, it's a lot of referral business. It's a lot of when people are at one company and we built that relationship and they wind up moving to another. They take us with them and we keep the one, you know, prior to. So that's always, you know, something that's very good for us. And I think it's just continuing to understand what our mission is and to what we're offering people and making sure that we're speaking to that as best we can. How is your team and you approaching upselling too with maybe, you know, you have a client, you plan maybe an event for 100 people? Maybe they've grown and you're saying, okay, next year, let's see if we can get them on 500 people. How do you approach that? I mean, it's a lot of listening.

and hearing what they're trying to accomplish, what their goals are, and solving that problem, giving them solutions to help accommodate that. Okay, looking three years out, what do you think growth is going to look like for you? I would like to see us double our revenue three years from now. We're manifesting that?

Yes, we're manifesting that. It's out there in the universe, and we're opening up some new markets, and I'll be intrigued to see. Well, it looks like a lot more is moving and shaken in Las Vegas for us that has been previously. That's interesting because I keep reading that it's been a slowdown. So that's, you say no.

I think that was started by a bunch of influencers. And I will tell you, I am like marching around on the strip on a regular basis. And I am not alone. And our airport seems to be very busy as well. I think, again, people are comparing our summer to when we all got to break loose after COVID. Which is just unrealistic. It's not going to be that. Exactly.

And really, who wants to be in the desert when it's 120 degrees out? If I were able to pick and choose my time frame from my meetings and events, it probably wouldn't be July and August. And I've been there in Vegas during that. Like in June, it gets a hot. And you're like, it's great when you're at the pool, but it seems to be a long walk. Yes, it is a very long walk. So I'm not concerned. There is, I think, a correcting of what it was like.

And again, it was unsustainable, but I'm not worried. And when you think about growth, other than revenue, do you have favorite metrics that you like to look at? We do set goals of all kinds for our team as far as we like to hear what they want to accomplish, what are areas of interest for them. So we have people who want to teach more about sales, who want to teach more about leadership and becoming leaders within our organization. And so we set goals that way too and we see how they accomplish them. And when you're setting those kind of goals, have you figured out a way to quantify them? Because I think some of them set can be difficult when you're like, this is very qualitative seeing someone take on leadership responsibilities. Is there a way to measure that?

There is a way to measure that. It's who are they supervising? And what are the people they're supervising accomplishing? I had one person on my team want to start being a speaker. And so her goal was to get one speaking engagement for the year and she did it. And now she has a presentation so we can continue on to see where she wants to go with that. So while dollars obviously run the business, I think that some of these more challenging things to measure are what keep them happy, what keep them interested. keep them, you know, staying with us, retaining them.

And how do you kind of help everyone find their thing that's going to be their North Star that they're working towards? Because there's always going to be some employees that are going to have like five things they want to work for. And other people that are like, I'm happy where I am and I have to give that a thought of where I want to be next year. And I have to tell you, my COO, Karen, is the wonderful person at doing that. Because we do have people are like, I want to accomplish these 75 things. And she's like, we need to narrow that list out. Yes, we need to make that a little more because we do want to see you succeed. And we want to see you try more.

So let's keep this in check. How do you approach, you know, your C-suite when you think about the leaders around you? How do I approach them? Yeah, well, or just like, how do you approach having kind of that team around you? Any advice for other, you know, CEOs and founders of creating that C-suite you can trust? Yeah, it takes time. It doesn't hurt that one of them is my husband. So, you know, there was that trust there.

You're the second spouse team I've had. And then Karen, who has been with me for so long. And it's a question of open communication and conversation and setting expectations. And eventually you just have to take a chance. I mean, I have had in the past people who work in my company that I shouldn't have trusted. And those are really painful lessons. And so, you know, you asked me about any big mistakes that I've made recently. There were some in the past that were pretty huge that knocked me right back down to having to basically start over.

So sometimes you do trust the wrong people, but you know what? It's not fatal. You can work your way back from it. And what did you learn from those experiences when you trust it the wrong person? Trust my instincts. And maybe that goes along with the imposter syndrome, but a lot of times that inner voice really is accurate. And you shouldn't dismiss it. And be confident that you can handle things and that you don't need to rely on someone else.

And I think when you don't need to rely on somebody else, it makes a situation more where you're able to trust people and see when things are heading in the wrong direction. What's it like working with your husband? How do you approach that? How do you set boundaries? We have our own lanes. There are definitely, we each have our own skills and our own strategies and the way we do things. I can't say that we never butt heads, but it's extremely rare. And we talk it out.

