Bringing people together comes naturally to Baltimore-based planner Marlo Smith, event manager for the Momentus Capital-branded family of organizations headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. During her career, she has put on gatherings of all kinds, from weddings and University of Maryland events to corporate meetings, now focusing on internal and external events like board meetings and off-sites for Momentus Capital’s mission-driven lenders Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance.
“‘Event planner’ never crossed my mind as a full-time career whatsoever,” says Smith, regarding her thinking during her younger days. She says while she always has been the unofficial party planner for her family and helped with events at her college sorority, it took a colleague at one of her postcollege jobs to nudge her into the professional field. “I was working at a salon and spa, and one of the makeup artists noticed my attention to details,” says Smith. “She asked me, ‘Have you ever considered the world of events? I think you would be really good at it.’” The coworker had a wedding-planner friend, Kawania Wooten, owner of Howerton Wooten Events in Bowie, Maryland, who was hiring at the time. Wooten took Smith under her wing. “She has been the biggest mentor and teacher, and to this day we still have a great relationship,” says Smith.
Smith says prioritizing the attendee experience and keeping gatherings human-centered are key aspects of her approach as she plans events like Momentus Capital’s annual off-site meeting, mixers, fireside chats, bus tours, and more. “Making sure everyone is accommodated is important to me—whether that’s meeting dietary requirements or providing lactation rooms for new moms, I just really want people to feel comfortable,” says Smith.
This showed at a Momentus Capital Thanksgiving luncheon she organized last year, for which she didn’t have her usual registration list with dietary requirements and realized the morning of the event that the Italian food she ordered contained few options for the several vegans in the group. Rather than settling for a run-of-the-mill vegan option, Smith searched tirelessly until she found a nearby restaurant that could make a vegan lasagna that fit the Italian theme, ensuring nobody felt left out. “They still talk about it,” she says. “Stuff like that really makes me proud.”
What inspires her creativity? Smith says, “I would definitely say traveling and experiencing new cultures inspires some of my event ideas.” She also notes hanging out at community events like Baltimore-area farmers markets keeps her energized and fosters a greater understanding of what event aspects are engaging to people. “And [being with] family and friends,” she adds, “because connection is the heart of every event I create.”
