Today we’d like to introduce you to Marija Babic.
Hi Marija, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Hi. Marija Babic, here, the face behind La Fête. I’ve always been passionate about creating something grand and bringing dreams and visions to life. I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to do so every day through event planning and petal arrangements. It’s about so much more than just the business tasks and the flowers; it’s about creating a soft statement piece that encapsulates the essence of your most cherished moments.
Working in floral arrangements became my passion and my creative outlet after shadowing my mother who has been a floral designer for over a decade. It’s a way to escape the monotony of life by arranging a memory in a single moment that will last a lifetime.
Through La Fête, I get to help people do that, which brings me a great deal of joy. I enjoy networking and meeting new people, hearing their stories, and building new relationships.
I came to the United States in 1997 with my mom and dad as a refugee escaping from a civil war. My hard-working parents taught me the value of chasing your dreams and putting in the work to get what you desire. They had to give up everything and start from scratch when coming to America. Since I was a little girl, my father instilled in me the importance of education and finding a career that I enjoyed doing. Those words ring true with me still today.
When I arrived in the United States, I didn’t know any English. After 6 months of ESL, I became fluent in the new language. I remember being so excited, I would sit around our yard-sale-bought dinner table with my parents and teach them everything I had learned.
From there, I excelled in school, then graduated from the University of Houston with a bachelor’s degree in Global Business and Advertising and Communications, with a minor in Entrepreneurship. I spent 15+ years working in the corporate world and specializing in projects, event planning, and providing high-level support to my company executives.
Throughout these experiences, I created strong relationships as well as a keen eye for small details. A natural social butterfly, I flourished in the art of networking and nurturing these connections which became pivotal in the inception and thus far success of La Fête.
I am so excited for every day I get in this life, all the new people I have the pleasure of meeting, and the opportunity to work with such incredible individuals.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth road, but it has not been a rough road either. When you decide to dive in and start something, you are knowingly taking a risk, but I do not view this as a negative. I wholeheartedly believe that there is a potential reward on the other side. While still working in Oil and Gas I have decided to use my creative outlet to start my business. I go into my 9-5, M-F (which I still enjoy) and then after I immediately dive into La Fete with no breaks for a few hours until It’s time to go to sleep, which is now mostly after midnight. I must make sure I interact on my social media with everyone to promote my business, make sure all orders are taken, flowers arrangements are completed, and deliveries are scheduled. My mother still comes and helps me with the arrangements since I am still a one man show. It is not smooth, but it is trial, and error and I am still learning about my business and how to best run it and eventually scale it. Many sleepless nights but in the end that makes me keep going and it’s the glimmer in my parents’ eyes and how proud they are of me. My mom and dad still get teary eyed when I talk about my vision for La Fete. Have given up everything back home to bring me to the United States so I can have the opportunities and the fact that I took the opportunities to make something and “someone” out of myself is all they could have ever asked for!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Since I graduated college in 2011, I have had multiple supporting roles for Oil and Gas Executives and then slowly transitioned into Project Management roles while still holding the support role. This has exposed me to many high-level individuals that I got the pleasure of working with and forming other relationships along the way. The Project Management role has allowed me to expand my strong skills in organization, planning and execution. I enjoy putting project plans together and making them “come to life”. This takes great discipline and attention to detail, and it also comes with a management role as you are having to make sure people assigned on project are completing their portions of the project diligently. I enjoy negotiating which is key in a Project Management role, and it has also allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and not be afraid to ask for what you want. While I do enjoy my current roles very much so, I also enjoy the outlet to meet and form relationships within the industry which has greatly benefited my floral and event business. The same people that I have met over the years in my career are now my clients and ordering my floral creations or demand I plan their special social events. I’d like to think that I have been working extra hard in forming these everlasting relationships over my career for the past decade which has prepared me to start something of my own and they have been the greatest support and it has only strengthened my relationship bonds with every single one of them. I find great joy in connecting people and as my friends love to call me “the connector” of people. I’d like to think that very few people can do so but it just happens to come naturally to me.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Absolutely! My relationships got stronger and tighter. When someone needed their business to be supported during the crisis, you bet I had all my friends on board that could support the business for those in need. I feel that local businesses are far more important than the “bigger guys”. I also feel that Covid- 19 has given me an opportunity to work on my passions as I was working from home five days a week. I had a little extra time to tap into something that makes me escape the chaos which is Covid-19. Working with flowers whisked me away from all of that and it took my mind to a completely different state of relaxation, I was fixated with making my little living space that I spent 8 hours working from look aesthetically pleasing with flowers. Looking at the flowers everyday made me so happy, I can’t explain it. I caught myself just staring at them and smiling without even realizing it. We are always so on the go or always rushing to something; we never really stop to smell the flowers and enjoy simple pleasures that we are surrounded by. Despite Covid-19 being devastating for many of us, including myself and the loss of loved ones, I do believe that it has made everyone slow down a little bit and enjoy the time at home with their families and even their little furry friends! The Covid-19 outbreak has touched part of our lives with everyone’s experience being unique to them but at the end of the day what made me a little calmer about the situation is that we’re all in the same boat together experiencing a unique set of circumstances. Despite all, my biggest lesson learned was to slow down and give attention to the things that we easily neglect because those are the things that we will look back on one day and wish we would have made the time for.
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@lafetehtx.com
- Instagram: @lafetehtx
- Website: www.lafetehtx.com