And we, you know, are very expressive as to why this didn't feel so comfortable when you approach things this way or this is, you know, we just talk through it. Are you the kind of couple that turn it off when you go home? Or is it one of those things where inevitably it's? It's just impossible. It's impossible. And I think if you ask our kids, they're like, could you please stop talking business? You know, at dinner, it's like we're done. Also because we're both so busy and traveling that, you know, sometimes our catch-up time is during family time.

And also one of the things that we express to our clients is how readily available we are. And if, you know, there's an event going on or something, we can't turn it off, right? We can't say, oh, I'm sorry you can't find your driver. We'll call us in a couple of days. That's not how that happens. And is that helpful times, too, where, like, If something comes up and you two are at home, you immediately have someone to bounce an idea off of. Oh, absolutely.

I think that's extremely valuable. So what are the kids going to be interning? Ah, guess what? One of the kids is already an employee. That's amazing. Yes. And so he just graduated from UNLV with a degree in hospitality. And he's working with us.

Yes, thank you. Is that something he thought he would want to do or just sort of like evolved? How did he approach that? I think it evolved. I mean, all the kids have been exposed to our business since, you know, I had it before my first was even born, and so they had some sort of exposure and some sort of involvement. His twin brother graduated in cinematography, and he's been doing photos and videos for our clients. So everyone has a little bit. So there are a lot of people writing. Yes, they're counting on our success,

so we have to think good things. I asked because there was a great story. I think was the Wall Street Journal had recently of like a bunch of similarly aged Jen Zier's like going to work for their parents. And it was all sort of like, oh, we said we would never work for our parents. And they're like, well, that seems to be doing well. Their company's doing well. Maybe I will. Yeah, exactly. And I don't know if it's forever, but for right now, it seems to be fitting the bill. And how do you approach that, too, with, like, you know, having your child and wanting them succeed, but, you know, making sure everything is fair and professional? Yeah, so we don't supervise the kids. You know, we have other people who are in charge of them. And, you know, and we communicate honestly now. We're with them. Like, hey, if they screw up, we need to know about it. Like, this is not tiptoe around everybody, but it definitely is a challenge.

And there are definitely a lot of other family businesses like that here. What are some of your advice for them? And what are some of those do's and don'ts? Do's and don'ts for a family business. Like you said, if you have other employees, you have to make sure that they don't feel slighted by the fact that they are members of your family. It has to be on equal footing. They have to start at the bottom, right?

They're not going to go in and tell people who have been doing things for years and years how to do their job. And, yeah, I just think you need to be open to feedback when things go wrong and when things go right. I think sometimes for them there's added pressure because if they were just anonymous employees, somewhere. They live and thrive by their own means, but, you know, when you're the boss's kid,

it can be a little bit harder. It makes them go even further. Yeah, yeah. You know, where do you think events are going? When you look at the next year or two, are there kind of any trends that you're watching? Yeah, we're seeing a lot of interesting things with food and beverage. We're finding Gen Z doesn't drink. And that's an interesting problem challenge to venues that serve alcohol. So we're seeing this big blossoming in mocktails and they don't call them mocktails. They're spirit-free cocktails or something of that. So the interesting creativity, we're noticing with all the GLP medications that people are eating less. And so there have to be different ways of presenting food and beverage. So I think there's a lot swirling around food and beverage. I think that experiences are key. No one just wants to sit

in a room anymore. They want fully immersive. And so there's a lot of interesting entertainment out there. Give you a second to brag. Is there any like a really fun entertainment or experience you all have done recently that you thought was like, oh, that was great and really creative? Gosh, yes. We did one actually recently where it was at a venue that actually has houses. And so each house was done in a different color and the decor fit the colors of the houses. And there was all sorts of interesting entertainment that's centered around it. So that was kind of fun. You know, where do you and your team look for inspiration for those kind of new ideas? Because events, you always have to keep it going and keep fresh. We have the most magnificent creative director and she, I don't know,

I think she's a magician. She just, she's just nonstop. A client can say to her, you know, I want it to look like, I don't know, 1920s San Francisco and she can come up with a storyboard behind it. So again, it's hiring the right talent and having the people because as much as I would love to be able to take credit for that, there's no way. Our clients would be very disappointed if I were the one in charge of creative. So luckily we have just the right person for. for it. I think it's a great note to end on all Susan. Thank you so much. It's just so much fun. Oh, it was such a pleasure. I enjoyed it. Thank you. That's all for this episode of Your Next Move. Our producer is Blake Odom,

editorial editing and sound design by Nick Torres. Additional editing from Sam Gibauer and Tad Wadams. And our executive producer is Josh Christensen. If you haven't already, subscribe to Your Next Move on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. And Your Next move is a production of Inc. and Capital One business.