Paige VandeWiele

“The best part is seeing everything come together. It’s nice knowing all the hard work that goes into it and everything that I did to make it better.”

-Paige VandeWiele

Paige VandeWiele wants to plan private events or weddings in the future. When Paige isn’t studying, she enjoys enhancing her personal brand by decorating or reorganizing, adding to her website, or creating mood boards. She also enjoys spending time with her friends.

Get to know Paige

• Major: Event management
• Class: Senior
• Hometown: Geneseo, Illinois
• Career goal: Private events planner or wedding planner
• Clubs/activities: The Fashion Show, TREND Magazine, CHS Ambassadors
• Awards/honors: Dean’s list, 2020 Alpha Delta Pi Foundation Scholarship
• Favorite place on campus: Window booths in Parks Library
• Most influential ISU mentor: Sarah Bennett-George
• Favorite class: AESHM 472, Fashion Show Management
• Why Iowa State: Comes from a family of Iowa State graduates, liked that it was a change of scenery but still not too far from home

Paige VandeWiele aims to be creative in event management work, accumulates experience in and outside college

Paige VandeWiele’s creativity and artistic mindset led her to want to pursue a major and career in design. However, after talking about design majors with an industrial design student at Iowa State University, she decided the career path wasn’t quite what she was looking for.

Paige found event management in Iowa State’s list of majors and took a chance on her immediate interest in it. She found that the major allowed her to use her artistic mindset while learning how to be successful in the event industry.

“I do like the corporate meetings classes that I have to take; it gives you that core knowledge that you need, but I tend to veer more toward the creative side of [planning],” Paige said.

Paige has been able to apply her creativity to multiple organizations on and off campus. Paige has worked in advertising and planning for TREND Magazine, and has also dabbled in public relations, marketing, and social media for The Fashion Show.

“The more involved you can get early on, the better, just because it’s going to build your knowledge,” Paige said. “[Then, you’ll be able to] figure out what works best for you personally, and figure out what you want to do for your career.”

Paige also holds event planning positions at Reiman Gardens and Center Grove Orchard. She will return to Reiman Gardens in the spring, but for now, she’s getting the most out of her fall internship with Center Grove Orchard.

“Center Grove really gave me the opportunity to figure out what works best for me,” Paige said. “They let me navigate my own path. It’s definitely helped in figuring out what I’m going to be like as an event coordinator.”

After college, if Paige ends up in a big city, she’d love to plan private events. She enjoys the little details and direct contact with clients when planning private events. However, if Paige were to end up in a small town, she said would enjoy planning weddings in smaller, more intimate venues.

Paige’s end goal is simply to work toward enhancing and modernizing the event planning industry, while taking a creative approach.

“The best part is seeing everything come together,” Paige said. “It’s nice knowing all the hard work that goes into it and everything that I did to make it better.”