“Making people happy is what makes me happy,” says event planner Cindy Lo. Judging from her growing list of satisfied clients, the award-winning planner must be very happy these days.

Her company, Red Velvet Events, founded in 2002, has grown from a one-woman operation in a tiny space, to a team of four full-time and three part-time employees. A recent move into 1,000-square-foot digs is giving everyone welcomed breathing room.

Lo admits, however, this was not her original career plan. “If you’d ask me back in college what I would be doing now, I would never have dreamed it would be this,” laughs the business graduate who spent her early career traveling 200 days annually as a software consultant. When she grew weary of the travel, friends suggested she consider event planning.

Through word of mouth, she landed two small events and a gig managing a University of Texas international conference. “Literally these three events kicked off my business,” says Lo, who also credits her success to involvement with the International Special Events Society (ISES) and Meeting Professionals International (MPI). Soon after launching, she attended ISES Event World. “That’s when I realized I love this work. I love the problems, the challenges, taking an idea to reality and juggling all the balls,” says Lo, who now has 100-plus major events under her belt.

To juggle those balls, including motherhood now, Lo goes back to her roots—technology. “I live in Outlook and use Google calendars for everything,” she says.